10/15/23 - The War Has Been Won
1. You Have Received Jesus Christ The Lord
Receiving Christ also implies receiving the traditions about Christ—what he did and taught and what it means—and this tradition, rather than human tradition (v. 8), provides the guidelines for the Christian life
The Colossians have received Christ himself as their tradition
strong impression from the text is that they actually embraced him, not simply the message
If Paul had written “Lord Jesus Christ,” attention would focus on the office of Jesus—his lordship. This calls for a different analysis. The word “Lord” is in apposition to “Jesus Christ,” and the article in the Greek accentuates his point (the Greek reads “Christ Jesus the Lord”). The statement means you received Christ Jesus, the one who is the Lord
2. The Enemy’s Lies Are Empty
The Colossian heresy
The church at Colosse was troubled by theological strife. There were some there, whom we will call ‘spoilers’, who were of the opinion that Christ Jesus alone was not sufficient for salvation, so they questioned his divinity and his gospel. Their hotchpotch of theology included philosophy, traditions of men, and worldly thinking (2:8). They gave place to authorities other than Jesus Christ and worshipped angels (1:16; 2:15, 18). The spoilers were also insisting that Jewish ceremonial laws were necessary for salvation and sanctification (2:16). All these things were part and parcel of the Colossian heresy. Intellectual it may have been, but spiritual it was not. It is generally agreed that this was not a full-grown heresy, but the beginnings of second-century Gnosticism.
sinking the roots of faith into the soil of Christian truth
3. You Have Been Filled In Christ
Paul meant that the fullness of deity dwells in Christ. The expression is unusual, but the God-man relationship cannot be expressed well in human language. The fullness of deity was Paul’s way of stating that Jesus is every bit God
In him, and in him alone, God has decisively and exhaustively revealed himself. All that we can know or experience of God is therefore found in our relationship with him.
4. You Have Been Given Jesus’ Record
5. Christ Has Triumphed Over Every Enemy
The image is of a triumphal Roman military procession. The defeated king with all of his surviving warriors and the spoils of war were paraded through the streets of Rome, as a public spectacle for all to see.