PT-2 "Intro to Colossians 2:8-10"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/6/2017 10:26 PM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  PT-2 Intro to Colossians 2:8-10

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 2:8-10

            Message of the verses:  “8 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;”

            We continue looking at philosophy in our second SD on this introduction to these verses, remembering that the chapter title that John MacArthur chose for this section is “Philosophy or Christ?”

            I suppose that the major problem with the majority of philosophers is that they try to do their work without looking to God for any answers.  You cannot begin away from God and try to find answers to your question when God’s truth is seen in the Word of God.  John MacArthur quotes Francis Schaefer as he emphasized that man cannot begin with himself and arrive at ultimate reality.”  Paul also agreed with this as we look at 1 Corinthian 2:9 “But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him’ (NKJV).”

            MacArthur also quotes a man named Os Guinness who comments on the futility of modern man’s search for truth apart from God:

“Contemporary man, with his self-drawn picture of society as the ‘closed room’ with No Exit, is caught metaphysically and sociologically.  In the darkness of the room evidently without windows, perhaps without doors, he gropes round and round the edges.  Can one hope that someone will dare to wonder whether there is any light other than the feeble sparks of his own making?  Or will he stubbornly persist in treading the barren circle of poor premises?”  

            Needless to say that if we looked at the history of different philosophers we will find that the majority of them are atheists, walking around in that dark room with no windows or doors tripping over themselves looking for truth that can only be found in the Word of God. 

            As we look at the Colossian church we realize that they too had their philosophers and that is why Paul is writing what he is writing in these verses comparing their message with the message of Jesus Christ stating that their message is “the elementary principles of the world.”  This church was in the same danger of being infiltrated by false teachings.  And this fight has gone on throughout the history of the church age as man has always had a need to worship even if they had to make up their own gods to worship.  Paul had a great concern over all of the early churches that he dealt with, even more concern that the persecutions that he had gone through for after he gave the Corinthians a very long list of times he had been persecuted he writes the following “28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28).”  As I took a second look at this passage I found it was more in the middle of the list of persecutions that he had gone through, but when you think of it, it is a wonder that he mentions this at all in this type of his writings, but then this is who Paul was.

            In our final SD on this introduction we will look more at the problems that the Colossian church had.

3/6/2017 10:52 PM