AM Bible Study Group; April 3, 2013
Colossians 2:16-23
Theme: Having been set free through Christ, we must never again allow ourselves to be wrapped up in the chains of spiritual bondage.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
This morning’s passage is among the greatest declarations of liberty to be found in the Bible. It is the center-piece passage of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Everything that he has had to say so far in his letter was intended to bring us to this bold affirmation of our spiritual liberty in Christ—and to urge us to make sure we stay free!
In the preceding verses, Paul established the theological foundations of this great liberty (see Colossians 2:13-15)—that is, that we have been forgiven of all our sins, released from our indebtedness to the strict letter of God’s law, and given a complete victory over all the accusations and allegations that the devil could ever throw at us. Jesus has won a complete victory for us; and He Himself is fully sufficient for us. And now, Paul urges his dear brothers and sisters to keep on walking in the victory that Christ has purchased for them, and to never again allow themselves to be put under bondage to the things from which they’d been set free. We are to make sure that we protect that liberty . . .
I. FROM THE INTIMIDATING POWER OF LEGALISM (vv. 16-17).
A. “Legalism” is the idea that I can be made more acceptable to God on the basis of what I do—reducing acceptability before God to an observance of certain rituals and regulations. A great example of legalism was shown us in the story of Jesus. The Pharisees once accused Him and His disciples of eating “with unwashed hands” (Mark 7:5). Jesus rebuked them by quoting from the Old Testament and saying, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (vv. 6-7). That’s really the spirit behind “legalism”: men and women creating traditions, rules and regulations—“religious laws” of their own invention and imposition—and insisting that it’s necessary to observe them in order to be right with God. It fools us into thinking that our relationship with God can be reduced to a set of outward rules, while completely ignoring the inward matters that God is truly concerned about (see Matthew 23:23).
B. Paul, in our passage this morning, writes, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (vv. 16-17). The Colossian believers were being harmed by a teaching that was reducing “acceptance with God” down to the level of such things as Jewish “dietary laws”, such as concerned “food” or “drink”—even though God, in Christ, has now declared all foods to be “clean” (Acts 10:9-15). They also focused in on the observance of Jewish religious dates and events, such as “festivals” (Lev. 23), and “new moon” or ‘first-of-the-month’ celebrations and sacrifices (Numbers 10:10; 28:11-15), and sabbath day regulations (Exodus 31:14-16); even though God never required that any of these be observed by Gentile followers of Jesus (Acts 15:28-29). These things all had value at one time, because they pointed the Jewish people in Old Testament times to Jesus. When Jesus came, however, He perfectly fulfilled the intention of those laws in His own life of obedience, and sacrifice of death on the cross (Matthew 5:17; Romans 3:27-31). As Paul puts it, those Jewish rules and regulations were merely the “shadow” for which Jesus was the “substance”. Now that the “substance” (that is Christ Himself) has come, we’re no longer to make “substance” out of “shadows”.
C. But more than that, Paul says that we’re not to let anyone “judge” us—that is, to examine us and condemn us with respect to our acceptance in God’s eyes—on the basis of these things (see Romans 14:3-6,12-13). Jesus sets us free from these things; and so we should neither judge one another in them, nor allow ourselves to be intimidated by the judgment of others with respect to them. To do so is to place our backs, once again, under the burdensome yoke of spiritual bondage.
II. FROM THE DECEPTIVE POWER OF MYSTICISM (vv. 18-19).
A. Earlier in this letter, Paul called the gospel “the mystery of God” (Colossians 1:27; 2:2). But “mysticism” as means of being made acceptable to God is something completely different from the gospel. In fact, it’s something diametrically opposed to the gospel. The deceitful idea behind mysticism as a way to be holy is that you or I can somehow be made more acceptable to God on the basis of what we know, or feel, or experience in a subjective way. This was the problem Paul was dealing with when he said, “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God” (vv. 18-19). Paul warns that we’re not to let anyone “cheat” us or “defraud” us or “disqualify” us through mysticism. The word that he uses is one that has been found in ancient documents to describe judges who had been bribed, and who therefore condemned someone unfairly. The idea, if put in modern terms, is that of being “ripped-off” through a “bum-call”. We’re not to allow anyone to declare that we are unacceptable to God simply because we didn’t have some mystical experience that they claim we should have.
B. What were some of the things that may have ‘defrauded’ the Colossians?
1. Apparently, some false teachers were trying to put the Colossian believers into bondage by boasting in “false humility and worship of angels”. Archaeologist and historians tell us that an angel-worshiping cult had eventually developed in the region near the Colossian believers. And even today, just as then, people often try to seek a relationship with God through intermediary spirit beings—“guardian angels” or “spirit guides” or “saints”—instead of through a simple, reverent faith in Jesus Christ as the only true Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). Paul’s reference to “false humility” may be because some claimed to be “unworthy” to approach God, and that they must approach God through a ‘spiritual mediator’ rather than through Christ—who is the true Mediator.
