If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world...

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.

At the end of today’s text it 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? 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.    We need to be careful to understand what this says and what it does not say. It is not that the decrees or the commandments of God are of no value. It speaks of the decrees, commandments and teachings of men. Certainly to the extent that the decrees are aligned with God’s commandments they have tremendous value. What it says is that they are of no value against fleshly indulgence. God’s commandments are good, but they cannot or do not keep us from sin. Romans 3:20 says:  By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.   Romans 7:7 says:   What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET."     If you drive on a highway, you are probably aware that having a law does not keep people from violating it. People routinely exceed the legal speed limit. The signs that are posted do not enforce the law. They merely make people aware of the law. Each individual still must choose what to do with the knowledge of the law.   

The text says:  If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world… 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. 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, 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.   The elementary principles of the world which we die to are not God’s commandments but man’s. They are not God’s principles but rather the principles and philosophies of man. James 4:4 says:  You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  1 John 2:15-17 says:  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.   The elementary principles of the world are the very natural and base desires of our flesh. These are what we are to die to; not the commandments of God.

The commandments of God could not and cannot save us. Still they are good and valid. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says:   “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   The commandments of God make us and others aware of our sin. Without the awareness of sin we would not know of our need for a savior and for redemption. Having died with Christ, He made us alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.    That is how our righteousness exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees. It is not through adherence to the decrees and commandments of men, but rather that we are forgiven by the cross of Christ.

The text says:   Why, as if you were living in the world…  Being alive with Christ, our new nature is to be one with the kingdom of heaven not the world. In Psalm 37:4-6, the psalmist says: Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light.  That should be our life in Christ, committed to and trusting in the Lord walking in His righteousness and light.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your commandments which are good. Thank You Lord Jesus, that having been made aware of sin through the law, You paid the price I could not pay. You redeemed me, forgiving my sin through the cross. Thank You Holy Spirit, not only formaking me aware of and convicting me of my sin but also for empowering me to live and walk in the righteousness of Christ, dead to the world and alive in the kingdom of heaven.   Amen.