{"id":6810,"date":"2020-08-18T04:11:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T09:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/wp\/?p=6810"},"modified":"2020-08-18T08:08:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T13:08:42","slug":"colossians-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/?p=6810","title":{"rendered":"Colossians 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

2\u00a0<\/strong>For I want you to know\u00a0how great a\u00a0struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>that\u00a0their hearts may be encouraged, being\u00a0knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of\u00a0God’s mystery, which is Christ,\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.<\/p>\n

Paul was worried that these Christians were getting burned out. He knew that if the believers were discouraged, they would be a easy target to the world. We as believers must stay in the word and have believer around us to help us get through things. <\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

I say this in order\u00a0that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For\u00a0though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your\u00a0good order and\u00a0the firmness of your faith in Christ.<\/p>\n

Alive in Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n

6\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,\u00a07\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>rooted and\u00a0built up in him and\u00a0established in the faith, just\u00a0as you were taught, abounding\u00a0in thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We need to walk in the Lord and build a new life on Him only. <\/strong><\/p>\n

8\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>See to it that no one takes you captive by\u00a0philosophy and\u00a0empty deceit, according to\u00a0human tradition, according to the\u00a0elemental spirits[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0of the world, and not according to Christ.\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For\u00a0in him the whole fullness of deity dwells\u00a0bodily,\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>and\u00a0you have been filled in him, who is\u00a0the head of all rule and authority.\u00a011\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>In him also\u00a0you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by\u00a0putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,\u00a012\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>having been buried with him in baptism, in which\u00a0you were also raised with him through faith in\u00a0the powerful working of God,\u00a0who raised him from the dead.<\/p>\n

Most of the Colossian Christians were Gentiles who had never been physically circumcised. Paul assures them that they\u00a0<\/strong>were\u00a0indeed circumcised in a spiritual sense, which is even more important than physical circumcision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

13\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God\u00a0made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,\u00a014\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>by\u00a0canceling\u00a0the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.\u00a015\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>He disarmed the rulers and authorities[b<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0and\u00a0put them to open shame, by\u00a0triumphing over them in him.[c<\/a>]<\/sup><\/p>\n

We are not only\u00a0made alive, but\u00a0made alive together with Him.<\/p>\n

Let No One Disqualify You<\/strong><\/p>\n

16\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Therefore let no one\u00a0pass judgment on you\u00a0in questions of food and drink, or with regard to\u00a0a festival or\u00a0a new moon or a Sabbath.\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>These are a shadow of the things to come, but\u00a0the substance belongs to Christ.\u00a018\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Let no one\u00a0disqualify you,\u00a0insisting on asceticism and worship of angels,\u00a0going on in detail about visions,[d<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0puffed up without reason by\u00a0his sensuous mind,\u00a019\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>and\u00a0not\u00a0holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.<\/p>\n

That is to say, the heretics probably insisted that their worship of angels rather than the supreme God was an expression of humility on their part.\u201d (Vaughn)<\/p>\n

20\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>If with Christ\u00a0you died to the\u00a0elemental spirits of the world,\u00a0why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations\u2014\u00a021\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>\u201cDo not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch\u201d\u00a022\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>(referring to things that all perish as they are used)\u2014according to\u00a0human precepts and teachings?\u00a023\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in\u00a0promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are\u00a0of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6810"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6812,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6810\/revisions\/6812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}