Biblecia.com. Colossians Bible Study Notes. FBCH Joseph Pittano 1 Colossians 2:6-10 “Increasing in the incomparable Christ!” knowledge of the St. Paul’s Letter to the olossians C

Biblecia.com. Colossians Bible Study Notes. FBCH Joseph Pittano 2 27 Oct 13. Colossians 2:6-10, with a focus on “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” I’ll submit to you that this “Seeing to it that no one takes you captive…” is itself a result of the former admonition- that we be grounded. The kinds of things Paul warned them against can’t be perfectly categorized or compartmentalized. It is anything that defies the truth. Does philosophy have its place? Yes, I believe it does. Apologetics (as formal debate, etc) has the same. The gospel itself, however, is not mere philosophy, etc. Apologetics, in its pure sense, is simply giving a defense or reason for one’s faith. I believe it was C.S. Lewis who said, “The question is not whether or not we should use apologetics, but whether or not we should use the apologetics we are already using.”

Biblecia.com. Colossians Bible Study Notes. FBCH Joseph Pittano 3 There are truths outside the Bible, yet they do not contradict the Bible. Ex: Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. Or, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Such would not contradict Christ at all. All truth is God’s truth. Men like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Alexander (469 B.C. – 323 B.C.) had long since preceded this time. Their ideas, like many of those that went before these Colossians (A.D. 62) would be present in their culture in some form or another. Any that opposed Christ should be jettisoned by those God has called out. Many ancient religions also preceded Christ’s day. Ideas in all the converging worldviews of their day like homosexuality, pantheism, asceticism, ecstatic conversation with the gods and/or angels, and many other things were such as were mentioned all throughout the 1 st Century in the Bible. Some ways the serpent beguiles in our day: Science. No one believes because they see. They see because they believe. We are no different as Christians! Such falsities as Darwinian macroevolution dissuade men from the Scriptures as a whole. They make men without chests. They are beguiled in the denial of all to ask for evidences wholly beyond their grasp. It is only the gospel that awakens. Universalism. All roads are blessed. Pleasantry as unity. Be on guard against the “false love” of pleasantry. Such falsities rob men of the scandalous truth of the cross. Sex/naturalism/self-ism. Hedonism. The pleasures of man are the highest end. Ex. to the Corinthians: 12 “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the

Biblecia.com. Colossians Bible Study Notes. FBCH Joseph Pittano 4 body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” 1 Corinthians 6: “Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods” was a proverb of sorts for the hedonists in that place. It just means, “Do whatever pleases you.” Such things rob men of the necessity of submission and the higher truths of the soul as we’re seen as mere bodies with chemicals and instinct. Money/materialism. This can actually choke genuine seed. I’ve seen this give rise to the word of faith religion firsthand (AKA prosperity gospel). This is not the gospel. Such robs from Christ in that it is simply the evening clothes of the love of money dressed up as the love to a god who lives only to provide it. How will we ever be able to keep ourselves from such things unless we are being built on a solid foundation? We won’t! Listen, you are no match for a lion! We must be near to Christ “and the truth.” John 6:63. “The words I speak to you are spirit and life.” Again, do we “need” the church? No, but yes. Woe to him who falls when he’s alone. Ecclesiastes 4:10. We are members of a body or we are nothing! How useful is an eye out of the brain, etc. “We” are a group of “I’s” kept by Christ. This is why many great creeds begin with, “We believe…” Ideas such as that of the Judaizers could certainly, and perhaps primarily, be in view here also when he speaks of the traditions of men. Such was certainly a problem elsewhere in the region. Men are always looking for the experiential as the root of their assurance. This is only partly true and to the mature it is almost never true. Christianity alone is the only true, “Faith alone” system. Christians have Christ. He would have us root ourselves only in Him. It is not in our water ceremonies, Lord’s Suppers, evangelism, or works of love to others that we find our true assurance. Rather, it’s in the spiritual knowledge of the reason for them all that we find all of our refuge!

Biblecia.com. Colossians Bible Study Notes. FBCH Joseph Pittano 5 9 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” I won’t belabor this point any more. We looked at this passage back when we went through 1:19. All that is God is in Jesus in bodily form. Jesus is God the Son. He is fully God and fully Man. If we have Him, what could possible cheat you from that that is not evil in every way? 10 “and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.” If you have Christ, what do you lack? What could you lack? Who could be against you? Who should you fear? If a man has Christ, even if he has nothing, he has everything. Your salvation is complete…even though your sanctification is not. Yet because the work is wholly of God our salvation is not, “A work in progress.” Notice the past tense here. Coming into a rich and mature understanding of this “non-elementary doctrine” is precisely the kind of thing Paul prayed they’d understand back in vs. 2.

Biblecia.com. Colossians Bible Study Notes. FBCH Joseph Pittano 6 Colossians 2:6-10 “Increasing in the incomparable Christ!” knowledge of the St. Paul’s Letter to the olossians C