Sunday PM Sermon, PRBC, Colossians 1

The Church’s Ongoing Warfare Against Syncretism

As we look through the Word of God, we see that God's people have always been in a struggle. They have always been in warfare. In the evening services, we have been reading through the Old Testament for many, many years now.

And if you think back to what we have read, we have read about the various idolatries of Israel. We have read about the religions around the people of Israel that were constantly trying to draw the Israelites away.

We hear the judges, we hear as far back as Moses. We hear the prophets all constantly reminding the people of the great danger that exists from the false religions around them. And yes, there were times in the historical works amongst the prophets When the worship of the one true God, Yahweh, would be completely abandoned by some Pure, open apostasy.

But that wasn't the normal result of the warfare that existed between the people of God and their neighbors around them. The greatest danger was normally a form of syncretism. A form of compromise. Where the people of God would still come to the temple.

They would still profess allegiance to Yahweh. They would still bring their sacrifices. But then on other days, at other seasons. They would be found on what are called the high places, the groves. Which you see referred to many times in the historical record of the Old Testament.

And they are engaging in worship of other gods. And for us, well how can you worship that God and this God? We need to recognize the context back then. That was normal. In those days, people believed in lesser deities that had authority over particular realms.

Whether it was agricultural or the weather or warfare and things like that. And so the idea was, well you can worship Yahweh. But what is wrong with also worshiping Dagon or Bel or the Baals or whatever else it might be?

What could possibly be wrong with that?

Everybody does that.

And besides, you Israelites, don't you realize how offensive you are to your neighbors? You say that your God is the only God.

We don't say that.

We don't deny that Yahweh exists. Aren't we much more loving?

Aren't we much more open than you are?

There was great pressure put upon the people of God. Now you would think that once we come in the New Testament, things would be different. But no, they are not. The danger of syncretism. The danger of compromising the worship of the one true God With other kinds of worship.

The alteration of His worship so as to change its nature And to begin to give glory to something in the creation Continues apace And has always been something the people of God have had to struggle against.

Paul’s Warning to Colossae About Gnosticism

Now when Paul writes to the church of Colossae He is writing to a church that he himself did not found. Evidently, in the wisdom of God. The apostle had gone to Ephesus. He had put a great deal of time into founding a solid church.

He had trained the elders in that church Spent three years there in that place. And the reason is fairly obvious to see Ephesus was a major, major city in Asia Minor. And up the Lycus river valley were many other cities.

But anyone going up there via the river would come through Ephesus. And so just as he wanted to go to Rome Knowing that he had planted a church in Rome. And that message had been spread out from there.

He does the same thing in Ephesus. And so Colossae, the church there seemingly Is a second generation church. It has been founded by the converts there from Ephesus. And so the apostle writes to them.

And he is concerned about a religious movement coming into the city. Most modern scholars today recognize That this religious movement that was just now coming out of the east. It was moving west. That is coming into the church at Colossae Is an early form of what is known so well today as Gnosticism.

Gnosticism, one of the greatest enemies of the early church. Gnosticism, that religious movement That sought to literally destroy the Christian faith. Not by denying that Jesus ever existed. Not by denying that you could believe in Jesus.

But through syncretism. Through compromising the key elements of the Christian proclamation And folding them in amongst all these other religious concepts. Hence ultimately altering them and changing them.

Gnosticism was the great enemy of the early church. And so it should not be surprising to us today At what we might call the resurrection of Gnosticism. For in the last century Documents were discovered that had been known only In certain translations and very late manuscripts.

But new documents were discovered in Nag Hammadi And other places that have reminded us Of exactly what it was the Gnostics were teaching In the second and third centuries. And so today when so many people seek to not believe Gnosticism has become the new popular movement.

And within academia it is the Gnostic writings.

Even though you can read all of them in a very short period of time There certainly isn't anything consistent about them. There's nothing overly compelling about them. But they are touted as the great evidence That the New Testament and Orthodox Christianity Was but one small little movement amongst many And no one really knows what was originally taught.

And so on and so forth. This is what you hear in academia today. And yet it is very clear that the writers of the New Testament Did know about at least an early form of Gnosticism. The Apostle John was very concerned about those Who would deny the reality of the Incarnation.

