Paul’s Description of Salvation in Christ

Text: Colossians 2:8-15

Intro:

  1. The Apostle Paul has just given us an exhortation to allow our faith to take deep root in Christ and to be built up in Him, stablished in the faith. Now Paul gives us a warning against false teachers who bring another Gospel.
  2. In these verses, Paul gives us a description of how the false teachers try to undermine our faith, Paul then explains our position as being dead to sin and no longer oppressed by the law.

I. Beware of Men’s Philosophies (Vs 8-9)

  1. Beware of the danger false teachers present (Vs 8a)
  2. Paul had just instructed them in the need to be built and strengthened in their faith, but now he wants them to be aware of their own weaknesses.
    a. To put it simply, the Apostle Paul is saying, “Know your enemy, identify the threat, and understand your own weaknesses.
  3. A wise man knows his enemies’ tactics
    a. The word ‘philosophy’ is based on two Greek words, ‘phileo’ which means love, and ‘sophia’, which means wisdom or knowledge.
    In Paul’s day, the word was usually used in a negative sense to refer to those who would spend all their time engaged in pointless discussions, always philosophising about things that had no real value.
    b. “Vain deceits” furthers this idea as it refers to empty delusions.
  4. Beware of man’s traditions and worldly ideals which oppose Christ
    a. Evolution would be a good example. It is a tradition of man, a worldview that is held because the individual has excluded God from the picture.
    • “Examine any teaching by the rule of what it does with Jesus Christ, and you will learn quickly whether the teaching is true or false, food or evil.”[1]

    [1] John G Butler 2009, Analytical Bible Expositor volume 13, Pg 192; Scripture Truth Book Co.

  6. Beware of the deception of false Christs (Vs 9-10)
    a. Once again, Paul is explaining to the Colossian Christians the error of the Gnostics. The Gnostics believed that Jesus wasn’t God in human flesh, but rather, that he showed us the way to God by the way he lived and died.
    b. The entire scope of who God is in his personhood, in his power, in his divine attributes is found in Christ
  7. We find our purpose and completeness in our identification with Christ.
  8. You all are fully furnished for life resting in him, and he is the ruler over all rulership’s and over all other authorities, whether they be earthly or heavenly

II. Being Identified with Christs’ Death (Vs 11-13)

  1. In Christ, we have been separated from our sin (Vs 11)
    a. In Christ you are circumcised, not with the circumcision of the Abrahamic Covenant, but with the circumcision of Christ, the putting off the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
    b. As circumcision pictured separation from sin, so our circumcision in Christ separates us from the sins of the body so that the soul may live.
  2. In Christ, we are dead to sin and raised to new life (Vs 12)
    a. It is our identification with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection that provides us with freedom from sin, and eternal life hereafter.
    b. Baptism does not save us but is a picture of our salvation. Through salvation we have come to the end of ourselves and agreed to let Christ be our life.
    –  This is one of the reasons why repentance is necessary for salvation, because repentance is turning away from going my own way, and turning to Christ as my Lord and Saviour.
    Repentance means, I’ve come to the end of myself, and I’ve given myself over to Christ.
  3. In Christ, we have forgiveness of sins (Vs 13)
    a. We are born spiritually dead or disconnected from God. (Rom 5:12)
    b. This state is referred to as the uncircumcision of your flesh.
    – The uncircumcision of our flesh refers to the fact that we were not separated from our sin, but rather, we bore our sins in our own bodies.
  4. 1 Peter 2:24 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”