Jesus Christ: His Deity (2)
Notes
Transcript
Others, again, understanding πλήρωμα of the Church, take σωματικῶς to mean, “so that the Church is related to Him as His body” (Baumgarten-Crusius, al.), thus making the body of Christ dwell in Christ, instead of Christ in the body.
The Setting of Colossians
c. A.D. 62
Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians while in prison, probably in Rome. The church at Colossae was likely established during Paul’s third missionary journey as he ministered for three years in Ephesus. It appears that Paul did not personally plant the church there, but instead a Colossian named Epaphras traveled to Ephesus, responded to Paul’s gospel message, and returned to share the good news in Colossae.
Introduction to Colossians
Timeline
Author, Date, and Recipients
The apostle Paul wrote this letter to Christians living in the small city of Colossae. It was probably written c. A.D. 62, while Paul was in prison in Rome (Acts 27–28). This was about the same time he wrote Ephesians and Philemon. All three letters were sent with Tychicus and Onesimus.
Theme
Christ is Lord over all of creation, including the invisible realm. He has redeemed his people, enabling them to participate in his death, resurrection, and fullness.
Purpose, Occasion, and Background
A dangerous teaching was threatening the church at Colossae, one that lessened Christ’s role and undermined the new identity of believers “in Christ” (1:2, 28). Paul wrote to warn against this false teaching and to encourage the believers in their growth toward Christian maturity. He emphasizes Christ’s authority over all evil powers. Christians are united with the risen Christ, and therefore they share in his power and authority. Paul also encourages these believers to fight against sin, pursue holiness, and live as distinctively Christian households.
Jesus Christ: His Deity
Colossians 2:1–10 (ESV): For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
Alive in Christ
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Smallest City
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Elevation is 52 feet, Area: 602 acres & Population: 261 (2020)
The Dangerous Teaching at Colossae (2:4–23)
Colossians 2:9
Paul insists that the false teachers’ doctrine is “not according to Christ” (v. 8). When they add certain practices to faith in Christ, their teaching is defective and dangerous. The Colossians must reject false teaching and cling to Christ, for in him they have all they need for eternal life and godliness—“in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (v. 9). The Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate! Paul refutes the common but false notion that spiritual success is to be found by neglecting the human body (cf. v. 23). On the contrary, God took up residence in a human body and was crucified and resurrected to defeat the demons and bring eternal life to believers.
Therefore, Paul’s readers do not need the “add-ons” of the false teachers, because Christ is the God-man, “and you have been filled in him” (v. 10). By knowing Christ we know all of God that can be known.
Deity > Theotes
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”Romans 1:20 NIV
STRONGS G2320:
θεότης, -ητος, ἡ, (deitas, Tertullian, Augustine [de 104 Dei 7, 1]), deity i. e. the state of being God, Godhead: Colossians 2:9. (Lucian, Icar. 9; Plutarch, de defect. orac. 10, p. 415 c.)
[Synonyms θεότης, θειότης: θεότ. deity differs from θειότ. divinity, as essence differs from quality or attribute; cf. Trench § 2; Bp. Lightfoot or Meyers on Colossians under the passage; Fritzsche on Romans 1:20.]
Theology for Life—Believers have all they need in Jesus. There is nothing better, deeper, or more spiritual than knowing, loving, and serving him. Christ is God, he is ours, we are his, and we must turn a deaf ear to any teaching that suggests otherwise.
Colossians and Redemptive History
Like Philippians, Colossians has no explicit quotations of the Old Testament to tie this letter to the sweep of God’s redemptive program down through history. Yet there is much in Colossians that enables believers around the world to see how this letter connects the dots between their own lives, what Christ has done, and human history.
What Colossians mainly contributes is a clear and magnificent vision of who Christ is. At the beginning of time God created mankind in God’s own image, yet sin scarred this image. Christ, too, the divine Son, “is the image of the invisible God,” but he is unscarred (Col. 1:15). At the high point of all history Jesus Christ came to reconcile mankind back to God by going to a cross (1:20; 2:14). As sinners united to Christ by faith, Christians are likewise being restored into the image of God that was tragically marred at the fall in Eden (3:10).
When Christ came, in other words, it was the beginning of the global restoration of all things (1:20). Adam and Eve were called to be fruitful and to spread the knowledge of God all across the globe (Gen. 1:28). When they rebelled, this mission faltered. Christ, however, has done what Adam should have done, and by his obedience, even to death, has become the Savior of sinners who have faith in him (Rom. 5:12–19; 1 Cor. 15:22, 45). And the mantle of what Adam was called to do has now fallen on believers. Paul uses the very language of Genesis 1 when he exhorts the Colossians to live “bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10).
Christ is not only high and exalted; he also endured extreme suffering as he won a cosmic triumph over all the hostile forces arrayed against God. Christ canceled the record of sins that stood against his people by going to the cross. Paul not only describes the effect of the cross for believers but also its effect on the forces of hell: “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them” (2:15). In this way Christ “has delivered us from the domain of darkness”—the domain of the forces of hell—“and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (1:13).
The emptiness of human ways of thinking. Throughout Colossians Paul shows himself eager to shield his readers from falling into worldly patterns of thinking and living. He wants no one to “delude” the Colossians “with plausible arguments” (Col. 2:4). He speaks of the “empty deceit” of “human tradition” (2:8). Especially toward the end of chapter 2, Paul seems to refer to false teachers who are tempting the Colossians to be distracted from Christ’s supremacy and sufficiency (2:16–23). There is always the temptation to supplement allegiance to Christ with lesser allegiances. But Jesus Christ himself embodies “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3).
