Paul, Pt. 22: “In Christ Alone”

IN CHRIST ALONE (COLOSSIANS 2:1-10)
A scientific convention was held at a lakeside resort. After the first day’s proceedings, a mathematician, a physicist, an astronomer and a molecular biologist hired a boatman to row them around on the lake. As they sat in the boat, they discussed string theory, bubble universes, the Gaea Hypothesis and other abstruse topics.

The biologist noticed the boatman looking at them from the corner of his eyes. He asked him, “What do you think of these ideas?” The boatman replied, “I didn’t understand any of it.” The astronomer asked him how far he had studied. He told them he couldn’t even read. “I hate to say it,” said the physicist, “but you seem to have wasted a good part of your life.” The boatman remained silent.

By now they were out in the middle of the lake, far from shore. A sudden storm whipped up. The waves started churning and heaving. All of a sudden, the boat flipped over. The boatman started swimming for shore. The scientists cried out, “Help! We can’t swim!” The boatman called back, “I hate to say it, but you seem to have wasted your WHOLE lives.”

Some people think Christianity is for the unintelligent, uneducated and unsophisticated, but Christians are, by far, the most knowledgeable religious group, with plenty of doctors, scientist and educators as adherents.

In Colossians 1 (Col 1:15-19), Paul succinctly addresses who Jesus is. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth (Col 1:16-17), the Lord of the living and the dead (Col 1:18), and the Mediator between God and man (Col 1:19-20). In chapter two, he presents what we have in Him because of who He is. There are no greater riches than the riches of His wisdom and knowledge. There is no stronger ground than to be rooted and built up in Him. And there is no greater rule above every power and authority in heaven.

No Fortune is Smarter
1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col 2:1-3)

This is a Jewish story I love sharing: One night, a poor Jewish man named Isaac from Krakel, Poland, in a vivid dream, saw a buried treasure hidden under a particular bridge in the distant city of Prague. For the next two weeks, he dreamed of the particular city, the same bridge, and the buried treasure. The man was determined to walk all the way to Prague to see for himself. Upon reaching the city for his first time, he recognized it from his dream, found the bridge and went underneath to look for the treasure. And suddenly he was grabbed at the back of his neck by a soldier who dragged him away to prison for interrogation.

The soldier set him on a chair and said, “All right, you Jew, what were you doing prowling around underneath the bridge. Not knowing what else to say, Isaac blurted out the truth. “I had a dream that there was buried treasure underneath the bridge, and I was looking for it.” Immediately the soldier burst into mocking laughter, and said, “You stupid Jew, don't you know you can’t believe what you see in your dreams. Why, for the last two weeks I myself have had a dream every night that far away in the city of Krakel in the house of some Jew by the name of Isaac son of Yaakob is a treasure buried under the stove in his kitchen. But wouldn’t it be the most idiotic thing in the world if I would go all the way to Krakel to look for some Jew that doesn’t exist, or there may be a hundred Isaac son of Yaakob. I could waste a lifetime looking for a treasure that isn’t even there. With a glorious laughter, the soldier then opened the door, gave him a good kick and let him go. Well, Isaac son of Yaakob naturally walked back to Krakel to his house where he moved his stove in his own kitchen, found the treasure buried there and lived to a ripe old age as a rich man.

Paul admonished believers to look to the Lord instead of the world for their intellectual development. In verse 1, Paul characterizes his struggles for the church at Colosse and Laodicea as “agony” (agon = struggling), specifically “how much” (helikos) or “great” the agony is, the latter used one other verse in the Bible for the tongue in its “great” boast sets a “great” forest on fire (James 3:5); yet this is the only time “great agony” is used in the Bible. Paul agonized for the church united in love to comprehend the all the riches (ploutos) and the treasures (thesaurus, storehouse) of God in Christ that are available to them. This fortune does not refer to the possessions of the world, but is bound to the person of Christ. The believer must be informed and not ignorant of the immense resources and intellectual property they have at their disposal. In Christ the “riches” (ploutos) to our account include the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience (Rom 2:4), the riches of his glory (Rom 9:23, Eph 3:16), the riches of his grace (Eph 2:7), the riches of his glorious inheritance (Eph 1:18), unsearchable riches (Eph 3:8) and the glorious riches of mystery (Col 1:27). How precious, privileged and priceless are the other riches of Christ to us, but it these virtues are incomplete without wisdom and knowledge from above.

