INTRODUCTION

Last week, we saw that for Paul the cross delivers us from all powers, human and angelic and demonic, that rule human life. For Paul, one of those powers is the Law, but the cross delivers us from that too.

THE TEXT

“For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ . . . .” (Colossians 2:1-23).

COLOSSIAN HERESY

In chapter 2, it becomes clear that Paul writes to the Colossians to warn them about a dangerous “philosophy” (2:8). But what philosophy? It has an ascetic element (v. 23), but the main thrust of it is not Gnostic but Jewish. He worries that the Colossians will again submit to the “elementary principles” (2:8, 20), which include purity laws about touching and eating unclean things (v. 20; cf. Galatians 4:1-11). He warns them not to judge one another by the Jewish calendar of new moons and Sabbaths ( 2:16 ). He assures them that they have all the Jewishness they could want through Jesus, since in Christian baptism they have been “circumcised” (v. 11-12). As in his other letters, Paul writes to fight off Judaizers.

POWERS STRIPPED

As in chapter 1, Paul mentions that the cross delivers us from transgressions (v. 13; cf. 1:14 ), but, also as in chapter 1, he also says that the cross has wider effects. Through the cross, Jesus has stripped the rulers and authorities and made a public display of them. Paul has two things in mind. First, it appeared that Jesus was being stripped on the cross, crucified naked and exposed. What was actually happening, though, was that Jesus exposing the powers; the cross reveals the cruel lust for power that motivates the “rulers and authorities.” Second, Jesus has conquered the powers, and leads them in a triumphal procession, displaying them as the trophies of his conquest, the plunder of Egypt .

LAW ON THE CROSS

But Paul’s focus in chapter 2 is more particularly on the cross’s relation to the law. He describes the Torah as a “written code” full of “decrees against us” (v. 14). Because of Israel ’s sin, the Torah effectively became an account book of sin; instead of providing a means of access to Yahweh, it was a barrier between Him and His people and therefore also a barrier between Yahweh and the Gentiles. Through the cross, God did away with this barrier; it was nailed to the cross just as surely as Jesus was. Thus, through the cross, we have died to the “elementary principles” of the world (v. 20).

DEAD AND RISEN

The cross is the circumcision of Christ, the removal of the flesh of the Seed of Abraham (v. 11). For Paul, that means that we are also dead to the flesh. We put to death all immorality and impurity (3:1-5) not by fleshly self-denial and self-flagellation, but by union in faith and baptism with the circumcision of Jesus.