Psg: Col 2.1-12 (http://biblia.com/bible/leb/Col2.1-12)
Date: 6/22/12
Read
2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on behalf of you, and those in Laodicea, and all those who have not seen my face ⌊in person⌋a, 2 so that their hearts may be encouraged, united in love and into all the wealth of the full assurance of insight into the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, 3 in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. 4 I say this in order that no one will deceive you with persuasive speech, 5 for even if I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and seeing your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
Made Alive in Christ
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, live in him, 7 firmly rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding with thankfulness. 8 Beware lest⌊anyone take you captive⌋b through philosophy and empty deceit, according to ⌊human tradition⌋c, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ, 9 because in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you are filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority, 11 in whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands, by the removal of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which also you were raised together with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Record
In him all the fullness of deity dwells (9) … and you are filled in him (10) … in whom also (11) ...
Reflect
- The filling is mentioned in the same breath as his deity and the burial and raising with him.
- The filling is possible for him to do only because of his fullness as deity.
- The filling is possible in us only through death to the old man and birth of the new man.
- As Christians, we must avoid the position of wanting this filling without embracing his full deity or without accepting our need to die to self.
- We can experience the fullness that God has to offer by embracing his deity and by dying to self.
- The fullness offered by Christ is satisfaction of our souls. The pursuit of that satisfaction defines our drive in life. It seems that everything we do is in pursuit of this fullness, whether we’re looking for it in the right place or not. That drive is expressed through workaholism, sexual promiscuity, pursuit of power, knowledge, substance abuse, religion, and so on.
- This relates to the idea of contentment (cf. Php 4.10-14).
- The pursuit is the pursuit of contentment.
- This is how Paul learned to be content.
- It is found in the fully-divine Christ through the old-man/new-man conversion and life.
- God intends for us to pursue and find that satisfaction, but only in Christ.
- (Is this God-given desire to have soul satisfaction part of the imago Dei, or at least part of how he made us distinct from the animals?)
- Augustine of Hippo: “God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.”
Respond
- You have made me to want satisfaction for my soul. You have designed this universe to be unable to provide that satisfaction. You have provided Jesus to us as the sole source of that satisfaction. You made us for this!
- When I notice the lack of that satisfaction, my two anchor points are the fullness of Christ as God, death to self, and the new man he created. When my soul wants, it wants you. Turn my want into fullness.
- CR: Note at least one area where I feel lack of soul satisfaction, and pray:
- How does the fullness of Christ provide for what I really want?
- How does death to self, and resurrection life, provide the avenue to the satisfaction I want?
- Then … respond to whatever the answers to these questions are.
Psg: Col 2.13-19 (http://biblia.com/bible/gs-netbible/Col2.13-19)
Date: 5/9/12
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2:13And even though you were dead in your* transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless* made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. 2:14 He has destroyed*what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness* expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 2:15 Disarming* the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross.*
2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days – 2:17 these are only* the shadow of the things to come, but the reality* is Christ!* 2:18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths* about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind.* 2:19 He has not held fast* to the head from whom the whole body, supported* and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.*
Record
He has destroyed what was against us … disarming the rulers and authorities, he made a public disgrace of them...
Reflect
LN 33.40 χειρόγραφον, ου n: a handwritten statement, especially a record of financial accounts (similar in meaning to γράμμαd‘account,’ 33.39, but perhaps with emphasis upon the handwritten nature of the document)—‘account, record of debts.’ ε’ξαλείψας τὸ καθ̓ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον ‘he cancelled the record of our debts’ Col 2:14.
LN 33.333 νόμοςa, ου m; δόγμαa, τος n: a formalized rule (or set of rules) prescribing what people must do—‘law, ordinance, rule.’
νόμοςa: ὃς οὐ κατὰ νόμον ἐντολῆς σαρκίνης γέγονεν ‘he was not made (a priest) by the law of human decree’ He 7:16.
δόγμαa: παρεδίδοσαν αὐτοῖς φυλάσσειν τὰ δόγματα ‘they delivered to them the rules which they were to obey’ Ac 16:4.
- Verse 15 is often taken as a separate thought (although relating to the same Cross event). However, what if verse 14 and verse 15 referred to the same thing from different angles? What if the disarming and disgrace were accomplished by destroying the certificate of debts and decrees opposed against us?
- These decrees were more damning and severe than we can typically appreciated.
- As part of the spiritual battle, these decrees were posted against us, with a lot at stake for those who battled (let alone for those who were named in the decrees!).
- The image here seems to be a devastating turn of events in the battle, where the opposing forces took a mighty blow with respect to these decrees.
- How valuable, then, is salvation? Not only do we get something personally good out of it, and avoid something personally bad, but our salvation marks a devastating blow in the larger battle. (This is true, even if this passage is not making that specific connection, but what if this passage is linking the two ideas?)
Respond
- Father, I look forward to the day when I will fully appreciate the value of salvation. Until then, open my eyes that I may see beyond my own personal benefit. Help me to see better the wonder of what the Cross did. Do not let me become complacent with something so magnificent.
- O my soul, what are you doing with so great a salvation? It is to be valued far beyond an attitude, beyond actionless admiration. Its value is demonstrated by living it out, sharing it, rearranging all of life to match it. O my soul, lift up this salvation to the heavens by spending your days aligning everything on earth with it. The dominions, both evil and good, are eagerly watching.
