COLOSSIANS – Part Seven

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

www.godsbreathpublications.com

 

Colossians was written by the Apostle Paul while he was under house arrest in Rome. Epaphras, the pastor of the church in Colossae, came to Paul to share how well the Christians were growing in faith, but also to ask for help to address the issue of false teaching that was threatening the church. Paul responded by writing this letter of encouragement that is packed full of basic doctrine concerning Christ and the Gospel. It is unclear what the exact heresy was that was attempting to creep into the church at Colossae, but it had elements of Jewish observances of the Law as well as paganism and Gnostic beliefs. It is very relevant for us today, for we are surrounded by pagan beliefs and ascetic religious concepts, while at the same time dealing with a new resurgence of Gnostic conceptual influences. Paul in the following passage covers the doctrine of the persona and work of Jesus Christ. The best way to confront false teachings and twisted doctrine is to proclaim scriptural truth. Paul continues his letter to the Colossian Christians in verses 11-15 of chapter 2 sharing how they obtained their new position as followers of Christ and how Christ made their salvation possible.

 

Colossians 2:11-15

“In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

 

Early in the history of the Jews, the chosen people, God established a covenant with them called, “brit milah.” This was the “covenant of circumcision” whereby the male Jews had their foreskins removed early after birth. This was a sign of a covenant between God and His people that they belonged to Him, that He would protect and provide for them and that they would serve and worship Him and Him alone. In the New Testament this practice was changed because of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Paul, a devout and learned Jew, tells us here that anyone who accepts Christ as Lord and Savior is “spiritually” circumcised. By giving themselves to Christ, a Christian has his or her old sinful nature put off or taken away or in a sense, “spiritually circumcised” by the sacrifice of Jesus for the payment of their sins. Just as any Gentile was not part of God’s chosen people in the Old Testament. Today any person who rejects Christ as Savior and Lord is not part of God’s family, not a follower of Christ, not a believer or a bond-slave of Jesus. But when a non-believer receives Christ as Savior they are made a part of this family and are spiritually circumcised and grafted into God’s holy family.

 

Paul continues on with other illustrations of the change that takes place at conversion of a sinner to a saint. He speaks of having, in a sense, being buried with Christ in baptism and being raised through faith by the power of God. This is a symbolic description of what happens spiritually to a person when they receive salvation. Jesus was crucified, died and was buried, but rose from the grave because while He was fully human, He was also fully God. He was sinless, therefore the perfect sacrifice to pay for the debt of sin we owed to God. There is much symbolism in scripture regarding our old sinful life and how we are redeemed, saved and set free as a follower of Christ from our sins. We were raised from spiritual death to life when we accepted Christ as our Savior and Lord, just as Christ was raised from the dead. Baptism is the practice of being dipped under water to symbolize the death and burial of Christ, but also to illustrate the death of our old self, the flesh, and the birth of our new nature given to us by God through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Baptism is a picture of the reality that we have spiritual union with Christ. The power that raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us from the dead as well. Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” We have faith in God that Christ is our Savior and His death saves us from our sins. Even though we had no relationship with God before we were a Christian because we were spiritually uncircumcised, because He chose us and we responded in faith, we became a child of His and therefore became spiritually circumcised through Christ. Once we were dead spiritually, now after committing our lives to Christ we are spiritually alive. Paul gives three aspects of how spiritually complete we are in Christ in this portion of Colossians.

 

First, Paul tells us that we have complete salvation. Colossians 2:11-12, “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” When Christ saves someone, He saves completely. Salvation is complete apart from any religious ritual! Once we have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord we don’t have to jump through any “religious ceremonial hoops.” For Christians the physical rite of circumcision is unnecessary because we are already circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. When a person becomes a Christian they receive a new nature. Our “old self” is crucified with Christ and we are no longer slaves to sin. Several other verses illustrate this.

 

Romans 6:5-7 “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

 

Philippians 3:3 “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh”

 

We must remember that while we are no longer slaves to sin, our new nature will struggle because it is still in an unredeemed body of flesh which is still subject to temptation. Romans 7:15-23 illustrates this in Paul’s personal words from his own life what he dealt with: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.”

 

We also wait for the redemption of our bodies. This can be so intense at times we can almost feel like we are spiritually groaning to have this full redemption take place.

 

Romans 8:23 “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” This flesh we battle. This flesh we fight. This “body of flesh,” is what our redeemed soul lives within and struggles against. The world that surrounds us appeals to our flesh and it is what our new spiritual nature strives to overcome with the power of God. 1 John 2:16 – “For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world.”

 

Secondly, Paul tells us that we have complete forgiveness in Christ and it has nothing to do with any human effort or work. Colossians 2:13-14, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” John MacArthur tells us, “Unbelievers exist in the sphere or realm of spiritual death. To be spiritually dead means to be devoid of any sense, unable to respond to spiritual stimuli, just as to be physically dead means to be unable to respond to physical stimuli. It is to be so locked in sin’s grasp that one is unable to respond to God. The Bible and spiritual truth make no sense to one in such a state. Those who are spiritually dead are dominated by the world, the flesh, and Satan and possess no spiritual, eternal life.” Because of God’s mercy (Ephesians 2:4), He made us “alive together with Him.” In his letter to the Christians at Colossae, Paul keeps repeating that they are “in Him,” and “with Him.” This applies to us today as well as followers of Christ. As a result of being made alive with Christ, believers have been “forgiven” of “all” their “transgressions.” Psalms tells us this and verifies that this is included in the doctrine of salvation in Christ. Psalms 32:1-2 “1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.”

 

In verse 14, the Greek word for canceled “exaleipsas” suggests the smearing of letters written on wax or the wiping off of a signature like erasing a blackboard. God canceled the “certificate of our debt of sin” against us. Ancient documents were written on papyrus or bulrush material (paper-like material) or velum (animal hide). The ink used to write was not acidic so it never soaked into the paper or hide and could easily be wiped off and reused. Paul says here that God wiped off our “certificate” of debt. It was then “nailed to the cross” and nothing of it remains. “Regulations,” “written code,” or “decrees,” “dogmasin” in the Greek, refers to the Mosaic law. The “certificate” was hostile towards us, in other words it was enough to condemn us to hell. But God cancelled it because of Christ’s work on the cross!

 

The Characteristics of God’s Forgiveness are:

1. It is gracious. (Romans 3:24, Titus 3:4-7)

2. It is complete. (Ephesians 1:7, Romans 5:20, 1 John 2:12)

3. It is eager. (Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11, Psalms 86:5)

4. It is certain. (Acts 26:18)

5. It is unequalled. (Micah 7:18)

6. It is motivating. (Ephesians 4:32, Matthew 18:23-25)

 

Lastly Paul tells the Colossians that they have complete victory in Christ. Colossians 2:15, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” “Disarmed” means literally “stripping him (Satan)” and the “rulers and authorities (fallen angels)” from any power they might have over a child of God. God in essence “made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him (Christ on the cross).” The imagery here is like that of a triumphant Roman general, parading his defeated captives through the streets of Rome. Such Roman generals would parade their conquered enemies through the streets where the victorious nation could mock their defeated foe. Also in this imagery is the return of those who were held captive by such an enemy. They were rescued and returned to their victorious nation and king. When we become a child of God we are rescued from the captivity in which we were formerly living, under the rule of Satan and his demons. (John 8:36)

 

Hebrew 2:14-15 “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

 

Romans 8:1-2 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

 

In our next part we will explore the four-fold attack on the church at Colossae from false teachers. These elements of attack are still present upon the church today.