Colossians 2:8-10

Colossians 2:8-10  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.   For in Christ 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.  In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

As Paul continues his strong warning to the church to avoid deceptions based upon anything except the total sufficiency of Christ's finished work, he expands the revelation of Jesus Christ as the complete representation of God on Earth, just as Jesus taught when He walked this earth.  When we studied John, we saw Jesus tell his disciples He was the way and the truth and the life.  Doubting, Philip asked him to show them the Father and that would be enough.  Jesus explained, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?  The words I say to you are not just my own.  Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.  Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."  (See John 14:3-14)  Paul accepted the Christ who called him from darkness into light as the fullness of the Deity, exactly as He said.  His death and resurrection proved his words.  Paul also knew all who trust in Jesus must live by faith.  As believers, we inherit Christ's fulness; therefore, WE ARE COMPLETE, LACKING NOTHING TO PLEASE GOD.  THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST'S PERFECT SACRIFICE FOR SIN, we are spiritually circumcised: our fleshly selves--the old human nature--has been cut off and cast aside by the atoning death of Christ.  We died with him and rose again in newness of life as a new creation.  This death of the old nature and rebirth with Christ allows us to be identified with him.  Since we are buried with Christ, we declare the old rebellious nature powerless to defeat us.  Whenever sin raises its ugly head in our lives, we do not accept guilt, shame, and condemnation.  Instead, we praise God because we are alive in Christ, dead to our former way of living.  Christ in us is our hope of glory.  We know the Holy Spirit will perfect us as we identify with Christ and become more sensitive to God's still small voice by yielding control to the Spirit's leading.  

Paul explains this miraculous process of dying with Christ and rising with him as a new creature to the church in Rome.   He proclaims, if we have died to sin through Christ, then we have been

 baptized into his death.  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 

  Free in our Savior, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.  The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  Paul declares new creatures in Christ do not continue in sin that grace may abound.  Instead, they count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.   He rightly concludes: sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.  (See Romans 6:1-14)   As we learn who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us through the power of the Holy Spirit, we begin to function more consistently and joyfully in the body of Christ where God calls us to minister and to serve him.  Likewise, we become more in tune with God's will, his perfect plan.  As the things of Earth lose their appeal, we become less likely to wander, more apt to listen and to obey.  We see a harvest of the fruit of the Spirit as we live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit rather than engaging in the unprofitable works of the flesh, producing bitter fruit that leads us into distractions, temptations, and the fruitless works of this world.  (See Galatians 5)  

Paul empathically warns the Colossians, See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of men.  He points believers toward victory in Jesus, reminding them of their hope in their risen Lord.  He says, avoid manmade traditions and vain philosophies, requiring people to win favor with God by works or sacrifices of the flesh.  Those false philosophies represent the foolish imaginations of arrogant humans, trying to please God through their own efforts and abilities.  This is the same recalcitrant spirit that caused Adam and Eve to fall.  The serpent did not have to do anything except plant a doubt and they faltered.  “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”  Such a small temptation caused them to fall: they ate of the tree of knowledge because the deceiver promised, “You will not surely die.  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  (See Genesis 2:1-4)  Throughout  time, many false prophets and clever philosophers have created new ideas, creative teachings, or alternative religions to unlock the mysteries of the universe or to reach God by their intellect and powers of perception; but Christ came to cast aside and to do away with humankind's futile efforts to find truth and manmade religion's ineffective attempts to know the creator of the universe.  

Through the power of his sacrifice, Christ places himself as the only mediator between God and man.  When Thomas asked Jesus how the disciples could know the way to the Father, Christ categorically exclaimed, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”  (John 14: 6-7)  Any effort to please God except through Jesus will fail miserably.  As natural lawbreakers, we all fail outside of Christ.  We cannot honor the religious laws and traditions we set up ourselves without breaking or skewing them.  God does not accept imperfections of any kind in his presence without judgment.  On the Mountain of Transfiguration, Jesus alone was the righteous, perfect One: He alone pleases God.  Hidden IN HIM by faith, we are righteous, for He is righteous.  Jesus Christ's DNA flows through each and every believer; you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority: we are his for eternity and nothing can take us from his hand.  Jesus said, Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  (John 10:7)  As his child, you are complete in him, lacking nothing: no special works, no continual sacrifices, no secret codes are required.  See to it that no one takes you captive!  Stand fast in your freedom and rejoice!