The Contribution Of Colossians
THE CONTRIBUTION OF COLOSSIANS
The false teachers interposed a barrier between God and God’s people. They thought of the elemental spirits who stood in the way and permitted access to God only by the path of asceticism. In the face of all such claims, Paul stresses the supremacy of Christ, who is "the image of the invisible God,” the one who brought creation about and holds it together, supreme over creation, preeminent in everything. And together with all this he is "the head of the body, the church,” the one who made peace by the blood he shed on the cross (Col. 1:15-20). This combination of the greatness of Christ and of his saving work for believers runs through the epistle. It makes nonsense of any claim that other powers are involved in bringing people to God, or that meritorious practices like asceticism pave the way.
Christ has reconciled believers (Col. 1:22), he is in them "the hope of glory” (1:27). There is an unusual way of looking at the atonement when Paul says that God forgave us our sins, "having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross” (2:14). The adequacy of Christ’s atonement is thus brought out in a fresh way. Again, in Christ are "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3); "all the fullness of the Deity lives” in him "in bodily form” (2:9) and believers "have been given fullness in Christ” (2:10).
When they were dead in sins, God made them alive with Christ (2:13). They died with Christ "to the basic principles of this world” (2:20), and they have been raised with him (3:1). Christ "is all, and is in all” (3:11), and they are "God’s chosen people” (3:12). They give thanks to God the Father through Christ (3:17). The great themes of Christ’s outstanding excellence and the completeness of the salvation that he brought about in dying for his people on the cross run through this letter. They are not put in quite this way elsewhere, and Colossians accordingly has something to say that is distinctive. It is not enough to argue about authorship and the exact nature of the false teaching that is opposed. 23 What matters is the wonder of the love of God in Christ and the magnificence of the salvation that he has brought about for his people.
None of this means that Colossians tells of a different God or a different Christ or a different salvation. This letter is essentially Pauline, and it is the same God, the same Savior, and the same salvation as we see throughout the Pauline corpus. What is different is the way it is all expressed, with some new insights like being rescued "from the dominion of darkness” and brought into "the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col. 1:13). Colossians is full of the teaching of Paul, even though there are new aspects to meet new needs of believers confronted with a new challenge from the Evil One.
Paul insists on the supremacy of Christ over all the supernatural forces the Colossians were treating with such respect. Some of us may miss part of the relevance of what he is saying because we do not believe in those forces in the way the Colossians did. But with rising occultism in the West, our skepticism is being mocked; and in any case it has often been pointed out that in modern times there is a widespread belief that we are the creatures of our heredity and our environment and that in the grip of such powers we can never be really free. It is part of the message of Colossians that in Christ we can overcome anything. The cross means a disarming of all the powers opposed to God’s purpose (Col. 2:15), and this remains an important part of the Christian way.
Paul had never been to Colossae and had not met members of the church there (Col. 2:1). The love and the tender concern for them that comes through in every line of the letter are all the more significant. This letter brings out, as perhaps no other New Testament writing does, the truth that all believers form one church. Paul is emphatic that in the church there is "no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (3:11). We belong together, we who are members of the body of Christ, and we cannot be indifferent to the concerns and the interests of other members. The letter makes clear for all of us the importance of concern for the whole church and not only that little segment in which we live.
But along with that emphasis on the oneness of the church, we should heed the teaching of the letter that there are differences that distinguish believers. Paul gives directions to wives and husbands, children and fathers, slaves and masters (Col. 3:184:1). All are servants of Christ and must live as such, but that does not obliterate relationships in society. Our positions differ, and while a common obligation to live out the faith rests on all of us, the precise form that takes differs according to our circumstances.
In every generation Christians are tempted to go along with the philosophy of the times. It is never a comfortable thing to be out of step with what our community holds to be the best thinking of the day. But that thinking may be out of step with God, who made us all. Paul’s warning about "hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world” (Col. 2:8) is never out of season. At the same time, we should listen to the warnings about distracting religious practices, the observance of religious festivals that detract from what is central (2:16), and the habit of making rules the essence of religion (2:20-21). Such practices generate a false humility and really promote unspirituality (2:18). Nothing can make up for losing connection with the head (2:19).