Made Alive in Christ - Lectionary (RCL) Reflection for Pentecost 7C - Proper 12 (Colossians 2)

Baptism in Kansas (1928) by John Steuart Curry

Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19) New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁶ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

⁸ Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. ¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by the removal of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; ¹² when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶ Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths. ¹⁷ These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, initiatory visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with a growth that is from God.

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                We continue our journey through the Colossian letter. Again, I need to qualify the question of authorship. While Paul is the author of record, many scholars believe it is post-Pauline. Since the authorship question lies beyond the scope of this reflection, for simplicity’s sake, I will refer to the author as Paul. With that caveat, we can also acknowledge that Paul envisions here a cosmic Christ. In this reading we hear Paul boldly declare that “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:10). This declaration echoes John’s word about the Word of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us (John 1:14). As the one in whom the fullness of deity dwells, he is the “head of every ruler and authority.” Whatever authority human rulers might possess, that authority is relative to the authority granted to Jesus. In my mind, that means our “ultimate allegiance” belongs to him and not any human ruler or national state.

                While there is certainly a cosmic dimension to the message of the letter, there is also a practical dimension. We don’t see Paul dealing with the kind of conflict that was present in Corinth and the Galatian churches, but he is concerned about the possibility that they could be led astray by false teachers. Therefore, he wants the readers of the letter (and this may be a circular letter sent to the church in Colossae and other neighboring communities), who received Jesus, to continue walking with Jesus as presented to them by Paul. So, they are to stick to the gospel presented to them, the one that declared Jesus to be Christ (messiah) and Lord, for that is the message in which they have planted their roots (vs. 6-7). That is, Christ now defines their identity. What follows is an attempt to head off the false teachers and their message.

                Having called them back to their roots in the gospel message, he warns them against falling prey to “philosophy and empty deceit,” or as Jerry Sumney more helpfully translates— “empty and deceitful philosophy.”  Sumney notes that “by branding the visionaries’ teaching an ‘empty and deceitful philosophy,’ the author simply pronounces it devoid of value” [Colossians (The New Testament Library), p. 130 Kindle edition.] This is true because it is based on “human tradition” and not from God.  Not only is it based on human tradition, but it reflects the “elemental principles of the world.” While there is scholarly debate as to the meaning of the phrase, the message seems to be to stay away from principles or ideas that stand contrary to the message they had received concerning Jesus, in whom “the fullness of deity dwells bodily.” 

                When it comes to identity, those who are in Christ are spiritually circumcised through baptism, such that in baptism the flesh is removed, by “flesh” (Gk. sarx) Paul doesn’t mean to suggest that the body is somehow evil, but rather the element of human existence that is dominated by evil is flesh, and that is cut away. There is here a parallel to Paul’s message in Romans 6, where in baptism one is buried with Christ, so as that the old creation might die. That old creation is the flesh. But death is not the end of the story, for as in Romans 6, so here, we are raised with Christ by God to new life (see Romans 6:1-4). Here Paul speaks of the forgiveness of one’s trespasses that are part of the old life, that has been set aside as we are made alive by God with Christ. There is further good news, not only are we made alive with Christ in his resurrection, but the record of our trespasses has been erased. All of that record has been nailed to the cross.

                While the cross appeared to be, from the view of the powers and principalities, a defeat of Christ, in reality in the resurrection, it proved to be the defeat of those powers. Thus, in verse 15, we read that “he disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.” Again, we the cosmic nature of the work of Christ, in whom the deity dwells bodily, for he is the one who in his death and resurrection defeats the powers of this age. What might appear to be a weakness (the cross) becomes a strength, as God overcomes death in the resurrection. So, as Scot McKnight puts it: “At the cross God turns death into life so that the last word is life” [Connections, 190].

                The creators of the lectionary focus their attention on verses 6-15, placing verses 16-19 in parentheses. In other words, you’re free to disregard those verses if you’d like, but that word “therefore” might suggest pressing on. While the message of the preceding verses is one of cosmic reconciliation through the death and resurrection of the one in whom deity dwells bodily, here is the polemical warning. So, don’t let anyone condemn you when it comes to matters of food, drink, festivals, new moons, and sabbaths. It’s clear that the author of the letter is Jewish, but whether the audience is Jewish or Gentile, to be in Christ means that the former things, even if good things, are not essential elements of the Gospel. Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you if you choose not to follow restrictions on food and drink, or participate in the festivals and sabbaths of Judaism, as they are not part of the gospel package. They are only a shadow of what is to come, not the substance, which is Christ. So, don’t let critics disqualify you by insisting on such things as self-abasement (asceticism), worshiping angels, focusing on visions, or anything else that is rooted in human thinking and leads to arrogance (being puffed up). Instead, keep connected to the head of the body, for the whole body (body of Christ) is nourished and held together by ligaments and sinews, so that it might experience growth that comes from God.

                While there is a strong cosmic message that speaks of how God brings about the reconciliation of the world to Godself in Christ at work here there is also a very practical element present here that speaks to the way we live before God. Joshua Jipp helpfully points out that there is a subtle temptation among Christians that focuses on “adding extra practices, rituals, boundary-markers, or beliefs to our Christianity.” In other words, we embrace rules and regulations that supposedly set apart the truly spiritual folks from the not-so-spiritual. Unfortunately, as Jipp notes we end up confusing “primary and second-order beliefs, opinions, and practices” [Connections, pp. 192-193]. Ultimately, Paul reminds us here that our identity is rooted not in our practices, as beneficial as they might be, but in Christ, in whom the fullness of God dwells bodily. That identity is rooted in our place in the body of Christ, over which Jesus is the head (source). As he is the source of life in the body of Christ, we as members of that body now live!

Image Attribution; Curry, John Steuart, 1897-1946. Baptism in Kansas, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56997 [retrieved July 17, 2022]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Steuart_Curry,_Baptism_in_Kansas,_1928_1_15_18_-whitneymuseum_(40349039654).jpg.