The apostle Paul, with Timothy,
begins the letter with a greeting to the saints at Colossae (1:1-2).
The body of the letter begins at 1:3.27
Paul begins on a positive note in which he outlines the sufficiency of Christ
(1:3–2:7). He follows this with a negative statement in which he argues
against the views of the heretics at Colossae, who especially imbibe in
christological heresy (2:3–3:4). The body is concluded with a call to live the
Christian life in light of Christ’s sufficiency (3:5–4:6).
The first major section, on the positive
presentation of the sufficiency of Christ, involves four parts. (1) Paul’s
thanksgiving for the Colossians because of their positive response to the gospel
(1:3-8), coupled with a prayer for them to grow in knowledge and productivity
(1:9-14). This prayer deals, though very subtly, with the heart of the epistle:
the heretics claim to have a superior knowledge, yet their very philosophy
chokes out any productivity for God (cf. 2:20-23). (2) Without so much as an
"Amen" to the prayer, Paul continues with a recital of an early
Christian hymn in which Christ is magnified as Deity in the flesh, the Creator
incarnate (1:15-20). (3) The hymn, which ends with a note on Christ as
reconciler of "all things," serves as a bridge to Paul’s next theme:
Christ has reconciled the Colossians to God—a ministry of reconciliation which
Paul has proclaimed (1:21-23). (4) Finally, Paul addresses his own ministry in
greater detail: (a) he has been commissioned with proclaiming "the
mystery" (again, borrowing terms of his opponents)—"Christ in you,
the hope of glory" (1:27)—so that "we may present everyone perfect
in Christ" (1:24-29); (b) he is presently concerned about the believers in
the Lycus Valley, especially that they might not be "deceived by
fine-sounding arguments" (2:4) which deny the sufficiency of Christ
(2:1-7).
After having established both the
sufficiency of Christ and Paul’s commission and concern, he now must turn, in
this major section, to the heart of the matter: Heretics in Colossae have denied
the sufficiency of Christ and this heresy has already affected the believers in
the church (2:8–3:4). In essence, Paul’s argument is not to make an
exclusively frontal attack, but to intertwine this attack with a subtle
table-turning technique. That is, he uses the language of the heretics to affirm
his gospel, showing that their view is insufficient, and that Christ is
sufficient. Paul develops three primary points: (1) He restates the sufficiency
of Christ (2:8-15)—in the light of the heretics’ wrong views (2:8),
addressing three issues: (a) as the theanthropic person ("in Christ all the
fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" [2:9]), he has ultimate
authority (2:9-10); (b) the power which raised Christ from the dead is available
to believers (2:11-12); and (c) the death of Christ is not defeat, but triumph—over
our heart (2:13), over the law (2:14), and over "powers and
authorities" (2:15).
He now turns to the influence that the
heretics have had on the Colossians (2:16–3:4). This can be viewed in two ways
(hence, our second and third points). (2) The heretics’ combination of Jewish
legalism and mysticism (2:16-19) is a denial of the sufficiency of Christ, for
such a heretic "has lost connection with the Head" (2:19). (3) Since
believers have died (2:20-23) and risen with Christ (3:1-4), their return to
human regulations (2:20-23) and lack of real appreciation for the true mystery,
Christ himself (3:1-4), are a contradiction of their corporate life in Christ.
In the third and last major section, Paul
addresses paraenetic (A sermon or exhortation) concerns (3:5–4:6). But these
are not to be disconnected with the preceding discussion in any way. Rather,
Paul’s concern now is to show that Christ is sufficient not only for
salvation, but also for sanctification. This third section, in effect, becomes a
preemptive handling of the heretics’ charges concerning the pragmatics of Paul’s
gospel. For although these heretics emphasized the inadequacy of Christ coupled
with the adequacy of knowledge, they also put a premium on living a holy life
(cf. 2:20-23, etc.). This syncretistic Jewish-Greek heresy needed response then
at both levels: philosophically and pragmatically.
