Colossians 2:19,20by Dr. Grant C. RichisonTo: Colossians Main Menu To: Grace Notes Home Page Colossians 2:19"And not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God."---------- "And not holding fast to the Head" The Gnostic mysticism of Colosse cannot connect to the "Head" (Christ, 1:18; 2:10) of the "body" (the church). They cannot at the same time assert a true claim on Christ and hold to Gnosticism. Jesus is the only mediator between God and man (I Tim. 2:5,6). By claiming the mediatorship of angels they fly the face of the finished work of Christ. No one can mediate between God and man except Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the exclusive basis of Christianity. The words "holding fast to" mean to cause a state to continue on the basis of some authority or power -- "to hold, to keep, to cause to continue." God expects us to apprehend Jesus Christ. We can live without an arm but we cannot live without a head. We cannot live the Christian life without Christ the head. It is the head that gives orders. We must first check with him. The only way we can do that is by systematic study of the Word of God. He does not lead by spiritual duck bumps. The failure of false teachers to hold fast to the head of the church is the foundation of false doctrine. False teachers detached from the head and have no life in them. They put angelic aeons in the place of Christ. Those who go to mediums are an example of this today. All errors of believers relate to this as well. If the believer does not have a healthy relationship to the head, the life that flows from the head will be anemic. Fruit depends upon a healthy fellowship with the head (John 15:4-5). PRINCIPLE: The only way to grow in the Christian life is to vitally link with Christ. APPLICATION: Any wolf recognizes a woman in love. He knows she is out of circulation. The true Christian is deeply in love with Jesus Christ. The body severed from the head dies. ---------- "and knit together" "Knit together" means to cause to coalesce, to join or knit together, to bring together, to unite, to combine. It is often translated "teach" or "instruct." It means to bring a number of ideas together to come to a conclusion. Eph. 4:15,16, "But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ- 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." This is a parallel passage to our verse. The "joints and ligaments" here are men given by Christ for equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. Gifted men such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor-teachers equip the saints for ministry. PRINCIPLE: The church functions best when gifted men communicate the nourishment of truth to the church. APPLICATION: The church coalesces when gifted men nourish the church with truth. Are you in a healthy church where the gifts edify the body of Christ? ---------- "from whom all the body" "From whom" is Jesus Christ the head (v. 19a). He is the body's source of life and growth. The "body" is the church. When the church is on earth it is called the "body" of Christ. When the Christ comes to rapture the church, it is called the "bride" of Christ. The church is not a bride now. The church as a "body" is the universal church. This church is any believer anywhere on earth. ---------- "nourished" "Nourished" means to supply fully, abundantly, to provide something besides what already exists to make available whatever is necessary to help or supply the needs of someone -- to provide for, to support, to supply the needs of, provision, support. This was a term of the ancient drama. This is the word from which we get our word "chorus." In the ancient Greek world a wealthy benefactor supplied all the money needed for the expensive chorus to function. He gave everything needed. He defrayed expenses for training, costuming and staging. Great dramatists like Euripidies and Sophocles presented plays at the great festivals. The play would often train for a year before it opened. Usually they performed a play in memory of the gods. It is like someone generosity supplying all the up front money for a Broadway play. It is a word of grace. God is the benefactor here. He provides everything we need to live the Christian life. He defrays any expenses we may face to live before him. 2 Cor. 9:10 "Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness." Gal. 3:5, "Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Life comes from the head. God disperses that life throughout the body by believers by exercising their spiritual gifts prepared by gifted men ("joints and ligaments"). The saints, not the gifted men, do ministry. All this results from holding fast to the head. PRINCIPLE: God is a God of grace who provides all that we need to live the Christian life. APPLICATION: Do you feel that the Christian life depends upon your strength? Do you draw upon God as a God of grace to meet your need? ---------- "by joints and ligaments" "Joints"-- ligature, ligament, part of the joints of the body which binds the different parts together. The "joints" link different member of the body together. We can sit and stand because we have ligaments. Joints and ligaments provide the body with coordination and action. Not only does Jesus hold authority over the church but he dynamically influences its life by "joints and ligaments." They give us nourishment and unite us to God. Eph. 4:15,16, "But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ- 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." These verses are parallel passages to our verse. The "joints and ligaments" here are men given by Christ for equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. Gifted men such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor-teachers equip the saints for ministry. "Joints and ligaments" refer to the means of God's provision. Truth given by gifted men is the means for association with Christ. Doctrine is the basic resource we need to live the Christian life. Truth ties us all together. We link together by what we believe. The truth of Christ joins together different nationalities, talents, mentalities. We build mussel and strength by using joints of the body. Mussel and strength are not necessarily the same thing. Strength comes from truth. PRINCIPLE: The "joints and ligaments" refer to gifted leaders in the body of Christ who edify the body of Christ by passing on God's truth. APPLICATION: Spiritual vitality is dependent upon submission to the head. Spiritually, the ministry of Christ consists in the communication of truth by gifted leaders. Are you "nourished" and "knit together" by leaders who carefully communicate the truth of the Word of God? ---------- "grows with the increase that is from God" "Grows" -- the whole body grows as God wants it to grow. The growth of the "body" here is the church rather than the physical body. "Increase" means to increase in the extent of or in the instances of an activity or state -- to increase, to grow, to spread, to extend. "In whom the whole building is held together and extends into (or 'increases until it becomes') a sacred temple in the Lord" (Eph 2.21). "From God" -- God is the source of grace. True spirituality comes from life, the life of God, not from laws of Gnosticism. It is the nature of new life in Christ to grow. There