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There was a church in Laodicea also, about ten miles from Colossae. Paul mentions that church in this passage, and a lost letter to them is referred to later in this book (Col. 4:16). This church at Laodicea had fallen on hard times by the time the Lord Jesus addresses them directly in the book of Revelation, where He has nothing good to say of them as a church. Nevertheless, there were some there who could still hear His voice (Rev. 3:20).
“For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words . . .” (Col. 2:1-23).
Paul has not met these believers, or those in Laodicea, and he wishes they knew the conflicts he had had on their behalf (v. 1). These conflicts were apparently instances of wrestling in prayer, that their hearts might be comforted, that they might be knit together in love, and into a full assurance (v. 2). As they are knit into this understanding of Christ, they find that in Him are all treasures of wisdom and understanding (v. 3). He wants this for them so that they would be immune to beguiling and enticing words (v. 4).
Paul was not there, but he was with them, rejoicing in the steadiness of their worship and faith (v. 5). They needed to walk like Christians; the 10,000thstep should be just like the first one—by faith (v. 6). They are to be rooted in Christ, built up in Christ, the way they were taught, and overflowing with gratitude (v. 7). The alternative to this progress in sanctification is to be spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit, the way men do, and not according to Christ (v. 8).
Remember that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ (v. 9). This means that if we are in Him, that is sufficient (v. 10). In Christ we were all spiritually circumcised (v. 11), which corresponds to our baptism (v. 12). We used to be dead, but now we are alive (v. 13). The accusations of the law were against us, and so God removed them by nailing them to His cross (v. 14). This humiliated the principalities and powers, and Christ triumphed over them (v. 15).
This is why and how we are liberated from the fastidious, and regulations having to do with food or drink or calendar observance, new moons, Sabbaths (v. 16), which are all just shadow play (v. 17). Don’t let any man beguile you with this kind of stuff (v. 18), and remember that a certain kind of fleshly mind is attracted to this. Such a one does not hold on to the Head, which is how the body is knit together (v. 19). If you are dead in Christ, then why act as though you were alive to the world and its fussiness (v. 20)? Don’t don’t don’t(v. 21). These things are transient and temporal (v. 22). They have the look of wisdom, they display well, but they don’t do any good whatever (v. 23).
Paul is concerned that the Colossians might be susceptible to a particular kind of worldly wisdom. He warns them against vain deceit and philosophy (v. 8). He says that the deception is deeply embedded in the way this world operates—the traditions of men and the rudiments of this world (vv. 8, 20). When people veer off into vain nonsense, they are doing something that seems to fitsomehow. They think they are finding themselves, or getting down to the bones of the world, but they are actually drifting away from Christ. Paul uses two different words that are rendered as beguiled by the KJV. One is in v. 4 and the other in v. 18. The latter has the sense of controlling or manipulating. This chapter is crammed with cautions, and while their particular first century pitfalls are not with us today, the rudiments of the world most certainly are. Beware of new age spirituality. So beware of crystals, oils, depth psychology, feel-good affirmationism, spelunking in the cavernous world of personality and identity, and the all-round Ophrafication of America.
Why do we worship the way we do? In verse 5, Paul refers to how orderly the church was in its worship. The word there is taxis, and originally it was a military term—much like how we might use the word regimentation. He was pleased about two things at Colossae that he had heard about. One was the steadfastness of their faith in Christ, and the other was the disciplined order of their worship services. For many reasons—most going back to the spontaneity of Rousseau—we tend to think that structured worship is somehow insincere. We tend to think that a prayer that you actually thought through and prayed overas you wrote it is hypocritical. But why on earth would we think that?
The Bible teaches that physical circumcision is a representation of spiritual circumcision (Deut. 10:16; Rom. 2:28-29). The physical represents the spiritual. The Scriptures also teach that physical baptism is a representation of spiritual baptism (Acts 10:47). The physical represents the spiritual. We are told here that spiritual circumcision (without hands) corresponds to spiritual baptism (vv. 11-12). So why on earth would we not be able to finish the fourth side of the square? Why doesn’t physical circumcision correspond to physical baptism? And if that is the case, then how would infants be excluded?
We saw earlier how God wants us to be knit together in love. This happens when we hold fast to the Head, that is Christ. Our growth in the faith is Christocentric, and our love for one another, in order to be fervent, must be Christocentric also. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7).
So love God, and love your brother, in that order. A lover of Christ is a lover of Christians. But if any finite being assumes the place of God in your life, and you love them more than anything else, it will not be long before you run out of gas and they will receive less love than they would if you had kept them at #2. If you cling to Christ then you will be knit to one another. We see this in v. 2 and v. 19.
