“Abundant Christian Living”

TOPIC:‌“Searching Ends When Christ Comes In”

                 by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

TEXT:‌Colossians 2:8-15

‌‌“For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body, and you are complete

‌‌through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in

‌‌the universe” (2:10, 11 NLT).

‌Before we look at Paul's case against the peddlers of the Colossian heresy, it would be best at this point to throw some light upon the precise nature of the heresy itself. It was a mixture of Jewish ritualism and liberal legalism. It later became known as Gnosticism coming from the Greek word “gnosis” meaning knowledge.

‌This system of belief perverted the gospel of saving faith in Christ by teaching that salvation can be attained through human knowledge. It sought to reduce Christianity to a legal system of works. It was legalistic and ritualistic in nature as it insisted upon circumcision, the observance of ceremonial days, feasts and ordinances. It taught that mere faith in Christ was not enough, but that a higher stage of Christian experience could be attained by the worship of certain angelic beings or intermediary spirits. It reduced Christ to the position of a lesser God and taught that matter is inherently evil so God could not have been its creator.

‌St. Paul was one who knew all too well that Christ was not subordinate to the other members of the Godhead, but was co-equal, co-eternal and co-existent with them. He held tenaciously to the fact that Christ's death on the cross was alone sufficient to deliver man from his sin. He also believed contrary to what the Gnostics taught that Christ was not one of a host of beings that formed a bridge between this earth to God, but that Christ Himself was the only way to God and there was no salvation possible without Him. Is it any wonder then that Paul writes in such a detailed fashion about the eternal glory, preexistence, fullness, preeminence and exaltation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

‌In the verses before us we find the Apostle Paul encouraging the Colossian believers to be on guard against those evil teachers who desired to corrupt their faith and ruin their witness in Christ. Think for a moment both of the negative and positive side of Paul's warning to these believers. His caution is twofold.

I.

. . .