The Sufficient Christ

KEY VERSE: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” —Colossians 2:6

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Colossians 2:5-19

IN TODAY’S LESSON, Paul exerting myself for you and sounds a warning to the for those at Laodicea, and for church at Colosse, designed to guard those brethren from the seductive influence of false Greek philosophy, melded with distorted portions of the Jewish Law proclaimed by teachers, probably of Jewish origin, which tended to draw them away from the true Gospel of Christ.

Paul, in exhorting his brethren there, said, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (vss. 6,7) If there is anything for which we ought to be thankful, it is for the knowledge of the great truths respecting our Lord and Savior.

In his opening comments Paul said he wanted them “to know how strenuously I am all who have not met me personally.” (vss. 1,2, New International Version) His object was, of course, to induce them to hold fast to the true faith and not to swerve from the faith they had in Christ when he was first made known to them.

When Paul said, “In him [Christ] are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (vs. 3), one of his points was to liken our Lord to a great treasure-house where was to be found all the wisdom needful for man’s salvation. Christ is able to instruct and lead us in all we need to know, so that it is not necessary for us to resort to philosophy or the teachings of men. Paul gave them this warning as a guide: “Beware lest any man spoil you (Margin, “makes prey of you”) through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Just prior to this he had also given them strong warning, lest any man should beguile them with enticing words—persuasive arguments, sounding credible.

The Apostle (in verses 10-17) reassured the Colossians that Jesus’ death on the cross had removed the legal demands of the Law which were against them. Paul said: “Ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who both raised him from the dead, and you … hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, … and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” He spoke of the Law arrangement as ‘shadows’ of things to come, rather than the substance or reality, which is ‘Christ’.

Those shadows merely prefigured, or represented, good things to come and having come, that which was designed to represent the good things were no longer binding.

Finally, Paul’s letter advised the brethren at Colosse, “Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.”—Col. 2:18,19, NIV

Paul gave a description of Christ and the Church under the figure of Head and body, “Henceforth, be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”—Eph. 4:14-16

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