Colossians 1: 9 “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
Colossians is an interesting book. I believe through this letter we first see the introduction and threat from “New Age” thinking. And don’t kid yourself about ‘new age’ being new as this philosophy has been around since the beginning of time.
“The new false teaching in effect denied the total sufficiency of Christ for salvation and the completeness of Christ’s atonement. The details of the new false teaching are difficult to describe, because Paul did not write about them point by point.” Click
But even as this new false evil religion began to take its hold on man God was providing a way of escape.
Colossians 1: 13 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,”
How did Paul deal with this new age religion?
“Rather, Paul overwhelmed the false teaching and smothered it with the full and complete riches of Christ, his person and his redemptive work–the Christ who is the true God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the Savior and God/Man who reconciled by his blood the sinners of the world to God, and who is the power of the believers’ faith.” Click
Our savior is not of this world and has power over this world and all its evil. Our savior, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God.
Colossians 1: 15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
Paul was not responsible for planting the church in Colossae. That distinction went to Epaphrus. But Paul did attempt to water the Colossian church via his letter he wrote to them.
“To deal with the new false teaching, Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians. Paul then dispatched his co-worker Tychicus to carry his letter to the church of Colossae (Colossians 4:7,8). Paul’s letter was a circular letter to be shared with the other churches in the area, particularly nearby Laodicea (Colossians 4:16).” Click
So why was the letter to the Colossians written?
“Epaphras, leader of the church in Colosse in Asia Minor (Colossians 4:12), came to Paul in Rome with good news and bad news about the church of Colosse.” “The bad news was the Colossians were being troubled by a new teaching that was contrary to the gospel which Epaphras had been preaching to them.” Click
Our God created all things and has the power over death and all that is evil in this world.
Colossians 1: 16 “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
What was this new age false teaching all about?
“The new teaching claimed a profound knowledge apart from Christ (Colossians 2:8), an emphasis on following prescribed rituals (Colossians 2:16), the worship of angels (Colossians 2:18), and ascetic self-abasement (Colossians 2:18 & 20-23). The new teaching which included the worship of angels indicates that it invoked spiritual powers rather than calling on Christ in whom the fullness of God dwelt in bodily form (Colossians 2:9).” Click
What can we say about this little town called Colossae and how it existed in the Apostle Paul’s time?
“Who lived there? A cosmopolitan group of people. There were Greeks and Phrygians (Phrygia was the province in which Colosse stood). But in addition there was probably a fairly large Jewish population in the area, judging by the amount of Temple tax paid in Laodicea in 62 B.C. In the days of Antiochus III, 2000 Jewish families from Babylon and Mesopotamia were moved into the area. As a result of all this, Jews in the Lycus Valley would probably have numbered 50,000 in the time of Paul.” Click
And now Colossea has become a town whose glory resides in the past but whose people are still crying out for a savior.
“In the past Colosse had been a leading city in the province, an important stop on the east-west trade route leading from the Aegean seaport of Ephesus to the Euphrates River. Merchandise of every description from all over the Mediterranean floated through Colosse on the Lycus River to the great Euphrates where it continued all the way to Babylon and even beyond. But by 60 AD…Colosse was past its prime.” “…traveling preachers introduced some false teaching into our community. It would come to be known as the Gnostic Error, which in your time has become the basis for New Age thinking. This so concerned Epaphrus that he traveled all the way to Rome to see Paul, who was imprisoned there, to get some advice and direction on how to combat this heresy. Paul’s response was to write his Epistle to the Colossians, the Bible’s most succinct statement on the pre-eminency of Jesus Christ.” Click
Actually, by the time Paul became introduced to the church here Colassae had a full plate of problems just begging for someone to help them with.
“The Christian churches in Colosse had a full plate when it came to problems of the deceptive spiritual kind. Paul delt with the problem of Gnosticism in this letter.” “It appears that this strange new philosophy was being mixed with Judaism, forming a sort of New Age idea of Jesus.” “We now know that some of the ancient Christian Jews had merged false angels with astral powers which were thought to be protecting the planets. These teachings, partly Christian, partly Jewish, and partly pagan developed into full blown Gnosticism. Today modern astrology is the fruit of this pagan doctrine.” “We can learn a lot from this inspired letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the churches in Colosse. Let us never fall into the trap of “spiritism“and let us never play with the false New Age message.” Click
In summary what is the overall message of the book of the Colossians?
“In studying the Book of Colossians we find ourselves face to face with a philosophy which plagued the early church and is still alive under other labels in our religious world today. Knowledge of Gnosticism is a valuable tool in studying and understanding much of the New Testament epistles.” “As far as we know Paul had never been to Colosse, but his friend and coworker Epaphras reported on the condition of the church, both its abounding love for God and other saints (1:7) and doctrinal problems.” “In Paul’s time Colosse was a small city with a mixed population of Phyrians, Greeks, and Jews.” Click
And the summary of salvation?
“There is no hidden mystery knowledge necessary for salvation. All we need has been revealed in God’s Scriptures.” “Writing from his house arrest in Rome, Paul is attempting to combat false teaching in the church at Colossae. Epaphras, who was instrumental in the birth and growth of that church, came to Paul with mixed reviews of its spiritual condition.” Click
And what was Paul’s prayer?
“Paul’s prayer was that the people be controlled by the full knowledge of God’s will, which would lead to obedience and moral excellence.” Click
We don’t need mystery religions today to satisfy us. What God has revealed to us we can grasp and fully comprehend and understand.
Colossians 1: 26 “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.”
God has chosen to reveal to those He loves the glory of His riches and the final glory that we find in Christ alone.
Colossians 1: 27 “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
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