Colossians 2:20-23 Christian Standard Bible
20 If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23 Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.[a]
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Have we ever come to that place in our “Christian walk” and wondered about our salvation; about just whether or not we are going to heaven when we die?
Some questions we might have in such a moment are,
“What am I supposed to do in order to gain God’s acceptance and love?”
“Do I have to read the Bible all the way through?”
“Do I have to knock on a million doors?”
Allow me to begin enlightening our understanding by sharing an illustration:
Think about a small lake frozen over in the dead of winter. A young boy walks out on a boat dock over the ice, but suddenly his sister calls from the shore. As he turns around to see her, he loses his balance, one of his feet lands on the ice, and he crashes into the icy water. You see, as long as both his feet were solidly planted on the wooden dock, the boy stood securely. But as soon as he shifted one foot onto the ice, even though by mistake, he toppled into the water.
As long as we keep our trust totally on Christ’s finished work on the cross, we stand assured of God’s promise of eternal life.
But as soon as we rest any burden or weight on the thin ice of our own efforts, we will stumble and topple ourselves into the icy waters of our own insecurity.
Some of us might think we have to do many different things to gain God’s love, but there is only one requirement, and that is to know Jesus Christ as our Lord.
If we put any weight on the thin ice of our own efforts, we will surely drown in sin and never make it to heaven; but, if we stand upon the promise of the cross, then we will be firmly secure in our salvation and relationship with Jesus Christ.
Today we are going to try to see how the apostle Paul addressed the issue of our salvation in Jesus.
In our passage of Scripture, Paul encountered some believers who thought they had to continuously do more to gain their salvation, than just believe in Christ.
So let’s see what Paul revealed about our salvation.
Walk in Jesus, and Be Rooted in Him (Colossians vv. 2:6-7)
6 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Paul said in verse 6, that we need to walk in Christ.
Walking in Christ will keep us from being deceived by the world; for when we are deceived by the world we begin doubting our salvation in Jesus.
Believers can avoid being deceived by maintaining a strong stand, and by moving forward with steady progress.
“When we stop going forward, we stall; [and] when we stall, we can fall.”
When we accept Jesus into our heart (Romans 10:9-13) we can’t just simply stop there and then instantly expect all our life to be perfect from that point onward.
We have to continue growing into our relationship with our Jesus by studying the Scripture, by spending time with God in prayer, and by intentionally putting our time and resources into practicing what we are taught by the Holy Spirit.
We have to walk forward in our Savior Christ; not stand still in the world.
Paul said in verse 7, that we must be rooted in Christ, be built up in Christ, be established in Christ, and then be abounding or overflowing in thanksgiving.
We see here a steady progression that we are to have in our Christian walk, or our growth process.
Steady progress is [only] possible when we are grounded or rooted.
Christians are not to be tumbleweeds with no roots, blown about by every wind of doctrine.
We avoid this when we are firmly rooted in Jesus Christ.
Roots don’t exist for themselves: they exist to give the plant strength and help the plant grow – we are to be deeply rooted, then built up and strengthened.
So how are we to grow?
We are to grow in the “faith [we] were taught,” as Paul said.
We have no need to seek any other kind of knowledge besides what is revealed by Jesus and the Bible.
We are to grow in knowledge of the truth already revealed in Christ . . . [and] Paul wants us overflowing with thankfulness.
This comes when we recognize that we are complete in Christ.
By accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have everything needed to gain eternal life.
Sometimes we fail to realize this truth, and so we try to do other things to gain God’s acceptance.
Right now, let’s look at some of the things Paul identified as ways that we try to gain God’s approval.
We Are Already Complete in Jesus (Colossians vv. 2:8-10)
8 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. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
When we fail to realize that everything needed for eternal life and God’s acceptance is found in Jesus, we can be cheated of our freedom through philosophies and the traditions of men.
In the New International Version, Colossians verse 8 reads, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy.”
The word “captive” here means ‘to carry away’ or ‘kidnap.’
Here it refers to someone being carried away from the truth in Christ into the slavery of error . . . The hardcore bondage attached to the hollow and deceptive philosophy of the false teachers which promises much but delivers nothing.
We need to realize “Jesus Christ is completely God, we are complete in Him.
