Colossians 2:15-23 Bible Teaching

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So last week we covered
Colossians 2.13-end
Taped May 24th 2020
Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Let’s continue on today with

15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.

So, Paul continues on from last week and now adds some mindblowers to the mix, saying to the believers at Colosse:

13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

We talked all about being buried with Christ last week, and having the circumcision which he had, which was when He allowed his flesh to be cut away and not reign over him.

We talked about dying to our flesh and being buried with Christ first and the rising to new life after. Daily.

Here Paul goes back to these allusions and says:

“And you, being dead in your sins and (dead) in the uncircumcision of your flesh.

Meaning as, pagan Gentiles, and giving unrestrained indulgence to the desires of the flesh, God has now made us alive (quickened us) together with him – with Him being Christ Jesus in his resurrected state.

Get that clear in your mind if not in your flesh itself – your Christianity is alive and well in the power of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

You have the power imparted to you by faith to walk in His resurrection, sort of like Neo at the end of the Matrix who simply slips each attacks on him with complete ease and control – because we are walking in His resurrection, made alive by the Spirit. And Paul adds:

14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

The word rendered handwriting means something written by the hand. Most people believe that Paul was speaking of the Law of Moses here and there could be a reference to this, but remember, Paul first went to the Jews, then to the Gentiles – and this was in Asia minor to an audience of Gentile believers, who were never under the law.

So I suggest that Paul may include the Law of Moses in this, which was probably foisted upon theses Christians by some Jews no doubt, but I also think Paulm is referring to any written instruction , demand or law that religion itself puts on people.

When I was about ten my buddies in the neighborhood and me built a clubhouse and what was the first things we did?

We took a pen and we wrote the rules of our club on the wall of some plywood.

Little did we realized that once they were agreed upon and written they worked against us and our freewill.

That is what the handwriting of ordinances accomplishes – they serve to work against us – sometimes our happiness, often our comfort and always our peace of mind – with our own selves and with others.

The minute Jeff Gallapo brought his cousin into the sacred confines of our house, our peace and unity was ruined and our anger turned on Jeff, who broke the first rule that was against him.

Paul adds after stating that believers are quickened to life in Him,

14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Now think about this: IF or since we are raised to new life in the power of his actual resurrection, what written rule could or would ever have any power over us?

They mean nothing. They are non-existent – they have absolutely no power or pull over our lives.

What does the rule, you cannot drink alcohol have on a resurrected being who has overcome all things including the grave?

What does the religious rule that you must obey a Sabbath day, or pay ten percent of your income mean to a being that has actually overcome sin and death?

It’s a joke. Its like giving directions on how often a person needs to change the oil on a totally spiritual and invisible Ferrarri. Zero application.

And Christ took care of all the rules of every religion – not Just Judaism – but all rules

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross”

And we can also think of these various rules, but especially those of Judaism in the context of this passage, as forever getting in the way of bringing the Good News to others.

I want you to think about this:

Jesus came and did it all for the world, reconciling the entire world to the Father by and through his shed blood on the cross. This was the victory, the was the finished work and this was the Good News for the world.

Part of what he did on that cross was nail the ordinances written with hands with Him in his death.

See, while the Law of Moses was good in bringing the Nation of Israel around to writing the Old Testament and producing our Messiah, it – because of its rules and laws – was a hinderance to the Good News.

I mean the message of Judaism was can’t eat, can’t drink, must wear, must obey, have to cut this, have to avoid that . . . all of it a HINDRENCE to the Good News which is simply:

Jesus came and did it all for the world – believe on Him.

And so the Laws written in stone had to go for the good news to prosper and spread among people on earth who lived very different lives culturally than the Jews.

This is the problem with most institutionalized religions and why they stand in opposition to the Good News – they bring in more, and that more serves to wrongly alienate people and cause them to reject the Good News all together.

So the good news is:

God sent Jesus to do everything necessary to reconciled us to himself. Believe it and live.

But the Catholics add Mass and Confession, and the Mormons add temples and tithes, and the Protestants add supporting and going to church every week, and on and on and on – all things that get in the way, that hinder, that stop short the good news.

