Christ’s Great Deliverance
Colossians 2:14–23
With the prospect of the Revolutionary War looming, American Founding Father Patrick Henry famously stated, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
In like manner, the apostle Paul dealt with a liberty-or-death issue facing the Colossians concerning the Law. For example, Judaizers taught that hopeful converts needed to keep certain Jewish laws before they could inherit salvation. This doctrine threatened to strip Christians of their freedom in Christ and put them in the death grip of legalism. In Colossians 2:14–23, Paul armed believers with the biblical defense they needed to stand against legalistic bondage and embrace the liberty of Christ.
Freedom in Christ
Christ’s work on the cross has freed believers from the burden of the Law. Paul wrote of Jesus, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (vv. 14–15).
The phrase taken it out of the way means that Christ has forever removed the debt, burden, and guilt imposed by the Mosaic Law. The apostle proved his point in three ways:
1. Christ “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us” (v. 14). The Law of Moses was a handwritten document of ordinances the Jewish people were required to observe (Ex. 19:8). But as sinful human beings, all of them failed to keep the Law entirely and stood guilty before God. Thus, all are condemned by the Law, having an unpayable debt before God. But Christ Himself paid the debt through His death and resurrection.
2. God has declared every human being guilty of sin. Jesus was not guilty but willingly died as humanity’s substitute, paying the price for sin. As a result, the sins of all who receive Jesus are blotted out.
3. Jesus’ crucifixion stripped the “principalities and powers” (Satan and his evil angels, Col. 2:15) of their authority and weapons. Therefore, Christ, the Captain of salvation, defeated Satan’s angels and delivered us from his rule (cf. Heb. 2:10–15).
Freedom from Legalism
Paul wrote, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance [body] is of Christ” (Col. 2:16–17).
Paul exhorted the Colossian believers not to allow the Judaizers, Gnostics, or anyone else to judge them concerning the Law, their food, or whether they abstained from eating or drinking altogether.
Because Christ delivered us from the Mosaic Law, we must not let anyone judge us concerning religious regulations and rituals pertaining to food, drink, and festival observances. The Judaizers and Gnostics harassed the Colossian Christians concerning such things.
The Old Testament laws were only a “shadow” (sketch, outline, image; v. 17) of the New Testament realities that were to come in Christ. The new Age of Grace to be revealed in Christ was not an extension of Judaism, which was only a shadow. The real substance (body) is found in Christ (Heb. 8:5; 10:1). Thus, the shadows are no longer needed.
In other words, a believer’s spiritual life is based on Christ, not man. Therefore, if you believe in Christ, do not let manmade rules determine what rules you practice because your freedom is found in Christ (cf. Rom. 10:4; Gal. 5:1). This concept of freedom in relation to food, drink, and festivals appears in Jesus’ teaching (Mk. 7:15–23), God’s vision to Peter at Joppa (Acts 10:9–16), and Paul’s doctrine (Rom. 14:17; Gal. 4:9–11).
Freedom from Mysticism
Paul continued,
Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God (Col. 2:18–19).
The apostle warned the Colossian believers of ungodly teachers cheating them out of their reward. His example pictures an athletic contest in which a referee penalizes a contestant for an infraction, disqualifying the athlete. Here, a believer turns from faithfully following Christ and loses the blessing of his or her reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10–15). Satan continually distracts believers from worshiping Christ and depending on His Word for direction.
Gnostics believed Christians were unworthy and unable to approach God directly and asserted that a host of angels must mediate for them. Thus, Paul accused false teachers of setting aside Christ as the Head of the church (Col. 2:19), neglecting that He is all-sufficient for salvation, knowledge, and wisdom.
Freedom from Asceticism
Paul then turned his attention to being free from ascetic principles and practices. Asceticism teaches that a person can attain a high spiritual and moral state by practicing rigorous self-denial, abstinence from material and worldly pleasures, and a devotion to moral or religious purpose. The apostle taught,
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh (vv. 20–23).
Ascetic regulations ignore what Christ accomplished on the cross. The preposition if (v. 20) is better translated “since” and assumes that the believer, being in Christ (a change made effective at the individual’s conversion), is dead to the basic principles of the world (cf. Rom. 6:1–14). Thus, believers are free from keeping manmade ordinances, especially those put forth by Gnostics and Judaizers.
Ascetic prohibitions are a system of negative commands: “‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men” (Col. 2:21–22). The Gnostics were notoriously guilty of developing manmade practices of dualism to free the spirit of man from the prison of the body. They considered the body evil, an idea that some Christians and churches adopted.
The apostle Peter also refuted asceticism at the council meeting in Jerusalem, saying, “Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples [Gentile converts] which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” (Acts 15:10). Growing spiritually results from being led by the Holy Spirit in close union with Christ, not by keeping manmade commands or laws, as the Pharisees, Judaizers, and Gnostics demanded.
Ascetic prohibitions are futile, vain, and pointless; they produce no fruit in a Christian’s life. They forbid things that perish with the using (Col. 2:22) and have no lasting spiritual value. The phrase according to the commandments and doctrines of men (v. 22) refers to regulations developed and imposed by men based on their authority, rather than on God’s.
From the outside, asceticism appears as devotion to God, humility, and victory over the appetites of the flesh, as it entails neglecting the body or bringing it under control. A person practicing asceticism may appear to have conquered the flesh, but the success is only superficial.
Paul said, “These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion” (v. 23). But the rules and ordinances of asceticism cannot control the flesh. The only remedy is the cross of Jesus Christ. Genuine spirituality comes when believers realize they have been crucified with Him (Gal. 2:20; 5:24) and commit themselves to Him through the Holy Spirit’s leading.
In his hymn “Once for All,” Philip P. Bliss summed up Christ’s great deliverance from legalism, mysticism, and asceticism:
Free from the law, oh, happy condition!
Jesus has bled, and there is remission;
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace has redeemed us once for all.
