Sermon Tone Analysis
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(Welcome)
Welcome to Central.
If this is your first time, I want to say, “Welcome Home!”
As an expository church, we prioritize preaching and teaching that focuses on a Christ-centered, holistic, and sequential approach to Scripture.
We enjoy preaching through books of the Bible and tackling each passage with a high view of Jesus Christ and an intent to be led into worship and transformation by what we find therein.
(Opening Prayer)
Heavenly Father, be glorified this morning as we open your Word.
Open our ears to hear it.
Open our minds to understand it.
Open our hearts to believe it.
Open our mouths to confess it.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You today.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.
(Series Introduction)
Today we continue our Colossians series.
(Opening Context)
Paul is writing to a church he has never visited.
He doesn’t know these people.
Paul wrote Colossians between 60-62 AD during his first imprisonment in Rome (Acts 28).
Paul also wrote Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon during this time.
Pastor Epaphras planted the Colossian church and came to Paul because they had problems that needed to be addressed.
Paul writes this letter in the midst of their many heresies with one solution in mind - Correct Christology.
A low view of Christ was the problem, Paul gave us a high view of Christ.
(Colossian Context)
Paul was concerned that no false teacher take the Colossian believers captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy (v.
4).
He wrote here not against all philosophy but against false philosophy, as the Bible also speaks against false religion (James 1:26).
The particular false philosophy at Colosse was “hollow” (kenēs, “empty”), “deceptive,” and based on human tradition … rather than on Christ.
True Christian philosophy “take[s] captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor.
10:5).
Philosophy is the love of wisdom, but if one loves wisdom that is not Christ (the Sum of all wisdom, Col. 2:3), he loves an empty idol.
Such a one will be “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (2 Tim.
3:7).
This kind of philosophy is based on the world’s basic principles (stoicheia, “elementary principles” or “elemental spirits” Col. 2:20; Gal.
4:3, 9).
This may refer to the evil spirits who inspire such heresy and over whom Christ triumphed (2 Cor.
4:3–4; Eph.
6:11–12).
Such a philosophy is demonic and worldly, not godly or Christlike.
Unless believers are careful, such philosophy may ensnare them, taking them “captive.”
Listen to what Paul says to the Colossian church.
Colossians 2:8–15 (ESV)
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.
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
1. Christ Is Fully God and Fully Man
Colossians 2:8–10 (ESV)
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.
(Dogma vs. Conviction Story)
A couple of weeks ago I was sharing with someone about the importance of the truth of Christ being, fully God and fully man, and they said to me, “I can see that this is a great conviction of yours.”
I thought about it for about two seconds and responded, “No, this is dogma.”
What does it mean for something to be “dogma?”
(Dogma Definition)
A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament (δόγμα)
DOGMA, δόγμα, a command, an ordinance, a decree.
Dogma (Core Teaching) is something worth dying over
(i.e.
Christ is fully God and Fully man, Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to Scripture alone for the glory of God alone).
Doctrine (Teaching), although very important, is only worth debating over
(i.e.
Initial Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Pre-Trib vs. Mid-Trib vs. Post-Trib, Calvinism vs. Arminism).
The very nature of God is fully present in Christ.
False teachers may have asserted that Christ was one of many divine beings or that God’s fullness was distributed throughout supernatural beings, not just Christ—claims that Paul rejects.
Paul warns against false teaching with an array of negative terms that leaves no doubt about his perspective.
This verse is a stark contrast to verses 6–7.
Paul’s implication is that, if believers follow his instructions in the previous verses, they will be immunized against error.
Scholars generally agree that the reference to “philosophy” suggests that false teachers described their teaching with this term.
The reason (“for”) the Colossians are to reject such teaching is that everything it offers can already be found in its true form “in him” (Christ).
The verse recalls the incarnational theology of 1:19 by means of common words (katoikeō, “dwell”; and plērōma, “fullness”).
There is no “fullness” (plērōma) in philosophy based on vain human reasoning.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives.
Hence only in Christ can one have fullness.
Apart from Him is emptiness.
As philosopher Jean Paul Sartre put it, “Life is an empty bubble on the sea of nothingness” (Ecc.
1:14–18).
The word for “Deity” is theotētos, a strong word (used only here in the NT) for Christ’s essence as God.
The full deity of Christ is nonetheless in bodily form—a full humanity (Col.
1:22).
Both Christ’s deity and humanity were challenged by this early Gnostic-like heresy.
Those heretics diminished Christ to an angel whose “body” was only apparent, not real.
Paul affirmed here that Christ is both fully God and truly man (1 John 4:1–6).
Who Jesus Christ Is, Is Worth Dying For.
(The Deity and Humanity of Jesus Christ is not debatable, it’s dogma.)
2. God Has Raised the Dead
Colossians 2:11–12 (ESV)
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Not only is all the “fullness” (plērōma) of God in Christ (v.
9), but also believers have been given fullness in Christ.
Their fullness of life comes from Christ’s fullness.
Paul builds on his reference to “fullness” with the statement that the believers have been “filled in him.”
They partake of the divine nature through Christ (2 Peter 1:4), for “from the fullness of his grace we have all received” (John 1:16).
This, of course, does not mean believers become God but simply share in Him.
They have or share in the goodness of the nature which He is.
They share in the body of Him who is the Head (Col.
1:18) over every power (archēs, “ruler”) and authority (exousias, “ruling power”) (1:16; 2:15), including those who would talk the Colossians into living according to the world instead of according to Christ.
There is nothing more the Colossians need to find anywhere else.
Paul also makes further reference to Christ’s headship over spiritual realities, using language reminiscent of 1:16–17.
There is a measure of repetition in this epistle, apparently to ensure that the Colossians have understood the false teaching surrounding them in light of the full significance of Christ’s rule over all things.
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