Living Out The Symbolism: Colossians 2:6-15

To take a piece out of the apostle Paul’s teaching style, let me juxtapose two ideas. What is the alternative to someone being “in Christ”? Obviously, if you are not “in Christ,” you are “outside of Christ.” Let’s follow that logic further. When a person is within Christ, they are out of the world. Likewise, when Christ comes and dwells within (Col 1:27) a believer, Christ has no longer removed himself from that person. Christ who is within us, cannot, and will not leave us. Yet we who are not as stable, can remove ourselves from being within Christ. In short, Christ does not fail even though we do.

I bring all of that “in” business up because it is a phrase that the apostle keeps bringing up, and we should know what he is referring to. Christ lives within us, and we should strive to live within Christ. Living within Christ produces spiritual maturity, and Paul has explained his maturation through suffering, and now is looking forward to seeing the Colossian church’s maturity.

Colossians 2:6-15

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

6-8 Foundation “In” Christ

Foundations are important, and you need a solid one if you want a structure to last. Paul sees that their foundation has been laid well, “rooted” and “built up” on the person of Christ, but foundations aren’t meant to just stand alone, they are made to be built upon. Paul is encouraging them to build upon what they’ve already had established in their faith.

-”just as you received” so easily, continue to build just as easy.

-”live in him” “rooted and built up in him” (what’s the alternative to these concepts?)

-Then you’re strengthened, and as a result, thankful.

Jesus is the foundation of life. If you build anything on (and in) Christ as the foundation, it will last, because ultimately you’re building his Kingdom.

-Jesus was the cornerstone that the world rejected. They said, don’t build your life on him, or your house won’t be stable. The opposite is true.

-This is why Paul warns to reject “hollow and deceptive” thinking, because it is a house built with straw, built on sand.

-The comparison: build on primal instincts of the world, or Christ

9- 10 Fullness of God in Christ, now in you

-The big mystery that’s been solved in the gospel message is that Christ is “in you” (1:27). Jesus is sufficient to save you and give you life.

-Christ is fully God and God now lives within us. When we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in faith, the fullness of Christ actually lives through us. This is the “life to the full” Jesus spoke of.

-The all powerful God of the universe lives within you. Christians, let this fact motivate us to a holy life.

11-12 Real Signs of Change

Paul brings up circumcision and baptism as a way to grab hold of Christ’s significance in one’s life change.

Circumcision description in Jewish context :

-a physical sign of being set apart as God’s people

-removing flesh as a sign of the covenant that you have with God.

-Even then, God didn’t want just an outward symbol, but a true inward change (Deut 30:6)

Paul uses the same teaching point for baptism. We are baptized now as Christians, but it is just a symbol of the life that has taken place on the inside. Now, our lives are a walking symbol of what Christ has done.

13-15 Power of Christ’s death and resurrection

Metaphors and symbols have power, and make the truth more obtainable. We don’t worship the symbols, but worship the God which the symbols point to. These are the metaphors that Paul is using to teach us so far:

-Dead in sin: we were dead, incapable 

-Uncircumcision: walking in flesh that had not been cut away

-Legal debt: we racked up charges we couldn’t afford to pay off with our sin

Our sin, and Satan and his demons, stood against us condemning us. But that condemnation ended with the nails on the cross. God doesn’t care about circumcision, the cutting off of flesh, by human hands (v11), he is more concerned about doing the procedure on your heart, through his hands. Those hands that formed you into a new creation, are the ones that were nailed to the cross.

Verse 15 is an epic statement about the authority that Christ has over Satan and his demons. Christ put the enemy to shame, so that he doesn’t have to keep you in shame. The cross, the symbol of death, is what brought the victory. The same is true for us. To walk in the fullness of life that is in Christ, we must also walk with him to death. Let’s take these powerful symbols —and their realities— to heart and let the Holy Spirit transform our lives through them.