Psg: Col 3.1-11 (http://biblia.com/bible/gs-netbible/Col3.1-11)
Date: 4/23/12
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3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, 3:3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 3:4 When Christ (who is your* life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. 3:5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth:* sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion,* evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. 3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.* 3:7 You also lived your lives* in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. 3:8 But now, put off all such things* as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. 3:9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices 3:10 and have been clothed with the new man* that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. 3:11Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave* or free, but Christ is all and in all.
Record
"Keep seeking the things above."
"Keep thinking about the things above."
("You will be revealed in glory.")
"Put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth."
"Put off all such things."
"Do not lie to one another."
Reflect
- "Therefore"
- From chapter 2, we have received Christ by grace, and therefore should live by grace. We have died to the elementary principles of the world.
- Indicative - imperative: Because these things are positionally true about you in Christ, therefore do these other things.
- There is no sense of the reverse - that these things are true about you because you have done these things.
- There is no sense of garnering God's favor through these actions.
- Rather, the rational and good outcome of salvation by grace is the pursuit of Christlikeness.
- Revelation of glory is coming, which brings a telos to these actions.
- So, because of what God did in the past and will do in the future, pursue Christlikeness.
- For the things above, seek them and think about them. For the things that belong here, put them away, put them to death.
- Colossians is in large part about the supremacy of Christ. That figures into the motivation and appropriateness of this exhortation, too.
- "He is all in all!"
- And therefore, these other pursuits are not. Neither will they satisfy or make me better or give me a better life.
- There is no room for coasting in the Christian life.
- The assurance of salvation doesn't mean that the intensity of the pursuit changes, but that the object of pursuit does.
- It is not sufficient to avoid sin - the Christian life is about pursuing Christlikeness.
- God will be at work renewing the new man.
Respond
- Change my heart's pursuit! My heart is divided, pursuing my own glory (which you are going to reveal in perfection one day, anyway) and my own joy (which pales in comparison to the joy you have for me), as well as pursuing you and the likeness of your Son. Make my heart singular for Christ! Make it singular for his person as well as for his character in me.
- Thank you for:
- Raising me up in Christ.
- Hiding me in Christ.
- Promising to reveal me in glory.
- Bringing wrath on sin.
- Renewing the new man you've declared me to be.
- For Christ being all in all!
Psg: Col 1.15-20 (http://biblia.com/bible/gs-netbible/Col1.15)
Date: 4/13/12
Read
1:15* He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn* over all creation,*
1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions,* whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.
1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together* in him.
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn* from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.*
1:19 For God* was pleased to have all his*fullness dwell* in the Son*
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him,* whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Record
All things are held together in him.
Reflect
LN: 63.6 συνίστημιc or συνιστάνω: to bring together or hold together something in its proper or appropriate place or relationship—‘to hold together.’ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν ‘in him all things hold together’Col 1:17. In Col 1:17 it may not be easy to indicate clearly the relationship of the phrase ‘in him’ to the rest of the expression, namely, ‘all things hold together.’ Some translations have expanded the expression ‘in him’ to ‘in union with him’ or ‘in view of the fact that we are joined together with him.’ It is also possible to understand ἐν αὐτῷ as indicating agent, so that this expression in Col 1:17may mean ‘by means of him all things hold together.’
- NET: 31 tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.
- The universe is not a wound-up watch or a complex Rube-Goldberg machine. It is continually held together “in Christ.”
- LN asks the question about what “in Christ” means here. What does it mean?
- By his action?
- Because of him?
- By his existence?
- By his incarnation and/or salvific work in particular?
- WBC: He is the sustainer of the universe and the unifying principle of its life. Apart from hiscontinuous sustaining activity (note the perfect tenseσυνέστηκεν) all would disintegrate.
- All the great things that scientists discover, they are “dis-covering” - seeing what is already true. They are observing the ongoing work of Christ. What they report is a laundry list of his work. Do you want evidence of Christ’s existence - few are better at giving it than scientists (especially when you segregate reporting the data and interpreting the data).
- Some do so denying his existence and work. They are sustained by his ongoing work, which they then use to deny his existence, even attempting to disprove his existence and work.
- Such is the nature of common grace. How much more is the grace of salvation, to rescue us from this denial?
- What about the laws of nature that seem to reliably govern the universe without the need of any micromanagement?
- Who set the laws? (cf. Job 38. 11 And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop’?)
- Who gave the universe its beginning mass and energy?
- What realities are there beyond the physical?
- Are the laws the continual command of the Lord?
- We are to get the impression that if Christ were to halt his attention, the universe would disorganize into chaos.
- Every step that relies on gravity, every breath of air that oxygenates the blood, every visual impulse, every season, every sunrise, each one is an effect of Christ’s work/command.
- When the Bible talks about the Lord telling the mountains to go there or the sun to rise or whatever picturesque description there is, the description is more true than we tend to give (crediting it to “mere” poetry). The laws that govern these realities are the word of Christ. God “speaking” commands to creation is more literal than we often realize.
- The universe bears evidence of God (Rom 1; Psa 8).
Respond
- Every physical reality about me, that I often set in opposition to the “real” work of Christ, is a result of his continual activity.
- Therefore, every sinful act of the flesh is an affront to not only the moral commands of Scripture, but the sustaining physical work of Christ. It is blasphemous not only because we were created in the image of God, but also because we are physically sustained by the active work of Christ.
- Give me the respect of the universe’s (including my own) physicality and laws as the product of Christ’s work, rather than a pure dualistic mentality. Also help me to properly enjoy it.
- Thank you for the way that our physicality can be used to convey spiritual reality.
