Discipleship Class Introduction Week 1

Discipleship Class

Introduction and Goals (slides)

We will be starting our study in the book of Colossians.

*The church at Colosse was a new work established by Epaphras. A group of new believers “in Christ”

Paul is writing this letter to them to address issues that has come into the church by non-believers and false teachers.

1. Worldly Philosophy

(a) It passes judgment on the Colossians for not submitting to the observances of certain holy days and food and purity restrictions (2:16). Doing so will disqualify them in some way or rob them of the prize (2:18). Because the opponents disparage the Colossians in these matters, the Colossian believers apparently have not yet submitted to them.

(b) Its practices are linked to regulations regarding food and drink and observing festivals, Sabbaths, and New Moons (2:16; 2:23). It issues prohibitions: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” (2:21).

(c) It has an interest in self-abasement, angels, and visions (2:18).

(2) Paul’s negative appraisal of the error reveals the following.

(a) The “philosophy” is vain deceit, based on human tradition and the elemental spirits (or principles) of the universe, and is not according to Christ (2:8). It clearly deviates from Christian teaching.

(b) It has the “appearance of wisdom” (2:23). The opponents present persuasive, fine-sounding arguments (2:4) that can take the unwary captive (2:8). The opponents may identify their teaching as “wisdom,” or Paul may deride its deceptive appearance of possessing wisdom.

(c) The opponents have “lost connection with the Head,” from which divine growth comes (2:19). We must decide whether the opponents would have disagreed with this statement if they were Christians or agreed with it if they were not.

(d) The regulations about food, drink, and the observance of holy days are only a shadow of things to come, which is found in Christ (2:17).

(e) The dogmas are based on the “basic principles [or elemental spirits] of this world,” from which those in Christ have been set free (2:8).

(f) The rules are dismissed as the “human commands and teachings” (2:22; cf. v. 8), which cannot compare to divine revelation.

(g) The references to their “false humility” (nrsv, “self-abasement”), “worship of angels” (or “worship with angels”), the things a person “has seen,” and “puffs … up” in 2:18 are the most disputed phrases in the letter; but they are all associated with a “fleshly [niv, unspiritual] mind.”

(3) Paul gives the following direct commands to the Colossians, which shed further light on the “philosophy” and the Colossians’ involvement with it.

(a) Paul applies the poetic material in 1:15–20 to the Colossians in 1:22–23 and tells them that they need to remain firm in the teaching they heard previously. He does not tell them that they need to renounce some error.

(b) Paul affirms in 2:9–10 that they are already complete, having attained fullness in Christ. We can infer from this statement that someone is claiming that they have not attained this fullness, that they need something more.

(c) Paul assures the Colossians of their status before God in Christ, who is “the head over every power and authority” (2:10) and who has secured for them the forgiveness of their sins. We can infer from this that the Colossians are less confident of this status either because they have begun to doubt it themselves or because someone from the outside has cast doubt on it.

(d) Paul insists that Christ alone is sufficient for their salvation.

**Paul’s letter is part of discipleship! Paul is fulfilling the scripture we opened with: Matt 28:18-20

Read What Colossians Means For Us Today -Handout after reading

Let’s begin our journey!

Read Col 1:1-7

“IN CHRIST” IN HIM” ??

What does this term mean?

“In Christ” 87 times in the N.T.

“in Him” 92 times in the N.T.

Verse 5

in the word of the truth of the gospel

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Verse 6

since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

What does this term mean?

(1) To be in Christ means to be incorporated in him so that he encompasses the entire life of the believer. The recipients may be Colossians, but the only identity that matters to God is that they are Christians. That means that Christ completes everything in their lives. Paul will later make clear in the letter that his death becomes their death, his burial their burial, his resurrection their resurrection, his victory their victory (2:6–23).

(2) To be in Christ means that the Colossians are exclusively joined to him and to no other.

(3) To be in Christ means that he completes/perfects the behavior of believers. One cannot be “in the world” or “into magic or drugs,” for example, and be “in Christ

(4) To be in Christ means that believers are inseparably joined to him.

*Regarding the security of the believer:

2 Corinthians 1:21–22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

Ephesians 1:13–14 NKJV

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 4:30 NKJV

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

John 10:28 NKJV

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

**a NEW BELIEVER must stand firm and know his/her status in Christ! Have assurance in the security of your salvation! Don’t think or use words like “I hope i make it?” “Don’t forget me God?”

Romans 8:28–39 NKJV

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 5:13 NKJV

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

(5) To be in Christ means that believers are also joined to a new family where the dividing lines that separate and categorize persons have been erased (see Rom. 12:5). Their mutual faith in Christ has created a spiritual kinship that supersedes blood ties.

Being in Christ gives Christians their true identity beyond their race, nationality, or clan.