Study through Colossians lesson 4
Introduction
We cannot unravel our lives from those of other believers. We come from different social backgrounds. We have different levels of education. Often we have been raised in different countries and cultures. But we are knit together. A woman like Mary Magdalene is made one with a woman like Mary, the mother of Jesus. A man like Simon the Zealot is made one with Matthew the publican. Peter the doer is made one with John the dreamer. We share a common bond.
I read somewhere recently that every hour scientists are publishing enough new information to fill a thousand-page volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Think of it—enough information every day to fill an entire edition of an encyclopedia!
We are to think of ourselves first as a great tree. A tree is a marvel of nature. On a mountain in California just north of Death Valley grows a gnarled and weather-beaten bristlecone pine. It is known as “Methuselah,” and it is well named for it is estimated to be forty-six hundred years old. When David was writing his psalms, old Methuselah had been growing and growing for some sixteen hundred years. When Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees, old Methuselah had been growing for hundreds of years and was already a hardy veteran on earth. In fact, if its age is correctly estimated, Old Methuselah has been here since the days of the Flood.
the elemental spirits (Gk. stoicheia) of the world. Stoicheia is sometimes translated “the basic principles” of the world and then interpreted to be something like the fundamental principles of pagan religion. In the ancient world, however, the term stoicheia was widely used for spirits in Persian religious texts, magical papyri, astrological documents, and some Jewish texts. Paul is likely using it here to refer to demonic spirits; it is the equivalent of “rulers and authorities” (vv. 10, 15). Although the false teaching is handed down as human tradition, it can ultimately be traced to the influence of demonic forces. The fundamental problem with this philosophy is that it is not in accord with Jesus Christ and the gospel proclaimed by him and the apostle Paul.