And so in verse John he talks about What our hands have touched and felt And we've seen with our eyes the Word became flesh. Remember we've discussed that before. But likewise the Apostle Paul has received word About this strange kind of worship.

And it doesn't look like it has yet truly entered in the Church. But he is very concerned. Because there are people who are in essence Seeking to bring about this syncretism. And as we read Colossians We hear about worshipping of angels And elementary spirits And some kind of a demotion of Jesus.

And when we go back and we look at the actual words That the later Gnostics would use To describe their beliefs. Remember the Apostle Paul Already knew about these words. They were already being used.

And he uses them against.

These false teachers in Colossians We have been doing a series Demonstrating the Deity of Christ From the pages of the Bible. And we have primarily read the Gospel of John. But now we step out of John And we see Paul's testimony To the Deity of Christ.

And here in the first chapter of Colossians We start seeing Paul developing an apologetic A defense for the real Jesus.

Over against the Jesus of a religion.

That wants to make room for him Wants to acknowledge him in some way But refuses to allow Jesus To be who the Christian faith says he is. And so there is much modern application To this situation. There is much that we can learn From this situation.

Because despite the fact that it is Gnosticism itself That has become so popular again today That you can go on to Amazon .com And you can buy a half dozen books. A dozen books published over the past couple of years By people promoting Gnosticism The ancient religion that has been The enemy of the Christian faith.

All along.

You find people using this kind of information.

All the time.

But even beyond that The whole idea That Jesus can be Formed into some new shape That Jesus can be edited To become most comfortable for individuals Is addressed by how Paul responds To the Gnostic heresy there in Colossians.

You see today if you want to order something You can go online. And you can get it exactly the way you want. You can get the color you want The shape you want.

And everything else.

And it seems we take our consumer mentality. And we transfer it into the realm.

Of religion.

And why not?

I mean if you don't have any real transcendent truth. That has been true for each generation. Why not edit it for yourself? Why not make it something that fits you real nicely?

Well.

As popular as that might be. That is not the teaching.

Of the scriptures.

Christ Is Not an Add-On Religion

And so the Apostle Paul begins to write To the church in Colossians. This evening we'll only have time To begin looking at Just a few verses in chapter 1. Beginning around verse 12 He starts with commending The Colossians for their faith Praying that they be filled With the true knowledge of His will And all wisdom and spiritual understanding That they would walk worthy of the Lord And everything that is pleasing to Him.

But then he begins to move into His primary message to the Colossians And that is That Jesus can never be made Merely a secondary aspect Of one's religious belief.

He cannot be an add-on.

It seems That what was going on. Is that if we look back. And we have to be somewhat careful. We can look at the fully blown Gnostic heresy of the 2nd century. And sort of read that all back into the 1st.

And there certainly would be elements of it.

But we need to be careful.

We need to be as accurate as we can be. But it seems that what's going on here.

Is that these individuals.

Coming out of the East They have one central belief. And that is They are dualists.

That is, they believe that.

That which is spiritual is good And that which is physical is evil. And if you believe that Then there are certain questions That you have to try to answer. And one of the main questions is Well, if that which is spiritual is good And God is spiritual Then how did the creation come into existence?

If the creation is evil How could a good spiritual God Create an evil physical creation? And the various Gnostic groups Might come up with slightly different answers. But the primary answer And what seems to be developing In and around Colossae.

Is this idea that.

You have the one true spiritual God But then you have emanations Coming down from him. And each emanation is just a little less Than the fully spiritual God. And you've got a whole ladder A whole chain Of these intermediate beings.

And they refer to this This whole chain of intermediate beings As the pleroma The fullness. And each one of these beings Is called an aeon. So you have individual aeons And sometimes they attach names.

That way if Gnosticism Ran into a very polytheistic world.

Polytheistic religion.

You'd go, well come on along. We'll call some of our aeons By the names of your gods. So come on along and worship with us. It was a very flexible religion.

Gnosticism wasn't saying.

That it had some revelation from God.

That was unchanging.

It would just sort of morph Into what would be most acceptable In a particular area. And so you have this pleroma This fullness made up of aeons And then finally you get to This one god down here A demiurge Who's still very powerful But he's far enough removed From the one true god That he can create the physical universe.