2. Others boasted in subjective experiences. Some translations have Paul saying that such a person was boldly stepping into, or intruding on, “things which he has seen.” Other translations have Paul saying that it was “things which he has not seen.” Whichever is the correct reading of the ancient text, an argument can be made that both are true. Such people foolishly intrude into error and false spirituality based on things that they claim to have “seen”—things which, in fact, they haven’t really “seen” at all. Paul describes other such persons as being “puffed up” in his or her “fleshly mind”—that is, those who create, through their own reasoning powers and ability, a philosophy of life for themselves, and who arrogantly elevate that philosophy above the message of the gospel. And he says that they do so “vainly” or “without cause”; that is, they assume to have an ability to grasp a truth apart from God that they don’t really have.
C. Paul describes these ‘defrauders’ as “not holding fast to the Head”—that is, to Jesus Christ. It’s from Jesus—the only Head of “the body”, which is His church (Colossians 1:18)—that the rest of the body of Christ gets its nourishment, growth and functionality. It’s only through a vital connection to Jesus Christ that God gives any sort of spiritual life or nourishment or growth; and anyone who seeks to be a spiritual ‘maverick’—claiming to have found a better way to acceptance and fellowship with God than through Jesus than the rest of us—has effectively severed himself or herself from the true Head. We must never allow ourselves to be deceived by the supposed spiritual experiences, or mystical insights, or even miraculous signs, of those who claim to have found “a better way” to God’s favor than through Jesus. We must be particularly alert to this as we grow closer to the time of Jesus’ return (see Matthew 24:4-5; Mark 13:21-23). The tell-tale sign that something is a deception is that it involves the idea that Jesus alone is insufficient to make us completely acceptable to God. Cling to Him—and Him only—as your all-sufficient Savior, and trust completely in the teaching of the sure word of God; and you’ll never be brought under the devil’s spiritual bondage again.
III. FROM THE ALLURING POWER OF ASCETICISM (vv. 20-23).
A. “Asceticism” is the practice of extreme self-denial and self-imposed suffering for supposedly religious reasons. It’s similar to the idea of “legalism” in that its focus is on outward, external things. But in the case of asceticism, the lie being sold to us is that you or I can be made more acceptable to God on the basis of what we ‘punish’ or ‘discipline’ ourselves by denying or avoiding It erroneously considers the creaturely things of this world to be “evil” in and of themselves; and glories and boasts in self-imposed suffering, and on denying ourselves the normal necessities and legitimate pleasures of life. Paul addresses this when he says, “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (vv. 20-23).
B. Asceticism thrives through a focus on the negatives: “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle . . .” The Bible tells us that we’ve been set free from the “do’s” and “don’ts” of such supposedly “religious” prohibitions; and that now, in Christ, we can legitimately enjoy any of the things that God has given us—so long, of course, as we don’t disobey Him or engage in sin in the process. The Bible tells us, of course, that we’re never to use our “liberty” in Christ as an opportunity to gratify our fleshly passions and sinful desires (Galatians 5:13). But it also tells us that we’re to beware of those who would seek to restrict our liberty in Christ, and keep us bound by a bunch of prohibitions that really do nothing to benefit our souls (1 Timothy 4:1-5).
C. Note how Paul reminds us that the self-inflicted punishments and prohibitions of asceticism, in reality, accomplish nothing in terms of making us more acceptable to God:
1. For one thing, such self-denials focus only on what Paul calls “the basic principles of the world”—that is, the mere material things of existence on earth, the things that can be touched, or smelled, or tasted, or felt, or swallowed; things that perish as soon as we use them. Paul says that we have died in Christ, and have been raised up with Him in newness of life (2:12); and so, how can an abstinence from the mere rudiments of the material world do anything to make us any more acceptable to God than we’ve been made through our union with Christ? (See also Colossians 3:1-4).
2. Another reason asceticism accomplishes nothing is because it’s based on “the commandments and doctrines of men”. It’s sinful man—not God—who imposes a set of rules and regulations that prohibits us from enjoying the things that God has freely given us to enjoy. And it’s fallen man—not God—that considers such restrictions “wise” (Matthew 15:13-14).
3. One more reason that asceticism can’t do us any good is because it doesn’t solve the real problem. Such man-made restrictions “are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.” They help a person make a big show of themselves with regard to the outer man; but they don’t really keep the passions and lusts of the inner man in check at all. Men and women can deny themselves all the legitimate pleasures of life, cause unrelenting pain and suffering to their bodies, and make an exhibition of personal humility and supposed self-control; and yet, the whole time, be filled in their hearts with lust and sin. Jesus called such people “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).
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These three false ways of becoming more acceptable to God—legalism, mysticism and asceticism—all have a three of things in common: (1) They are all attempts to “earn” God’s favor, (2) are all based on our own efforts instead of God’s work for us, and (3) have all been rendered utterly useless because of what Jesus has already done. We should remember the words of Paul in Galatians 5:1; “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”