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In Colossians 2 Paul expresses his personal concern as the minister of Christ. He is worried that men should beguile you with enticing words
. With this in mind, he tells us how to stay in Christ. First, we must be aware that we can be spoiled if we get our doctrine from anyone except Christ Jesus the Lord. Next we are told about physical and spiritual things which will be removed from our life if we truly get our doctrine from Christ Jesus the Lord. Those people who have been saved for some time and have not removed these things, or are not removing these things, are not in Christ. Then Paul warns us about losing the things from God if we do wrong religious acts. After this Paul asks a question designed to make us seriously think about what he just said and he ends the chapter by telling us that religion only looks good to the world.
A summary of the sentences in this chapter is:
should beguile you with enticing words.
As ye have...received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him...
spoilingdoctrine.
dead with Christthen why are you responding to prompts that you are supposed to be dead to?
Paul's main concern was that religious people would lead us astray from following Christ and that we would, therefore, miss out on the blessings available to us. Therefore, he was sending this epistle to tell us that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
are hid in Christ. As a result, we need to get these things from Christ, and not anywhere else. In addition, we also have to do it God's way or we won't receive what God has available for us. This chapter gives us details about what is in Christ
, but that is only part of the message for today.
In this chapter Paul is going to tell us how to get God's blessings God's way. The primary concern that Paul has is problems caused by false teachers trying to get people to go a different way from God's way. Therefore, Paul warns us about doctrines which will spoil us and also warns us about being beguiled. Think of a fruit which looks good on the outside but is written on the inside. That is one way that religion spoils Gods people. It excuses internal sin and rot so long as we look good on the outside. Another way is revealed by the fact that things taken by a conquering army are called spoils. Satan wants to take the riches that Christ wants to give us. Satan uses religion and false doctrines to do this. With that in mind, we can now look at the first sentence of this chapter which introduces the entire chapter.
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.
Paul starts this sentence with For, which means he is giving the reason for what he said in the prior sentence. In the first chapter and in the last sentence of it Paul told us that receiving the blessings that are in Christ
are conditional. Now in this chapter he is going to warn us about false teachers who will lead us astray and cause us to not fulfill God's conditions. The result of following false teachers is that we lose the blessings that are available Christ. No honest person can look at what is happening today and claim that most people are Christ. Just look at all of the political and religious leaders being caught in illegal and immoral acts. Look at all of the divorce, violence and other things done by the average man. Our religious leaders tell us that we are in Christ
(that we are Christians) but we do not have the blessings of being true Biblical Christians.
In the First Step of this sentence Paul expresses his concern. Neither Christ nor Paul ignored our problem but sent us written instructions. In the Second Step of this sentence we are told the blessings that are available if we do things God's way and the results which will be in our life if we do things God's way. Our Third Step tells us where to get what we need in ordered to do the Second Step.
Blessings:their hearts might be comforted
being knit together in love
all of the riches of full assurance of understanding
acknowledgement of the mystery of God
acknowledgement of the mystery of the Father
acknowledgement of the mystery of Christ
With this in mind, we can now look at these three mysteries
.
...to fulfill the word of God; Even the mystery...which is Christ in you(1:21-29). God had a personal relationship with Adam and Eve before they sinned. Sinful man has insisted on a formal religious relationship with God but we are told that the mystery of God is Christ in you. (Please follow that link to where there are further links all of the places in the Bible where this phrase is used.) As we have seen all throughout this site, this is the Biblical expression of an ongoing personal relationship between the saved and God. Those saved people who maintain this relationship receive things which the lost and back-slidden saved person does not receive. For example, in in Mark 4:11 and Luke 8:10 we read: And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Jesus said this to His disciples. The main mystery of the kingdom of God is that God puts His character into saved disciples (Luke 17:21) and not into others. This is a change from what people understood before the church age and it makes no sense to the religious man. Thus, the Bible calls it a mystery.
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.