Colossians 2:3–8

"…to the full knowledge of the mystery of God, in which mystery (for that is the point) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." A person may be a Christian, seeing the grace of God in Christ, and yet be comparatively poor in his thoughts and very feeble in his grasp of the counsels and ways of God. Without this it is impossible to have all these treasures.

The realities of these are for us in Christ, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," in whom these "unsearchable riches" are safely kept against all the cunning of Satan and the weakness of the believer. Complete justification, divine grace for every step of the way, and a union in life with Him — these are the treasures, with all the spiritual blessings that go with them, safely kept for us "in Christ."

No doubt the Colossians thought there was remarkable wisdom and knowledge in the teachings of the philosophies of this world, the religious and moral philosophies with such great pretensions. But God would have them know this: not one single treasure of wisdom and knowledge lay outside the great secret. That secret showed what He was in His wisdom and grace, and it directed their attention to the Christ.

What could human philosophy add if they had the One in whom "all" the treasures of wisdom are hid? Philosophy applies the power of human reasoning while closing its eyes to divine revelation. Christ was that revelation, the image of the invisible God. Why follow the "teaching of men" if "all" the treasures of knowledge were in Christ? (Of course, we all have to learn maths, science and many other human insights — but these things do not make us better Christians.)

In "the mystery of God," as we must read it if we leave out the closing words of the verse, "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." What a mine for exploration! And what a means of enrichment for the diligent believer!

A believer cut off from all Christian company might study his Bible in dependence on the Spirit's teaching and gain a very good mental grasp of it, but he could not grasp it by experience. We never understand it fully until we have some experience of what it means.

When we know this truth about Christ and the Church, His body, it gives a true perspective for understanding all Scripture… Only if we know our own place in the counsels of God can we rightly discern His counsels in other respects. This matters greatly if we are to be kept from the tempting lures of men. Many plausible teachings are in fact deceptive and destructive.

"I say this," he continues, "in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments" — pretending to bring you a great store of wisdom and knowledge in all sorts of things that are not Christ. Someone may come and say — how often this is said! — that Christ is fine for Christianity, but must there be nothing else besides Christ? No, nothing at all.

Already men were going about beguiling believers. Note carefully that they were doing so "with enticing words." Smooth, elegant, persuasive speech is the main tool of deceivers. How often have simple, unsuspecting people said of some propagandist, "Oh, but he must be all right: he spoke so beautifully!" Then a little investigation showed he was as far from all right as could be.

The first warning is "that no one may delude you with plausible arguments". It warns against error dressed up in attractive form by human eloquence. It also warns against error put in Christian terms and mixed with a measure of truth. We never needed this warning more than now. The world is flooded with popular religious books that carry the deadliest error. Choice language expresses it, attractive sentiments hide it, and a veneer of Christianity covers it.

He used the good order among them, and their faith, to guard them against the danger of these thoughts. Such thoughts could slip in unnoticed while all was still going well. This often happens. People have faith in Christ and they walk well. They do not see that certain ideas overthrow that faith. They let them in, and keep up the profession of faith alongside these ideas. But the force of the truth and the sense of union with Christ and the simplicity that is in Him are lost. The enemy has so far reached his aim.

What it really proves is this: no amount of good order or steadfastness can keep a soul safe if it admits wrong thoughts and corrupt principles. Such principles hide, weaken, or lower the glory of Christ... No soul is an exception. Whatever blessing it has had, past or present, it cannot afford to trifle with what upsets the Person or glory of Christ.

Too often believers show how little they are grounded in the faith they were taught in the apostles' writings. Under the enticing words of some leader, they give up everything they professed to believe. How we need the warning, "Lest any man" — whatever his gift or sincerity — "beguile you with enticing words". Whatever we hear, from whomever it comes, we are only safe as we test it by "the faith", as we have "been taught" in the Word of God.

Nothing was as suited as the presentation of Christ's fullness to help them detect the hollowness of what others were offering them. What could human philosophy add if they had the One in whom all the treasures of wisdom are hidden? Philosophy uses human reasoning while closing its eyes to God's revelation. Christ was that revelation, the image of the invisible God.

