Scripture Reading: Col. 2:18-19; Eph. 4:15-16
Although Colossians is a short book, different parts of it are written from different directions, from different points of view. In chapter one and in the first part of chapter two, Paul writes from a universal direction. But starting from the middle of chapter two, he begins to write from the direction of our practical daily life. In turning from the universal perspective to the practical perspective, he enables us to see the economy of God’s salvation.
In His salvation God has no intention to preserve the law; neither does He intend for angels to occupy a prominent position. In the economy of God’s salvation, both the law and the angels must be taken out of the way. In the salvation of His people, God does not want to use any indirect means. Instead, He desires to have direct contact with His chosen ones. The fact that God has wiped out the law and stripped off the rulers and authorities means that the way is now clear for God to contact His people directly without interference of any kind of mediation.
All the positive things that remain after the law and the angels have been taken out of the way are shadows of Christ. The heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, food, and drink are all shadows, figures, of Christ, who is the body, the substance, of the shadows. All that we need for our physical living daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly is a shadow. Only Christ is the reality, the body. It is a serious mistake for believers to go back to the observances of the law. Furthermore, the worship of angels is a great insult to God. In like manner, we insult Him if we respect physical or material things more than Christ, for all such things are shadows of Christ. To repeat, the law has been taken away, the angels have been stripped off, and the material things are shadows. Therefore, we have the ground to say that Christ is all in all. He is our law, ordinance, observance, angel, universe, sun, moon, star, heaven, earth, food, and drink. He is the reality of all positive matters in our daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly living.
Writing from a universal direction, Paul shows that Christ is the portion of the saints, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the Head of the Body, the firstborn from among the dead, the One in whom the fullness of God dwells, the mystery of God’s economy, the indwelling hope of glory, the mystery of God, and the One in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. As such a One, Christ is profound, preeminent, all-inclusive, and universal. Nevertheless, He dwells in us to be our hope of glory (1:27). Turning from the universal perspective to the perspective of our daily life, Paul shows us that Christ is the reality of all the positive things for our daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly life. Therefore, Christ is not only all-inclusive universally; He is also detailed practically.
The turn from the universal perspective to the practical perspective is made in 2:14-15. In these verses Paul makes it emphatically clear that in God’s salvation God has no intention to have anything between Him and His chosen people. In order to clear the way to enliven His chosen ones, He nailed the law to the cross and stripped off the angels. Although God used the law temporarily and although He ordained angels for His government, He will not allow either the law or the angels to stand in the way of His salvation. Now that the law and the angels have been taken out of the way, God has a clear atmosphere and an unhindered environment to contact the ones He has chosen and enliven them. He not only redeems His chosen ones, but also seeks to enliven them. Today the redeeming and life-giving God can have direct contact with His chosen people.
After making the turn in these verses from the universal direction to the practical direction, Paul goes on to speak of the physical things, of our daily eating and drinking and of matters pertaining to our weekly, monthly, and yearly life. In just two verses he deals with eating and drinking, Sabbaths, new moons, and festivals. He points out that these things are shadows, whereas Christ is the body, the reality, the substance. This means that if we do not have Christ, we do not have reality; we have only shadows. Christ is the reality, the body of all positive things. Hence, in God’s economy there are no physical things or material things — there is only Christ. Moreover, Christ is not only the image of God, the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn from among the dead, the embodiment of the fullness of God, the mystery both of God’s economy and of God Himself; He is even the law, the angels, the food, the drink, the new moon, the Sabbath, and the feasts. Based upon such a revelation, we have the boldness and the assurance to declare that Christ is all in all. This is not our teaching; it is simply a recognition of what Paul says in Colossians. What a mercy that we in the Lord’s recovery can see Christ in all these aspects! With Colossians 1 and 2 as our basis, we have the confidence to say that, as the One who is all in all, our Christ is the reality of every positive thing in the universe.
It was crucial for the believers in Colosse to realize this. There was no need for them to accept religious ordinances or the highest products of culture, including mysticism, philosophy, and asceticism. At Corinth there was the problem of fornication, but in Colosse the saints were practicing asceticism in order to restrict the lustful flesh. The Colossians had not seen the vision that Christ is everything. Otherwise, they would not have allowed culture to pervade the church and to defraud them of Christ.
In 2:18 Paul issues a warning to the believers at Colosse: “Let no one purposely defraud you of your prize, in humility and worship of the angels, standing on things which he has seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh.” The Greek word rendered “purposely defraud” is difficult to translate. It may also be rendered “judge you unworthy.” It means to judge or criticize in such a way as to deceive. The heretical teachers judged that the saints were not worthy to worship God directly and told them that they had to worship God through the mediation of angels. This was to defraud the saints of their prize, which is Christ. In Christ, our sole Mediator, we can worship God directly.
The Greek expression for “purposely defraud” points to someone who contacts another with the fixed and determined intention of capturing him. It indicates someone who approaches another with the purpose of catching him and of making a prey of him. Even Christians can be used by the enemy to defraud in this way. They may contact others purposely with the intention to capture them.
In Colosse certain ones came to the saints, judging them and criticizing them with respect to particular practices. As verse 16 indicates, they judged the believers regarding eating and drinking, feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths. Verse 18 continues the concept expressed in verse 16. Here Paul tells us that we should not allow anyone to judge us with the intention of defrauding us. All those who seek to defraud you come firstly with a critical spirit to point out things they feel are wrong or mistaken. They may criticize the church or the ministry. They may speak critically of the meetings or of your participation in the church life. The intention of such criticism is to deceive you and then to defraud you by snatching you away from Christ and the church. The meaning of defraud here is to defraud by judging and criticizing. The intention is to deprive you of your prize, which is the enjoyment of Christ and of the church life.