Paul outlines three areas in which Christ’s
sufficiency does enable and should motivate believers to grow in grace. Although
Paul packages this entire section with imperatives, beneath the surface is the
fact of Christ’s sufficiency for sanctification (or else the commands would be
irrelevant). (1) His sufficiency enables believers to grow individually—that
is, in relation to the flesh (3:5-17). This is because believers have already
put off the old man (3:5-11; cf. 3:9) and have put on the new man (3:12-17; cf.
3:10). Thus, their battle against sin is rooted in their changed nature—a
direct result of the sufficiency of Christ applied. (2) Christ’s sufficiency
enables believers to act responsibly in the extended home (3:18–4:1). Wives
should submit to their husbands (3:18) and husbands should love their wives
(3:19); children should obey their parents (3:20) and fathers must not embitter
their children (3:21); slaves should obey their masters (3:22-25) and masters
should take care of their slaves properly (4:1). (3) Christ’s sufficiency
enables believers to focus on the needs of others (4:2-6). Thus, they are
required to be devoted to prayer for Paul and his companions—especially that
they might gain opportunity in their evangelistic efforts (4:2-4); and believers
should themselves make the most of their opportunities in sharing their faith
(4:5-6).
The epistle closes with final greetings in
which the letter-bearer, Tychicus, is commended (4:7-9), and Paul’s
co-laborers (4:10-14) and Paul himself (4:15-18) send their greetings.
In John 18:20, Jesus refuted the
"secret doctrine" of Gnosticism, and indeed all "secret
doctrine": "Jesus answered him, ‘I have spoken openly to the world;
I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come
together; and I spoke nothing in secret.’"
All schools and forms of Gnosticism share
one basic belief: They receive secret knowledge through mystical initiation by
experiencing what they believe to be union with deity, by merging with and
dissolving their own identity into spiritual beings, during an altered state of
consciousness which leaves them believing they, themselves are Christ, i.e.,
they are themselves God, and have need of no other saviour, or forgiveness of
sins, for how can God sin?
Jesus also refuted the idea of
"realizing that one is God through meditation or mystical illumination as
He told his disciples shortly before his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension
back to God the Father, whence He came: Matthew 24:24-27: "For there shall
arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold,
I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in
the desert; go not forth: behold, [he is] in the secret chambers; believe [it]
not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the
west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
In 2nd Timothy, the bible calls the belief
that one is a god, or can become one with God "a doctrine of demons,"
and certainly, those spiritual entities with whom they are making contact are
not of God. God does not send a spiritual message that bypasses or contradicts
His written revelation, the Bible, as this message does.
In The Gnostics, by Tobias Churton,
Gnosticism’s roots are traced to Hermes Trismegistus, approximately 600 B.C.,
and is described as "the fount from which Plato had drunk," stating
that the willing initiate into the ancient theology could now enter the world of
Hermes himself. Churton quotes from the ancient writing, Pymander attributed to
Hermes, a legendary author of works embodying magical, astrological, and
alchemical doctrines:
Once upon a time, when I had begun to
think about the things that are, and my thoughts had soared high aloft, ...
methought there came to me a Being of vast and boundless magnitude, who called
me by my name, and said to me, "What do you wish to see and hear, and to
learn and come to know by thought?"
"Who are you?" I said.
"I," said he, "am Poimandres, the sovereign mind (nous).
"I wish to learn," said I, "the things that are, and understand
their nature, and get knowledge (gnonai) of God. These," I said,
"are the things of which I wish to hear."
He answered, "I know what you wish,
for indeed, I am with you everywhere. Keep in mind all that you desire to
learn, and I will teach you."
In this introduction to the Corpus
Hermeticum, which was written about by Augustine in the 4th century A.D., and
spoken of as an ancient writing at that time, being recognized as a source of
knowledge to Socrates and Plato, who lived in the 4th century B.C. Hermes, in
the foregoing quote, acknowledges that what he received and now teaches was
received, or channeled from a spirit being, or demon.
