Day 29—Colossians 2:6-15

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

    ⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

    ⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your sinful nature was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, ¹² 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.

    ¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

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In today’s text, Paul really wants “the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse” (Colossians 1:2) to remain holy and faithful in Jesus.  It seems Paul feels the need to strengthen them in their faith in Jesus, reacting to some philosophical teaching that was tugging them away from the truth they previously learned, specifically God’s secure salvation through faith in Jesus.  Paul reminds them that the truth of salvation and new life is found in Jesus alone.

Paul begins his encouragement to stay faithful to only Jesus by reflecting on the authority and headship of Jesus.  Jesus is the Christ—Messiah—the One from God who now sits on right hand of God with all authority.

Then Paul urges them to remember their “circumcision”, but not the circumcision done for the Jewish covenant established by God with Abraham when a man would cut off the foreskin of an eight-day old baby.  No, the circumcision Paul wants them to remember is their circumcision of the heart done by Jesus and through baptism, when Jesus would “cut off” the sinful nature from the heart. 

This gives us another glimpse of how these early disciples viewed the act of baptism.  Baptism to them was the new circumcision, the sign of the new covenant between God and man through Jesus.  In the act of baptism these early followers of Jesus pledged their hearts to God and believed they joined Jesus in his burial, death and resurrection; obviously not in the physical but in the spiritual, or at least symbolically.  Baptism was where they made their firm commitment to Jesus, the very commitment Paul is encouraging the disciples in Colosse to remember and stay resolute to.

Paul reminds them of the wondrous work God has done with them through Jesus:

• God made you alive with Christ
• He forgave us all our sins
• Canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us
• He has taken it—the charge of our legal indebtedness—away, nailing it to the cross

It’s everywhere in the New Testament!  God’s message of salvation is woven in and through every book!  It’s truly amazing to me.  This 30 Days study has really helped me see the wondrous work of God in his gracious and loving salvation, even in me.  Thank you God!

(Tomorrow is Day 30 of this study.  I’m kind of sad about that.)