Firmness in Faith. Part 2
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When you think of something firm, what do you think of?
Last week we began to look at the opening verses of chapter 2 of Colossians.
We were reminded that Paul’s struggle, his striving and his difficulties were not only for the people he had met but even for those who had never met him.
One purpose for Paul’s drive and his struggle was that believers hearts might be encouraged and knit together in love.
We looked at what this knitting together looks like last week - it has the idea of being instructed in love.
The knitting brings about life change.
It points us to the what Jesus tells the Pharisees in
English Standard Version Chapter 22
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
This life change and knitting together in love causes us to check our own motives
- We no longer lie, but tell the truth. 4:25
• We no longer hold angry grudges. 4:26
• We no longer allow Satan to control us. 4:27
• We no longer steal, but work hard and desire to be givers. 4:28
• We speak in a way that ministers grace to others. 4:29
• Our heart attitudes manifest grace. 4:31-32
All of that is well and good but it doesn’t stop at the individual level.
Jumping back to Colossians
Remember our context, this is written to the those as in plural people.
This all happens in the context of community.
Continuing forward in our text, I briefly mentioned last week how sometimes punctuation, verse numbers, and chapter are normally a good thing and help us to have a better understanding of the text but sometimes they can cause us to not fully grasp what the author wants to get across.
I think that is the case here in verse 2 of Colossians depending upon the version you are reading.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding
In our section here, how the ESV and NIV translate for us, it makes the verse kind of choppy and when I read the verse it almost appears to have two separate ideas.
That is not the purpose of the text though when you look at it in Greek.
Paul is not telling separate ideas but rather continuing and compounding things.
I think the NASB gets closer to the point here of
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 2
that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding
Paul is not giving two separate ideas here.
Paul is not saying being knit together in love but also being knit together in order to reach the full assurance of understanding.
Rather Paul is saying that believers are being instructed or knit together in love and also being instructed or knit together and instructed in to the the full assurance of understanding.
One thing compounded on the other, each revealing the other in the community of believers.
The verb applies to both things that are happening together in the believers life when the Holy Spirit is at work in them.
Last week we looked at what it means for our hearts to be encouraged in their knitting together or instructing in love, that seems to make sense.
When we love one another we are following Jesus commands and sharing His truth and His love.
But what about being knit together in the riches of the full assurance of understanding.
The phrase literally reads into all the wealth of the full assurance of the understanding.
What does this mean in our context? What is this knitting together, this instruction that leads a body of believers to full assurance of understanding?
This passage is talking about large groups of people, those at Colosse, Laodicea, and others who have not met Paul.
So while the process of being knit together is an individual one, it is clearly for the purpose of the body.
Knitting the church together into a united body includes the growth of love but also includes the growth of the body in the proper understanding of God.
To help us understand this a bit we can look back to earlier in Colossians.
Paul is echoing what he wrote earlier
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
This is the growth of the individuals in the knowledge of God.
But he is now expanding that to the whole body. It takes the body for this to happen at its best.
So what are the riches of the full assurance of understanding?
So what are the riches of the full assurance of understanding and what
If you noticed the parallel from verse 10, which is also seen in verse 27 in that God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you.
It ends with
Paul is using his words to hammer home the truth that Jesus, and only Jesus, is the source of every bit of spiritual knowledge worth having.
All of this knitting and instructing is for a purpose, there is a goal in mind.
Most people when knitting, don’t simply begin and see what comes out at the end.
There is a pattern, there is a purpose.
For Paul, the pattern and the purpose was a mystery for a large part of his life.
He knew he served the Lord and did the best he could, but something was missing.
Paul defines the mystery for us in the end of verse 2, Which is Christ.
The purpose for all of this knitting, this instructing, is for the purpose of Christ in you as we were told in verse 27.
Jesus is the mystery.
So there we have it, the riches of the full assurance of understanding is Jesus - now what?
What do we do with this?
Why do we need this?
We need this because of the sickness in our own hearts.
10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Ro. 3:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
3 They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
We need this because without being guided into the likeness of Christ, we are as slaves to sin.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ro. 6:20-
Our firmness in faith is grown as a body of believers when we are instructed, when we are knit together in love and understanding.
Our firmness in faith is grown as a body of believers when we are instructed, when we are knit together in love and understanding.
Moving into the mystery.
Moving into the mystery.
The New American Commentary: Philippians, Colossians, Philemon The Purpose of Paul’s Concerns (2:2–3)
The ultimate goal, for Paul, was to “know the mystery of God, namely Christ” in the fellowship of the church.
Mystery -
Living in a
Mystery
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. μυστήριον
the unmanifested or private counsel of God, (God’s) secret, the secret thoughts, plans, and dispensations of God
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. μυστήριον
which are hidden fr. human reason, as well as fr. all other comprehension below the divine level, and await either fulfillment or revelation to those for whom they are intended
The mystery here is described to us as Jesus.
We are moving into the likeness of Christ.
Jesus is the riches of the fullness of understanding.
If we refer back to verse 28 as well and this mystery being Christ in you -
Do we view him in this way?
16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.
Here the mystery is being godly,
Do we view him in this way?
Do we view Jesus as our treasure?
Do we understand Jesus to be our treasure?
Verse 3
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
What do we tend to do when we have something that we treasure?
Often our first thing we want to do is to take it and hide it for ourselves.
What did Jesus teach for us to do with our treasure though?
41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Mk. 12:41-44
The widow gave all that she had. She gave her treasure to serve the Lord.
Her true treasure was The Lord and she showed that with her actions.
The widow was firm in her faith without the knowledge of God’s mystery.
How much more firm should we be in our faith because we do have the knowledge of God’s mystery!
Is this
Christ, the treasure of wisdom and knowledge. V.3
Christ, the treasure of wisdom and knowledge. V.3
Verse 3 here really helps to reveal one of the central points of this letter.
It doesn’t match the eloquence of the hymn we saw in verses 15-20 of chapter 1 but it shows us the central christological point that Paul is getting at.
Jesus is the one in whom is to be found all that a person needs in order to understand spiritual reality and to lead to a life that is pleasing to God.
Jesus is
Jesus is the mystery to be found and in finding Him we find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Hidden and treasure go together naturally.
Who has ever been on some sort of scavenger or treasure hunt?
When something is hidden, it is secure, it is protected.
Paul’s point though in this passage is that though wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, they are now freely available.
They are hidden like treasure but anyone who comes to know Jesus by faith can now draw from the wisdom and knowledge within him.
One thing that I haven’t mentioned yet is the importance of the Jewish view of wisdom.
Play Bible Project video.
So the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, which are hidden in Christ, weave there way in and out of every part of life.
Think back of being knit together in love and knit together in the full assurance of understanding and knowledge of Christ.
This how the life change comes about in a believers life.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: Colossians and Philemon C. The Mystery of Christ in Paul’s Ministry and Christian Experience (1:24–2:5)
The combination of “hidden” and “treasure” is a natural one, then and now, since hiding the treasure was often the means of securing and protecting it. And the use of “hidden” in this verse does not have an implicit contrast with “revealed,” since Paul’s point, of course, is that wisdom and knowledge are now freely available in Christ. They are “hidden” in Christ in the sense that they are “treasures” that have been deposited in him and are now stored up in him. Anyone who comes to know Christ by faith can draw from his store all the wisdom and knowledge that exists.
This is the Holy Spirit alive and active working in a believers life.
We will get there in chapter three of this book where Paul speaks of putting on the new self.
It makes me think of as well.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
When we seek Jesus for His wisdom and knowledge that he freely gives, we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
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How do I seek Jesus you ask?
Part of it you are doing right now, you are gathered with fellow believers.
Part of it comes from spending time in prayer.
Part of it comes from spending time in His word.
We have firmness in our faith because Christ has been revealed to us and He freely gives wisdom and knowledge unto salvation.