COLOSSIANS (16) Victory of the Cross

​“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col 2:9-15)
 
Review
Last Sunday, we talked about three main sources false teachers used to develop their knowledge—philosophy, human tradition, and elemental spiritual forces of this world.
 
They tried to lead the Colossian Christians astray by deceiving, judging, and disqualifying them with their so-called special knowledge. They talked about a lot of things but none of them were based on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
God gave them the ability to reason, but they used their reasoning not to seek God but to lift themselves up. The problem was that many believers were deceived by them. The Colossian Christians were eager to grow but it seems that their faith wasn’t firmly based on the gospel of Jesus Christ yet.
 
So they easily accepted other teachings apart from the gospel, which actually made them drift away from the truths of Jesus Christ. If they had really known about the essence of the gospel and that the name of Jesus Christ was enough for their salvation, they would’ve never been shaken by such false teachings.
 
It shows the importance of using our reasoning to seek God and devoting ourselves to knowing Him more through the true source that He has given us—the Bible. There are still many false teachings in the church and many Christians are being deceived by them.
 
False teachers use their passion and eagerness to influence others, using their own knowledge that they developed through sources other than the gospel.
 
And in order not to be deceived by them but to be able to state what is really true, we should make every effort to know God and the gospel by reading His word and using our reasoning to understand it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who will protect our minds and guide us to the truth of Jesus Christ.
 
Paul heard about the situation that was happening in the church in Colossae. So, how did he turn the Colossian Christians back to the truth of Jesus and the gospel? It seems that he used the bad situation as an opportunity to testify about who Jesus is and about the essence of the gospel .
 
So, right after warning them not to be deceived by “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world” (Col 2:8), Paul began to explain who Jesus is and what it means to be in and with Him in verses 9 to 15.
 
This passage can be divided into three small parts. In the first two verses, Paul talks about the fullness we experience in Christ. In the next 2 verses, we read about how we’re united with Him in His death and resurrection through baptism. And the last three verses explain the freedom we come to have in Christ through His victory on the cross.
 
1. The Fullness of Christ (9-10)
First, in verses 9-10, Paul says,
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” (Col 2:9-10)
 
As I said before, the fullness of Christ is an important subject in Colossians. The false teachers likely insisted that their special knowledge apart from the gospel could lead the Colossian Christians to spiritual fullness. But Paul couldn’t agree with the kind of assertion because Jesus Himself is the fullness of God.
 
There is no better way to describe the position of Christ in God's purpose of saving all human beings than ‘the fullness of the Deity’. It refers to God who always was, is, and will be. He is the great I am. He is the “only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords who alone is immortal” (1 Tm 6:15-16). He is the Creator of the universe who governs it with His authority. That’s what the word Deity means here.
 
And Paul said that the Deity became flesh in Christ. It means that the great God lowered Himself to reach us and so that we can go closer to Him.
 
In the previous chapter, Paul said, “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” (Col 1:19). The reason God was pleased to come to the world in human form was that by doing so He could reconcile us to himself “through his blood, shed on the cross… by Christ’s physical body through death” (Col 1:20, 22)
 
This is one of the fundamental truths that shape Christian faith—the incarnation of Jesus. Because Jesus became flesh, He could shed His precious blood for the redemption of our sins, and He could taste death on our behalf. But that’s not the end.
 
The salvation God wants to give us is much more than just being saved from our sins. What God gives through Jesus Christ is His fullness itself. As Paul said, “in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Col 2:10). What an amazing truth! Paul is not saying here that we ‘will’ be brought to fullness in the future. No. We were already brought to the fullness of God in Christ.
 
It means that Jesus is the only way we can fully receive God’s blessings. It was only in Christ that God revealed His fullness and gave Himself to us. So, if we really want to reach spiritual fullness, we should look to none other than Jesus.
 
To Paul, to believe in Christ is to receive Him as Lord. And to receive Christ as Lord means that we are brought to fullness in Him. What God wants to achieve in our lives is that we’re brought to fullness in Christ. In other words, He wants us to “participate in the divine nature” (2Pt 1:4).
 
He won’t be satisfied with only justifying us. He will never stop working in us to sanctify us until we eventually join in the resurrection of Jesus.  And this happens only when we’re in Christ.
 
2. Being United with Jesus Christ  (11-12)
  Now, let’s move on to the next part. In verses 11-12, Paul said,
 
“In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Col 2:11-12)
 
Here, Paul explains the relationship believers come to have with Jesus through faith and baptism. As you may know, circumcision played an important role in the Old Testament. It was one of the signs that showed that one belonged to God.
 
Paul says that Christians were also circumcised. But the circumcision of Christians is different from the kind of circumcision in the Old Testament in two ways.
 
First, Christians’ circumcision is not performed by human hands, but by Jesus. Second, Christians’ circumcision is done in their hearts, not their physical bodies.
 
Here, “Your whole self ruled by the flesh” doesn’t refer to a physical body. It refers to our old selves before we were in Christ. At that time we were slaves to sin. Our sinful nature was so strong that there was no way for us to overcome it. We were sinful and worldly.
 
But our old selves which were ruled by our sinful natures and the desires of the flesh were put off when we were circumcised by Jesus.
 
Even though we still see them working powerfully within us, they will never rule over us again because we died with Jesus along with our sinful natures. Jesus cut them out from us and has put His fullness and divine nature in us instead. In other words, we died with Him and we were raised with Him. That’s what baptism symbolizes.
 
We’re buried with Jesus in baptism and we are also raised with Him through our faith. God’s glorious might that worked in Jesus to raise Him from the dead is now working powerfully in those who believe in Him.
 