Why would religion refuse the right to drink beer to people like the Germans who live drinking beer. The drinking or not drinking of beer has NOTHING to do with the Good News!

And this is my resistance to all forms of organized religion that enforces any written rule, demand, culture or policy upon people who simply should benefit from the Good News.

So Jesus

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross”

There is an additional allusion here to business contracts and the act of blotting and nailing.

Apparently Paul speaks to certain conditions of a contract being blotted out or crossed out as we would say in our day with the end result being that the contract obligations are complete and are then nailed to a public board or the post of a business proving that all obligations have been fulfilled.

That Jesus took any and all contractual obligations created by the written laws and blotted them out then had them nailed to his cross.

The resulting action is described in verse 15, which adds to the description of the Good News as Paul adds:

15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

“And having,” the tense is past and forever done. By and through His cross Christ has forever spoiled everything that ever stood in the way of human being freely coming to God of their own accord and having a direct relationship with him.

No law, no principalities, no powers would or could ever stumble him or those in Him from moving forward – they were beaten by the shed blood of his cross and all human beings were taken back to the Edenic state where each one of us gets to choose.

The only thing that appears to get in our way is ourselves, our own will and desires – that, just like in the Garden, caused Eve and then Adam to do what they wanted instead of what God wanted.

But the powers that took hold in the world, were plundered at the cross of Christ like a victorious army invading and conquering a country.

The language speaks of these enemies and principalities being completely subdued by his death.

Again, what was subdued fully?

“Principalities and powers” that had the capacity to interfere with people freely choosing to serve the living God.

And it seems that this speaks to all demons and devils. Jesus wrestled the dominion from them that they had on earth and even seized those that they had captured.

The thinking is:

Satan and his legions had invaded the earth, and drawn its inhabitants into captivity, and subjected them to their evil reign and then after life the destination for all was hell – or a complete separation From God.

Christ, by his death, subdues those invaders, and recaptures those whom they had subdued.

Paul says that, “he made a show of them openly,” which is akin to a conqueror returning from battle and riding into the City with the heads of the enemies on pikes and bringing prisoners too to prove their release.

Paul says that this was now done “openly” meaning, it was in the face of the whole universe; a grand victory; a glorious triumph over all the powers of hell.

And then finally, triumphing over them in it.

There is a debate on who is being spoken of here – God or Christ. No matter, the light triumphed over the dark is perhaps a good way to see this.

I wish believers could read these passages as true and finished or complete. To do so is a game changer in terms of our perspective and walk.

To say that Christ has had the victory is to walk free, and to take responsibility for the choices we make instead of continuing to assign them to Satan and his angels.

The victory was at the cross, the final and total victory at the return and destruction of Jerusalem and the house of Israel, with the liberty and the responsibility of every human being now squarely on the back of each and every soul.

So, having laid all of this out, Paul now says to them then (and it is amazing that this is still an issue today among religious folk)

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

THEREFORE . . . AS A RESULT . . . THEREFORE . . . let no man pronounce a sentence on you.”

Hear that clearly.

Remember, a sentence or judgment given must be in light of a rule demanded. No law, no condemnation. And since Jesus took the ordinances of the law and nailed them to His cross, “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that were against us,” nobody – do not let anybody – pronounce a judgement of condemnation against you!

Isn’t that beautiful! Isn’t that amazing! It is so perfect and right with a loving capable God.

Nobody can condemn you, unwashed,
beer drinking comrade for the Red Army!

Nobody can condemn you, suit-wearing, water drinking, carrot eating feminist.

Nobody can condemn you, childless unmarried softball playing republican.

The law is blotted and nailed.
You are free from condemnation.
Now you are free this day to “choose whom you will serve.”

The meaning here seems to be, “since you have thus been delivered by Christ from the evils which surrounded you; since you have been freed from the observances of the law, do not allow anyone to sit in judgment on you (or worse yet) to claim the right to decide for you how to live your life.

You are not responsible to man for your conduct, but to Christ; and no man has a right to impose that on you a burden from which he has made you free.”

