COLOSSIANS #3
(Much of the material comes from Barnes’ Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft.)
Paul told the church last week about Christ being the head over everything and
this week we look at how Christ has freed us.
The Freedom in Christ 2:4 23
A. Freedom from Tempting Words 2:4 7
4 1 say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.
5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
From of Christ’s teaching man has been trying to change His words and this is what Paul is telling them.
1. 2 TIMOTHY 4:3 4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
The only way to prevent this is to be firmly rooted in God’s word. The only way for this to happen is if we know the word of God and the only way to know the word of God is to study.
2. 2 TIMOTHY 2:15
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. KJV
2 TIMOTHY 2:15 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. NASU
3. EPHESIANS 3:17 19
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
B. Freedom from Empty Philosophy 2:8 10
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
philosophy ie; study of truth, systematic view, theory, reasoned doctrine, metaphysics, logical knowledge, critical study and logic. All are from man not God. They all leave man wanting more they all lack the meat to fill man, but God does not. There is a completion or a filling up, in him, so as to leave nothing wanting. This is true in respect: (1) to the wisdom which is needful to guide us;
(2) the atonement to be made for sin;
(3) the merit by which a sinner can be justified; and
(4) the grace which is needful to sustain us in the trials, and to aid us in the duties, of life.
1. GALATIANS 4:1-4
1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything,
2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.
3 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
C. Freedom from the Judgment of Men 2:11 17
11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the
removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;
12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him
through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He
made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was
hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them,
having triumphed over them through Him.
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a
festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day
17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
1. PHILIPPIANS 3:3
3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,
2. EPHESIANS 2:11 13
11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands
12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
3. ROMANS 6:4 5
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
The argument of the apostle in these verses (COLOSSIANS 2:13 15) is derived from what Christ has done for us. He mentions four things:
(1) He has given us spiritual life.
(2) He has forgiven all our trespasses.
(3) He has blotted out or abolished the "ordinances" that were against us.
(4) He has triumphed over all our foes. From all this he infers (Col 2:16 ff) that we should not be made captive or subdued by any of the rites of superstition, or any of the influences of the kingdom of darkness.
4. ROMANS 14: 10& 13
10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.
5. COLOSSIANS 2:17 They were only a dim outline of future things, not the reality. The reality, the substance, all that they signified is of or in Christ.
D. Freedom from Improper Worship 2:18 23
18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self abasement and the
worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held
together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
21 "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"
22(which all refer to things destined to perish with use) in accordance with the
commandments and teachings of men?
23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self made religion
and self abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly
indulgence.
1. MATTHEW 15: 1 11& 17 20
1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
2 "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."
3 And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
4 "For God said, "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,” and, "HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’
5 "But you say, "Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,"
6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
7 "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:
8’this PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
9’BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN."’
10 After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, "Hear and understand.
11 "It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."
17 "Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?
18 "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.
19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
20 "These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."
2. ROMANS 14:1 9
1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.
2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.
3 The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.
4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.
6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.
7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself,
8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
3. 1 CORINTHIANS 8:1-13
1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.
2 If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; 3 but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.
5 For even if there are so called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,
6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
7 However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.
8 But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.
9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
10 For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?
11 For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
12 And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.
Do not be fooled by the words of man for they will lead us straight to hell. We can see today how the words of man have lead a once great country like ours to the edge of damnation. Example this weeks paper where there was a prom held in Evansville for gay couples. And, the world says it is OK, and God says they will go to hell unless they change their ways. So because we want to live our lives and have fun we say that God is old fashion. We do not stick to the word of God, but to the word of man.
PLAN OF SALVATION
ROMANS 10:17
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
HEBREWS 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
ACTS 2:38
38 And Peter said to them, "Repent,"
ROMANS 10:9 10
9 That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
MARK 16:16 16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."
MATTHEW 7:21
"Not everyone who says to Me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven."