We just need to grow [in Him].
A tree gains strength and nourishment from its roots, and the Christian always grows stronger by “root” nutrition (or feeding on God’s Word) not from leaves.
We cannot do anything extra, or add anything to our life that will make God favor us more.
You see, it’s not about Jesus plus; it’s about Christ alone.
We need to realize that we have all we will ever need in God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Colossians 2:20-23 GOD’S WORD Translation
20 If you have died with Christ to the world’s way of doing things, why do you let others tell you how to live? It’s as though you were still under the world’s influence. 21 People will tell you, “Don’t handle this! Don’t taste or touch that!” 22 All of these things deal with objects that are only used up anyway. 23 These things look like wisdom with their self-imposed worship, ⌞false⌟ humility, and harsh treatment of the body. But they have no value for holding back the constant desires of your corrupt nature.
Every member of the human race is connected to Adam by birth.
All are imputed with a sin nature, and the wages of sin is death.
As members of the first fallen creation, we are all irrevocably identified with Adam and the eternal consequences of his rebellious fall.
However, through spiritual rebirth, we are immutably connected to Christ and imputed with His perfect righteousness.
Our sins have been forgiven by faith, and our eternal citizenship is secured for us in heaven.
The moment we were saved, we were transferred into the Body of Christ and became members of a new creation in Him.
Today, we are permanently identified with all that Christ alone is and all that He alone has done, through time and into eternity.
As members of His Body, we are to steadfastly and immovably hold fast to our only Savior Christ, our living Head, draw all the strength we need from Him.
His grace is sufficient for every eventuality we may face.
As individual members of His Body, every believer is identified with His death, for Jesus went to the Cross on our behalf.
His death became our death and His resurrected life became our everlasting and abundant life.
His Resurrection from the dead imputes His resurrected life into those that are His; for His eternal life is a free gift of God’s grace, through faith in Him.
By faith we are forgiven of our sins, identified with His perfect righteousness.
By faith we were transformed, then transferred our allegiance from Satan, our citizenship of this fallen world system, and the eternal punishment that surely follows, into, unto, the kingdom of God and the glorious future we have in Him.
But the hardcore truth is this; the hardcore influence of the world is very strong and hardcore religious formality resides deep inside the heart of all humanity.
Participation in man-made rules and regulations and adherence to legalistic practices combine with men’s imputed sin nature, causing many believers to be too easily pulled back into worldly deeply rooted ways and reverted to the basic rudiments of this world’s adherence to the all too ritualistic religious systems.
But Paul scolds such shallow resolve in our Christian commitment:
“If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why are you living like the world? Why do you submit to regulations such as, ‘do not handle, do not taste, do not touch’ in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?”
Paul is pointing out because we are born again and ‘in-Christ’: “We are dead to prideful principles, man-made customs, and religious practices of the world.”
Psalm 139:23-24 English Standard Version
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts![a]
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting![b]
We are called to examine our lives and ask,
“WHY am I living as though I am still part of the world?”
“WHY am I still behaving as if I am a member of this world’s system?”
“Why am I continuing to adhere to worldly practices and religious ordinances?”
Religion, its rituals, are the false gospel the world has adopted to save itself.
Religion is man’s attempt to save himself without being accountable to God.
It is strict adherence to man-made rules and regulations and traditions, but faith in Christ, Christ alone, is the only way that God ordained for man to live.
Ephesians 2:8-10 GOD’S WORD Translation
8 God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. 9 It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it. 10 God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do.
As God’s Children, As baptized members of Christ’s Body in the world, it is by His grace we are saved, through faith in Him, and it is also by grace through faith in Him that we are all to continue to live our lives – may each we live each day through faith in the Person and work of Christ Jesus, our God and Savior.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, help us, we who are Your Body of Christ in the world to reject the basic principles and religious practices of the world that are rooted so deeply and so strongly in the sinful hearts of fallen man. Thank You for reminding us once again, that by faith alone I died with Christ, and my life is hid with Christ alone. May we never again come to forget that we are no longer part of this fallen world system, but we are citizens of heaven and identified with Christ’s righteousness. May we live in a way that genuinely demonstrates that we are part of the new creation in Christ, and One with Him alone in thought, word, and deed. This we ask in Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 