168 Colossians Talk 3 - Freedom in Christ - what he has done for us (2) - a podcast by Dr David Petts - Pentecostal preacher, former AoG Bible College Principal

from 2022-01-21T06:00

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Talk 3. Freedom in Christ - what he has done for us (2)

Welcome to the third talk in our series Themes from Colossians.

In our first talk we considered The Supremacy of Christ - who he is. Basing our thoughts mainly on Colossians 1:15-20, we saw that:

  • Jesus is God
  • Jesus is eternal
  • Jesus is creator
  • Jesus is sustainer
  • Jesus is head over all things
  • Jesus is our saviour

In Talk 2 we began to examine our freedom in Christ and what he has done for us. We concentrated on Col. 1:12-14 and saw that he has:

  • Qualified us to share in his inheritance
  • Rescued us from the dominion of darkness
  • Brought us into his kingdom
  • Redeemed us and forgiven our sins.

In today’s talk we’ll be concentrating on Colossians 2:9-23.

We’ll start by reading vv. 9-15

  1. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
  2. and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
  3. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
  4. having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
  5. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
  6. having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
  7. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

The key to this passage is understanding that God has given us fullness in Christ

  1. and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

Or You are complete in him…

What does this mean?

It means that if you are in Christ you don’t need anything else.

This is because Christ is the head over every power and authority.

Cf. He is head over all things (1:18).

He has disarmed them, made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by his death on the cross (15).

And through your faith in him and obedience to him in baptism you are identified with him:

  1. having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

So because you are in Christ, the head over all things:

  • You don’t need circumcision
  • You don’t need the law of the Old Testament
  • You don’t need man-made rules and regulations.

You don’t need circumcision (11)

  1. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,

Cf. 13 in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature

Circumcision was the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham

To be uncircumcised was to be outside the covenant

But when we came to Christ we entered into a new and better covenant

So by faith we have been ‘circumcised’ not in the flesh but in our hearts.

You don’t need the law of the Old Testament (14)

…having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

The written code refers to the Law of the Old Testament.

The Greek is cheirographon. This was a statement of debt, signed by the debtor to acknowledge his indebtedness. It was often fixed to the doorpost of his house for all to see. That’s why Paul says that the Law was against us and stood opposed to us.

The Law not only stated our guilt. It demanded the penalty for our guilt!

But by his death on the cross Jesus has canceled it, taken it away, nailing it to his cross! The debt was now chargeable to the cross!

(When the debt was paid the cheirographon would be folded over and nailed down, thus making the debt invisible).

You don’t need man-made rules and regulations (16-23)

  1. Therefore 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.
  2. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
  3. Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
  4. "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?
  5. These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.

N.B. Jesus would not let the Pharisees judge him or his followers with regard to the Sabbath.

If these benefits of being complete because we are in Christ seem rather negative, thank God, there are wonderful positive benefits as well.

All our sins have been forgiven

  1. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…

We have been made alive with Christ

  1. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…

God has not only forgiven all our sins. He has made us alive with Christ.

Cf. 12 buried with him… raised with him

Our enemy has been defeated

  1. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Quote from Just a Taste of Heaven

“To appreciate fully what Paul means by this we need to understand who the powers and authorities are, and the significance of his use of the word triumph. It is clear from Ephesians 6:10-12 that when Paul uses the phrase powers and authorities in this way he is referring to the satanic forces which are fighting against us as Christians. But what does he mean by saying that Christ triumphed over them by the cross?

In using the word triumph Paul was deliberately calling to the mind of his readers the picture of a great military victory. In the Roman world a triumph was rather like a modern military decoration which someone is awarded either for bravery or for great achievements on the battlefield. To help understand this further, let us imagine that Caesar, the Roman Emperor, has learned that in a certain distant corner of the empire one of the tribes has rebelled against his authority. So he calls his most senior general and gives him instructions to take a legion of soldiers in order to suppress the rebellion. Accordingly the general goes and conquers the rebellious tribe, taking many prisoners and begins to lead them back to Rome.

Before reaching Rome, however, he sends a herald in advance to inform the emperor of his victory. On hearing the news, the emperor decides to award the general a triumph. He proclaims a public holiday so that all the citizens of Rome can welcome the general on his return. Then, on the appointed day, the people line the streets of the city awaiting the return of the general. As he arrives in his chariot at the head of his legion, the people cheer and applaud, they almost worship the general because of his great victory.

But behind the general and his legion come the captives. They have been stripped of their weapons. Their hands are tied, their feet are shackled. They are totally subjugated and are forced to walk with head bowed low beneath a symbolic ‘yoke’ created for this purpose [1]. They have truly become a public spectacle. This is the picture that Paul calls to mind when he tells us that by the cross Jesus disarmed the powers and authorities and triumphed over them making a public spectacle of them. As citizens of heaven we have nothing to fear from such an enemy. Rather, we stand back in awe and marvel at the mighty victory our general has won for us, and we worship him. Understood this way, Colossians 2:15 is a wonderful revelation of the victory Christ accomplished on the cross over Satan and all his forces”.

Summary of what Christ has done for us

In the last two talks we have seen that:

On the cross

Jesus defeated the enemy

He has redeemed us from his power

He rescued us from his dominion

As a result

  • He has forgiven our sins and set us free from the Law of the OT
  • He has made us alive with Christ
  • He has qualified us to share in his inheritance
  • He has brought us into his kingdom
  • He has given us fulness in Christ

Next time: What we should do for him.

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[1] The English word subjugate comes from two Latin words sub and jugum. The jugum was the yoke that was placed on cattle. Sub means under. People taken captive by Rome were made to walk sub jugum or ‘beneath the yoke’. A symbolic ‘yoke’ was constructed for this purpose with the use of three spears placed in the shape of the Greek letter pi – Π. Captives were forced to walk beneath this which meant that they were to be treated worse than cattle. To be ‘subjugated’ in this way was the greatest humiliation known to the enemies of Rome.

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