Colossians 2:16-23
Intro Questions
- God is ... What do we learn about God in this passage?
- We are ... What do we learn about people in this passage?
- I will ... What has the Holy Spirit revealed to us in this passage? How can I apply it to my life this week?
- You can ... Who do you know who needs to hear this? Feel free to share with others by social media links at the bottom of this.
Other Resources:
The Authority of Jesus Colossians 2 https://virtualbiblestudy.com/lessons/colossians/2/
Prison Epistles
Jesus: The Focus of Our Faith
Colossians 2:16-23
The church in Colossae had lost its focus. Legalism, man-made religions and cultures detract away from the centrality of Christ. It’s the focus all on angels, or all on another Biblical character, or all on spiritual leader today, or all on celebrity, or WHOEVER.
ANYTHING THAT DETRACTS FROM JESUS CHRIST IS GARBAGE. Don’t go there!
In Colossians 2:16-23, Paul takes on Gnosticism, an ancient false religious system that influenced the early Christians.
Four gnostic practices:
- Asceticism. If the body is evil, then it must be beaten down, starved, its every need refused and its every impulse chained down.
- Observation of Days. Feasts and new moons and sabbaths. If you've been set free from this, why do you want to go back? (These just point us to the real thing, we don’t need those once the real thing is here!)
- Special Visions (“making a parade of the things he has seen”). The Gnostics prided themselves on special visions and special revelation of secret knowledge. There is always a danger when a man begins to think he has attained a height of holiness which enables him to see what “Common men” cannot. This led to a “spiritual snobbery.”
- Worship of Angels. Jews had a highly-developed doctrine of angels, and the Gnostics believed in all kinds of intermediaries. They worshiped these.
- All this is just a shadowof the truth — the real truth is Christ.
- This promotes a sort of false humilitybecause it acts as though God is so high and holy that we must bear all these rules and engage in all this asceticism in order to please Him. But Christianity says the opposite, God is open to the humblest and the simplest person. (Childlike)
- This sort of religious observance leads to pride. It is the basic truth of Christianity that no man who thinks himself “good” -- is good, least of all the man (or woman) who thinks himself (or herself) “better” than other people.
- All this is a return to unChristian slaveryinstead of Christian freedom. It does not free a man from earthly lusts. Christian freedom comes not by rules and regulations, but by death of evil desires (death to self) Romans 6 and the springing to life of good desires, as God changes us from the inside out (changing what we want).
Opening Questions — Get Us Thinking:
Rules — did you consider your parents "permissive" or "strict"? Why? (Did they have to many rules for you, or not enough? Which one was the biggie?)
Freedom From Human Rules -- Colossians 2:16-23
16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Research Questions — “Dig Deeper” to find God’s Will
- God is... What do we learn about God?
- We are... What do we learn about people?
- To what does the “therefore” of verse 16 refer?
- Who is the “anyone” of verse 16? Who will be the eternal judge and by what will we be judged?
- What is the principle behind Paul’s statement about not being judged based on food and festivals?
- What is Paul condemning is verse 16?
- How does Paul differ from non-Christian writers in the first century concerning “shadow” and “reality” found in verse 17?
- How is verse 18 described by most commentators and why is it described this way?
- Discuss the meaning of “disqualify” in verse 18?
- But what is the prize of verse 18? Salvation, heaven?
- What does Paul mean when he speaks of “what he has seen” in verse 18?
- How are we to understand and apply “lost connection” (v. 19)?
- What is the point of verse 20?
- What is the meaning and usage of “died” in verse 20?
- What is a better way of life than the one listed in verse 21 as “do not . . .”?
- What did the false teachers misunderstand that Paul called the “appearance of wisdom” (v. 23)?
Reflective Questions — Live it today.
- What is the result of trying to base one's relationship with God on rule-keeping or on private visions, as the false teachers were doing?
- What additions do people make to God’s plan of salvation today? What about additions that determine being more spiritual?
- What convinced you that trying to live up to religious rules couldn't change you on the inside?
- In what area are you still susceptible to getting caught up in rule-keeping?
- I will... What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you in this passage? How will you apply it to your life this week?
- You can... Who do you know who needs to hear this?
- How does this equip us to be better disciples and help empower us to “make disciples”?
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