Keep in mind that one of Paul’s primary objectives in writing this letter was to warn the Colossians about the dangers of false teachers, especially the Gnostics who taught that Jesus was not God. He spent most of chapter 1 defending the deity of Jesus Christ and the fact that salvation only comes through faith in His finished work on the cross. The Gnostics’ underlying teaching was that there was some type of secret knowledge required to know God and knowing Jesus was not part of it. The Gnostic teachers sought to use persuasive words to convince the Colossians that only they held the true secrets to spirituality. In Colossians 2:1-3 Paul tells the church at Colosse that he was striving to bring them to “full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both to the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” In a very blunt way, Paul was telling the Colossians that God the Father and God the Son held all the knowledge they needed. Contrary to what the Gnostics were saying, a higher knowledge or wisdom was not necessary to have a relationship with God. Pointing his readers back to the beginning of their faith in Jesus Christ, Paul hoped to remind them of the things they had first believed about Jesus Christ and salvation through Him (2:6-7). So far, the Colossians had maintained a “good order and the steadfastness” of their faith in Christ and Paul wanted to see them continue growing. Even in our world today there are many people using convincing and persuasive words to deceive those who are in Christ. It is very important for believers to spend much time in the word of God so they can guard themselves against false teaching. I believe the warning is still the same for the church today: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Men do their best to place themselves above God by telling others that they hold the secrets to spirituality, but the “secret” has already been given. In Jesus “dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” Jesus Christ is God in human flesh and perfectly resembled how God would be if He was in a physical body. Since Gnostics believed matter was bad and spirit was good, it was impossible for them to also believe that God would exist in “matter.” In His physical body, Jesus was fully man and fully God. Since He was fully man, He was able to be the perfect sacrifice for sin giving His righteousness to those who believe in Him.
Dear God, guard my mind from false teachings and protect Your church from giving in to deceitful doctrines. Help me to be personally involved in reading Your word and understanding the life I have in Jesus Christ.