In the second century Once the Gnostics really Now had time to examine The Old Testament scriptures And the New Testament scriptures.

Many of these individuals.

Who would call themselves Christians By the way.

Came to the conclusion.

Was that evil demiurge. And so the most famous.

Of the Gnostics.

Was a man named Martium And Martium came up With his own canon.

He took the ancient equivalent.

Of an exacto knife To the New Testament. He started cutting out Everything that had to do.

With the Jews.

Because the Jews were the followers Of that evil demiurge And so he hacked up The New Testament And immediately the Orthodox Christians Began to react against this And everybody and their second cousin Writes a book against Martium.

He was certainly a very popular fellow On that level. And so it seems That what's happening here Is that Jesus Is being made one of these aeons He's in the pleroma He's in the fullness He's one of these emanations from God.

They didn't have any problem.

Everybody's God.

Go put him in there. Everything's okay. And seemingly that is what is going on here. But of course they also had another element of belief.

And that is You obtain salvation.

Through going through these secret ceremonies. In these secret ceremonies.

Knowledge.

Gnosis.

From where of course they get their name. Gnosis would be given to you And that gnosis would allow you To escape the physical body you were in.

And they were real big.

On the idea of resurrection. And so with that as a background We look at what Paul says. And the overarching assertion Paul makes.

Is very clear.

In Colossians 2 -9 We are told For in him All the fullness of deity Dwells in bodily form.

In him.

That is in Jesus Christ All the fullness of deity. Now there are two Greek terms Used in the New Testament. Unfortunately in some translations They are translated by the same word. They are not the same word.

In Colossians 2 -9 This word theatetos Means that which makes God.

God.

The very being and essence of God Is dwelling Present tense In Jesus Christ In bodily form Somaticos. Now you can hear How a Gnostic would find that To be extremely repulsive All the fullness The pleroma Of that which makes God.

God.

Is dwelling bodily in Jesus. Talk about an absolute.

Rejection.

Of all Gnostic categories A Gnostic would see that As someone who knows What they believe And is saying what you believe.

Is wrong.

No room for compromise. They would look at Paul and say My you are a closed minded man If they were modern Americans My you are being mean to me.

I am offended.

In fact if Paul was a Canadian He probably would have been.

In deep trouble.

And so this is what is going on. So the overarching approach That Paul takes is No Jesus cannot be fit Into this middle category. All the treasures Of wisdom and knowledge Notice wisdom and knowledge Gnosis are found in him All of them You can't divide them up.

You can't get this knowledge Through secret ceremonies. It is only in him. And then here in chapter 1 He starts off with the greatest.

Reputation of this concept I have said to you many times.

When we look to the Old Testament.

He is the one true God.

Over all the false gods. What is the primary evidence He puts forward. He says who has made all of this. Who has made all of this. Who is the creator. Who is the maker. All these other gods Came out of creation.

I am the one who made creation. I am eternal. I am not dependent upon This physical universe. I am the maker of this universe. This is chapter 1. We have the apostle. Exhausting the language. To emphasize.

Jesus Christ.

Is the creator Of all things.

How does he do so.

Well he begins with thanks. He gives thanks to God.

Who has made us.

Worthy.

He has qualified us To have that portion Of the saints.

He is the one who.

Rescued us He delivered us From the authority of darkness And he has transferred us He has translated us.

Into the kingdom.

Of the son of his love His beloved son. So we have this kingdom Of the son.

The beloved son.

And he is the one still being Described in verse 14 In whom we have redemption. He does not believe in gnostics at all. They don't believe in any kind of idea Of redemption. Especially because they believe That sin dwells In the physical body.

It's evil.

But it doesn't touch your soul. It doesn't touch the spiritual you. So what your body does Can't really impact the spirit. That would normally lead Certain groups To a very licentious lifestyle Which happens very often.

On the other extreme.

We have ascetics.

Who would say you can't marry. You can't touch certain things. You can't do certain things. Because you want to be a more spiritual person.

And you want to try to divide.

Between the spiritual person And the physical body. It went different directions I have a feeling. The licentious side Was a bit more popular.

Than the other side.

But they did go.

