Gnosticism in its final form probably included some Oriental theosophy (belief about God) and Greek philosophy along with some Christian doctrines. Gnostics had a hard time fitting Christ into their system. Paul strikes at the very heart of Gnosticism when he exalts the Lord Jesus Christ as very God as well as very man. He felt that the main fault of this heresy was their failure to give Christ the exalted position due unto Him. Now in this passage, Paul tells the Colossians that the law observances are abolished in Christ Jesus. Christianity is Christ plus nothing and Christ minus nothing.
Furthermore, the Gnostics and the some of the Jews observed yearly feasts, monthly new moons and weekly Sabbaths. They even added to these with a long list of rituals and observances. The Christian is no longer under the tyranny of these rules and regulations. Their festivals were Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles and others. The first day of each month (the new moon) was observed in which messengers were sent to the highest mountain peaks to signal the first rays of the moon which was quite a production. They heralded the new moon with trumpets and fanfare and all sorts of ceremonies (Draper, p. 86). The seventh day of the week was observed as the day of rest under the law of Moses because God rested (ceased) from His creation on the seventh day of the week. All of these days were law observances. Christ has brought the Christian out from under the law. No longer it is necessary to keep these special days, months, and years. Yeager states, "To shun the taboos and faithfully obey the mandates with the thought that merit can be earned, thus to achieve salvation, is to deny the grace of God and the redemptive work of Christ...No scripture in the New Testament restores the Levitical services or taboos which Christ abolished at the cross. In only two ordinances of the church (and they are not sacraments) do Christians symbolize the essence of Christian theology" (Vol,. XV, p. 70).
The 'shadow' mentioned in verse 17 belonged to the Mosaic ritual system; the 'substance' belongs to the Christian economy. A ritual refers simply to a pattern of doing things. It is not wrong to use ritual; it may awaken our emotions, stimulate our thoughts and strengthen our faith. Ritual may provide precious vehicles of the truth; however, it may become meaningless if we substitute it for the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed it may become dangerous and injurious. Rituals are only shadows of the real - of Christ Himself. A 'shadow' is not the reality; the reality is what makes the shadow. Jesus Christ is the reality to which the shadow pointed. When Jesus said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," 'the bread' is the shadow; and Jesus is the Bread of life (John 6:41). The law of Moses is but a shadow pointing to Christ; the Colossians who possess the reality as members of Christ would be foolish to return to the shadow.
"Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head, from whom all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God" (verses 18,19). The words 'beguile you of your reward' here are translated in the R.S.V. 'disqualify.' It means for an umpire to make a decision against an athlete or rule against that athlete. Paul is saying here, 'let no man rob you of your prize' in the Christian race. How can man lose the reward for their labor for the Lord? Four participles in these two verses indicate the absurdities with which the schismatics sought to bolster up their show of wisdom and depths of religion: (1) self-abasement and worship of angels, (2) taking his stand on visions, (3) puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and (4) not holding fast to the Head. The heretics were seeking to deceive the Colossians with a parade of false humility and the worship of angels. The worship of angels is forbidden in the word of God (I Timothy 2:5; Matthew 4:10). The Gnostics believed in all kinds of intermediaries; 'real religion' is fellowship with Christ. The way to God is open to the humblest and the simplest person, because it is opened by Jesus Christ and no man can ever close it. When false humility is mentioned one is reminded of Uriah Heep in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield who was famous for saying, "I am well aware that I am the 'umblest person going." Voluntary humility is nothing more than 'ugly pride.'
These heretics were not giving Christ Jesus His exalted position as Head of the body (the church). The body of Christ is a nourished and strengthened body, and it grows because it is nourished and strengthened. The same truth is found in the analogy of the vine and the branches (John 15). Perhaps the apostle had heard that the Colossians were showing signs of developing into poor-hearted, small-minded, weak-kneed, flabby-muscled, thin-bodied, lame-limbed believers - they had suffered their strength to be sapped by some insidious heresy (King). Isaiah admonished his hearers to 'strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees...be strong, fear not..they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 35:3; 40:31). The human body provides the analogy for Paul's description in this verse. As the body is supplied with and bonded together by joints and ligaments and so grows in strength and size as God purposes, so the child of God must stay joined with Christ and His body in order to accomplish what God would have him accomplish. False teachers would try to persuade converts to forsake Christ and to exclude themselves from the fellowship of believers (Martin, p. 94).