What they should have done without being told, Paul had already done, even though he was not there among them. And he did it not as an outsider looking on, but as one present with them in spirit. These words deserve our careful attention. In the unity of the body of Christ, the apostle was present in spirit and sympathy wherever God's people gathered, and he took a personal interest in what they did... Every true Christian has a proper interest in what the Church of God does and suffers.

Verse 5 shows us the good that marked them. First, they were orderly. In this they were a happy contrast to the Corinthians, who were in a very disorderly state. In their life together and in their private lives, they had clearly followed the apostle's instructions. Second, there was a steadfastness about their faith. They were like soldiers who had stood firm under the shock of battle. Every assault upon their faith had failed.

The apostle had brought forward these wonderful revelations of God about the double glory of Christ and about His Person. He set them out so that no one could fool the Colossians with persuasive words. He uses the order that existed among them, and their faith, to guard them against the danger they were in. These wrong thoughts could slip in unnoticed while all was still going on well, and while their sense of their own faith was untouched. This often happens. People have faith in Christ. They walk well. They do not see that certain ideas overturn that faith. They take those ideas in, and go on professing faith alongside them. But they lose the force of the truth, the sense of union with Christ, and the simplicity that is in Him.

What it really proves is this. No amount of good order or steadfastness can keep a soul safe once it takes in wrong thoughts and corrupt principles — the kind that hide, weaken, or lower the glory of Christ... Their order and the steadfast faith in Christ that marked them (v. 5) were in themselves no real defence against the evil that threatened them.

The Apostle was all the more anxious for the Colossian believers because he could rejoice over them. They were an orderly company, steadfast in their faith in Christ. Yet he felt that unless they came to know the mystery of God, they would not be able to stand against the schemes of the enemy.

God's order for His presence and praise must be kept. He delights in order and is not the author of disorder. When a man thinks he knows how to do things better than God, he creates disorder... If Paul the apostle could rejoice to see the order of the Colossian believers, how much more does God rejoice in men and women who follow the pattern He gives for how His people meet.

Now think about "life" in the sense of what a soul has. Is it Christ that I have received, or only truth about Him? The Apostle answers, "Christ."

I remember the following day that the name Jesus was continually before me. I printed it in large letters and set it where I could see it continually. It was just Himself — not the blessing that I had received — but Himself.

The place of the words "the Lord" seems to press His Lordship on these believers, with the implied claim that they must be completely subject to Him. So they were to walk in Him — in Christ Jesus the Lord. Their walk was to match the way they had professed to receive Him: in all that He is, and with all His claims. He was to be the sphere and element in which they lived, and moved, and had their being.

We have received Him as our Lord, not only as our Saviour, though these two things always go together. We have received Him as One who has rightful title over us. He is also the One in whom we have found everything that makes us independent of the world around us.

The gospel of the grace of God had saved them and broken them down. They knew their utter helplessness, their complete unworthiness, and that they deserved God's judgment. They were drawn to Christ, sure that He alone could do them good and bring them to God. The whole tone of their Christian life has to be the same... Can each of us truly say, "I need Him as much today as on the day when I first trusted Him as my Saviour and Lord."

When first we came to Christ we came to Him as the only One in the universe Who could meet our need, and He did. Well, He is the only One Who can meet our need in working this out in our lives for the pleasure of God.

Having received Christ as their Lord, they were to "walk in Him." That is, they were to put into practice what they knew of Him and of His will... Let us all take note. We are only truly established in the truth when our knowledge of it shows in our practice on one side, and in our praise on the other.

We are brought into the faith of Christ while He is rejected on earth and exalted to God's right hand in heaven. So walking in Him at the present time calls for the constant exercise of faith.

When we have received Christ, everything else is only an unfolding of what He is, and of the glory that God's purposes have joined to His Person. Knowledge, or so-called knowledge, outside of this only turns us away from Him. It draws our hearts away from the power of His glory, and throws us into what is false.

We may hold doctrine, fight for "principles", and keep a legal separation from what is wrong. But if that is all, we will become withered ourselves and a danger to the peace of our fellow believers.

There is a suggestion of trees in Col. 2:7: "rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught." The rooting is the act of God, and once for all He roots His saints in Christ. Then, like trees, we are built up and established as we draw in the nourishment God provides. This is our responsibility, and it is continuous.

