Colossians 2:6-15, “Full, Forgiven, and Free”

If you ask most people what they want from life, what is the most common answer? To be happy. We all want peace, wholeness, a fullness to life. When you ask how that will happen, that’s where the answers start to multiply. And admittedly the happiness is often hard to come by.

We all seek wholeness because we’re living in a broken world. Our world is not as it should be. How can you live a full life in a broken world? There have been many paths and philosophies offered over the centuries. They all offer either an escape or a fix.

What are some pathways to a full life offered today? education, material prosperity, work/life balance, happy family, political progress, scientific progress and invention

The truth is, most people get so worn out pursuing one or more of these that they settle for escapes that cost less than fixes. They escape into entertainment or substances or relationships. Until those things start to cost more. And that’s the problem. None of the fixes work and none of us can truly escape the brokenness. Because we are part of the problem. We bring our brokenness with us wherever we go.

If we understand where things went wrong, it helps us find the way back. Out of all the philosophies and religions in the world, Christianity is unique. We believe you can have a full life, forgiveness of sins, and freedom to walk in love and gratitude through faith in Jesus Christ, and only in Him. In our passage today, the Apostle Paul gives us four realities you won’t find in any other religion and philosophy.

Truth #1: It’s Worse Than You Think

Other philosophies and religions tell us we just need to do life better. When Jesus arrived in our world, Greek philosophy said the problem is your physical body is keeping you from realizing your union with the transcendent godhead. Just deny your physical desires and learn the organizing principle of life (the logos), such as virtue, and you’ll find your way out of the brokenness.

Judaism said tame the desires of the flesh, take the sign of circumcision and keep the law of Moses as interpreted by the rabbis. Eat this, don’t eat that, don’t touch this or that and you’ll have peace with God and fix the brokenness.

Jesus taught us that ignores reality. It’s much worse than they’re telling you. It isn’t so much that we must be better versions of ourselves. The reality is that we’re dead and we need to be brought back to life, to be remade. We need a new creation.

The world, as God created it out of love, was good. It was a place full of life in which humans, created in God’s image could be fruitful and live life to its fullest in communion with God. If we would listen to His voice and live under His kingdom, we could spread fruitfulness everywhere we go.

But the desire of our flesh was to rule ourselves, make our own decisions about good and bad, right and wrong, and we rebelled against God’s kingdom over us. This is what we call sin. It is our disposition and the resulting thoughts, words, and actions that are contrary to God’s will and law. Paul calls our sin trespass.

How does Paul describe our condition in verse 13?

Colossians 2:13 (ESV)

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

We crossed the line in violation of God’s laws and the result was death. Broken relationship with God, broken relationships with each other, broken self-understanding, and broken relationship with the world God made.

Paul says all the other philosophies and religions are an empty deceit.

Colossians 2:8 (ESV)

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.

They are human traditions that only deal with the “elemental spirits”, or literally the arrangement of the elements of our lives. The organizing principles of Greek philosophies and the rules of the rabbis are just rearranging the pieces.

Even Judaism, with its rules for better living according to the law of Moses, was not a fix. It was only a record of debt that we owe God, and we could never repay it. If Greek philosophy said to deny the flesh its desires, Judaism said to get circumcised, surrender the flesh and its desires to God’s law. But Paul points out that even if you succeed at keeping the law, your flesh becomes proud, and you land back in sin, condemned under God’s law.

So, it’s worse than you think. You can rearrange the pieces with human traditions, but you’re still dead in your trespasses.

Paul says Christ hasn’t come to rearrange. He has come to completely rebuild.

Truth #2: God Can Do What We Can’t

Colossians 2:13–14 (ESV)

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,

by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

The God who created you can recreate you. He can give you new life. There is hope. His law must be fulfilled. But He will do it through one human, acting on our behalf. He sent God the Son to take on a body of flesh. He lived the life we should have lived, perfectly, without sin. He died the death we should have died, receiving the just penalty for sin on the cross. And God the Father counted this as a clearing of the accounts, or a new creation.

All the debt you owe God for your sin: every action and attitude of self-reliance, every time you’ve harbored hateful anger or lust in your heart instead of love, every time you’ve acted or spoken in anger or lust instead of love, everything you’ve said, thought, or done, that contributed to the brokenness, is forgiven through the cross of Christ. Any ruler or authority in the spiritual realm has been disarmed and proved shamefully wrong.

