Most of Paul's letters were written to churches that Paul himself had begun. The church in Colosse, however, heard the gospel from Epaphras (Col. 1:7). He told Paul about the faith and love of the believers in Colosse--but Paul also learned that some false teachings were bothering this young church. Paul wrote them a letter to better ground them in the Christian faith.
In chapter 1, Paul prays for their wisdom, understanding and Christian life (1:9-14). He reminds them of how great Christ is, and that they have been reconciled to God through him. Paul reminds them that he is working hard to teach everyone about Christ, so that they will know the truth.
To help set them straight, Paul wanted them to focus on Christ (2:6-7). They had already been taught enough about Christ. They needed to continue in that and strengthen that, rather than trying to add strange doctrines to it. Christianity is based on faith in a Savior who died for us. It does not need to be complicated with extra ideas.
"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" (2:8). The ancient world had a wide variety of religious ideas. Some were taught by philosophers who tried to show how sensible and practical their ideas were.
In contrast, Paul taught salvation through a crucified man. He taught that God existed in this man who was killed, and that God had brought him back to life. Paul taught that this Christ would return on some future day to bring everyone back to life and to judge the world.
Paul's gospel did not depend on human wisdom--it defied human wisdom. It did not depend on clever arguments, or on principles that most people already agreed with. It depended on Christ alone, on who he was and what he did.
Most religions try to figure out what people's problems are, and then what they need to do. But the gospel has a reverse logic. It begins with what Christ has done, and from that, it discerns what the human problem really is, and what we need to be saved from. It starts with Christ.
"In Christ," Paul writes, "all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority" (2:9-10).
If we have Christ, we do not need other ideas added on. Christ is superior to everything else, and Christians have fullness in Christ, and he is fully God. Christ is supreme and sufficient.
Paul then explains the practical significance of this: "In Christ you were also circumcised" (2:11). Physical circumcision isn't necessary, Paul says, since you have already been circumcised spiritually, through faith in Christ.
How were they circumcised?--"in the putting off of the sinful nature." Physical circumcision could only symbolize the removal of sin, but Christ performs the reality in our lives, making the symbol unnecessary. Through Christ, the sinful nature is cut off. The reality has been achieved, so the ritual is not needed. When we have Christ, we have enough.
Paul then says that Christians have "been buried with him [Christ] in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ" (2:12-13).
These are the results of faith in a Savior who is fully divine. The old person, corrupted by sin, is dead and buried. Through faith in Christ, we are united with him, and what he has done is effective for us. He died for us, so our sins are no longer counted against us.
In the death of Christ, our sinful self received the wages of sin. And in the resurrection of Christ, we live with him in new life. What God did in Jesus Christ, he also did it for those who believe in Christ. Consequently, our sins are fully forgiven. We do not need to do anything extra to kill them, pay for them or make up for them.
Paul elaborates this point by writing that Jesus Christ "forgave us all our sins, 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" (2:13-14).
The "written code" comes from a Greek word used for a note of debt. Our sins are like debts, and they are completely taken away in Christ. Those sins have no power over us; sins cannot impose regulations about what we have to do, because they were eliminated on the cross. Christians do not need extra rules to deal with sin--we have Christ. Our behavior changes, of course, but we do not have to perform any actions to deal with past or current failures.
"Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (2:15). The words "powers and authorities" probably refer to something the false teachers were saying--perhaps that Christians should do something to please or get help from some mystical powers. Paul is saying that Christ has conquered them all. When we have Christ, nothing else has power or authority over our lives.
The power called sin has no authority over us. We do not need special rituals to break that power--what we need is Christ, who has already triumphed over that power. When we have faith in Christ, our old sinful self is dead, and our new life is with Christ.
Paul begins the next verse with the word "therefore," because it is a logical result of what he has just said. Because our sins are fully removed in Christ, we should "not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day" (2:16).
The false teachers were apparently saying that avoiding certain food and drink could somehow help people deal with sin in their lives. But food and drink have no power to take away sin.
Paul is saying that we are fully forgiven in Christ, and we should therefore not let anyone judge us about what we eat and drink. Of course, we cannot prevent what people think about us. What Paul means is that we should not accept their judgments--we should not believe that our standing with God depends on food and drink regulations.
In the same way, because we are fully forgiven in Christ, we should not let others judge us with regard to festivals, new moons or Sabbaths. These, like circumcision, were part of the Jewish religion. Apparently the false teachers of Colosse included a mixture of Judaism in their ideas.
But how could people in Colosse observe festivals, new moons and Sabbaths? They could not do any of the sacrificial rituals in Asia Minor. Jews observed the weekly and annual Sabbaths by not working. The false teachers were saying that this cycle of annual, monthly and weekly observances would help the Christians deal with sin in their lives.
That's not true, Paul said. Abstaining from work does not help anyone deal with sin. It does not forgive past sins, nor does it give power to avoid sin in the future. Sin was dealt with completely by Jesus' crucifixion, and because of that, we should not let others judge us by what we do on days of the calendar.
Those days "are a shadow of the things that were to come" (2:17). The Jewish worship days were a shadow, a silhouette, of things to come. Paul does not say whether these days had any predictive value. He does not say how the new moons were shadows. No matter what Paul meant by shadow, no matter whether the things to come are past or future, the result is clear: these days have no effect on sin. We should not let others judge us regarding them--nor should we judge others. As far as sin is concerned, days are irrelevant.
Paul then makes this contrast: "the reality, however, is found in Christ." The Greek literally says "but the body of Christ." This part of the verse has no verb, so one must be added. Translators usually add "is," because Greek often omits "is."
Greeks also commonly contrasted shadow and body as terms for picture and reality. Paul's thought is that food, drink and days are shadows, but the reality is Jesus Christ. Christ deals with sin in reality; foods and days can do it only in picture. Paul is saying that Christ is important; the shadows are not.
But some have suggested that we should add a different verb: Don't let anyone judge you by food and days, but [let] the body of Christ [judge you]. They claim that we should let the church judge this. Ironically, most of these people have rejected the judgment that the church has given regarding foods and days. Paul has just explained that our sins are fully forgiven in Christ; he is not going to reduce that idea by saying that we should let the church judge us. This is not in his thought or in the context. His point is that Christ is the reality that foods and days could only hint at.
Paul ends this chapter with a warning about those who teach that religion must have restrictive rules. Such ideas might "have an appearance of wisdom ... but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence" (2:18-23). Rules about avoiding certain foods, or avoiding work on certain days, may sound wise. They might suggest that we have power over our bodies, but they cannot break the power of sin. Only Christ can do that, and he has done it fully and effectively on the cross.
Michael Morrison
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1999