Our New Identity In Christ Colossians 2:6-23

If someone would come up to you this morning and ask, what is your identity or who are you? What would you say...

I could think of a lot of answers and you probably could too. I’m a husband, father, pastor, leader, a hockey fan, and the list could go on. Probably the first ones that come to mind are the most important in your mind.

How many of us had a Child of God or something similar come to mind first?

Paul is going to remind us this morning of what our identity is and what does that mean going forward in this life.

Read Colossians 2:6–23 “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. 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. 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. 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, 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. 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. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

Paul is going to point us to 2 truths this morning about our new identity:

1. Our Identity Brings Liberation vs. 6-15

v. 6 this isn’t a suggestion but Paul is making a declared command, walk in Him. This is your identity now.

Colossians and Philemon—The Supremacy of Christ A Birth Walk (v. 6)

“It is interesting to notice that the Apostles preached the Lordship of Christ. The word Savior occurs only twice in the Acts of the Apostles (

What have we been given as a result of this liberation? 4 truths

A. An Ability for Thankfulness v. 7

As we are connected to the vine of Christ, rooted, built, and established in Christ. We are going to be able to come at life with gratitude and perspective. Paul talked last week how hard ministry is but he would never give it up. Why? Because of the joy that is brought in it.

How is that possible? It can only come through Christ. Because of the liberation that He brings to us through his sacrifice upon the cross.

Colossians and Philemon—The Supremacy of Christ A Walk in Faith (v. 7b)

To outgrow the basic truth of Christianity is to become post-Christian and pagan, despite objections to the contrary.

Colossians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Overflowing with Gratitude

By taking in the truth of the Word, believers get a strong mind. By living out those truths, they receive full assurance that Christ is who He claimed to be. Assured of that, they can appropriate the riches that are His legacy to believers, and walk in Him. As they walk in Him, they will grow in Him and become established in their faith. As a result, they will give praise to God.

B. An Ability to Know Truth vs. 8-10

Acts 20:29–31 “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.”

v. 8 many traditions of men have tried to couple divine truth and twist it to their own gain, but at the end of the day it is all empty. Even though they believed it to be the highest thing, wisdom. Which Paul would conclude that philosophy or love of wisdom is not bad, but if that is the ultimately goal it will come up short.

Paul was saying that this belief system seems so basic for those who have come to Christ. Being taught only spiritual things are worthy while the immaterial is evil.

But as Paul has reminded us of the truth, Christ had a physical earthly body and Scripture tell us that He had no sin. And that same power that was and is Christ now dwells in us. We can know truth and be led by it.

Not only that but Christ is the head of all. He is supreme and ultimate. Colossians 1:18–19 “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,”

C. A Removal of our Formal Life vs. 11-14

Nothing of our life before Christ made us righteous. We were dead, nothing good in us. The only thing we did as dead people was stink. Lifeless, immovable, and destined for eternal separation from Christ.

We may ask why does Paul bring up circumcision to a primary Gentile audience? Well there appeared to be a form legalism mixed with the pagan religion. But Paul does a masterful job of walking through this.

Circumcision was a procedure to remove a part of the body and the removed part was casted away. Never to be thought of again. Instead Paul says of a small part of your skin being removed in circumcision, now in Christ He removes the entirety of our skin of our entire body and it is visual displayed through the picture of baptism.

Now this baptism Paul speaks of here is that of a spiritual baptism that occurs at salvation, and all believers experience this. We know this because Paul would not argue one physical display being no more than to impose another.

v. 14 is probably one of my most favorite visuals in the NT

In this reminder by Paul he is helping us to see that when we come to Christ we should never return back to our old way of life. Forgiven, never to be brought up again.

I want you to visualize all of your sin...taken to the cross. The file of your records and he nailed it straight to it. Christ removed all of that and nailed it to the cross. A modern day example would be a paper shredder or the delete/factory restore button.

D. A Declared Victory v. 15

The accusers thought they won! When Christ went to the cross, I am sure Satan stood rejoicing, but that was not what happened.

Paul had as much a public display of a conquering general or king coming home from the battle and leading trailing the spoils of war behind him. Leading the defeated by in their undergarments, ashamed and defeated.

Romans 8:37-39 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It is a declared victory because like in war, even when the final blow is laid against the defeated enemy there will still be small skirmishes here and there. But be assured Christ has won.

Ephesians 2:16 “and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”

Hebrews 2:14 “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,”

The second truth of our identity is...

2. Our Identity Removes Ritual Living vs. 16-23

The Colossian church, and let’s be honest churches today, faced some weird ideas about food, holidays, and all sorts of ritual.

What were removed?

A. No dietary restrictions v. 16-17

The idea of food or drink determining our level of godliness today seems strange but it can still occur. As Peter was reminded in Acts 10:9-16 that the dietary restrictions for Christians was removed from the Old Covenant. We can now enjoy food and drink to the glory of Jesus.

Galatians 5:1 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

We must be careful not to set legalistic things before us. Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

B. No holidays/festivals to maintain vs. 16-17

Any festival that was to be celebrated is just a type or foreshadowing of the celebration that we will enjoy one day in the future Kingdom, but again nothing is required of us today.

In Acts 15 we see the Jerusalem counsel set rules but nothing in it was about observance of any feasts.

In fact, Paul writes in Romans 14:5 “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”

We must live within our Christian liberties and convictions but not impose those upon each other. We must be careful that we do not lead ourselves into sin or others in regards to food, drink, or festivals.

Colossians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Legalism

Paul’s point is simple: true spirituality does not consist merely of keeping external rules, but of having an inner relationship with Jesus Christ.

C. Anything that does not focus on Christ vs. 18-19

The false teachers were promoting a sort of mysticism. By definition the pursuit of a deeper or higher subjective religious experience. You are essentially seeking self-authority. What I feel or experience is the highest form of spirituality.

The church is in danger any time its focus comes off of Christ.

But it didn’t stop there. This idea of angelic worship as Clinton Arnold put it.

“the community in Colossae probably worshiped angels as a way of summoning angelic assistance and resisting evil spirits.”

But what do we know of holy angels? They only pointed people to worship the true God. They are created beings like us, whom ultimately serve the Creator. They are not our servants or mediators between us and God.

True growth can only come from union/walking with Christ. We cannot grow apart from Him because He is the head. We cannot replace objective truth with some subjective idea or experience.

D. Anything that declares you more godly for moral living vs. 20-23

The common practice of the day was to deny your physical body because of the evil nature of it and to separate or elevate the spirit on self so you could become more godly. But Paul refutes any idea of this.

1 Corinthians 6:12–13 ““All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

Paul says 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

The 19th Century Scottish preacher Alexander McClaren wrote, “Any asceticism is a great deal more to men’s taste than abandoning self. They will rather stick hooks in their backs and do the ‘swinging poojah’ than give up their sins and yield up their wills.”

At the end of the day, we can all will ourselves to standards but if the heart is not changed towards Christ we just become moral sinners. Religious hypocrites much like the Pharisees.

Any true change must begin in the heart and flow from there. Because it is from there that the indulgence of the flesh can occur.

Next Steps:

This week, examine your life and ask the question, “Is there anything that I do that distracts me away from true worship of Christ?”

Remember you’re record of sin has been cancelled and in that we great can rejoice!