New Clothes
Read: Colossians 3:12-14 And above all these put on love. (v. 14) Colossians 3:12-16 is the very heart of this letter. That’s why we will be spending four days unpacking the riches Paul managed to tamp down into these five verses. We could actually spend much longer savoring this passage! Paul began by introducing a […]
All One
Read: Colossians 3:9-11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (v. 11) Have you ever wondered why Paul moved from telling the Colossians not to lie to one another to the next statement on how in Christ they were all one? […]
You Too Once Walked
Read: Colossians 3:5-8 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you. (v. 5) Paul issued a lot of commands. Today’s key verse is an example. This is an order. But such orders are not where salvation begins. Salvation begins not with commands but with simple sentences like “By grace you have been saved through […]
Heavenly Minded?
Read: Colossians 3:1-4; Acts 1:9-11 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (v. 2) Karl Marx derided religion as “the opiate of the masses.” Religion is a narcotic that numbs people to present pains by focusing them on the promise of a life in heaven. Why work […]
No Value
Read: Colossians 2:20-23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion. (v. 23) Paul continued to hammer away at the idea that these external rules and rituals, which some in Colossae were promoting as the ticket to being a superior Christian, had absolutely no value. “You can’t do that! You may not […]
Puffed Up
Read: Colossians 2:16-19 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you. (v. 16) A few days ago we noted that the most dangerous false messages are the ones that sound “plausible” or the most reasonable. We are unlikely to get knocked off our spiritual stride by quirky or bizarre teachings that come from way outside […]
Disarmed!
Read: Colossians 2:13-15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (v. 15) By now it has become clear that dealing with spiritual powers was high on Paul’s agenda in writing this letter. Colossae looks to have been a hot bed of pagan spirituality and […]
Buried in Baptism
Read: Colossians 2:11-12 . . . having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised. (v. 12) As part of his efforts to assure the Colossians of the certainty of their faith in the face of those pedaling opposing messages, Paul next shifted to the core of Christian identity: baptism. For […]
All Authority
Read: Colossians 2:8-10 You have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (v. 10) In yesterday’s reading, Paul warned about slick-talking philosophers who try to argue us out of our faith. He then goes on in verse 8 to connect that to what he called “the elemental spirits of […]