This demonic esoteric Gnostic teaching
completely contradicts the message of God’s word, especially the gospel of
Christ, as God alone is "unique," and outside and apart from His
creation. It is a continuation of Satan’s lies, begun in the garden of Eden,
and those who follow it will find that the result is not "salvation,"
through elitist, esoteric knowledge. When Satan tempted Eve with the fruit of
the forbidden tree of knowledge, he promised her, that as a result of this
acquired knowledge, "You shall be as God."
Within so-called "liberal" or
more accurately pseudo Christianity today, after decades of attacking the word
of God, through Higher Criticism, and Darwin’s "theory of
evolution", elevating man’s knowledge above the wisdom of God, and
denying all orthodox biblical standards of the Faith, as the virgin birth,
resurrection of Christ, and inerrancy of God’s word, and pronouncing them all
as "scientifically" impossible, and unprovable; there is now a
movement afoot to regain spirituality, but not orthodox spirituality, or
biblical spirituality, and not from the Spirit of God.
Today, in many of the mainline churches,
Gnosticism, is being rediscovered and accepted as an alternate, authentic
expression of Christianity, now reemerging from ancient Gnosticism, dating back
to the lst century, which, according to modern practitioners, was misunderstood
and misjudged at that time.
Gnosticism is defined by Webster’s Tenth
Collegiate Dictionary as the thought and practice, of various cults of late
pre-Christian and early Christian centuries, distinguished by the conviction
that matter is evil and that emancipation from evil comes through
"gnosis," Greek for knowledge in the sense of interior certainty or
insight, i.e., mystically received knowledge.
Before Gnosticism pretended to become
Christianized in the first century, it represented a social liberation movement,
promising "freedom to all," freedom from morality, freedom from God,
and from His rules, such as the ten commandments, and from His norms for
society, as represented by the heterosexual family unit.
The Pymander of Hermes was said to have
been the source of inspiration for Zoroaster, Hebrew Cabala, and for Pythagorus
(581-497 B.C.) as well as Plato. Gnostic spirituality combined pagan monistic
Hinduism (the view that all reality is one unitary organic whole with no
independent parts), with another key element, Egyptian goddess magic.
Thunder/Sophia, the Gnostic mother
goddess, and feminine principle of revelation, according to Dr Peter Jones, in Spirit
Wars, declares, "I am the one whose image is great in Egypt." This
is a reference connecting the Gnostic mother goddess to Isis, the Egyptian
mother goddess of wisdom, or magic. Those who were Initiates into her mysteries
and the ecstatic sensuous experiences in her secret temple rites, believed they
were becoming one with deity, and receiving a foretaste of immortality. Saint
Paul called this spiritual deception "fellowship with demons."
For the first two centuries A.D.,
gnosticism flourished in many forms, as a religious movement blending Christian
doctrine with esoteric pagan philosophy. It appeared sometimes as serious
philosophical enquiry, running a gamut that also incorporated debased magic
ritual. According to A Dictionary of Philosophy, from the Macmillan
Press, the appeal of the esoteric and elitist aspects of gnostic teaching
ensured its survival, in one form or another, for example, in the 13th century
French Albigensian heretics.
The defining premise of gnosticism for all
adherents, was the dualistic belief in a sharp distinction between the spiritual
world being "good," and the material world being "evil." In
this, and other features it resembled "Manichaeism," a religion
separate from Christianity, founded by the Persian, Mani, an embodyment of
Buddhist, Zoroastrian, as well as Christian theology. Rather than try to explain
how a supreme and "good" God could create an "evil" material
world, the gnostics attributed the creation of the world to a
"Demiurge," a term derived from the Greek for craftsman, and in Plato’s
Timaeus, the maker of the physical world.
Those who deeply commit themselves to this
new (old) spirituality, will find it contains a power that will bind them with
spiritual chains. Unlike the Holy Spirit, who is a perfect gentleman, and never
enters without being specifically asked, in faith; the alternate spirituality of
Satan will make entrance in any deceptive way possible. Flaunting the laws of
the Creator leaves one vulnerable to slavery to evil spirits.