Christ is the one principle of unity here. We worship an infinite Christ, not an infinite series of little complicated christs.
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Remember that Colossae was a Gentile city, and that the church had been planted there about ten years earlier by Epaphras. As a Gentile church, they were in a good position to hear about the mystery of Christ—hidden for long ages past, but now manifested in them.
“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister . . .” (Col. 1:21-29).
Before the gospel had been brought to them, the Colossians were dead in their sins. Paul says that they used to be alienated and enemies in their minds by their wicked works, but now have been reconciled (v. 21). This reconciliation had been brought about through the death of Jesus so that they might be made holy in the sight of God (v. 22). This gospel is something they must continuein, Paul says. This is the gospel that was preached to them, and to everyone (v. 23).
As a minister, Paul now fills up the sufferings of Christ for the sake of the body, which is the church (v. 24). He was made a minister of this gospel for the sake of the Colossians, in order to fulfill the word of God (v. 25). He is talking about the mystery which God hid for ages, but which He has now made manifest to the saints (v. 26). This mystery is Christ within the Gentiles, the hope of glory (v. 27). This is the Christ that Paul preaches, warning and teaching both, and with the goal of presenting every man complete in Christ (v. 28). That is the end toward which Paul labors, struggling to get out what God is working in (v. 29).
A very consistent element in Paul’s anthropology is his awareness of what sin does in us, how it works in us. We tend to think that certain mental “mistakes” lead us down the wrong path, and that we then wind up in sin as a result. Note how Paul reverses this. They were enemies in their minds and they were alienated in their minds because of their wicked works (v. 21). Sin leads to intellectual futility, not the other way around. The heart drives the head.
Paul says that he completes the sufferings of Christ in his body, and we have to spend a moment here lest anyone think that the sufferings of Christ for redemption were in any way inadequate or in need of being completed. When Paul says this (v. 24), he immediately adds that he was made a minister. Paul was made a minister of the Word, which means that he fulfills the sufferings of Christ’s body that were related to the proclamation of it—not that which was related to the laying of the foundation for it. Christ died, once for all, and that cannot be supplemented. But the message of that death can and must be supplemented, and there are countless sufferings connected with those countless preachers. This is the suffering of Christ’s body, in a different sense. The Lord Jesus, who had completed His redemptive suffering, asked this same Paul on the Damascus road why he was persecuting Him(Acts 22:7).
We tend to think of a mystery as something that is hidden, period. But in Paul’s vocabulary, a mystery was something that was bound up for ages and generations, but which was eventually revealed and manifested to all. And of course, if we limit ourselves to the New Testament, it will eventually become strange to refer to this as a mystery at all. But if we are steeped in the Old Testament, if we remember that the Jews were our elder brothers in the faith, then the fresh and potent nature of this revealed mystery will remain with us. Paul works through this same glorious truth in the second chapter of Ephesians.
What is the content of this mystery? The content of this mystery is summed up in the phrase the riches of the glory, and then it is amplified by the phrase Christ in you, the hope of glory. This content, the message that Christ would be revealed in the Gentiles as the hope of glory, is a message that Paul says was hidden. But where was it hidden? The answer is plain that it was hidden throughout all the Old Testament. Now that Christ has risen from the dead, and has given His Spirit to saints all over the world, it is fairly easy to find that mystery as we read the Scriptures. Sure, now that we see it we cannot stop seeing it. But we also must not stop seeing it.
Now Paul says something here which is really similar to the principle he sets out in Philippians. “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12–13).
And how does he express that same truth here? He says that he labors, in line with God’s working or energy, which works in him with power. A man or a woman who labors in the church, doing plenty of good stuff, is going to burn out unless it is an outworking of God’s prior in-working. Receive what God works in by faith. And by that same faith, work into the world what God worked into you.
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Together with Ephesians, the epistle to the Colossians is one of those places in Scripture where you have a much higher densityof truth. The letter is not more true than other passages of Scripture, but there is certainly more truth per square inch. This letter will repay many visits.
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ . . .” (Colossians 1:1–20)
The letter is from Paul the apostle and Timothy both, but since the pronoun I is used throughout, we may assume that Timothy was the secretary (v. 1). The saints and faithful brethren there are greeted with grace and peace from the Father and Son (v. 2). Paul was constantly grateful for the Colossians (v. 3), ever since he heard of their faith in God and love for the saints (v. 4). That faith and love sprang from their hope laid up in heaven, which they heard about through the gospel (v. 5). That gospel, in the Colossians and everywhere, is fruitful from the beginning (v. 6). They learned all this from Epaphras, a faithful minister (v. 7), who reported their love back to Paul (v. 8).
