Colossians 2:1-12

This is a sermon that I preached for my class in "Expository Preaching," rather than at the church I serve. The second sermon for that class (which is on the rest of Colossians 2) will be coming up a little before Thanksgiving.

10/21/10
Colossians 2:1-12
Expository Preaching

Jesus is the answer. It might sound cheesy, it might remind you, like it does me, of bumper stickers you may have seen, but I assure you, that Jesus is indeed the answer. At least, that is what Paul is proclaiming to the Colossian church, which seems to be being torn apart over the best way to discover “the mystery of God.” It seems that the Colossian Christians are not all that different from you and me. Some of them think that the mystery of God is to be found one way, some think that it is to be found in another, very different way. Conflicts arise because of differences of opinions and it seems the only thing that everyone can agree on is that the other group is wrong.

It is in the midst of this kind of situation that Paul speaks a word. “For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face. I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Paul is not the one who has planted this church, but his heart yearns for them, and everyone else, to know that it is Christ himself who is the mystery of God and that, if they can just grasp this, they will have all the riches of assured understanding.

“I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments.” This fact, that Jesus is the mystery of God, is not just one among a series of facts that Paul thinks that he and the Colossian Christians can take or leave as they wish. Paul is not writing to give a helpful way of thinking that may or may not have any bearing on reality at all. No, Paul is asserting with all of his strength, that this is a crucial point, something not to be ignored or brushed aside but accepted and confirmed in the depths of every believer. To treat Christ as anything but utterly central is to be deceived, led astray by arguments that have been thought up by human beings; clever human beings, but human beings nonetheless.

After encouraging the people, Paul continues. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.” It seems that the error that Paul wants to correct has a Jewish form and a Gentile form. The Jewish form is somewhat more clear because Paul speaks more directly about it, as we will see next week. There seems to be a revival of ancient Jewish practices in Colossae. Some of the people are observing distinctively Jewish dietary restrictions and taking care not to touch certain things because they will make them unclean.

The Gentile form of this Colossian error is spoken of as being taken captive “according to the elemental spirits of the universe.” In ancient Greece, there was an obsession with what the world was made out of. It was more or less universally accepted that everything was made up of four elements, Earth, Water, Air and Fire. The question that remained was, “How do these four things make up everything else?” And perhaps the more pressing question was, “Which of these four things is the very most basic?” For example, if fire is the simplest of the elements, then Earth, Water and Air could be said to be made up of fire. This whole way of thinking intended to cut behind what we can see and touch and penetrate into the mysteries of the world, or, perhaps, the mysteries of God.

A related but somewhat later use of the term “elementary spirits of the universe,” but still in pre-Christian Greece, was in scientific works. Euclid’s geometry was praised for it simplicity and its beauty. It started with five postulates, that were thought to be self-evident, and then the rest of geometry was simply deduced logically from them. It was simple, it was beautiful, and it was the most rigorous discipline anyone knew. The goal in science was to find out the small number of “first principles” upon which everything else depended, like Euclid’s postulates. Then, it would be possible to use our deductive skills and understand the universe in a way we couldn’t before.

Paul, of course, is not saying that observing human tradition, like that of the ancient Jews, or studying the universe is intrinsically evil. However, there is a problem in both of these ways of thinking. Paul’s real problem is that people are doing these things and being taken captive by them and not thinking “according to Christ.” If we remember this, we can understand why Paul is concerned. The problem is not that the people are being careful about what they eat or what they touch; the problem is that they are saying by their actions that those things are more important than Jesus. The problem is not that the people are interested in what makes the world work; the problem is that, by doing so in this way, they hope to get a glimpse into how things really are that somehow goes deeper and further than Jesus does.

There is good reason that Paul thinks that this is a problem. To him, we need to always be thinking according to Christ. The reason is because “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” But this is not just an interesting fact about Jesus, but should resonate with the people because Paul goes on to say, “And you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.” Here is the simple truth for Paul. In Christ, we do not just meet with a human being, but with the very being of God. It is in Christ that God has met with us in a definitive and decisive way. If we by our actions say, “I want to know God, but I don’t want to do it in and through Christ and Christ alone,” Paul would say that we are trying to find God by going behind God’s back, that we have been taken captive through philosophy and empty deceit.

In finishing out this passage, Paul reminds the people that, because of what Christ has done, they are no longer pagans, they are no longer under the ancient Jewish law, but are renewed in Christ. “In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” He is reminding the people of their very most basic Christian experience. In their conversion and baptism they died with Christ to everything but Christ. To do all these other things to seek the mystery of God is to say that Christ, for all that he has done, is simply not good enough.

This is really not all that different from our situation today. The temptation to behave as though Christ were not good enough is everywhere. We are pressured by some to find our status as Christians in the moral acts that we do, staying as separated as possible from the world that is so corrupt. At the same time, we are pressured by others to appeal to some kind of standard other than Christ and, presumably, better than Christ. One side says, “Jesus taught us to live lives devoted to God, so what really matters is that we are holy and not like the sinners of the world.” The other side says, “Jesus taught us to love and have mercy and so it is really love and mercy that matters.” Is a holy life important? Certainly. Ought we to love one another and show mercy? Absolutely. However, when we allow them to take Christ’s central place, we ought to hear Paul’s words. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit…and not according to Christ.”

Someone might say, “But pastor, it just makes sense that we should live lives of holiness or that we should love one another.” Of course it does. If the things that we are tempted to put in Christ’s place didn’t make sense, there would be no danger. After all, Paul was concerned that people would be deceived, not by what seemed to be foolish, but by “plausible arguments.” Paul, an apostle who had lived long in the Word of God, who had encountered the risen Christ, and was dedicated, as one from a Jewish background, to help Gentiles live for God through Christ and in the Spirit, knows that, at the end of the day, it is Christ who is the mystery of God, it is Christ in whom God meets us face to face, it is Christ who gives us all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and it is Christ in whom you and I come to fullness. Let us rejoice in the fact that we do not need to look for God behind Christ’s back, for, in Christ, the fullness of deity dwells bodily. Let us pray.

AMEN