Paul is my hero. He was brought up Jewish, and was so steeped in the Jewish tradition that he was a member of the Sanhedrin. Yet when God called him, he became an evangelist to the Gentiles. He was able to articulate the gospel logically to the Greeks, who studied logic, while at the same time making his letters personal.
Paul talks a lot in his letters about "the mystery of Christ". This piques my interest, because I love a good mystery. It piqued the ancient Greeks' interest, because they were all into mysticism. The letter to the Colossians answers a major heresy of the time, called Gnosticism. The name comes from the Greek word for "knowledge". Gnostics believed that the spirit is entirely good, and that matter is entirely evil. God is spirit, so He is good. Man is matter, insofar as we have a physical body; so Man is bad. They taught that Salvation was an escape from the physical body; and the only way we can escape the physical realm is through knowledge. Whoever said "I think, therefore I am," was speaking Spiritually, not physically--a rock exists, but cannot possibly conceive a thought.
This teaching denied the humanity of Christ: if all physical matter is evil, then Christ could not have come in human form. Some followers thought that since the body was evil, it was to be treated harshly. Others thought that since the physical realm was so far removed from the spiritual realm, it didn't matter what you did with your body--you could get away with all kinds of physical sin (sexual, gluttonous, drunkenness) because morals only covered the spirit (what you knew, learned, or spoke). This is the origin of the phrase "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die."
To the people at Colossae, Paul wrote "My purpose is that they (the Christians in Laodicea and others) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2.2-3) Paul genuinely loved these people, and he did not want them to be confused. "I tell you this," he said in verse 4, "so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments."
See, Paul knew there would be people out there who sounded good, who had a big following. Like today, there were false teachers in places of great influence. Educated people. Smooth talkers. Expensive suits. Fine jewelry. These people were all sizzle and no steak. But Paul set out to speak truth to these lies.
Verse 9 says, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every (spiritual) power and authority." In other words, Jesus was both a flesh-and-blood human, AND a fully spiritual God. There was never any separation of the two; not until the crucifixion. And even after the resurrection, Jesus was both God and Man--remember when he appeared to the disciples, who were in hiding after the crucifixion? What did he tell Thomas? "Here, put your finger into the nail-prints in my hands, and thrust your hand into this gaping hole in my side, so that you may believe." If His body were purely spiritual, there was no way Thomas could touch Him. And by accepting Jesus as our personal Savior, we have the Son of God living within us. That means we are fully physical and fully spiritual, as well. Physically, our bodies may decay; but spiritually, we can drive out demons through the power of Christ within us.
Take that, you Gnostics! And there's more. The last part of verse 13, and going on to verse 14, says, "He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross." Many preachers use this as proof that Christ triumphed over the Hebrew Law. But Paul was talking to Gentile Christians, who were battling the know-it-all Gnostics. These people tried to use knowledge to gain power and authority over their followers. But Paul said in verse 15, "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." 2Corinthians 2.14 says, "Thanks be to God, who in Christ always lead us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere."
Read verses 18 and 19. Who does this sound like to you? "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow."
A couple of explanations: First, some Gnostic teachers believed that God was so far above humans that He could only be worshipped in the form of angels (spiritual beings) He had created. Today, that would be like the Catholic teaching that if you don't feel like God would listen to you, then you can pray to the Saints, who will in turn go to God for you. But why would we pray to the Saints if God's only Son lives in us and gives us direct access to Him? Second, there are always those who believe that the True Believers, the only ones who will eventually see God, are so limited in number that the rest of us are just going through the motions. Like those who interpret Revelation to say that only 144,000 Jews will be in heaven. But Paul says it is God who causes the Body of Christ to grow as He sees fit--not limited by our human thoughts or traditions.
Today, there are four main religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism), and two main heresies. The heresies are that either: 1) all religion is a myth; there is no God, and any mention of the True God is like the ancient belief in Zeus--it makes a great story, but there is no real spiritual power at all. God has no more say in our lives than the sub-planet Pluto. Or, 2) that all religions are paths to real Truth, and the Muslim God and the Judeo-Christian God are the same, and the Hindu belief that God indwells all things means that everyone can reach God in their own way. Each religion should be tolerated, because any one is not any more True than any other; and any truly Spiritual person would take lessons from all the major religions, because God is that big.
Let me tell you something, Oprah: you can't glean truth from many religions. Allah is NOT the same as God. The state of nirvana is NOT the same as heaven. The four religions are mutually exclusive, and any serious student of comparative religion knows this. The Koran says "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet." But Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me." Hindus believe that the true end of man is to achieve one-ness with God, and if you are good, then you will be reincarnated into a higher life form, until eventually you are one with God; but if you are bad, you might be reincarnated into a lower life form, like a cow or a bug. They don't kill cows (for meat or any other purpose) because the cow is a fellow-traveller in this world, just trying to reach a higher life-form. How can this possibly be reconciled with the Jewish faith, which has as its foundation the sacrifice of living animals for the reconciliation of man?
You can try the rest, but Jesus is the best. People may seek enlightenment from the Dalai Lama, but man was created for fellowship with God--if there is no God that you can talk to and eventually see face to face, man is no better than animals. The fastest growing religion in the world right now is Islam, which means "Peace". But their prophet is dead; the Muslims pray nine times a day facing the holy city where Mohammad is buried. My Jesus lives: He conquered death and the grave, because He is greater and stronger than any spiritual powers and authorities on Earth. And how peaceful can a religion be that teaches Jihad against the Infidels? Christ loved us and died for us while we were still sinners. And God bless the Jews, they just missed the boat--they are still looking for the Messiah, when Jesus fulfilled all the ancient prophecies.
When you become a Christian, you don't have to check your brain at the door.
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