Since the first day Paul heard of their beginning, he constantly prayed that they would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding (v. 9). This is so that they might walk in a way that was fruitful and pleasing to God (v. 10). This would happen as they were strengthened by His power in all patient joy (v. 11), giving thanks to the Father who included them in His inheritance (v. 12). God had delivered them from the power of darkness (v. 13) into His kingdom, and they had redemption through the blood of the Son, which is the forgiveness of sin (v. 14).
This Son is particularly exalted in this book. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation (v. 15). This Son is the Almighty Creator of all things—they were created byHim and forHim (v. 16). He is prior to all things, and in Him all things hang together (v. 17). He is the head of the church, and the arche(the “beginning”), the firstborn from the dead, the preeminent one (v. 18). It pleased the Father that all fullness might reside in the Son (v. 19). And having made peace through the cross, it was the Father’s intention to reconcile everything in Heaven and on earth through that magnificent sacrifice (v. 20).
For many reasons, the book of Colossians should be considered the twin sister of Ephesians. These two books were written around the same time (62 A.D.), during Paul’s Roman imprisonment—the imprisonment recorded at the end of the book of Acts. Another letter written at the same time was Philemon. All three letters were apparently delivered by Tychicus (Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7) and Onesimus (Col. 4:9).
Colossae is located about one hundred miles to the east of Ephesus, in modern Turkey. Ephesus was on the coast, and Colossae was inland. The church at Colossae had been founded about ten years earlier, but not directly by Paul. When Paul was teaching for that three year stretch in Ephesus (A.D. 52-55), a Colossian native named Epaphras heard Paul in Ephesus, was converted, and returned to Colossae in order to plant the church there (Col. 1:7).
If something exists, then that something was created by Christ. He is the executive of God’s power, He is God’s power, which is to say, He is God. Consider verse 16 again. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” (Col. 1:16).
But we are told this many times in the New Testament. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Heb. 1:2). If something is, then Christ made it.
The word archein verse 18 is translated as beginning, but there is more to this than what a stopwatch measures. The word archeis used in John 1:1, but there at the beginning is the Word, who is God and with God. In Col. 2:15, Christ spoils the principalities (arche), which refers to spiritual rulers. Christ is the ultimate ruler, the ultimate point of integration, the firstborn of all creation.
Paul says this explicitly in verse 15. He is the firstborn of all creation. This is echoed a moment later in the phrase firstborn from the dead. And so we see that firstborn of all creation does not mean “first born creature.” Christ is no creature, but rather the Creator, as already noted. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is God’s declaration of who is really is (Rom. 1:4; Acts 13:33). Jesus was begotten from the dead, which is what “this day I have begotten thee” refers to in the second psalm.
Paul says something very striking in verse 20. “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col. 1:20). The death of Christ on the cross did not just result in our forgiveness and our redemption, although it includes that. We see that in verse 14—“in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” And so the estrangement between our unholy selves and a holy God is accomplished this way. But notice that Paul is talking about a much grander reconciliation accomplished through the cross. Here the reconciliation is between “all things” and “Himself.” And the allness of the “all things” includes things in Heaven as well as on earth.
Do not simply think of Heaven as a place that is utterly distant—although the Scriptures do speak of the highest heaven. We should also think of Heaven as something that is near but hidden from us. There are multiple places where we are told that the heavens “opened.” We see this at the baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:10). Jesus told Nathanael that he would see it (John 1:51). Peter saw this in his vision of the sheet with the unclean animals (Acts 10:11). This what Stephan saw at his martyrdom (Acts 7:56). This is the revelation that John saw (Rev. 4:1).
So do not say, “who will go up into Heaven to get Christ for us?” (Rom. 10:6; Deut. 30:12-13). No, Heaven is nearby, because Christ is preached, and whenever Christ is preached, He is nearby.
“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach” (Rom. 10:8).
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First we must begin with a statement of our problem. Many glorious truths were recovered in the Reformation, and one of them was the doctrine of vocation. Unfortunately, this is part of our Protestant heritage that we have shamefully neglected, and have almost lost. One of the principal indications that we have lost this doctrine is that we speak so easily and readily of “full-time Christian work,” as though there were anything else for a Christian to do. The reestablishment of two “holiness” layers of occupation in Christendom has been a terrible loss.
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship” (Exodus 31:1-5).
So the word of the Lord comes to Moses (v. 1). A particular man was called by name out of the tribe of Judah. His name was Bezaleel (v. 2), and the Lord filled him with the Spirit of God (v. 3). This is the first instance of anyone being described as filled with the Spirit in the Bible.
