If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1) If you are familiar with the letters of the Apostle Paul, you will recognize a familiar transition that happens at Colossians 3:1. In chapters 1 and 2 Paul wrote about…
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations; “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using; according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed…
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17) Sometimes little words mean a lot, and the first word of Colossians 2:16 is just that. The opening…
Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:15) In this part of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Paul described the many different aspects of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. There was a handwriting of the accusations and debts against us, and at the…
Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14) As Paul wrote about what Jesus did on the cross, he expressed one aspect of it in a completely different way. Paul…
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. (Colossians 2:13) Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul wrote powerfully about God’s work in His people. He started by describing our condition before God’s work in us: and…
In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Colossians…
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:9-10) Christians believe something remarkable about Jesus Christ – we believe He was and is God. Christians get so used to saying and thinking this that they often…
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. (Colossians 2:8) The apostle Paul had never met the Christians of Colosse, but he cared about them and how false teachers and their teachings threatened their…
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7) In the ancient city of Colosse there were false teachers who hoped to seduced the Christians there away from…
I’m not often given to tears, but my eyes definitely welled up this last Saturday (December 10, 2016) as I finished teaching notes on Psalm 150, completing a commentary work through the whole book. For me, it was quite a milestone. The work on Psalms began more than 15 years ago, when I was a…
That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3) In these two verses Paul…