Seeing Christ

in

COLOSSIANS

God Has Spoken Series

STEPHEN KAUNG

FOREWORD

“The word of God is living and operative” (Hebrews 4:12a). It is “living” and not just letter because it gives life. The Scriptures are “operative” because they contain not only theological ideas to be pondered but also spiritual realities to be experienced. For “every scripture is divinely inspired [God-breathed], and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work” (II Timothy 3:16-17).

“Ye search the scriptures,” said the Lord Jesus Christ, “for ye think that in them ye have life eternal, and they it is which bear witness concerning me; and ye will not come to me that ye might have life” (John 5:39-40). It behooves us, therefore, to diligently read the Bible and meditate on it.

To encourage God’s people to study God’s word, brother Stephen Kaung delivered a series of messages on the sixty-six books of the Bible. Each message is merely a panoramic view of each book of the Bible; a tasting of the sweetness of God’s word. The aim is to provide the saints with some basic understanding in their search of God’s word.

May God use these messages to increase our love for His word.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Copyright

Note

Colossians

Colossian Heresy

Full Knowledge of God’s Will

Image of the Invisible God

Firstborn of all Creation

Head over the Church

Reconciler of all Things

Complete in Him

Union

Forgiveness of Sins

Circumcision

Debts Paid

Deliverance

Defeat of the Enemy

Our Walk

True Ministry

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2014

Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc.

New York

All Rights Reserved.

www.c-f-p.com

ISBN: 9781937713591

NOTE

Scripture quotations are from the American Standard Version of the Bible (1901), unless otherwise indicated.

COLOSSIANS

SEEING CHRIST AS THE FULLNESS OF GOD

For this reason we also, from the day we heard of your faith and love, do not cease praying and asking for you, to the end that ye may be filled with the full knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so as to walk worthily of the Lord unto all well-pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and growing by the true knowledge of God; strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.

Colossians 1:9-13

For in him (that is in Christ) dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; and ye are complete in him.

Colossians 2:9-10

Let us pray:

Dear heavenly Father, how we do praise and thank Thee for giving us such a high privilege of coming to Thy table to remember Thy beloved Son, and through Thy Son to come to Thy throne of grace to receive help and mercy and grace. Our Father, how we do praise and thank Thee that we are indeed in Thy presence. We thank Thee that the veil has been removed. We thank Thee that we can approach the throne of grace with boldness. Now our Father, we ask that Thou wilt reveal Thyself to us; reveal Thy Son to us through Thy word. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.

In the letter to the Colossians the Holy Spirit intends to reveal to us Christ-the glory, the supremacy, the fullness, and the all-sufficiency of Christ-and because of Christ being such, therefore we find our completeness in Him.

There are two letters written by the apostle Paul which are considered to be twin letters-Ephesians and Colossians. Both were written from the Roman prison; both were written at about the same time; and both were sent by the same messenger, Tychicus. In the letter to the Ephesians we see the glorious vocation of the church as the body of Christ. In the letter to the Colossians we see the glory of Christ as the Head, and in Him the church, which is His body, finds its completeness. So these two letters reveal to us Christ and the church. As far as is known, the letter to the Colossians was written a little before the letter to the Ephesians. There are reasons for that, but we will not dwell on them. However, I think that this order of writing must be so because, logically speaking, we have to see the Head first before we can see the body. We must see Christ first before we can ever see the church, which is His body.

Perhaps a little background will help in our understanding of this letter. Colosse was a very small city, and probably today we would not even call it a city. It was just a little town situated in the Roman province of Asia located in what is Turkey today. Paul had never been to that town, but we know that he was in Ephesus for three years. During his stay in Ephesus the word of the Lord was heard by all those in Asia Minor, both Jews and Gentiles, and evidently some of the Colossians came to that great city for various reasons, perhaps for trade. Among the people who came to Ephesus and heard the word of God through the apostle Paul were Epaphras, Philemon, Apphia and others. These people went back to Colosse and there the church in Colosse began. Even though Paul had never been to Colosse, he was used by the Lord as a channel or instrument in the very founding of the church there.

