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Understand the Context

Earlier in chapter 2 of Colossians, a warning was issued against “plausible arguments” (2:4).

Falsehood in the hands of a persuasive person is the stuff of which deception is crafted and error is propagated.

Also, earlier in this chapter, a warning was voiced about falsehood that “takes you captive” (2:8).

Unfortunately, the lure of falsehood can possess the unsuspected power to take prisoners.

Being a prisoner of error is not anything akin to being a servant of the truth.

The positive note concerning Christ sounded earlier in Colossians 2 is that in him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3).

The operative term is “all.”

That being true, no hidden wisdom or knowledge is to be found elsewhere, especially not in humanly reasoned and imposed practices, however religious they might appear on the surface.

This week’s passage explores the freedom in Christ; from humanly imposed duties and practices, from the allure of false teachers, to live in liberty because of Christ’s authority, and to worship without additional man-made practices.

We are free to enjoy a relationship with God through Christ and to express faith in Christ based solely on His saving work.

[LifeWay Adults (2020).

(p.

104).

Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide - ESV - Fall 2021.

LifeWay Press.

Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

Explore the Text

“Therefore” at the beginning of our passage prompts us to remember not only the previous statement about Christ having nailed to the cross all the legal demands of the law and overcoming all the powers and authorities of the world but also His preeminence and that all the “hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are found only in Him.

Because these things are true, the Colossian believers and we today have Christ ruling in our hearts, He is our judge, and no man can condemn or bind us under any human authority.

“Pass judgement” is translated in other versions as criticize or condemn.

There is a connotation of the false judges trying to “guilt” the believers into performing a certain way.

There is also the concept of “assessing value” so it may be a way of other expressing more value to their beliefs than to the Colossians’ faith in Christ.

In his letter to the Corinthians Paul wrote, 1 Cor 8:8 “Food will not commend us to God.

We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.”

God through Paul is more concerned about the state of our soul and our relationship to Him than whether or not we have “eaten properly”.

Romans 14:17 tells us that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Food and drink are things that go into the body and are temporary.

Paul is telling the Colossians don’t worry about what others say you are doing wrong; they are so far off base they have no basis to judge you.

He will continue to point out their errors and significant sins through the rest of the passage.

Just like the things that we put into our bodies do not affect our righteousness before God the timing of our worship is not critical either.

Festivals were annual, new moons are monthly, and Sabbaths are weekly.

Today Christians have services nearly any day of the week, but most seem to have their “main” services on Sundays as the believers in the New Testament did starting in the book of Acts.

Although Hebrews 10:25 tells us to not neglect “to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” it does not prescribe a frequency for this gathering.

The intent of the gathering is to “stir up one another to love and good works”.

Meeting once a month or only on “special days” cannot do this for any in the modern era as we are too easily distracted on a moment-by-moment basis for any lasting effects of a brief time together.

Although each person is different, the premise of needing others to help us stay on track is true for all.

Some of us need all the help we can find to remain true and focused on the truths of Christ and His gospel of grace.

Once a week may not be enough and Paul is telling the Colossians do not let others dictate how often you gather to worship, adjust your lives to Christ’s leadership and let Him the through Holy Spirit prompt you as to how often you need to meet with Him and fellow believers.

In their time and for their intended purpose, the special food laws and holy days were important.

Paul expressed that importance by referring to them as a shadow of the things to come.

The substance of which they were a shadow was Christ.

As such, they played a preparatory or anticipatory role for God’s covenant nation, Israel.

[LifeWay Adults (2020).

(p.

105).

Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide - ESV - Fall 2021.

LifeWay Press.

Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

Rituals and observances regardless how often they are done or what they represent, they will never bring peace between God and man, only Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross accomplished this.

Everything else is an empty, bad copy.

Hebrews 10:1 “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.”

Shadows today are not any different than in the original reader’s time.

We may understand more about them scientifically, but they are still just outline sketches and darkened images representative of the original.

Years ago, there was a popular style of portraits done - portrait in silhouette - in which only the outline of the side of person’s head was drawn and it was filled in black like a shadow.

When they were done well you could tell who was portrayed without any other facial features present.

My mom did one of each of her sons at 2 years old and we can all still tell who is who.