If you check with those who have left the church life, you will find that they have been deprived of the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ and also of the enjoyment of the church life. Christ and the church, the Head and the Body, are our enjoyment, our prize. To be deprived of Christ and the church is to be defrauded of our prize.
The evil intention of the Judaizers and Gnostics was to defraud the saints in Colosse of their enjoyment of Christ and the church. The method used to defraud them was to criticize them with respect to such things as new moons and Sabbaths, perhaps criticizing them for not observing the Sabbath. They may have accused them of negligence in this matter, and then they may have argued that they had the scriptural ground to charge them to keep the Sabbath ordained by God. Furthermore, they may have accused them for not observing the new moons and the yearly festivals. No doubt, their words were very persuasive and exerted much influence. Unless we have the proper discernment, such words may sound very convincing. Therefore, it is crucial to see that all the items listed in 2:16 are shadows of which Christ is the reality and substance. Because we have Christ, we do not need to observe the Sabbath, the new moons, or the festivals, and we do not need to submit to regulations concerning eating and drinking. Since we have Christ, what need is there for us to keep the Sabbath? If we have Paul’s point of view, it will be very difficult for anyone to defraud us. Although it is still rather easy for young ones to be defrauded, I can testify that, because I have Paul’s universal and practical perspective, I am crystal clear and cannot easily be deprived of my prize.
In addition to having Paul’s view, we also need to have the proper knowledge. This knowledge will enable us to have the necessary discernment. For example, we need discernment in order to distinguish between an upper case letter I, a lower case letter l, and an Arabic numeral 1. When I was learning English as a young person, I had difficulty distinguishing between these three things. This indicates that even in small matters we need discernment. The principle is the same in spiritual matters. Those who have left the church life in recent years lacked discernment. They did not have a clear view of God’s economy, and they were short of knowledge. Because they followed others blindly, they were defrauded. They were deprived of the enjoyment of Christ and the church.
In verse 18 Paul speaks of humility with respect to being defrauded of the prize. The heretical teachers of angel worship taught the saints to show humility by considering themselves not worthy to worship God directly. They defrauded the saints of their prize in Christ in the element and sphere of such humility and worship of angels.
Certain Gnostic teachers said that man was too low to worship God directly. They advocated a type of self-abasing humility, some form of self-depreciation which was supposed to show that a person was humble. They taught that those who have such humility will not presume to worship God directly. To be so bold as to worship God without mediation, these Gnostics taught, was a mark of pride. They reminded the believers that they were sinful, fallen beings with fleshly lusts and evil thoughts. They went on to say that those who are humble will not attempt to worship directly the holy and pure God. Through such a show of humility, they seduced the Colossian believers and led them astray to the worship of angels. By this means, they deprived the Colossian saints of their enjoyment of Christ. Instead of enjoying Christ directly as their Mediator, the believers turned to angels. As a result, they were defrauded of their prize.
Those who were defrauding the saints in Colosse took their stand on things which they had seen; they insisted on certain visions they had supposedly seen. The heretical teachers were in the realm of sight, contrasted with the faith in verse 12. They liked to have curious visions. Such insistence on visual experience resulted in fleshly pride, the vain puffing up by the mind of the flesh.
The principle is the same today. Many believers are fond of curious visions. Some even claim to have had contact with angels. In many meetings held in today’s Pentecostalism, certain ones tell of visions they have seen. These so-called visions are often according to their own lusts. It is folly to insist on things supposedly seen in visions. The heretics in Colosse were such visionaries, insisting on what they had seen. The result was that they were vainly puffed up by the mind of the flesh. Although they practiced a self-abasing humility, they actually were very proud.
Speaking of those described in 2:18, Paul goes on to say in verse 19, “And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, by means of the joints and bands being supplied and knit together, grows with the growth of God.” The heresy of angel worship distracted the saints from holding Christ as the Head. God’s economy is to head up all things in Christ through His Body, the church, thereby to make Christ the center of all things. The device of the subtle one is to carry the saints away and to cause the Body to collapse. The heresy at Colosse caused the saints to be severed from the Head. This damaged the Body. Paul’s revelation was to uplift Christ and to safeguard and build up the Body. We need to be preserved in Christ for the church life. Then we shall be protected from curious visions and from anything abnormal.
If we are not preserved in Christ, the religious element in our being may give rise to many strange things. Our fallen nature with our reprobate mind is one with the evil one. The evil spirits can still have contact with our reprobate mind. The fallen mind is continually committing fornication with the evil spirits. This causes various kinds of evil things to be transmitted into us, things that may cause us to act in an abnormal manner, even to pray, sing, or praise in strange ways. For this reason, as the Bible says, we need a sober mind, a mind renewed according to the image of the One who created us (3:10). If we have such a renewed mind, we shall be preserved in Christ and enjoy Him in the church life. The main reason Paul wrote the book of Colossians was to rescue the saints from fraud and to preserve them in Christ for the proper church life.
To be preserved in Christ for the church life is to hold Him as the Head, out from whom the Body grows with the growth of God. To grow is a matter of life, which is God Himself. As the Body of Christ, the church should not be deprived of Christ, who is the embodiment of God as the source of life. By holding Christ, the church grows with the growth of God, with the increase of God as life.
This growth takes place “by means of the joints and bands being supplied and knit together.” Joints are for the supply of the Body, whereas bands are for knitting together the members of the Body. In the church some members are joints and others are bands. By means of the joints and bands, the Body grows. This indicates that we cannot grow with the growth of God individualistically. We need to be in the church. Thus, Paul’s aim in this book is to preserve us in Christ for the church life.
