COLOSSIANS---HERESY OR HEADSHIP
INTRODUCTION
1. Colossians is another of Paul’s epistles written while he was in prison - Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon.
2. The church at Colosse
A. Was probably founded by Epaphras (1:6-7; 4:12-13)
B. Paul, though vitally interested in the church, had never visited it. (2:1)
C. Paul kept informed about conditions in the church. (1:3, 4, 9)
D. The people of the church seemed to have loved Paul greatly (1:8), and he in turn, knew and loved them. (Philemon 5-7)
E. It is probable that the new church at Colosse first met in the house of Philemon. (Philemon 2)
OCCASION OF THE LETTER
1. From Epaphras Paul learned that heresy had broken out in the church.
2. The nature of the heresy
A. It was a mixture of Judaism (1:14-17), Gnosticism (2:1-8), and Asceticism (2:20-28) together with a form of angel worship (2:18-19).
B. “Flesh is essentially evil, God is essentially holy; between the essentially holy and the essentially evil, there can be no communion. It is impossible, said the heresy, for the essentially holy to touch the essentially evil. There is an infinite gulf between the two, and the one cannot touch or be intimate with the other. The heresy then had to devise some means by which this gulf might be crossed, and by which the essentially holy God could come into communion with an essentially evil state in which mankind was dwelling. What did it do? It said that out of the essentially holy God emanated a being slightly less holy, and then out of the second holy one, there emanated a third one less holy still, and then out of the third a fourth, and so on, with an increasing dilution of holiness, with divinity more and more impoverished, until One appeared (Jesus) who was so emptied of divinity, of holiness, so nearly like man, that He could touch man.” ---Jowett
C. In order to understand and appropriate the “benefits” this system afforded, it was necessary to come to a full knowledge of its mysteries (hence the name Gnostic, from the Greek word meaning knowledge). As one increased in his knowledge of the mysteries he proceeded up the ladder of higher spiritual experience toward God.
D. “The basis of much heretical teaching even today” --Scofield (See note in 2:18)
E. Some other peculiarities of Gnosticism
1) Only by various ascetic practices, whereby we punish the body, can we hope to save it. (2:20-23)
2) Since the body is evil, none of its deeds are to be accounted for, thus breeding license. (3:5-8)
3) There could not have been any incarnation in the flesh - deity would not have touched flesh which, being matter, they regarded as evil.
4) It propounded a doctrine of secrets and initiation. (2:3, 8) By this doctrine they declared that the remedy for man’s condition was known only to a few, and to learn this secret one must be initiated into their company.
5) Since God could not have been the creator of sinful bodies, they could not come to Him for blessing, and so they formulated a series of intermediary beings called Aeons, such as angels, that must have created us and whom we must worship (2:18), especially as a means of finally reaching God.
3. The result of the heresy
A. All these false theories conspired to limit the greatness and authority of Jesus Christ.
B. They denied the sufficiency of redemption in Christ alone.
C. The doctrine of the Lordship and pre-eminence of Christ as the One in whom “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (2:9)
DATE: 62 or 63 A.D.
KEY VERSES: 1:18; 2:9, 10
MESSAGE: The Lordship and pre-eminence of Christ
AN INTERESTING HISTORICAL NOTE:
“The Gospel, by this time, had been brought to all the world (1:6), and had been preached to every creature (1:23). Thirty-two years after Christ’s death, the Gospel had reached the whole Roman world. It only needed one generation to establish the Church as a worldwide fact.” --Mears
THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST
Christ is All in All
1. In His deity - 1:15
2. In creation - 1:15-16
3. In pre-eminence - 1:18
4. In redemption - 1:20-22
5. In headship - 1:18; 2:14
6. In His church - 1:18; 2:19
7. In His indwelling presence - 1:27
BASIC MESSAGE: (2:10) We are full, complete in and through Christ alone!
OUTLINE OF THE BOOK
I. DOCTRINAL - “That Ye May Be Filled” (chs. 1-2)
A. Christ the fullness of God in the creation (1:15-18)
B. Christ the fullness of God in redemption (1:19-23)
C. Christ the fullness of God in the Church (1:24-2:7)
D. Christ the fullness of God versus heresy (2:8-23)
II. PRACTICAL - “That Ye May Walk Worthily” (3-4:6)
A. The new life - and believers individually (3:1-11)
B. The new life - and believers reciprocally (3:12-17)
C. The new life - and domestic relationships (3:18-21)
D. The new life - and employment obligations (3:22-4:1)
E. The new life - “Them that are without” (4:1-6)
III. PERSONAL ADDENDA (4:7-18)
--J. Sidlow Baxter