While the apostle was in prison in Rome the church in Colosse sent to Paul a messenger, Epaphras. He went to Rome to see Paul for two reasons. One was to convey to him the sympathetic greetings of the saints in Colosse, and the other was to report to him the trouble they had in Colosse. The problem the church in Colosse began to experience was later called the Colossian heresy. In order to correct that heresy, Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians. I do not think we need to know in detail what the Colossian heresy was, even though it is very interesting. Actually, when the great apostle Paul wrote this letter, he did not dwell on the heresy. To the contrary, he focused his attention on Christ. He took a positive approach by presenting Christ to them. If they could see Christ, if they could know Him, then that heresy would drop away automatically and very quickly.

Graham Scroggie once remarked: “A true Christology is the best answer to all heresy that ever has been or ever will be.” In other words, a sight of Christ is the answer to all false teachings and false doctrines. If we only knew Christ as we should, then we would be delivered from all heresies and all false teachings. I do believe that this is what it ought to be.

Perhaps the question can be raised: “Why is it that the Colossian believers would fall into such heresy?” Probably there are two reasons. First, human beings are naturally curious. In human nature there is an intellectual urge. We want to know; we want an explanation for everything. We can see it very clearly from childhood onward. When a child is growing up he is always asking questions: “Why, why, why?” He wants to know the reason for everything. I do not know if that kind of natural urge is the result of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but within human beings there is this natural desire to know, to be curious about things, to speculate, to be able to explain. With that kind of curiosity and intellectual urge, we would like to know what the origin of the universe is. We would like to know how this thing came to happen or how that other thing came to be. Instead of trusting in God with a childlike faith, we try to look around, speculate, imagine, explain everything around us. In doing so, we fall into the trap of the enemy.

Second, there is within us a desire for quick solutions and success. We are all naturally impatient. We like to see things fixed or resolved quickly, instantaneously, and successfully. I think this is the reason why Eve fell for the trick of the enemy because she wanted so much to be like God. Man was created according to the image of God, and therefore, naturally, there is within us a desire to be conformed to that image, and I think this is right. We are made according to that image; therefore, we have an inward desire to be conformed to that image. But the problem is, how are we to be conformed to the image according to which we were made? Are we to be conformed to the image by the way that God has prescribed for us, eating of the tree of life, receiving God’s life in us, and letting that life grow in us, being transformed and conformed to His image? That, of course, will take time. Or are we to be conformed by searching out some instantaneous technique-whether that be through some mystic experience or by performing some external exercises? If so, we will see how the enemy will come in and offer something along that very line: “If you simply are initiated into this mystery, then you shall be complete,” or, “If you just practice certain things-do this and do that, don’t do this and don’t do that; then you shall become perfect.” Oh, how man so readily falls into that trap because he desires instantaneous success. I think probably these are the two reasons why the Colossian believers fell into the so-called Colossian heresy.

COLOSSIAN HERESY

Now let me speak a little about the Colossian heresy, because I know you are curious! As far as we know, the Colossian heresy was a combination of two things: one was heathen gnosticism and the other, Jewish ceremonialism. It was a very strange combination. In those days there were people called the Gnostics (derived from the Greek word gnosis, meaning “knowledge.”) They considered themselves to be people “in the know,” those who knew everything. They knew how the universe began, they knew how all of creation began to evolve, they even supposedly knew the hierarchy in the unseen world, and so on. And they claimed that if you were initiated into such knowledge, then you would know everything. It was an intellectual speculation, a kind of mystic approach; but simultaneously it was combined oddly enough, with Jewish ceremonialism-that is to say, with certain Jewish rituals and observances. And they believed that if anyone followed these two approaches to life, that that person would possess full knowledge-knowing everything-and would achieve fullness and perfection. In essence, that was the Colossian heresy.