In verse 21 Paul is engaging in mimicry. He uses scornful and stinging ridicule when he summarizes the regulation which the ascetics would place upon the Colossians - he uses for this purpose pithy, sparkling, proverbial language. "Don't, don't, don't" - for a few years after infancy the child must be prevented from doing things. But as he gradually matures he comes to appreciate his parents' point of view. He has learned his lessons well, and he no longer needs such prohibitions. Why submit to negatives when through Jesus Christ we can have the victory over prohibitions and victory over sin. Paul insists on the liberty with which Christ has set the Colossians free. Fewer and fewer negative rules are needed! Christ has made us free from the prohibitions. "In verse 21 Paul's mimicry of the Gnostic fanatics, and the first clause of verse 22 is Paul's comment about the relative insignificance of the things to which the Gnostics had give superior status" (Yeager, op,.cit. p. 82).
"These things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh" (verse 23). "Will-worship is voluntary, arbitrary worship, a worship which devises and prescribes for himself, contrary to the contents and nature of the faith which ought to be directed to Christ" (Wuest, pp. 215,216). There is no kind of genuine worship present in the heretical teachings of the Gnostic; however, this does not keep him from 'showing his wisdom,' his feigned wisdom. So looking back over this entire chapter, Paul gives a threefold caution: (1) against deception, verses 4-15, (2) against being judged, verses 16,17, (3) against being defrauded, verses 28-23. False religions, philosophies, and systems of thought continue to be dangerous today. They try to bring true believers into bondage. Heed Paul's solemn words!!
We know that the things for which a Christian should seek are heavenly, for Paul adds "where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Of course, Christ is omnipresent; that is, present everywhere by the work of the Holy Spirit. But Jesus is present in heaven with the Father at His right hand. He is seated there until He makes His enemies His footstool (Psalm 110:1). In a mystical sense and in our intimate association with Him, however, we live with Him now, though He is in heaven and we are still confined to earth. A most interesting word is translated, "set your affections," on things above. It means 'to think about,' 'regard,' 'pay attention to.' The child of God is to ponder and yearn for heavenly things; we should occupy our thoughts as well as the objects of our search. The Christian has to keep his feet upon the earth, but his head in the heavens. He must be heavenly-minded here on earth and so help to make earth like heaven (Robertson, Vol. V, p. 500). We are to think like Jesus did (Philippians 2:5). He also said, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth...but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). The poet wrote, "O Lord, remove whate'er divides/Our longing souls from Thee/'Tis fit that where the Head resides/The members/hearts should be" (Anon.)
The Colossians and all Christians are dead and buried; we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. Dead to their old selves and to the world governed by sin. Our life is 'hid' and therefore unseen by man; it is also 'hid' in the sense that it is incapable of being touched or hurt by any evil power. Though our spiritual lives are hid with the Godhead, in a chemical and animal way we still have a physical life upon the earth. Though we are a citizen of heaven and an ambassador of heaven's court to the denizens of earth, we still live on earth in the same body which we had before we were saved. Paul wrote, "For in that (Jesus) died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11,12).
Paul could not leave the subject of our union with Christ without referring to the Second Coming in which every believer will be 'glorified' along with Jesus. His attributes of majesty and power will be displayed publicly, and the Colossians along with every believer will share in that great day. Our future destiny is wrapped up in Jesus Christ. Our life is not only with Christ, but He is, in fact, the life itself. "On the day appointed He will be made to appear or make His appearance. When He does we will be made to appear with Him amid the glory. He is our life and we are inextricably ...associated with Him" (Yeager, Vol. XV, p. 90).