We recognize who the portrait or shadow represents but we do not get a full picture.

We would look at these images on the wall and then turn to face the real person and say, “That’s you!”.

Paul is telling the Colossians, why dwell on and look at the shadow on the wall when you can worship the real and living Christ?!

In order for an object to cast a shadow it must be solid or have “substance.”

The word used here in the Greek is more often translated as body but that word in the English may have caused confusion as this is not referring to the church as Christ’s body but is a word of contrast to the shadow.

An ethereal shadow is cast by solid body.

Some of the teachers in Colossae had some “plausible arguments” but Paul is now going to get to some specifics to help us spot the “dangers in the road” before they take us off course.

We have looked at a similar word for disqualify earlier in our lessons, referring not to you doing something erroneous within a race but rather someone doing something to you to prevent your proper progress within the race (tripping, causing to stumble, shoving you off course.)

Here the believers can be prevented from growth in Christlikeness by having the focus drawn toward rituals and mis-directed worship.

Depending on which author or commentary you read, "asceticism and worship of angels” is either 2 different erroneous acts of worship or 1 single one.

Asceticism in basic terms is the denial of the body of pleasures for the benefit of the spirit.

If these two are linked as a single act, then the belief is that only by certain pious acts and bodily restraints can a person obtain the appropriate “spiritual state” that will allow them to worship “with” the angels in the heavenly realm.

If the two are separate, the false teachers are promoting worship “of” angelic beings, the rest of the encounters with angelic messengers gives us a clue to the error.

No proper angel revealed in Scripture ever let any human bow to him in worship, but a fallen one would demand it.

Regardless of the interpretation, the theological error is significant and does not give Christ His preeminent position in the worship.

I was reminded this week in one my daily devotions that C.S. Lewis in his book The Problem of Pain, spoke about the dangers of this type of self-denial for spiritual benefit.

As a layman, I offer no opinion on the prudence of such a regimen; but I insist that, whatever its merits, self-torture is quite a different thing from tribulation sent by God.

Everyone knows that fasting is a different experience from missing your dinner by accident or through poverty.

Fasting asserts the will against the appetite—the reward being self-mastery and the danger pride: involuntary hunger subjects appetites and will together to the Divine will, furnishing an occasion for submission and exposing us to the danger of rebellion.

But the redemptive effect of suffering lies chiefly in its tendency to reduce the rebel will.

Ascetic practices, which in themselves strengthen the will, are only useful in so far as they enable the will to put its own house (the passions) in order, as a preparation for offering the whole man to God.

They are necessary as a means; as an end, they would be abominable, for in substituting will for appetite and there stopping, they would merely exchange the animal self for the diabolical self.

Paul’s conclusion about these false teachers is similar as he describes their self-promotion in supposed visions and carnal minds.

I am not sure if it was intentional when he wrote or not but the phrase “going on in detail about visions” had the most variations in commentary and definitions because of the unusual phrasing.

It almost as if the words used are to help us see how the things they are talking about are really out of place. 1 Tim 1:7 is a cross reference listed so the false teachers may be more about them trying to figure out the meaning of their vision with human wisdom rather than godly interpretations.

Paul did not write to the Corinthians much about his vision only that “he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter”.

After this he immediately begins talking about a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble.

He may be warning the Colossians to listen to these “goings on” for who or what is being glorified and if it “puffs up” the speaker than it was not from God, or at least being abused for personal gain if it was.

The point Paul was trying to emphasize with this phrase was more about their ludicrous nature than actual content.

One commentary said that he “identified these visions as egotistical delusions of a carnal mind”.

[CSB Study Bible: Notes.

Ed.

Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax.

Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017.

1897.

Print.}

This carnal thinking or sensuous mind looks toward the self and not Christ for answers and spiritual insight.

This the exact opposite of what we learned in Eph 4:15-16.

Such mind sets also prevent proper communication with the Head.

John 15:5 reminds us that “apart from Him” we can do nothing.

This carnal thinking is like a blood clot in the body that cuts off functionality to another part of the body.

Without proper blood flow for a prolonged period the tissue begins to die.

The Greek word here for sensuous appears to be used as a contrast to the spiritual more than a description.

Carnal fleshly thoughts instead of having the “mind of Christ”.