Here, Paul is not talking about the future resurrection. He is discussing what’s happening now to those in Christ. We’ll be raised to life on the last day, but we’re also experiencing Jesus renewing us in our present lives. As Paul said,
 
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2Co 5:17)
 
What’s important is the tense Paul uses when talking about being united with Jesus. Paul said that we have been buried with Jesus in baptism and raised with him through faith. What he emphasizes is that these amazing blessings have already been given to us.
 
Paul also said in Ephesians 2:4-6.
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:4-6)
 
This is our spiritual status in Christ. We have been saved, raised up, and seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. Even though our bodies are here on earth, we can still enjoy our oneness with Christ spiritually.
 
These are the blessings that all those who believe in Jesus can enjoy right now. How can there be greater blessings than that? If we know the truth, how could we depart from Jesus to seek our own fullness?  So, it’s important to know where we stand in our faith in Jesus now.
 
We are to “understand what God has freely given us” (1 Co 2:12) so that we won’t be shaken by other, much inferior things than the blessings we find in Christ.
 
3. Victory of the Cross (13-15)
Now, let’s move on to the third part of today’s passage. Let’s read Colossians 2:13-15 together.
 
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Col 2:13-15)
 
This part does a great job showing the freedom obtained on the cross that we can find in Christ. As we talked about last Sunday, the main sources the false teachers used to develop their philosophy were human tradition, which likely refers to Jewish tradition, and the elemental spiritual forces of this world.
 
And what Paul shows through this passage is that both of these sources already lost their power on the cross. Jesus didn’t only forgive us all our sins. He also canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness that had condemned us.
 
Before Jesus died on the cross and showed us a new way to become righteous, people had to keep the law to be justified. Obeying the law and thus meeting God’s demands was the only way to become righteous in God.
 
But what we realize every time we strive to earn our own righteousness is that we can never fully meet God’s requirements because of our weaknesses and sinful nature.
 
And when we try to pay off our debts of sin, we will realize the deep trouble we’re in. Whatever we do or try, we can never pay the price for our sins. As Psalm 49:8 says, “the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough” (Ps 49:8).
 
That was our legal indebtedness that remained unpaid. It always stood against us and condemned us. And there was no way to overcome it.
 
Paul said in Romans 7,
“I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.” (Rm 7:10-11)
 
But the great truth we find in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is that He canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness. It was nailed on the cross and taken away because Jesus opened up the new way for us to become righteous in God. Now, we’re justified not by works of the law but by faith in Jesus. We don’t have to pay the price for our sins because they were already paid for in full.
 
Now, we’re keeping the law of love. We’re obeying God’s words with overflowing gratitude, remembering that we’ve already been saved by His grace alone. That’s the freedom we find in Jesus.
 
Then, if we really know the truth, why would we try to go back to legalism? It was already abolished on the cross. Now the only criterion we must meet to be saved is our genuine faith in Jesus, not our endeavors to keep the law, which will never fully work.
 
What Paul is saying here is that Jewish tradition already lost its ground to stand on. Therefore, the Colossian Christians are urged not to “let anyone judge [them] by what [they] eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day” (Col 2:16), because “These are a shadow of the things that were to come” (Col 2:17)
 
Paul also added,
“These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.” (Col 2:22)
 
However, that wasn’t the only freedom or victory Jesus’ crucifixion brought to us. Paul also said that all the powers and authorities, which are also called the elementary forces or spirits of this world, were disarmed and made into a public spectacle when Christ triumphed over them by the cross.
 
These are the two victories of the cross. Our legal indebtedness was canceled. Now, we are no longer under the law or the curse of sin but under God’s grace through Jesus Christ. And no powers or authorities in the heavenly realm can rule over us or affect us because they were already publicly defeated on the cross.
 
That’s the truth of Jesus Christ that brings us true freedom. So rather than paying heed to other things, we should make every effort to know who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
 
We should listen to and learn what Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:31-32)
 
So for two weeks, we’ve talked about how the false teachers tried to deceive the Colossian Christians using spiritual knowledge based not on the gospel but on other things such as tradition and elemental spiritual forces, and about how Paul defended against them.
 
To Paul, there was nothing more to say than the name of Jesus because His name and what He did on the cross is the answer. They are both the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, if there’s just one thing we should focus on regarding our faith and salvation, it must be none other than the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
If we make an effort to know who He is, what He has achieved, and how He has set us free from sin, death, the duty of the law, and evil spirits through His death on the cross, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” (Eph 4:14)
 
I believe that’s what God wants us to do. We are to make every effort to “grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Eph 4:15).
 
I hope and pray that every one of us can stand firmly on the truth of Jesus Christ so that we won’t be swayed by anything but continue to become more like Him in every corner of our lives.
 
Let’s pray.
 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this great opportunity to think about what You have freely given us by Your grace through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Now Lord, we want to lift up our eyes and fix them on Jesus.
 
Please keep reminding us of who we are in Christ. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be united with His death and resurrection.
 
And please make us more aware of the meaning of the cross so that we won’t be swayed by anything but stand on the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
We confess that we’re so weak that we can’t stand alone. We need Your help every single second. Please teach us to rely on and trust in You more in everything.
 
We thank You for the freedom that Jesus achieved on the cross and allowed us to have. We love You, Lord. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.
 
Sharing Questions
1) What do you think it means that the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form in Christ and that you have been brought to fullness in Him? Where in your life have you experienced this fullness?
 
2) Paul said that we are buried with Jesus in baptism and raised with him through our faith. That’s the present state of Christians. In what areas of your life have you experienced death and resurrection with Jesus?
 
3) Paul talked about the victories and freedom that Jesus’ crucifixion has brought to us. In what areas of your life have you experienced or do you want to experience the victories and freedom of the cross?