Paul specifically mentions being judged in

meat or in drink (your diet)
or in respect of an holyday
or of the new moon
or of the sabbath days.

In your diet, your festival observances, new moons . . . (According to Numbers 10:10 and 28:11-4) the appearance of a new moon meant a bunch of observances and Paul adds, “or of the sabbath days.”

The word Sabbath in the Old Testament is applied not only to the seventh day, but to all the days of holy rest that were observed particularly those related to the beginning and close of their great festivals.

Paul adds

17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

These things (sabbaths, holy days, etc) were a dim outline of the future reality to exist and were not the reality themselves. What did they picture? He tells us here – “the BODY is of Christ.”

There was a shadow in these things, a foreshadowing, but there is an actual reality or body, which is of Christ.

Everything before signified Christ. It all prefigured him and pointed to him.

In other words, the thing itself is in place – the body of Christ, the solid substance, having come and lived and died, therefore all these types and shadows have no meaning or purpose anymore.

Let em go! They are not binding! And then he adds more to this picture saying:

18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

The phrase let no man beguile you is taken from a term that is not found anywhere else in the Apostolic Record and it means, “don’t let anyone deprive you of what you have been awarded with.”

And Paul describes them saying, “In a voluntary humility.”

Now, what he is doing here is laying out the methods that enemies of the truth would use in their attempt to deprive these believers of their reward, which was in Christ and the liberty therein.

And the first method he says that they will us is they would apply what he describes as “voluntary in humility.”

Humble deportment. Paul appears to be warning them of those very dangerous souls who present themselves to others with feigned humility.

Talking softly and wincing to make themselves seem humble, of lowly countenance.

As far as I can tell, “genuine humility must always be based in open reality, and the most open reality a person can have is to never feign unreality.”

What I mean by this is the reality is God is in heaven and we are of the dust and whatever humility that comes from that observation is a good place to start.

But the humility must be genuine and from the heart with respects to all areas of life, and faking it, or those who fake it is whom Paul is warning them about – especially if the faking is aimed at ensnaring others to their false teachings.
That “with their humble approaches” they help deprive the believers of their liberties from the Law.

The catch term here to understand the type of humility they professed is in the term “voluntary.” Which seems to mean they took pleasure in the humility they presented.

18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels,

Voluntary humility “and worshipping of angels.”

This is a tough line because it sounds like Paul is warning them against men or women who humbly worship angels.

It could mean this, but it could also allude to a person who presents themselves as so humble, so heavenly, so spiritual, that they bow their heads at the first apparent light from heaven.

Either way, they were people who presented themselves in ways that made them see holy, super elevated spiritually, and therefore perhaps more in-tune to spiritual truths.

Paul adds

intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

I don’t know about you, and if you have never been a Mormon this might not mean much to you, but there are few passages that better describe the Mormon bill of goods that get sold to you when you embrace that religion.

There is false and feigned humility run amuck, there’s the semblance of people being “spiritual” who, in many cases are really nothing but carnal representations of the Spiritual, and from the founder on down through their leaders to follow, there has been a steady diet of those who “intrude into those things that they have not seen, vainly puffed up by their fleshly minds.”

You really don’t see this stuff all that well when your in the midst of it all, but it comes out both historically (in the descriptions of its leaders) and in the week to week engagements with those who embody the spirit of the founder and speak.

Its exactly what Paul describes – people “intruding into things that they have not seen who are vainly puffed up by their fleshly minds.”

And from this the LDS church and missionaries speak of

God once being a man, who had many wives, and bore spirit children, with the first and brightest being Jesus, our elder brother who chose Heavenly Fathers plan over Lucifer, who was another heavenly relative before being cast out of heaven and taking a third of the premortal spirits with him.

And then after that great war in heaven, people come down to earth with misty memories of what they once were in their spiritual families, and what they promised each other before taking their turn on earth, like getting eternally sealed and then becoming a God themselves.

So they receive a man-made priesthood, and do man made temple rituals, and are sealed together in man-imagined sealings – being promised things if they obey the vain imaginations of . . . men.