The Greek text did not say “full riches” in verse 2, but “all riches,” which is important, as it parallels with “all the treasures” in verse 3 - Christ is Savior, superior and sufficient. Paul desires the believers, in their complete understanding (sunesis), to “know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” The Greek “to know” is a noun and not a verb in Greek and is more than merely “knowledge” (gnosis) in verse 3, but “epi-gnosis,” translated as “acknowledgement” in KJV and “true knowledge” in NASB.

This is not a secret, but a “mystery” (musterion), which is different from secrecy; mystery is waiting its unveiling, but secret is keeping it undisclosed. Mystery is a puzzle or a poser waiting to be solved, but secrecy is a position and problem best left unsolved. The mystery is that in Christ are hidden all the treasures (thesauros) of wisdom (sophia) and knowledge (gnosis). Dennis Covington says, “Mystery is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend.” Note that riches and treasures are both plural, plenty and prosperous.

Wisdom and knowledge are both sides of a coin – inadequate, incompetent and inflexible without the other. Wisdom always precedes knowledge in the Bible (Rom 11:33), because wisdom is application, knowledge is merely academic; wisdom is how to live, knowledge is what to learn; wisdom is tested in the crucible, knowledge is taught in the classroom. Wisdom is insight, knowledge is information. Knowledge without wisdom is arrogance, but wisdom without knowledge is ignorance.

No Foundation is Steadier
4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Col 2:4-7)

The 7.9-magnitude quake in Sichuan on May 12, 2008, that left the number of dead and missing at near 1000,000 and 5 million people homeless demonstrates the importance of foundations. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080523/ap_on_re_as/china_earthquake

Experts wonder why some 4-story schools topple over like cards whereas 10-story hotels were fine, especially since techniques for fortifying buildings to withstand earthquakes have been clearly understood for decades, including using high-quality concrete, embedding extra iron rods, tying them tightly into bundles with strong wire, ensuring that components of floors, walls and columns are firmly attached and paying special attention to columns, which are the key to having a building sway rather than topple. Six structural engineers and earthquake experts asked a newspaper to analyze an online photographic slide show of the wreckage at Xinjian concluded, independently, that inadequate steel reinforcement, or rebar, was used in the concrete columns supporting the school. They also found that the school’s precast, hollow concrete slab floors and walls did not appear to be securely joined together. The most pronounced failing at Xinjian seemed to be inadequate steel reinforcement of the concrete columns supporting the school, experts said. There were too few rebar reinforcing rods and too little of the thin binding wire that holds the rebar together. And, critically, the steel bindings attaching the concrete flooring slabs were inadequate. A builder from nearby Meishan City recognized the faulty columns and flooring problems. “The ratio of sand and concrete isn’t right,” he said. “It fell down because of cheap materials.” (“Chinese Are Left to Ask Why Schools Crumbled,” New York Times, May 25, 2008)

If the foundation is weak, the pillar, the structures and the house will crumble and collapse. This is true whether it is in the field of in architecture or agriculture. Roots are very important to plants. Without roots, plants will die, trees are uprooted, water is wasted, storms are threats and slopes would slide. Without roots, the plant has no depth, no nutrients and no future.

In the same way, churches decline and die because it is not built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone (Eph 2:20).

Intellectual deception or delusion is an enemy to the church. Verse 4’s “deceive” (para-logizomai), translated as “beguile” in KJV and “delude” in NASB, means “to reason alongside” (para, “alongside,” logizomai, “to reason”), but not the real thing. The beguilers of the church dressed their deception with “fine-sounding arguments” (pithano-logia), or “persuasive (peitho) words (logos).”

The way to handle persuasive arguments is the Colossae way (v 5) – with “order” and “firmness” of faith in Christ, the latter means steadfastness. Paul did not say we have to fear them, but to face them with order and faith. The key is in Christ, not with logic or logos (words).

The preposition “in” is repeated twice, one for walk/live “in” him and one for rooted and built up “in” him. Like his teaching on “walking” in the Spirit (Gal 5:16), our walking (peripateo), or living in NIV, must be “in” Him, our roots and foundation must be “in” Him. “Rooted” (rhizoo) refers to the structure below and “built up” (ep-oikodomeo) to ascension above. One is under ground and the other is above ground.