is no growth apart from truth. PRINCIPLE: Spiritual paralysis comes from disconnection from the head. APPLICATION: Muscular action is caused by stimulation of nerve cells from the brain and spinal cord. When the nervous system is not working properly, it affects the mussels. Spiritual disorder is caused by distorted link to Christ the head. If we do not draw strength from him, spiritual disorder will follow. Sin paralyses the spiritual life. Colossians 2:20"Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations-"Attendant to legalism is asceticism. Asceticism is the religion of self-denial. This is a system that seeks the favor of God by something man offers to God and rejects the cross as sufficient. The cross is not only the basis of our salvation but it is also the basis for our transformation. ---------- "Therefore (not in some manuscripts)" Everything we see a "therefore" we should look to see what it is there for! The "therefore" is like a line drawn under a column of figures that we are about to add. Paul now draws conclusions about legalism, mysticism and asceticism. He is attempting to make plain that the cross dealt radically with the rules of Judaism and Gnosticism (vv. 16-19). Christianity is the antithesis of religion. Christianity is a relationship with God based on the finished work of Christ. Jesus did all the doing; we do none of it. Jesus satisfied God's righteous demands by his death for our sins. ---------- "if you died with Christ" We can translate the word "if" as "since." The Greek indicates that it is a reality that we are dead with Christ. It is not a potential; it is a fact. We call this "positional truth." All the sins of the world were poured out upon Christ. At the moment we believe God finally and forever forgives our sins by Christ's death, our position before God is perfect forever. Most of us do not know what God did for us when we became a Christian. We look at the cross and see one thing and God sees another. When we look at the cross we see Christ dying there. When God looks at the cross he sees both Christ and the believer dying there. God sees every person who would ever believe dying there with Christ. The word "died" is the most intensive word for death. It emphasizes separation from human rules which the believer's death with Christ produced. When Jesus died, we died (Gal. 2:20). Our life is forever hidden with Christ in God. PRINCIPLE: Our co-death with Christ teaches us that God will never again bring up our sins against us. APPLICATION: God forever removed our guilt when he forgave us by the death of Christ. This judicial act forever removed all guilt from the believer. It made it possible for him to stand before God completely cleansed. Because God put our sin upon Christ and identified us with him, he cleansed us forever of our sin. If we deny this, we deny the finished work of Christ. This is far more than cleansing from guilt; it is an identification with Christ in his death. We can now walk in newness of life with the risen Son of God. God has not put us into a religious straitjacket. No amount of amassing religious brownie points with God impresses him. People believe that if they amass these points with God that this will go on their record. Biblically, this is a religious fairy tale. Religion bankrupts our relation to Christ. It ignores the accomplishment of the cross. Jesus has done it all; all to him I owe. The finished work of Christ is the only thing that impresses an absolutely holy God. ---------- "from the basic principles of the world" The Greek word for "basic principles" denotes an element, first principle. Literally, it means a row, rank, series. The verb means to walk in rank. It was used of the letters of the alphabet as the basic elements of writing. 2:8 uses this word of the delusive speculations of Gentile cults and Jewish legalism. II Peter 3,10,12 uses this word of the substance of the material world. Gal 4:3,9, the rudimentary principles of religion Heb. 5:12, basic principles taught to spiritual babes. Jesus freed us from the basics of religion. ---------- "why, as though living in the world" A believer without an understanding of positional truth will try to fake it. He may fool members of the human race but he will never fool God. A believer ignorant of the Bible is a spiritual zombie. If we find interests, aims and enjoyments in the Christian life, why should we interject foreign philosophy into it? We live as if Jesus did not die for our sin. If we died with Christ, all mundane relations cease. Mere rules get us nowhere. We need to live the expatriated power of the new sphere of life in Christ. PRINCIPLE: Jesus has repatriated us into the life of God. APPLICATION: Jesus delivered us from basic legalism, why then do we continue to live in legalism? We seek to please God by extreme self-denial. We can make a god of discipline. We can take perverse delight in asceticism. Martin Luther lay naked in his cell all night in bitter cold beating his body. He hoped that this would please God. He thought that torturing himself he would find peace in his soul. God freed him from this asceticism by reading the book of Romans. ---------- "do you subject yourselves to regulations" "Regulations" are man-made rules. They have no basis in the Bible. This is do-it-yourself religion. Christianity is not religion. Religion places the emphasis upon man's responsibility. Grace puts the emphasis upon what God does. Everyone thinks their religion is right. Most of these people are sincere. However, the more sincere we are, if we are wrong, the farther astray we will go from the truth. Sincerity becomes a facade for sloppiness. Sincerity is no virtue if we are sincerely wrong. Sincerity can be counterfeit. Most do-gooders are sincere but they are sincerely wrong. Do-gooders try to improve things. When it comes to suffering for sin, we cannot improve on the death of Christ. God will reject all human good when we face him. Only the work of Christ on the cross impresses him. PRINCIPLE: The Bible does not give us the right to superimpose our standards on someone else. APPLICATION: Jesus did not live an ascetic life. He went to feasts and weddings when asked. He did not sit in a corner mourning over the wickedness of the world. He went to the party like an ordinary guest. Christians love taboos. Religion sucks them into false ideas all the time. A taboo is something a Christian thinks is wrong but the Bible says nothing about it. Some Christians believe that it is wrong for boys and girls to swim in the same pool. "Mixed bathing" is a taboo in certain parts of the United States. Wearing make up is wrong in other circles. The Bible does not say these things are sin. We all have a trend toward asceticism. We love to put ourselves into new bondage. Regulation is the back-bone of religion. Note the next verse "Touch not, taste not, handle not." Keeping rules gives people the idea that they a pious. Not all taboos are bad. Some people look for any daylight whereby they might justify their sin. The mature Christian takes care to not offend the weaker brother (Romans 14,15; I Corinthians 8-10). Copyright © 1995, Dr. Grant Richison. All rights reserved. There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. 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