Colossians 2:15 (ESV)

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

We aren’t forgiven by appeasing the spiritual rulers in keeping their traditions and organizing principles. We are forgiven because of the cross of Christ.

Why is the death of Jesus different than any other death of a human in history?

Because Jesus was not just any other human. He was unique.

Truth #3: Jesus Christ is the Fullness of God

Why is Christ triumphant even in death? Because He was doing something only God could do. Paul says it this way,

Colossians 2:9 (ESV)

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

In other words, there isn’t anything that God is that Jesus isn’t. He is full of life, full of love, full of power, full of justice and mercy. Even when Jesus took on a human body, it did not diminish His deity. He is deity in its fullness. This refutes Greek philosophy by upholding the goodness of they physical creation of the body. And it refutes Judaism that taught that God is unapproachable by the human.

So, in the crucifixion of Christ on the cross, His blood was a perfect offering for sin. More than this, His resurrection was vindication of His deity and a freedom from the weakness of the body of flesh, now a glorified body. And He is now ascended to the throne in the kingdom of God. Still full of life, full of forgiveness, full of love. And this leads to the fourth and final truth, and it is the most amazing of all.

Truth #4: Your Fullest Life is in Jesus Christ

The truly remarkable claim of Christianity is that all the fullness of the resurrected life of Christ can be yours. You can enter the full eternal life, the forgiveness, the freedom from the philosophies and human traditions that would take you captive to their organizing principles and rules for better living.

Colossians 2:8 (ESV)

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.

Free to live in the abundant life of Christ.

Colossians 2:9–10 (ESV)

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

Our union with Christ bring us into the life of God. His divine rule and authority are more substantial and eternal than the empty human traditions and organizing principles of other philosophies. Your fullest life is in Christ. He brings order to your chaos and life to your dead soul.

How does this happen? Paul says it is a twofold action in our lives. First,

Colossians 2:11 (ESV)

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,

This circumcision is a cutting off, or a putting off of the body of flesh with its desire for self-rule. The word Jesus used for this action is repent. And it goes hand in hand with the second but simultaneous action, to believe.

Colossians 2:12 (ESV)

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.

Your faith unites you with Jesus Christ the Lord, the fullness of God. There is nothing Christ is or has that is not available to you. Paul has already said in this letter that Christ has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Those are available to you. He reconciles us to God. In Christ we are made holy and blameless. We share in His resurrected life. We are made alive.

Colossians 2:13 (ESV)

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,

Your body and mind are no longer controlled by the flesh and its desires for self rule. When Paul says we were raised with him through faith, he is talking about new life. We are made a new creation. God isn’t rearranging pieces in your life. He is creating a new person. What kind of person?

Are there any marks in our passage of the new person God is creating in a believer in Jesus?

Paul begins this section by saying,

Colossians 2:6–7 (ESV)

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.

We receive Jesus by faith, we walk in Him by faith. Look at the words Paul uses for someone in the faith, rooted, built up, established, abounding in thanksgiving. You become a more substantial person in Christ.

Paul says we are free of the captivity of human tradition. But also, because Jesus was crucified,

Colossians 2:14 (ESV)

by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

the record of debt we owed God was forgiven and we are free. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, God made us alive together with Him. Forgiven and free. How should we use that freedom?

As you think about responding to this passage, what are ways we can use our fullness, forgiveness, and freedom in Christ?

Colossians 2:15 (ESV)

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

The cross of Christ and His resurrection from the dead put to shame all the other spiritual rulers and authorities. They would take you captive to endless cycles of rules and religion and failure and guilt and shame. Christ frees you to live a resurrected life. We can go into the broken world as new people, with something to offer.

Questions for Discussion

What are some Easter traditions that are meaningful to you?

When did Easter become about the resurrection of Jesus more than candy and springtime for you?

What do we learn about Jesus Christ in our passage, Colossians 2:6-15?

How do verses 9 and 10 help you understand your life as a Christian?

What do we learn about ourselves in this passage?

What are some philosophies and human traditions that you have tried as a means to bring order to your chaos but haven’t worked?

What has Christ done that no one and no other system of virtues has done, according to verses 13-15?

How will you respond to this passage?

Who is someone you can share this passage with this week?