By Not Known
Colossians is a 2000 year-old letter that contains relevant messages for us today. It was written as a response to problems that had arisen in the church; false teachings had undermined and distracted them from the person and the work of Jesus Christ and the sufficiency of the salvation believers have in Him. (2:8)
In the light of this, Paul wrote to counter these false teachings and provided a description of how the Colossians were meant to live. Although the letter does not explicitly state what these false teachings were, we are able to infer them from what Paul wrote in chapter 2.
The false teachers taught that believing in Jesus Christ alone was insufficient, faith had to comprise of two components: worship Jesus AND angels, trust Jesus AND ceremonial righteousness, trust Jesus AND their own efforts (2:16-22)!
So Paul made it crystal clear that Jesus Christ alone was sufficient. He is the supreme Lord and sufficient Saviour of the world, the Creator of all things, and in Him all things hold together. There was no need to observe ascetic practices to draw closer to God, and there is no need to worship angels when they could relate to God directly through Christ!
There is a tendency among Christians to attach salvation to how often we read Scripture, pray, go to church, or that we don’t do certain things and don’t go to certain places, or that we do certain things and go to certain places. In Paul’s mind, they were not fully trusting that Christ was all-sufficient, but partially trusted in Christ plus those religious extras.
Hence in 2:16, Paul reminded them not to let anyone ‘pass judgement’ because these observances do not make or break their relationship with God. It is based on Christ and Christ alone. Christ was and is sufficient! This is a key message that can be applied to us today.
Paul wanted us believers to be content in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ so that we will set our minds on things above, put to death that which belongs to our earthly nature and put on the new self that is being renewed in Christ (3:1-11).
In other words, we are to be personally acquainted with the knowledge of Christ, submit to His Lordship and put on the godly virtues of kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Let us resolve to know Christ better as our foundation, identity, security and hope.
Amos Lau