A tree's roots take a long time to develop before much growth shows above ground, and they keep developing as the tree grows upward. Hidden communion with the Lord is vital if we are to have strength to stand. The building up too is to be "in Him": we can leave nothing to our own ability or energy.

Its first words should read, "Having been rooted, and being built up in Him." They had been, and still were, rooted in Him, like a tree rooted in the soil. So all the roots of their spiritual life came from Him. The "being built up in Him" implies two things. First, Christ was the foundation they had been placed on. Yet He is more than a foundation, since He is living, and so the building is "in Him." Second, once on that foundation, they were to go on being built up, by taking in the fullness of the Godhead that lives in Christ bodily.

We draw our life from Him, as a plant draws through its root. And so we are built up in Him, as a plant builds itself up on the food it takes in. How perfectly then are we provided! Christ is our one Sufficiency... We are to abound in it, says the apostle, with thanksgiving. That is a huge point. If our hearts are not rejoicing over the truth God has given us, what will keep us from the evil around us?

To stop anyone charming them with attractive words, he urges them strongly: as they had received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, they were to walk in Him. They were to be rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith as they had been taught... he makes it very plain: he knew no theory of progress that starts with Christ and then makes believers complete by something else above and beyond Him.

Having been rooted in Him, they were to be built up in Him. That would settle them so firmly in the true faith that they were like vessels filled to the brim with it, overflowing with praise and thanksgiving. Let us all take note: we are established in the truth when our knowledge of it comes out in our practice on one side and in our praise on the other.

No wonder, then, he urges them to be "rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." That last word deserves real weight. Their thanksgivings were beginning to fade, I think, because that is what happens at once when other objects push into Christ's place.

Are we a thanksgiving people or are we a murmuring people? There is a contrast between these two words, thanksgiving and murmuring. You and I have every reason to be a thanksgiving people.

"Beware lest any man spoil you". It means "make a prey of you". It is like a captured animal, unable to move where it would normally move, taken out of its own surroundings. And all through philosophy and empty deceit — there is nothing in it at all.

Nothing captures intellectual people more easily than the philosophy of the world's teachers, because it is so hard to follow and so involved. It stands for the highest flights of human thought and imagination. But here Paul joins it to "vain" or "empty" deceit. That shows us clearly what it really is as God sees it.

The first of these is philosophy and vain deceit. As we understand it, this is philosophy that is nothing but empty deceit. It has to be described that way. It comes from man's mind. Human reason shapes it into a system. Its aim is to corrupt the revelation God has been pleased to give by His Spirit in His inspired Word. It is Rationalism, pure and simple, judging everything by its own idea of what suits man. So sinful man would sit in judgment on the thoughts of God!

Faith rejects philosophy, not only as a rival but as an ally. It rests on God's Word alone. It takes that Word as absolute and as the only authority.

Tradition may be described as teaching handed down by word of mouth. It may come from God… teaching handed down before the word of God was complete. Or it may come from man, like the tradition of the elders of Israel. The Lord condemned that tradition strongly. He said it overturned the commandments of God… In Colossians 2:8 it is the mere teaching of the moralists, and much of that has survived to this day. What man sets up, man holds on to most tightly.

The rudiments or elements of the world are every subtle principle and motive that comes from the world, apart from God. They take in everything that makes up the spirit and character of the world, whether religious or not.

Here, I take it, we have the mixing of natural man's philosophy with religious man's tradition. At first sight these two look far apart, but they are not so in the end… Nothing shows an active spirit of evil at work in the world more than the way he draws up and combines these two armies, which on the outside look like enemies… They may look completely hostile to each other. In fact both are hostile only to the truth.

The apostle now names certain traps the believers faced. They were opposed to full Christian teaching, and ruinous to souls: philosophy (verse 8), teaching that pressed the Jewish law (verse 16), and Gnostic speculations (verse 18). The test that detects each of them is the teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. Apply that test, and the evil is exposed.

Our reasoning powers do not detect evil doctrine, since false doctrine always enlists them on its side. Its harmful character may not show at first. Yet a God-fearing soul refuses it, because it is not "as it is written" — "not according to Christ."

Then, as if he did not want us to dwell too long on the evil, he points us at once to the Divine Source of all good… He sweeps aside every rival and sets us in the presence of Christ, the all-sufficient One… Here then is the great antidote! The fullness of the Infinite One dwells in Him in whom we are complete.