No Fullness is Surer
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. (Col 2:8-10)

In May 2008 scientists finally completed analyzing the DNA of the platypus, a creature native to Australia that defies categorization under bird, reptile or mammal. The platypus is so odd that when the first specimens were sent to Europe in the 19th century, scientists suspected a hoax. The platypus has a bill and webbed feet like a duck, lays eggs like a bird or a reptile but also produces milk and has a coat of fur like a mammal. Even its DNA is an amalgam of genes.

A group of almost 100 scientists studied a female platypus, collected and analyzed her DNA and found that her genome contains about 18,500 genes, similar to other vertebrates and about two-thirds the size of the human genome. The platypus shares 82 percent of its genes with the human, mouse, dog, opossum and chicken.
Of particular interest, the researchers reported, the analysis identified families of genes that link the platypus to reptiles (like those for egg-laying, vision and venom production), as well as to mammals (antibacterial proteins and lactation). The platypus lacks nipples; the young nurse through the abdominal skin. (“Platypus Looks Strange on the Inside, Too” New York Times May 8, 2008)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/science/08platypus.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=platypus&st=nyt&oref=slogin

One of Christianity’s greatest setbacks is the adulteration of the gospel - the diluted, detour and decaffeinated version. The devil’s clever adage and agenda is, “If you cannot beat them, join them.” The Christian message today is no longer Christ alone, but Christ and Philosophy, Christ and Psychology, Christ and Pluralism, Christ and Prosperity, Christ and Positivism, Christ and Politics.

Unfortunately, many believers blend their Christianity like their mochas and smoothies, like the green tea with milk I once ordered that made my stomach bloat drinking the free refill. Paul uses the “see to it” or “beware” (blepo) to warn believers of associating, allying and assimilating with hollow and deceptive philosophy, using the same urgency and warning he gives concerning building the church’s foundation on Christ (1 Cor 3:10), living the wise and not unwise way (Eph 5:15) and not turning one’s freedom into a stumbling block (1 Cor 8:9).

“Captive,” its only occurrence in the Bible, means spoil or booty. Many people pride themselves in being renaissance people, exposing themselves to varieties and levels of religious experiences, learning models and social experimentation in the name of diversity and pluralism; he warns against being its captive instead of its critique.

Philosophy (philo-sophia) is basically the love of wisdom. Wisdom is virtuous, but love of wisdom is vanity. Wisdom is skill, but philosophy is subjective. Wisdom is godly, love of wisdom is grandiose. “Hollow” (kenos) means nothing. “Deceptive” (apate) is nothing masquerading as something. The Bible’s list of deceit includes the deceitfulness of wealth (Matt 13:22, Mark 4:19), desires (Eph 4:22), evil/unrighteousness (2 Thess 2:10), sin (Heb 3:13) and pleasure (2 Peter 2:13).

What are the “human tradition” (paradosis) and the basic principles (stoicheion) of this world? The former is Jewish traditions and the latter is the worldly “fundamentals,” also translated as truths (Heb 5:12) and elements (2 Peter 3:10, 12).

Why reject philosophy, traditions and worldviews? Because all we need to know and learn, all we need for life and living, who we are and what we have is in Christ. The preposition “in,” as in “in Christ” (v 9), is critical to Paul’s emphasis on Christ in the chapter, including “live in him” (Col 2:6), “rooted and built up in him” (Col 2:7), “in Christ” (Col 2:9) and “fullness in Christ” (Col 2:10). Our identity, instruction and intelligence, therefore, must be in Christ.

Conclusion: Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” The Reformers passionately declare five “sola’s” in the 16th century: Christ alone (Solus Christus), Scriptures alone (Sola Scriptura), Faith alone (Sola Fide), Grace alone (Sola Gratia) and Glory to God alone (Soli Deo Gloria). Christianity is about Christ alone, our all in all, and nobody and nothing else. He is a person and not a philosophy, our salvation and our strength.

Are you deceived in the same way as unbelievers are in the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does? (1 John 2:16) Is your pride in learning, books and intelligence. Is your significance, your strength and success grounded and governed by Christ?