The list of sins here pretty well covers the Ten Commandments. The first sin or vice is 'fornication' meaning physical immorality or conjugal infidelity. The word is porneian from which our word 'pornography' comes. The next sin is 'uncleanness;' it, too, is used in a moral sense, but it also includes uncleanness in thought and life. Paul used the same word in Ephesians 5:3 where he stated that "all uncleanness...should not be named among you as becometh saints." The next sin 'inordinate affection' is translated 'lust' in I Thessalonians 4:5. In the New Testament contexts where the word is used it refers to something evil. 'Evil desire' or 'concupiscence' (old KJV) is the next word which means an intense yearning which may lead to action in committing sin. 'Covetousness' is the last in the catalog of sins that Paul condemns here which is a form of idolatry. This is a desire to have more; that is, more than a person has (discontent), more than others have (envy), or more than he ought to have (injustice). It is 'idolatry' because it is worship of mammon to which Jesus referred in Matthew 6:24. Upon those who commit these sins God's wrath is sure to come. Paul uses a prophetic or futuristic present tense here denoting God's wrath is so certain as if it had already arrived. These sins attract God's displeasure like a magnet attracts iron or like a high steeple on an isolated hill draws lightning (Hendriksen). The life style described in this passage reminds the Colossians that they were guilty of the same sins before regeneration. So the apostle contrasts the deeds of the Colossians before and since they became Christians. They were like all heathen and pagan peoples; they 'walked' or conducted their lives in sin; their behavior implies a sinful disposition
"But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communications out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put one the new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him; where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in you all" (verses 8-11). 'But now' - a favorite Pauline phrase denoting contrast - there is triumphant emphasis as opposed to the 'once.' Paul admonishes the Colossians to 'put off' or 'lay aside' (like a worn and rumpled garment) some more sins. 'Anger' is that sin that desires vengeance; the result of becoming enraged when the heart is like a roaring furnace. 'Wrath' means to be heated to a frenzy; to breathe violently. 'Malice' is that evil inclination of the mind; grudging wishes for others. The word is translated 'maliciousness' in Romans 1:29 meaning ill-will and a desire to injure showing the depravity to which men can reach. 'Blasphemy' is a familiar word in Scripture meaning to slander, to use shameful language or abusive speech. This word commonly meant a slanderous attack upon one's good name. Then the writer sums it all up by writing 'filthy communication out of your mouth' which can mean any obscene or foul talk.
The lying in question here is that which is uttered in the church. It destroys unity. Was this a common sin of the heretics? Surely not among the Christians! Whoever it was, they were deceitful. The Colossians were to 'put off' or discard like a worn-out garment this sin of falsehood. They were to continue to do in practice what they had already done in principle. "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Romans 6:6). Paul states further in Ephesians 4:22, "That ye put off concerning the former manner of life the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts..." The old man is the former self; the old man is corrupt. "Man's renewal in Christ makes him what the Creator at first designed him to be, namely, His Own image" (Findlay, p. 151). Calvin says, "The old man is whatever we bring from our mother's womb, and whatever we are by nature. It is called the old man because we are first born from Adam, and afterward are born again" (Hendriksen, pp. 149,150). When we remember what happened to Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11), we are reminded how grievous is the sin of lying. The 'new birth' takes place once and for all; the 'new character' is in formation. "An analogy, albeit imperfect as analogies always are, can be seen in the new leaves in the spring. As the new leaf with its positive force of new life appears, the dynamic force of new life pushes the last vestiges of the old dead leaf off the twig. If the new leaf had the perpetually effective recuperative powers, which the inner man of regeneration has, so as to be always new, the analogy would be correct, provided also that the source of the new leaf in the springtime was a higher source than that which produced last year's crop" (Yeager, Vol. XV, p. 96). How is the life of the Christian renewed? Paul states that it is by superior knowledge which is available only to the saved individual.
In the new man there is no distinctions - racial-religious (Greek nor Jew; that is, circumcision or uncircumcision), cultural (barbarian or Scythian), social (neither bond nor free), and sexual (no male or female). The Scythians were the most savage warlike nomads of the seventh century B.C. from the northern steppes (modern day Russia). Paul would know of no other tribe or culture so savage as the Scythians. Grace bridges all chasms. All racial bigotry, chauvinism and snobbery are condemned here as also in Romans 1:14 and Galatians 3:28, which read, "I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also...There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." So in Christ Jesus these distinctions are non-existent. There is no place for them. "Christ is our common center, our standard of reference and fount of honor, the sum of all we acknowledge and desire" (Findlay, p. 151). The New Testament divides only between those who are saved by grace and those unresponsive to the call of grace (those who are in Christ and those who are not).
Paul calls the Colossians by a most endearing phrase, 'holy and beloved;' what a commendation to know that they were held in such high esteem by one of the greatest of all apostles. Now he enumerates the graces that the Colossians and every Christian should put on. 'Tender mercies' means a heart of compassion; a deeply-felt affection. The splagchna or the abdomen, where the vital organs are located, was looked upon by the Greeks as the seat of affection; to the Hebrew it was the area of the body producing love, pity and mercy. Yeager translates it 'well-springs of mercy' (Ibid, p. 99). 'Kindness' could also mean goodness of heart; the opposite of malice and badness. 'Humbleness of mind' is lowliness and 'meekness;' that is, submissiveness under provocation; a willingness to suffer injury rather than afflict it. 'Longsuffering' means suffering long or having patience. "Most theological 'watchdogs' are singularly lacking in these Christian virtues. Heresy hunters who hunt heretics in the camp of the saints are generally tyrannical, intolerant and thirsty for heretical blood" (Yeager, op.cit.).