These are examples of all the “puffed up vanities” from fleshly minds, all presented in voluntary humility, all, in the end, depriving true Christians of their liberty in Christ Jesus by demanding more laws upon those who bite.

Paul then adds a line that brings believers back in line with the truth, describing what the believers are in him and saying:

19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

“To not hold the head,” which is Christ, the head of His body, is to not hold to the truths of the Gospel – the essentials, the Good News given to the world.

In other words, those puffed up seers feigning humility with their fleshly ideas

“Do not hold the head of the doctrine of Christ FROM WHICH all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.”

Which is a true description of the true body – from which “all the body by joints and bands are nourished, and knit together and that increase with the increase of God.”

And at VERSE 20 Paul brings us back to a place where we started and says:

20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, (which was something we just discussed) why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

In view of all that has been said, this is a great question!

If you are (in fact) dead to the world (by virtue of his death) – from the rudiments of the world – why then, as if you are living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances like (verse 21 and 22)

21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; (22) Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

(long beat)

It’s a great question every single person who claims Christ ought to ask themselves – as the reasoning and logic is profound.

If you really have died with Christ, and have or are dying daily from the rudiments of this world, and then if you really have risen up to new life in His resurrection and walk by the power of it in your life,

Why do you subject yourselves to clubhouse rules that say don’t touch, don’t eat, don’t handle, which are all the “COMMANDMENTS and the DOCTRINES of Men??”

WHY? Paul asks.

And so, I too ask you, “WHY?”

(beat)

Paul might answer this question himself in the next verse as to why – and its an importance admittance, when he says:

23 Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in “will worship,” and “humility,” and “neglecting of the body;”but not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.

I like the Weymouth translation of this passage which has Paul say:

“These rules have indeed an appearance of wisdom where self-imposed worship exists, and an affectation of humility and an ascetic severity. But not one of them is of any value in combating the indulgence of our lower natures.”

He has asked them, “Why do you, being liberated by Christ, allow yourselves to be trapped by men and their rules?” And then he admits:

Which rules indeed have an “appearance of wisdom” when “self-imposed worship exists,” and an “affectation of humility” and “an ascetic of severity.”

But not one of them is of any value in “combating the indulgence of our lower natures.”

Lordy lordly Lordy – what a mouthful of truth, my friends, especially in my life. And let’s end today talking about what he is saying here:

When I embraced the religion of my youth, everything was based on “the appearance of wisdom, where my worship and allegiances were self-imposed and originating from the will of my flesh.”

I learned through these things to have an “affectation of humility,” and an “ascetic of severity” but, as Paul says,

NONE of it was effective at combating my lower fleshly carnal nature!

And it was these very things about external religion and their demands that caused me to look inward, and then outward – to find something that would change my soul.

It was NOT in external laws, cultures, or demands, and when I learned what it was in, what could would and did change my carnal nature by changing my inward heart – I grasped it – and His name was Jesus – without ANY thing of man.

Paul is essentially saying these things are useless in the realms of the worship of God and the walk of a Christian.

Rules, behaviors and practices that have:

“appearance of wisdom”

Paul said of himself

1st Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

And then he said of God

Romans 11:33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”

Bottom line, human wisdom without the input of the Living God is enticing and has an appearance, but is foolishness in changing the lives of the carnal woman or man.

And then we read these things exist where “self-imposed worship exists,”

Another way to read this verse is the way the RSV puts it, saying:

These have indeed an “appearance of wisdom” in promoting “rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body,” but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh.

We find such things in people who in the name of God trim their hair, shave their faces, wear dresses but not make-up, in those who fast often and appear to do so, who refrain from all elements that appear to be indulgent – wine, pork, and other things that go into the mouth; in those who even harm themselves as a means to mortify the flesh.

None of these things Paul says, are “of value in checking the indulgence of the fleshly nature of human beings.”

What does? (BEAT)

Dying with Christ and rising up with Him in His resurrection, by the Spirit, and allowing God to reign over you – and not ourselves through external religious rules and regulations.

PRAYER