Colossians 2:6-15 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Colossians 2:6-15. Let’s go!
These verses show us the powerful and unique difference Christ makes in our lives. Let’s go!
Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,
7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
On verses 6-7: It’s not enough just to receive Christ into our lives. If you really want to experience the benefit of a relationship with Christ, we are to “continue to live in Him” (v6). What does it mean to continue to live in Christ? According to verse 7, it means to:
– keep growing in Christ (“rooted and built up in him”). Like a plant, deepen your roots in Jesus. Like a new construction project, be built up with Jesus as your foundation.
– get stronger in the faith (“strengthened in the faith”). That means letting the truth of God’s Word fill, fuel and fortify your thinking more and more.
– overflow with thankfulness. For Paul, thankfulness is one of the big indicators of a person’s maturity and stability in Christ. Every day be thanking God often, both publicly and privately.
Since the “you” in verses 6 and 7 is plural, Paul is also telling the Colossian Christians to keep doing all of these things together with their church. Growing in Christ is never just an individual project, but something that involves, benefits and is supported by your church.
Colossians 2:8 (NIV)
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
On verse 8: The mainstream media that the Colossian Christians were exposed to were preaching messages of religious syncretism, combining elements of Christianity with ideas from pagan religions, Greek philosophy, and Judaism. Some of these messages may have sounded very inclusive, multi-cultural, and politically correct. Yet no matter how attractive these messages might have sounded, Paul rightly calls these messages “hollow and deceptive philosophy”. That’s because these messages were taking people away from trusting in Christ. Paul warns that the source of these messages was not God, but humanistic thinking (“human tradition”) and demonic spirits (which Paul calls “the spiritual powers of this world” of “the basic principles of this world”).
What can we learn from this? Be discerning about the kind of teaching you listen to. Any spiritual message that tries to eliminate the need to trust in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross is not the truth but a humanistic and demonic lie.
Colossians 2:9-10 (NIV)
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
On verses 9-10: Here Paul is telling the Colossian Christians, “Rather than trusting in hollow and deceptive philosophies, remember that everything you need is in Jesus”. Jesus is the fullness of God, or God in bodily form (v9). Verse 10 says that in Christ we have been given fullness too. In other words, when we are in Christ, we do not lack anything. Jesus is greater than any other spirit or power.
Colossians 2:11 (NIV)
11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
On verse 11: Before under the old covenant law, men had to be circumcised physically. The removal of their foreskin was a sign that they had a relationship with Yahweh. In other letters (like Romans 2:25-29; Galatians 5:2-12), Paul speaks at length about how physical circumcision is no longer required and that what counts is faith in Christ. When we place our faith in Christ, Christ gives us not a physical circumcision but a circumcision of the heart, not by removing the skin, but by removing the sin that kept us from being with God. Here in verse 11 Paul reiterates that same point: Christ has circumcised us spiritually by removing our sins.
Colossians 2:12 (NIV)
12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
On verse 12: When we are baptized into water, it signifies how we died and have been buried with Christ. Just as God raised Christ from death to life, so through faith we have been raised from spiritual death to a new life with Christ. Paul here is bringing the Colossian Christians back to the beginning of their faith. Sometimes, when you find yourself going astray spiritually, go back to the beginning, to when you first trusted in Christ. May God use your memories of that important time to point you in the way you should go now.
Colossians 2:13 (NIV)
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
On verse 13: When we were dead in our sins, God made us alive with Christ, forgiving our sins and taking them away (v13).
Colossians 2:14 (NIV)
14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
On verse 14: When Paul talks about a written code with its regulations that was against us and stood opposed to us, what is Paul referring to? Paul is talking about a handwritten certificate of indebtedness that shows how much of a debt one owes for failing to keep certain laws, like a speeding ticket. Paul applies this idea to our position with God: all of us have been issued such a ticket, a certificate of indebtedness, because of our failure to keep God’s laws. Yet Jesus has taken away and canceled that ticket which stood against us.
Paul also says that Jesus nailed that ticket to the cross (v14). Back in Paul’s time, when a criminal was crucified, the executioners would write the crime he committed on a sign and nail it at the top of the cross so that the criminal’s crime would hang over his head as he died. By dying that way, he was effectively paying for his crime. So when Paul says in verse 14 that Jesus nailed the written code to the cross, he means that Jesus paid for our crimes against God when he died on the cross. Our debt was paid in full and forgiven, all because of Jesus’ death.
Colossians 2:15 (NIV)
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
On verse 15: What powers and authorities did Jesus disarm and disgrace? The power of Satan and his evil spirits. How did Jesus disarm and disgrace them? By the cross. When a person is nailed to a cross, that is supposed to signify their ultimate defeat and disgrace. Yet it was through the cross that Jesus brought defeat and disgrace to Satan. By paying for our sins on the cross, Jesus made it possible for all those who believe in Him to escape Satan’s plan to kidnap, kill and destroy them in their sin. By rising again, Jesus left Satan with nothing.
Because Satan knew that the cross could bring about his defeat, I believe that’s why on numerous occasions Satan tried to dissuade Jesus numerous times from dying on the cross (Matthew 4:5-6; Matthew 16:21-23).
The cross is now a public reminder that Satan has been defeated (“he made a public spectacle of them”). From a symbol of death and shame, the cross has now become the greatest symbol of life and victory, all because of Jesus.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for all that You have done for us — how You gave us life, circumcised our hearts, forgave our sins, and triumphed over our enemy by the cross. I praise You, and I pray that that just as I received You as Lord, may I continue to live in You, rooted and built up in You, strengthened in the faith, and overflowing with thankfulness. Thank You Jesus for everything. In Your name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
