Fullness of Life in Christ

Alive in Christ

Verse 6 talks about receiving Christ Jesus the Lord. So, what does this mean? 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 2:6–7. We should look to other scripture for a better understanding of what Paul is alluding to. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Ro 8:9–10. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Eph 3:14–19. Paul then moves to talk about captivity. 8 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 2:8. The Colossians were being warned by Paul to not get caught up in the world. Paul says, “you have received Christ Jesus, so live as though you have. How many here would have no problem saying that you are a Christian? The Colossians were obviously caught up in living outside of the body of Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 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, 12 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 2:9–12. Paul reminds the Colossians that they were made new. That they were alive now that God had freed them from their sin. 13 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, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 2:13–15.

Take homes: It is not enough to say you are a Christian, someone should be saying that about you perhaps.

The Colossians were not being the face of Christ. Are you?