FULL KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL

How then, would Paul resolve this kind of problem present in the Colossian assembly? I believe a clue can be found in his prayer for the Colossian believers recorded in Colossians 1:9: “For this reason we also, from the day we heard of your faith and love, do not cease praying and asking for you, to the end that ye may be filled with the full knowledge of his will.”

The Gnostics always talked about having full knowledge; they continually spoke about wisdom; they talked endlessly about fullness. So here Paul turned the tables on them and said, “I am going to talk about fullness. I am going to talk about full knowledge. I am going to talk about how we can be filled and indicate with what we should be filled. And my prayer for you brethren is that you may be filled to the full-not just somewhat filled but filled completely, filled to the full.” But with what? With full knowledge-even a full knowledge of God’s will.

Let us ask ourselves: what are we filled with? Are we filled full with the knowledge of God’s will? Do we know what God’s will is? Do we know what is the full knowledge of His will? The full knowledge of God’s will has reference not only to a mental apprehension of the complete, the perfect and the full knowledge of God’s will but also to the experiential and living apprehension of His will. I do believe that it is of tremendous importance here that we be filled with this kind of knowledge. It does not matter if we do not have other knowledge, even though that other knowledge may be good. However, if we are lacking in the full knowledge of God’s will, then something is basically wrong with us, and we shall be exposed to all kinds of deceptions and heresies. What we need today is to be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will, to know what His will is-even the perfect will of God. I would say again that we need to realize that this will of God is not merely a mental knowledge; it is also a knowledge which is living, that which we can experience, enter into, and be involved with. This in fact is the substance of Paul’s prayer for the Colossian believers, and I do believe that this is the prayer which is likewise needed for us today: “... that ye may be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and understanding.”

What is wisdom? There are different explanations, but if we look back into the Old Testament period we find that there was one particular man who asked God for wisdom. God gave him wisdom, and wisdom we are told, is having “a heart that hears.” Wisdom is not primarily conceived in the mind. We always think of wisdom as something having to do with the mind, but true wisdom in a man is having a heart that hears the voice of God. That is wisdom.

Understanding on the other hand, is the conscious assimilation of knowledge into oneself. A person knows it and knows how to apply it to one’s life. This full knowledge of God’s will must be apprehended and applied in all wisdom and understanding. It is not merely something in our mind, it is also something which our heart hears. It is that which has been assimilated consciously and practically into our life. It is not speculative knowledge; it is a practical knowledge. Gnostic teaching is speculative; it does not affect one’s life in any practical way. This full knowledge of God’s will enables us “to walk worthily of the Lord unto all well-pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and growing by the true knowledge of God; strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father” (Colossians 1:10-11).

Such knowledge affects our life, and this is the knowledge which we must have. I think the key to that can be found in the second passage which we read at the very beginning: “For in him [that is, in Christ] dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; and ye are complete in him” (Colossians 2:9-10).

This is the full knowledge of God’s will. What is God’s will? His will is centered upon His Son. In His Son all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. That is God’s will.

What is the fullness of the Godhead? This fullness of the Godhead dwells. We know that the word dwells in John 15 is the same word translated as abides. And in the original language it simply means “make its home.” All the fullness of the Godhead makes its home in Christ; it not just visits but stays, remains, abides, dwells, makes its home in Christ Jesus. This is our Lord Jesus. He is the fullness of God. Whatever you can think of concerning the Godhead, whatever area it may be-His love, His holiness, His justice, His righteousness, His virtue, His power-all the fullness of the Godhead makes its home in Christ Jesus. He is the fullness of God, and in this little letter Paul tried to explain a little of what he meant.

IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD

First of all, Paul said, “All the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ.” How? Christ is the image of the invisible God. We know that God is spirit; therefore, He is invisible. No one can see God. But Christ the Son is the image of the invisible God. The image (Greek, eikon) here does not refer to outward form but to the inward quality. All the inward qualities in God are also in the Son, and He is the full representation and the full manifestation of God and His inward qualities. You may recall that the Lord Jesus once said, “No one has ever seen the Father, but the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (see John 1:18). The disciples had been with the Lord for three years and during that last night together one of them still asked, “Now show us the Father and it suffices us.” And the Lord Jesus replied: “Phillip, I have been with you for three years, and you are still asking this question. Do you not know that if you see Me you see the Father?” (see John 14:8-9) Who is the Lord Jesus? He is the image of the invisible God. Today all we know of God is through knowing Christ Jesus, because Christ Jesus the Son has declared the Father. He has manifested the Father. In the former days God spoke in many ways to our fathers and in many parts through the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us in the Son (see Hebrews 1:1-2). Only the Son is the full representation of the Father, and only through Him is the Father fully manifested-nothing more and nothing less. He is the image of the invisible God, and it is according to that image that man was created, and it is to that image that one day we will be conformed by the grace of God.

FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION

All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily (see Colossians 2:9) because He is the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15). This word firstborn does not refer to what we ordinarily think about firstborn. This word in the Scriptures has two uses: one is the common use and the other is the special use. Suppose in a family you are the firstborn and after you there are others who are born who are your brothers and sisters. That is the common usage of the word. But in the Scriptures there is a special usage of it and it does not refer to that kind of order. It refers to the notion of having “priority to” and “sovereignty over.” If you are the firstborn in this more special sense, then you are prior to everything that follows. You are not within the order; you are before that order. You are prior to, and you have sovereignty over everything that comes afterwards. That is the meaning here of the firstborn.

So the firstborn of all creation simply means that our Lord Jesus is prior to all creation. I think it is itself explained here because the Scripture reads: “He is before all” (Colossians 1:17). He is not created; He is the Creator. He is before all. He is considered as the firstborn of all creation because all things were created in Him, by Him, and for Him. Unfortunately, in Colossians 1:16, the translators changed the word in because they could not understand it. They translated it to say, “Because by him were created all things ...” We find this again in the same verse: “All things have been created by Him and for Him.” But in the original it is a different word. It says all things were created in Him because He is the designer. He designs all things. All things take their character from Him. And, then, we read that all things were created by Him: He is the builder, the engineer; He makes all things. And lastly, all things were created for Him: He is the owner, the heir of all things. Here we find the fullness of the Godhead in Christ Jesus. He is the Creator of all things-all things were created in Him, designed by Him, and took their character from Him. All things were created through Him-He made them. And all things were created for Him-He is the owner and the heir of all things. That is our Lord Jesus.

HEAD OVER THE CHURCH

“And He is the Head of the body, the assembly; who is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead” (Colossians 1:18). Christ is not only the Creator of the universe, of all creation; He is also the beginning, the Head, the foundation of the new creation, which is the church. The church is a new creation, and this new creation begins with Him. He is the Head, and out of Him comes the church. On the cross when the soldier thrust that spear into His side, water and blood came out, and the apostle John said with emphasis, “I saw it, I witnessed it, I say this is true” (see John 19:34-35). Why was John so emphatic? Through the death of our Lord Jesus, and out of His broken heart, came forth blood for the remission of our sins, and water (life) that we may live. Out of the travail of His soul the church, the new creation was born, and it was on the basis of resurrection. It is not the old creation. It is a new creation, therefore it is on resurrection ground. He is the Head of the body, which is the church.

RECONCILER OF ALL THINGS

He is the reconciler of all things (see Colossians 1:20). After God had created all things man fell, and because man sinned, the whole earth entered into corruption and vanity (see Romans 8). The whole of creation entered into the bondage of corruption and vanity, not because all things in creation were willing to, but because they were compelled to through the fall of man. When our Lord Jesus, who is the fullness of God, came into this world and died on the cross, He reconciled not only mankind, but all things. He brought them all back into harmony. All things had disintegrated, had fallen into chaos, had lost their purpose; but the Lord Jesus restores everything back into harmony, into meaning, into purpose, and into His fullness. This is our Lord Jesus. This is the full knowledge of God’s will. In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.