The new life in Christ. The letter to the Colossians tells us not only of Christ but also of what it means for believers to live in Christ. The Christian life is one of resilient gospel-centrality. Believers bear fruit through the gospel (Col. 1:6), never move on from the hope of the gospel (1:23), and grow in maturity in the same way that they received the gospel (2:6–7). At the same time, while never moving past the gospel of grace, believers are fundamentally new people and are therefore able to grow. We have been buried with Christ (2:12), resurrected with Christ (2:13; 3:1), and given a whole new self (3:10). We have been remade. As Christians around the world today seek to walk with Christ, we do so ever mindful of his forgiving grace which pardons as well as his restoring grace which empowers.
V-2:1 for those at Laodicea. Laodicea was the nearest city to Colossae, only 9 miles (14.5 km) away (see note on Rev. 3:14–22). There was a close relationship between these churches.
V-2:2 The false teachers probably claimed special knowledge of the mysteries of God’s truth. Paul insists that Christ is God’s mystery. All understanding is found in him.
V-2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Jesus is the ultimate keeper of divine wisdom and spiritual knowledge. Compare Prov. 2:3–6.
VV-2:4–23 The Dangerous Teaching at Colossae. Paul delivers a series of warnings about the teaching that threatens the Colossian church. In doing so, he also provides important teaching on the Christians’ new identity in Christ. This will help them resist the false teachers’ arguments and live in a way that pleases the Lord.
V-2:4 that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. What the teacher(s) are saying sounds right, but it is still false.
In many ways ch. 6 starts from this dark background. The prophet and the people alike are in a parlous situation when seen in the presence of the divine king. The following narratives in chs 7–8 indicate how, despite God’s offers of deliverance, their refusal to attend to him leads to his withdrawal from them, to his ‘hiding (of) his face from the House of Jacob’ (8:17). The following verses, 8:19–23, portray a country that has completely lost its way religiously and is now indeed in distress and darkness: note how close in sentiment and language 8:22 is to 5:30.
There is a difference, however, not in the state of the people as a whole but in the state of Isaiah himself and, we gather from 8:11–18, of those who associate with him, be they many or few. The mysterious procedure described in 6:6–7 brings the removal and purging away of his iniquity and sin, thus making a sharp separation between him and his people. This separation is marked also with regard to the king in 7:13 and with regard to the people in 8:11–15. Its effect is that even in the darkness of God’s hiding of his face Isaiah will continue to wait in expectant hope for the brighter future that will follow the present darkness (8:17). It is precisely to this situation that the vision is renewed of a people now walking in darkness coming to see a great light (9:1). 8:23b–9:6, which amplifies on this expression of hope, brings this first half of our section to its conclusion; it ends on a positive note which contrasts directly and by verbal association with the ending of ch. 5 (5:30; 8:22).
V-2:5 good order . . . firmness. The Colossians should be like troops ready for battle.
V-2:6–7 you received Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul reminds the Colossians of the foundational teaching of Epaphras when they first became Christians. At the heart of this is the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord (1 Cor. 12:3).
V-2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive. “Takes you captive” translates a Greek word commonly used of stealing a ship’s cargo. philosophy. The Greek for this word suggests the faction’s leaders called their teaching “the philosophy.” Paul is not condemning all traditional Greek philosophical schools (for example, Platonism, Stoicism, Aristotelianism). His remarks are focused on the particular teaching at Colossae. the elemental spirits of the world. Paul likely is referring to demonic spirits.
Colossians 2 (CNTUOT): Daniel concerns the establishment of the eschatological kingdom, and Ephesians and Colossians focus on the end-time messianic king (christos) and the “mystery” revolving around him.
Colossians 1:26–27; 2:2; 4:3
Thus, the Colossians’ “mystery” indicates inaugurated fulfillment not only of Dan. 2, but also of the general prophetic expectation about how Gentiles would become part of the saved people of God in the end time.
Colossians 2
Colossians 2
Colossians 2:8–23
The Colossians’ context likely links such “commandments and teachings” to “empty deception” based on “the tradition of men” instead of “on Christ” (2:8).
Colossians 2:8–23
Colossians 2:18–19 also supports an idolatry notion, since it says that trusting in the “old shadows” also involves substituting “the worship of the angels” for worship of Christ (which is “not holding fast to the head” [for succinct argument that the genitival phrase “worship of the angels” refers not to “worshiping with the angels” but to “worshiping angels” and to angelic idolatry, see Hay 2000: 105–9).
“In Christ”: A Central Theme in Colossians
1:14in whom we have redemption
1:16in him all things were created
1:19in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell
1:22reconciled in his body of flesh
2:3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
2:6walk in him
2:7rooted and built up in him
2:9in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily
2:10you have been filled in him
2:11you were circumcised in him
2:12in him you were raised up
2:15triumphing over them in him
3:20pleasing in the Lord
4:7fellow servant in the Lord
4:17the ministry that you have received in the Lord
V-2:9 in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Jesus is God in the flesh (see 1:15–20).
V-2:10 you have been filled in him. Believers share in Christ’s power and authority over every rule and authority through their union with him. Here is the letter’s main theme. The divine “fullness” is in Christ (v. 9), and believers are “filled in him.” They have everything they need in Christ. The term head is clearly used here with the sense of “authority over” (see note on 1 Cor. 11:3). Colossians 2:1-10 “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you ha…”
For more on Christ’s deity see:
Dan. 7:9–14
John 1:1–3
John 20:21–23, 30–31
Titus 2:11–14
Heb. 1:1–14 Colossians 2:9
John 20:21–23 (ESV)
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
John 20:30–31 (ESV): The Purpose of This Book
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?
And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”
But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”
And to which of the angels has he ever said,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Daniel 7:9–14 (ESV)
“As I looked,
thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
“I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,