Colossians 2:1-7 In yesterday’s reading Paul gave his credentials to the believers at Colosse; he showed them the proof that they should listen to him. His proof consisted of the cost of his message and the content of it. He was telling them about Jesus and it cost him a lot to do it, he was constantly struggling.
In today’s reading Paul continues to talk about struggling but it is a different kind of struggle. As we saw in 2 Corinthians yesterday Paul suffered all kinds of trials as he traveled around the Mediterranean world telling people about Jesus; shipwrecks, beating, living on the road. The struggle here is more practical or emotional. In verse 1 he tells them it is hard because they have not personally seen his face. He also brings in a sister church from their valley, the one in Laodicea. If I wanted to care for someone I hadn’t met I would want to know about them; I might say the relationship was hard because I had never seen their face but here Paul reverses it. It was hard for him because they didn’t know him personally. It was a struggle for him to come into their lives in such a strong way when they had no real relationship. “Who was he anyway?” So Paul was being carful to share his heart with them and to show them that he had authority from Jesus and to keep the message about Jesus. In verse 2 he shows that the struggle is about the relationship he had, or didn’t have, with them when he says he wants their hearts to be encouraged. In verse 2 he recognizes that the believers in the valley have started to connect emotionally (hearts knit together in love) and he doesn’t want to destroy that, in fact he wants their connection to grow. The end of verse 2 tells us what it is that has brought these people together and how they can become even more of a group. It has to do with Jesus. Paul wants them to have all the riches that come from knowing and fully understanding what had been a mystery, the story (or history) of Jesus.
Paul probably uses the word “mystery” in verse 2 because the people in the area that were trying to make the Colossians believe other ideas about God and Heaven and eternity were using ideas about hidden or mysterious truth that they said the Colossians needed to know. Paul is saying, “Yep there was a mystery but now there isn’t, it was all about Jesus.” That is also why he keeps talking about having a “complete knowledge”; more of their scare tactics. In verse 3 Paul uses more of the opponents’ ideas when he talks about wisdom and knowledge. The opponents must have seen wisdom and knowledge as real treasure and Paul informs the Colossians that they are but only the wisdom and knowledge that are part of Jesus’ story. Real riches are found in who Jesus is and what he has done for us. The real wisdom and treasure is when we accept Jesus as our savior and have our relationship with God renewed.
In verse 4 we see that Paul is dealing with the false teaching and temptations of the opponents when he tells his readers that he is writing this stuff so that they will not be mislead. He doesn’t want them to be tricked by these smooth talking false teachers.
In verse 5 Paul stops to commend the Colossians (and Laodiceans?) for their “good discipline and stable faith”. The first idea is one of order. The Greek word is “taxis” (no not the car you pay to take you somewhere). We have an English word “taxonomy” that comes from it. Taxonomy is the system scientist use to group living things together; the Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species thing. Evidently the Colossians were pretty careful when it came to checking out what they believed.
The second idea was that they had fortified their faith. Probably because they were careful to check out what they believed their trust in it had become stronger. Some people see faith as a weak belief in things that have no support; they talk about “blind faith”. Christains’ faith is in Jesus and what he has done and will do. Jesus is an historic figure and his words and actions are part of history. The can be checked out historically and in fact Paul was on trial before King Agrippa, a Roman official. As Paul described the event that led up to his life he worked his way back to the death and resurrection of Jesus. At that point another Roman official present, Porcius Festus, told Paul he was crazy, at which point Paul said to Festus, “I’m not out of my mind I am speaking the truth. The King (Agrippa) knows all about this, It didn’t happen in a corner.” (Acts 26:24-25)
Paul tells them in verse 6 to keep up the good work, the have a strong foundation and need to keep growing. He links the growth with instruction, learning, and the facts that they have learned have been about Jesus. They need to keep learning the facts about Jesus and stay away from speculation (more on this tomorrow). At the beginning of verse 5 he told them that he was with them, not in body but in spirit, and was glad about their strong faith. At the end of verse 7 he tells them to keep being “thankful”. In Colossians 1:4-5 Paul linked their faith with the “hope” they had in Jesus; hope in an eternal future with God. The thankfulness they had was probably for the hope they had of a future with God. Paul wanted them to keep believing in that and to stay thankful.
It’s interesting that today’s reading starts with Paul struggling and ends with him telling the Colossians to “overflow with gratitude”. We need to keep in mind what it is we should be thankful for: The mystery that was hidden for ages was that God would become a man and deal with the penalty of our sins. That would unlock the door to Heaven and provide a way for each of us to have a new relationship with God (see Colossians 1:26, 28). We need to be thankful for the “salvation” we have in Jesus. We will struggle in this life, especially if we want to life lives that make God happy, but we can be thankful that one day the struggle will end and we will enjoy rest with God for eternity (see Matthew 11:28, 25:21-30). It seems that part of the key to this is trust or faith. Remember our faith is not blind but is based on facts in time and space. Paul told the Colossians to “walk” in Jesus in the same way they “received” him, that was in faith. We need to take the facts about God and Jesus and apply them to our lives every day and then in faith and trust act on what we have figured out. And we need to be careful about he way we figure it all out, not willie nillie but in an orderly way (remember the “taxis”). Keeping Jesus in focus and being careful to use the word of God (the Bible, Colossians 1:25) will help us stay on the right track until the day we reach Heaven.
God help me be careful with your word. Let me not be led astray by the smooth words of the people around me. Let me stay thankful for what you have done for me even when life is full of trouble. Let me be willing to live for you and honor you even if it brings trouble into my life. Help me be faithful in teaching others about you. Let those people be careful to check out my teaching to make sure I haven’t become one of the false teachers. Let theses posts be helpful to others in having an orderly secure faith in who Jesus is and what he has done.