Do we see Christ as being as large as the Bible reveals Him to us, or do we see Him merely as a little Christ? Thank God, we do see Him as our Savior. To us that is as large as the universe; however, so far as God is concerned, that is but a tiny speck, because in God’s will Christ His Son is everything. All the knowledge is in Him, all the wisdom is in Him; indeed, everything is in Him.

If we look with the creation in view-Christ is the firstborn. If we look with the new creation in view-Christ is the beginning. If we look from the viewpoint of reconciliation-it is through Christ. And if we look at God-Christ is the very image of the invisible God.

The full knowledge of God’s will is simply this: to God, Christ His Son is all and in all. If this is so, why should we ever go outside of Christ in search of an explanation for all things or in search of a solution to any problem?

COMPLETE IN HIM

There is not only the glory of Christ as the fullness of God, but the Scripture declares this: “In Him ye are complete” (Colossians 2:10). This word is spoken to us believers. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, and the Bible further says that we are complete in Him. If this is what Christ is and we are complete in Him, then why should we seek for anything else? It is absurd! Before the apostle Paul knew the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, he had pursued after other knowledge, he had boasted in other things, he had considered his achievements in things other than Christ. But one day when he saw the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, he came to the following conclusion: “I count all things but dross, I count everything as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. To know Him, that is my one desire” (see Philippians 3).

In European church history there was a man named Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf. He was saved when he was between four and six years old. He belonged to the nobility, and while a little boy growing up in the castle, he loved the Lord very much. He used to sit at the window and write on a paper, “Jesus loves you,” and throw it out of the window hoping that someone down below would pick it up. Throughout his life he loved the Lord Jesus very much. He said, “I have only one passion. I have but one passion, Jesus Christ.”

If we really are filled with the full knowledge of God’s will, if we truly see who Jesus is and what He is, I wonder how it can possibly be that we can have more than one passion in life! Should that not just fill us with that one longing, one desire to know Him? Paul said, “To know him and the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). “In Him ye are complete.”

UNION

When we believe in the Lord Jesus, are we aware that something tremendous has happened? We often dwell upon the fact that when we believe in the Lord Jesus our sins are forgiven. Thank God for that; that is true. When we believe in the Lord Jesus we receive a new life; that is also true. But how? Why is your sin forgiven when you believe in the Lord Jesus? He died two thousand years ago and you committed your sin only in this century. Why is it that when you believe in the Lord Jesus all your sins are forgiven? Why is it that when you believe in the Lord Jesus you receive a new life? He poured out His life two thousand years ago. Why, then, is it that you receive that new life today? How does it happen? Something tremendous, indeed, happens! When you believe in the Lord Jesus, a union takes place: “By God you have been put in Christ, whom God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (see I Corinthians 1:30). When you receive the Lord Jesus, not only does the Lord Jesus come into you, but also God puts you into the Lord Jesus; a union occurs: you are in Christ and Christ is in you, and because of this, your sins are forgiven and a new life is received.

Let me illustrate it this way: God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, but His purpose was not to deliver them out of Egypt and then leave them in the wilderness to die. God’s purpose was to lead them into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. God gave the promised land of Canaan to the children of Israel as their inheritance. What kind of land was it?

“For Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs, and of deep waters, that gush forth in the valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, where thou shalt lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou wilt dig copper. And thou shalt eat and be filled, and shalt bless Jehovah thy God for the good land which he hath given thee” (Deuteronomy 8:7-10).

The land which God gave to the children of Israel as their inheritance was a good land. It was a land filled with every good thing, and when they were there they would eat and be filled and bless the Lord. When they entered the land this is what they found:

“And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into the land which he swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee: great and good cities which thou buildedst not, and houses full of everything good which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, vineyards and oliveyards which thou plantedst not, and thou shalt have eaten and shalt be full” (Deuteronomy 6:10-11).

