Colossians – False Teachers

The church at Colossea had been contaminated. The deceptions they found in their congregation took the form of a popular philosophy that had filtered into their church, turning them away from the truth. A type of Gnosticism—a religion that claimed spiritual superiority over others—began to taint what they had been taught. The material world is evil, they claimed. And since God is spiritual, He can’t have anything to do with our physical world, they concluded. Their deviation from the truth led to a myriad of false conclusions, such as: Jesus can’t be God if He came into the physical world as a person; though our bodies are evil, our minds are good. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what we do with our bodies because it is all corrupt anyway. God accepts the mind, though, without the intervention of any savior.

So Paul wrote the Colossian church a letter explaining how to dispose of the contamination. First, he taught them how to identify it through remembering the truth about Christ. He is God and did, in fact, enter the physical world He made and lived, died, and rose again in the most authentic, tangible way possible. Since God made the world and said it was good, He has not abandoned His work. God redeems both body and soul through the saving work of His Holy Spirit. As we surrender our lives to Christ and receive His Spirit within us, we are empowered to put sin to death—in our actions and thoughts—and to live pure lives that are pleasing to God.

To that end, Paul reminded the Colossians and all who read his letter of exactly what obedience to God looked like in our day-to-day living. Christianity is not merely theoretical. It is a living relationship with our Lord that affects every single detail of our daily lives and interactions with God and others.

Why did Paul write to the Christians in Colossae?

Was there false teaching in Colossae? Read Colossians 2:1-4.

What should we do in everything we do? Read Colossians 3:17.

Do you put Jesus first in your life?

What do you do when you mess up in your walk with Jesus?