You Were Raised to New Life

Meditations on Colossians

June 7, 2023

You Were Raised to New Life

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

Colossians 2:9-10

Read: Colossians 2:8-12

We continue with our gem mining in Chapter 2 and quickly discover four more gems in this brief passage. First, let’s note the word play Paul uses to introduce this passage. Paul warns the Colossians, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit. . .” (Colossians 2:8a NRSV). The Greek word for ‘takes captive’ (sylagogon) is very similar to ‘synagogue’ and thus was a thinly veiled reference by Paul to the threat posed by the Judaizers. The Good News of Jesus is, at its very heart, quite simple, and the early church was continually being tempted to add to the Gospel. In the case of the Judaizers, they wanted to add religious law-keeping to the Gospel, as well as male circumcision. Paul addressed this threat with four priceless gems.

The first gem is yet another reference to the supremacy of Christ: “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body” (Colossians 2:9). The Nicene Creed amplifies this thought with its splendid prose about the deity of Christ.

The second gem, “So you also are complete through your union with Christ” (Colossians 2:10), echoes back to Paul’s assertion that “Christ lives in you” (Colossians 1:27). In the world’s culture, self-esteem is measured through the difference between the person you want to be and the person you perceive you to be. The greater the difference, the lower your self-esteem. In God’s culture, the fullness of God lives in Christ, and Christ lives in you. You are complete in Christ! There is no difference between the person you were created to be and the person you are, in Christ. How’s that for self-esteem!

The third gem is again a bit of word play. Male circumcision was about clipping away a small amount of skin. However, when we come to God through faith in Jesus, “Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature” (Colossians 2:11b). The entire body of the sinful flesh, not just a small portion of skin, is cut away in the circumcision of Christ.

The fourth gem takes only nineteen words to express what Paul took five hundred ninety words to say in Romans 6: “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life” (Colossians 2:12).

My Takeaway: Paul’s reference to baptism in verse 12 is not a literal reference to water baptism when we join a church; rather, it is our spiritual baptism. The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the life in Christ when we make our confession of faith in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. We are baptized into the fullness of God in Christ Jesus. To help grasp the depth of Paul’s assertion, I recommend reading Romans 6 in The Message.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.