And what were the indications of the Spirit’s filling? They were wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and craftsmanship (v. 3), which gave him the ability to do cunning work—as a goldsmith, a silversmith, a worker in brass (v. 4), as a jeweler (or possibly a mason), a woodworker, along with any other similar work.
So when the Spirit descends to fill a man for the first time in the Bible, it is surprisingly not to come down upon a theologian reading a big, fat scroll. He does do that, but later. Now the important thing here is that Bezaleel was called. The Latin verb that means “to call” is vocare, from which we get our word “vocation,” calling. This is not to disparage the importance of a call to the mission field, or the ministry—of course not. But all Christians are called, and are called to labor self-consciously and faithfully in their calling, whether it is law, real estate, carpentry, medicine, brick-laying, shop-keeping, changing diapers, writing novels or songs, digging latrines, or planting trees. All of God is in all of it. Christians who think like Christians should function in terms of calling, and not in terms of “a job.”
We do not hold to this on the basis of a mere assertion. There is a doctrinal foundation for it. We must fix it in our minds that God is in everything, and works through everything. If God is sovereign in this way, which we affirm, this means that Christ is hidden in the artisan, and Christ is hidden in the customer. Christ is hidden in the one behind the counter, and He is hidden in the one in front of the counter. He is hidden in the dentist, and hidden in the patient in the chair.
First, God provides for us through means. We benefit from the work of the farmer, the fertilizer salesman, the trucker, the grocery store clerk, the dairyman, and when we bow our heads to thank God for the breakfast cereal, we are thanking Him for His work in and through all of these people, whether they know Him or not. We receive from Godthrough the work of others. We acknowledge this when we pray for our daily bread (Matt. 6:11). We know that God is working in and through all things (Rom. 8:28), and this includes all of our countless daily kindnesses.
Second, Christ receives from us as we work in each of our vocations. God gratefully receives from us through the work we do for others. “Lord, when did I ever give you hot French fries when you were famished?” “Don’t you remember? It was that time at the drive-through window.” This is the other side of vocation, the flip side of it. God keeps track of every cup of cold water (Matt. 10:42), and He reckons everything we do for others as done to and for Him (Matt. 25: 34-46).
This means that Christ is hidden in our vocation, and He is hidden in our neighbor. We are to discover Him there with the eye of faith. We were created for work (Gen. 2:15), and called to work diligently six days out of seven (Ex. 20:9-11). We are to render all our work to Christ, and not just to the boss when he is present. “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Col. 3:23). Christ is in your boss, and Christ is in your customer, and Christ is in you.
And so we are to receive all the work done for us as a gift from Jesus Himself (Matt. 6:11). The mother gives milk to the child, but who fills her breasts with milk in the first place? When the farmer first planted the wheat, he did not know he was making milk for the baby.
All work is full of glory but it is a glory apprehended by faith. This faith does not necessarily mean that a Christian carpenter pounds nails differently than an unregenerate carpenter does. But it does mean that he should understand the meaning of what he does, and, over time, this should result in differences in craft competence.
Neither should this doctrine be taken as an excuse to become a one-trick pony. Your vocation is varied, and extends to every aspect of your life. This means that you are not only called to be, say, a software designer, but you are also called to be a son, a student, a husband, a brother, a citizen, a churchman, and a putter of model ships into bottles. Incidentally, parents, this means that education should be equipping your child for his or her vocation in this broad sense, not the narrow sense. And this, incidentally, is the meaning of a liberal arts education.
And vocation is not a talisman against worldly difficulties. Americans love “three steps to automatic success,” but that is not what the Scriptures promise. Diligence in this vocational way of thinking will generally result in long term satisfaction with what you do—instead of the constant flitting from job to job that is so common in our day—but don’t think that God-given changes are a sign that something is necessarily wrong. And don’t think that vocation means that you will just float through your work day—the diapers can really stink, the customers can really be unreasonably irate, the promised shipments really can be subject to exasperating delays. Rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). And Christ is in all.
We are called, all of us, to live in the will of God. But remember the difference between His revealed will for all Christians, and, after that, what are yourabilities, youropportunities, and yourdesires. The first is a function of obedience. The second is a function of wisdom.
When those three things line up, then go for it. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Prov. 16:9). And as you go, remember this: “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Prov. 22:29). This is not carnal ambition—it is what enables us to see death and resurrectionin our daily callings.
A message on this subject would be grossly deficient if we did not quote Luther at some point. His wonderful grasp of vocation, the most heavenly and earthy of truths, was remarkable. “God Himself milks the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid.” And amen.
Christ Church