To the gnostics. But then we have.

This assertion.

Who is.

The image. The image.

Of the invisible God.

The image.

The likeness The form.

The appearance. It's the same term.

Paul is going to use In Philippians chapter 2 When he talks about What would appear If there were to be A physical image of God This is what would strike the eyes.

But you see.

The interesting phraseology He uses here.

Is the image of the invisible God.

Very similar in my thinking To what we saw in John 1 18 No one has seen God any time.

But who?

The unique God.

The only son who is God. Who is close to the Father's heart.

Except here.

Everybody who was running around Saying the Apostle Paul Made up all of his own theology All the rest of this stuff Just doesn't really Read him closely enough To see how much his thought Parallels directly that of the Gospels of themselves.

And so he is the image.

Of the invisible God. And then here we have One of the favorite phrases Of the folks who knock on your door The firstborn of all creation. I cannot tell you How many people I have encountered Over the past 25 years now.

Alpha Omega Ministries.

Started 25 years ago This October Over those two and a half decades Of people who have just Thrown out this phrase. Well of course Jesus Can't truly be God Because he is the firstborn Of all creation.

The firstborn means.

First created. The first thing made. Well how would that fit. Especially in this context. We're talking about The very image of the invisible God. The next two verses Are going to tell us In Noah's certain terms That Jesus Christ created all things.

How can he be himself created. But the reality is. The term firstborn Does not mean.

Created.

Indeed the term firstborn Refers to one having Priority and preeminence. If you just go back To the Old Testament And ask who is the firstborn How is the firstborn treated. The firstborn is given a double portion The firstborn has particular blessings.

But it's also interesting to note The firstborn Has preeminence Preeminence over The rest of the children.

However it's firstborn.

Over all creation. That is the one having Preeminence over All of creation. He doesn't come forth.

Out of creation.

He has preeminence.

Over creation.

The fact that firstborn Does not mean first created Is seen in a number of places.

For example.

In Exodus chapter 4 In the Psalms In Revelation the Old Testament.

Known as the Septuagint.

That is found here. Now clearly Israel was not The first thing God created. Israel was not the first nation That is formed Anything like that. But Israel bears a particular Relationship to God That is the nation that he Has chosen to favor.

And if Israel is God's firstborn Then to read into this term The idea of first created.

The second part of the word.

The word is prototokos.

The second part of the word.

Never means created in the first place And so it is a gross misuse Of the text to render it.

In that way What it means is he has.

Preeminence over all of creation. The next two verses will tell us why. Why does Jesus Remember. Don't forget about The Gnostics here. Don't forget about the people That Paul is refuting The word of all things To make him the creator of all things.

To make him equal.

Because the creation is evil. But to say he has preeminence Over all of creation Would mean all of the eons All of the Pleroma as well. Why does he have preeminence. Well we are told in no Uncertain terms Because by him Was created.

Ta Panta.

All things Now it is interesting. In the form that the apostle.

Uses here.

There are other ways.

Of saying all things. But one way you could do it Was sort of turn everything Into just one amorphous whole. And the idea of creating it Would sort of be diminished. Instead Paul uses a form That emphasizes the concrete Existence of all things.

It is not like the Christian Scientists you know.

My relative who is a Christian.

Scientist.

You know in their theology.

The physical universe Is basically a mirage.

It doesn't really exist.

That is why physical sickness. They don't go to a medical doctor. Because sickness doesn't really exist. There is no physical realm For it to exist in. And I said I will be perfectly honest With you that is one group I haven't spent a lot of time on.

I have a lot of difficulty. People I haven't been able To figure out to maybe do that. Punch them in the nose. Ask them if that hurt And say okay we have a place to start. But that generally gets you in jail.

So I don't want to do that. So the idea that is said here We reviewed that The physical universe exists. It was created. But notice Paul is saying By him By him Were all things created.

People can find ways.

Around even clear statements like that.

So they might say.

Well all of certain kinds of things maybe. So Paul slams the door. On that idea. Notice his description. Were all things created.

In the heavens.

And upon the earth.

The visible.

And the invisible Whether thrones Or lordships Or principalities All things through him And for him Were created Now. This is an excellent text If you are ever studying Greek prepositions. