Holding fast to the head...

Colossians 2:8-23 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. ⁹ For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; ¹¹ and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; ¹² having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ¹³ When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, ¹⁴ having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

¹⁶ Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— ¹⁷ things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

²⁰ If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ²¹ “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” ²² (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? ²³ These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

In today’s text Paul speaks of the difference between the salvation believers have through Christ and adherence to the traditions and regulations of religion. He says:   If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”  (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?         We need to be careful not to take what Paul says here out of context as permission or as an exhortation to do whatever we want. Paul is not suggesting that believers should participate in sinful or unrighteous behavior. In the text Paul says:    Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,  and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.       The phrase “and not holding fast to the head” is a key to what Paul says. It is not that the things Paul speaks of are bad. What is bad is doing religious things without holding fast to Christ. Just as our freedom in Christ is not permission to sin, neither is religion equal to righteousness.  

Look at the examples Paul gives of religious activity: “Delighting in self-abasement.” As believers we are to deny ourselves, we are to take up our cross, (Matthew 16:24) we are to crucify our flesh (Galatians 5:24) It is good to fast, giving up some things for a time. We should not though delight in these religious activities. We should delight in the Lord. All of the denying, all of the taking up of our cross, crucifying our flesh is to brings us closer to Christ. We are to remove things that distract us and separate us from Him. The purpose of the fast, is not what we give up, it is what we gain, more time and more focus on God.

Paul also speaks of angels. If we believe God’s Word, then we must believe that angels exist. They are powerful spiritual beings. They are messengers of God. They are warriors for God and they are worshipers of God. Angels do interact with people, here in this physical realm. We should respect and revere them but we should not worship them. Two times in Revelation, 19:10 and 22:9, John falls at the feet of the angel of God to worship him. In 19:22 it says:  Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”   Similarly in 22:9:    “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”     Angels are real, they are servants of God. Some people seem to have an ability to see them here in this realm. They will report seeing them in times of worship and in times of prayer and intercession. It is not wrong to acknowledge them, to revere and respect them, but we should not worship them. Angels should not be the focus of our worship, God the Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, the triune God alone should be who we worship. The angels themselves will tell us that.  

Paul also says:   “taking his stand on visions he has seen”  Visions too, are a good thing when they are given by God through the Holy Spirit. God gives visions to enable us to see what He is doing or what He intends to do. Visions can be a direct view of something as it is or as it will be here on earth. Often visions are images or pictures which God gives to show or encourage us, or someone else, in something. These may be common things which have a deeper spiritual meaning, to ourselves or others. They may be deeply spiritual things which are hard to understand or describe, much like the prophetic visions of Daniel and Revelation. Prophecy and words of knowledge are similar in that sometimes they are very simple and direct and other times more complex and harder to discern. Amos 3:7 says:   Surely the Lord God does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets.     In 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 Paul says:    For we know in part and we prophesy in part;  but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.  When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.      God does reveal His will and what He is doing and intends to do to and through prophets, prophecy and visions. He doesn’t always give us the fullness of the revelation though. Jesus, speaking of His future return says:   "But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”    God reveals what we need, the rest we do in faith.  Remember what the angel said to John:  “worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”  Any vision we see, any prophetic word should point toward Jesus. It should lead us to hold fast to the head, Jesus Christ.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.  For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,  and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, the head of all things; and precious Holy Spirit, for all that You have done and all that You have given and give. Thank You for Your Word, for angels and for visions in and through it all I worship You.    Amen