Colossians
Nov 27, 2006 Print This Post
OK, so a long time ago I started a journey through the New Testament, detailing a quick summary of each of the books. In my busyness the last few months, I lost track of this journey. Now, I’m back. We’ll see if we can finish it this time. We pick up with Paul in prison…
Colossians
Author
Paul (while he was in jail)
Intended Audience
The Church in Colosse
Theme
This book was written, in part, to correct some false teaching in the church. This particular false teaching was a big deal, because over the centuries it gave birth to gnosticism.
Paul was combating several specific heresies in the church:
First, that the church had to continue to observe Old Testament laws. I’m blown away at the frequency Paul has to combat this particular line of thinking. You can look back on my notes on Galatians for another example. And even with the clear Scriptural teaching on this, it continues to be a problem in the church today (nearly 2000 years after Paul pens these words).
Second, these heresies were deeply philosophical. In other words, they elevated human logic over God’s word.
Third, there was an arogance that came with these teachings. Those that agreed with them saw themselves as the “elite.” Again, I’m amazed at how often I see this in the church today. I have heard Christians describe their little sect as “the remnant” or the “true church,” excluding all other believers.
Paul combatted these three things first by encouraging the believers to essentially grow up. Jesus is everything–we are secondary to him. That simple argument eventually dismantles all three of these false teachings.
Random Thoughts
Did I mention the Christians were worshipping angels?
Tags: new testament
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