Forbearing and forgiving are beautiful graces that should adorn every Christian. To 'forebear' means to endure others even though they may be overbearing; to permit wrong or annoyance without retaliation. A colloquial expression is 'to put up with.' One of the first uses of this word 'forgive' is found in Luke 7:43 in the parable of the two debtors in which Jesus asked Simon, "who forgave most (the one who owed five hundred pence or the one who owed fifty)." When the offended saint remembers how much Jesus has forgiven him, he will forgive and forget wrongs done to him by another. When a Christian is so eager to correct someone else, he manifests his own insecurity. It behooves us to deal with others according as Christ Jesus has dealt with us. Where would we be if Christ Jesus meted out forgiveness and forbearance to us as we have dealt with a brother or sister in Christ? (See Matthew 7:1-5). On top of all the garments of Christianity, 'put on love which is the bond of perfectness.' Love unites believers, causing them to move forward toward the goal of perfection. Love is the substance or substratum of the Christian virtues; love supreme is that intelligent and purposeful self-giving. "Peter listed charity (love) last at the top of a pyramid, built upon faith, as the foundation, upon which are built in order intellectual humility, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness and brotherly kindness, each of which is prerequisite to the one following (II Peter 1:5-11)...Thus charity (love), which Paul identifies with teleiotas (perfection) is the graduate school achievement in the school of the Holy Spirit in which we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:18). Agapa (Godly love) represents the terminal degree in Christian education and achievement" (Yeager, Vol. XV., p. 102).
"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" (verses 15-17). The 'peace of God' referred to here is that rest and contentment in the heart of those who know that their Redeemer lives. This peace is to act as an umpire (arbitrator) in the Christian's heart. The peace of Christ dwelling within the heart is to be the security of the Colossian believer against the threats of false teachers. Dargan quotes Lightfoot who wrote, "wherever there is a conflict of motives or impulses or reasons, the peace of Christ must step in and decide which is to prevail" (p. 47). Furthermore, gratitude makes for peace and excellent public relations, while ingratitude is a mark of paganism (Romans 1:21).
There has been some question about the punctuation of verse 16. Incidently, in the Greek there were no punctuation marks in the original manuscripts and the words were even run together without spaces in between words. The best translation according to the punctuation seems to be, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs; with gratitude singing in your hearts unto God." Paul wants the Colossians to permit God's word to reside in their hearts abundantly. You cannot share with others what you do not have; nor can you teach others what you do not know. The Word of Christ must be 'at home' in hearts before it can be ministered to others. We cannot minister to others in areas we have not yielded to God ourselves. The means of ministering to others in the congregation is through psalms; that is, from the Old Testament Psalter (Luke 20:42; 24:44; Acts 1:20;13:33). Also the singing of good Christian hymns is a means of ministering. Augustine states that a hymn must have three characteristics: (1) it must be sung, (2) it must be praise and (3) it must be to God. Songs are nothing but odes or a poem set to music. "(The Christians should speak to ourselves) in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in (our) heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19,20). Not all saints can sing with voices in proper pitch, but we all can sing with the heart. And who knows, the Lord may be well-pleased with those who have little talent but who seek to glorify Him in song.
Whatever is done - be it singing, preaching, testifying, mowing the yard, shoveling snow off the parking lot; all should be done to glorify God and advance His cause and kingdom. If the Spirit leads, follow Him and we will never go wrong. "Whether, therefore, ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (II Corinthians 10:31). Yeager says, "We are to do whatever we wish and say whatever we wish, but what we say and do must be said/done with the awareness that, both in speech and action we reacting as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ...When a police officer demands, 'Open this door in the name of the law' he is declaring that it is the law, not he, who is making the demand. Thus he sheds the personal responsibility for the demand. If I say that what I am doing is in the name of our Lord, I am saying that He has sent me to do it, that He agrees that I should do it and that if He were here, He would do it Himself" (Vol. XV, pp. 106,107).