When they entered the land they found that the cities were already built. They did not even need to build them. They found that the houses were not only built but filled with good things. The fields were already planted, and the wells were already dug. They just entered in, enjoyed, and were full. Now that is the picture which can be painted when we read: “Ye are complete in Christ.” When we believe in the Lord Jesus, God puts us into Christ. Christ has become our land flowing with milk and honey. He is the great and good land. Christ is our inheritance, and in Him everything is ready. All the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus are available to us. It is all ours. We are complete in Him. We do not need to dig a well; all we need to do is draw out of it. Everything is ready and available in Christ. He has done everything for us. Everything He has done is for our sakes. He simply says, “Just come in and enjoy Me.” “Ye are complete in Him.”

FORGIVENESS OF SINS

“In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14). “... having forgiven us all the offenses” (Colossians 2:13).

We have sinned terribly. We have offended God greatly, but thank God, in Christ Jesus, our sins are all forgiven.

“... though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow ...” (Isaiah 1:18).

All our sins are washed away. All the offenses are forgiven, and not only forgiven but forgotten. God does not remember your offense to Him anymore. Think of that! He has redeemed us out of the curse of the law so that we do not need to die anymore, and it is all in Christ. Because we are united with Him, therefore our sins are forgiven, our offenses are forgotten, and we are redeemed from the curse of the law. Yet that is just the beginning.

CIRCUMCISION

“In whom also ye have been circumcised with circumcision not done by hand, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ” (Colossians 2:11).

When we believe in the Lord Jesus, not only are our sins forgiven and our offenses forgotten; not only are we redeemed from the curse of the law; but also we have been circumcised, yet not with hands. It is not a physical thing but is a circumcision of the heart. It is the circumcision of Christ. When we believe in the Lord Jesus He gives us a new heart, a heart that is tender and soft, a heart that hears, a heart that loves Him. Our heart has been circumcised.

Christ has delivered us out of the bondage of the flesh because when He died, you and I died in Him. We are now a new creation. The Scriptures tell us that when we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and have also been raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from among the dead (see Colossians 2:12).

Christ not only has died for us and we died with Him and in Him, but also He was buried. The old things have passed away, and when we rise up out of the baptismal waters, we declare that from now on it is Christ who lives in us. Is that not wonderful?

Let us realize that it is no longer we who live. Sometimes we find ourselves very bothersome. It is as Paul said, “Oh, who can deliver me from this wretched body-this body of death?” (see Romans 7:24) According to tradition, we are told that in the Roman world, when the authorities wanted to punish a murderer, they would bind the corpse of the murdered person with the murderer face to face, hands to hands, feet to feet, mouth to mouth, until gradually the poison of the corrupted corpse penetrated that living man’s flesh and so he died from it. That is what Paul meant when he cried out: “Who can deliver me from this wretched body-this body of death?” Is it not so that sometimes we feel this wretched “I”? Why is it that the “I” still comes forth? Oh, that it be buried, that it be put to death! Well, it was already dead, it was already buried; but we dug it back up. If we truly believe through the faith of Jesus Christ that when Christ was buried we were buried with Him and that when He was raised from the dead we were raised with Him from the dead in newness of life, then it is done.

DEBTS PAID

“Having effaced the handwriting in ordinances which stood out against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it also out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

What does this passage mean? In the olden days when people wanted to borrow from you, they would give you a paper, an I.O.U. (I owe you). With that I.O.U. paper you could demand repayment of the debt. But whether the debtor paid it or not, the I.O.U. paper was yours, and you nailed it. That handwriting, with the signature there-the I.O.U.-was nailed to the cross. When you publicly nailed that paper up, it signified that the debt was fully paid.

That is what Christ did for us. We each and all of us have signed an I.O.U. God has said to us, “These are My laws.” And we have said in response, “All which you have commanded, we will do.” For have we not, like the children of Israel, said again and again, “We will do all which God has commanded”? We each, as it were, had signed a handwritten I.O.U. But we were not able to fulfill our I.O.U. obligation. We each of us therefore owed God our own handwriting or certificate of debt. But when Christ died on the cross He paid all the debt, the handwriting having been nailed by God to the cross. What grace! What mercy!

DELIVERANCE

“He has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love” (Colossians 1:13). We are no longer under the authority of darkness. The enemy tries to keep people in darkness, and he has authority to do that because people belong to him. But we are the Lord’s; and hence, the enemy no longer has any authority over us to keep us in darkness. God has already translated us out from the authority of darkness and has transported us into the kingdom, power and authority of the Son of God’s love. So all we need to obey is the Son of God’s love.

DEFEAT OF THE ENEMY

What happened to the enemy? “Having spoiled principalities and authorities, he made a show of them publicly, leading them in triumph by it” (Colossians 2:15). When Christ died on the cross He disarmed and spoiled (or stripped naked, as it were) all principalities and authorities, even all the powers of wickedness and all the spiritual powers of darkness. He has spoiled Satan and all his hosts, and made a public show of them by means of the cross. He has completely routed and defeated the enemy; and because He has defeated him, there is no reason why we should be defeated today. We can claim the victory of Christ over the enemy and all his works.

These, then, are but a few examples to demonstrate how we are complete in Him. There is nothing we need, whether to know or to live, that we cannot find in Christ Jesus. “All the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily and ye are complete in Him.” Complete here means “made full in Him.” If this is the case, then what should be our attitude in life?

OUR WALK

“As therefore ye have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and assured in the faith, even as ye have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7). If this is so, then what are we to do? How are we to conduct ourselves? We are to walk in Christ, we are to be rooted in Him, to be built up in Him, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Let us not-as the Colossian believers were doing-look outside of Christ. Let us find everything in Him, and if we do, we shall be delivered from all heresies; for instance, from Jewish ceremonialism-meat, drink, feast, new moons, Sabbaths. These things during the Old Testament times had indeed been instituted by God, but they were meant as shadows or symbols, preparing for the reality to come. When Christ, who is the reality, fulfillment and substance of these shadows, has come, then these shadows ought to disappear. There is no need for these external exercises any longer because we now have the inward reality, even the Christ. And if this be the case, then what is the need indeed of such strictures as “do not touch, do not taste;” and additionally, what is the need for all these mystical gnostic inquiries and speculations? We do not need that because, as Paul has written here, we have been delivered from the elements of this world. Our life is now hidden with Christ in God. Let us therefore think and inquire after the things in heaven, for we have become a heavenly people. We shall be delivered from all these earthly things. Such is the will of God.

TRUE MINISTRY

Finally, when we come to the ministry of the apostle Paul, here is a description, in his own words, of what his ministry truly is: “I rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh, for [the sake of] his body, which is the assembly; of which I became minister” (Col. 1:24-25).

To what end, though, is Paul willing to suffer for the church? Let us listen carefully to what he had to say: “Whom we announce, admonishing every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, to the end that we may present every man perfect in Christ” (Col. 1:28).

True Christian ministry has only this goal, this one end, which is to present every man perfect in Christ, and not in anything else. If we try to be perfected in anything else we are unperfected. If we want to be perfect, it has to be in Christ, and this was the ministry of the apostle Paul. He admonished, he taught, he agonized, he toiled, he prayed: all and only for this one purpose, that he might present the believers perfect in Christ. This was also the ministry of Epaphras, because Paul mentioned him and his ministry in his prayer: “Epaphras, who is one of you, the bondman of Jesus Christ, salutes you, always combating earnestly for you in prayers, to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12).

What is the will of God? It can be summed up in this one statement of Paul’s: “All the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, and ye are complete in Him.” As we approach this little letter to the Colossians, may we be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will. Oh, that we may see Christ, the fullness of God, and be made partakers of that fullness.

Let us pray:

Dear heavenly Father, we do look to Thee for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to the full knowledge of God. We pray that Thou wilt open our understanding, that we may see Christ as the fullness of the Godhead, and that we are complete in Him. We pray that as we see Him our faith would rise within us to claim Him as our all and in all. We pray that we may not in any way be distracted and drawn away by anything outside of Christ, that we may walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and be thankful all the time. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.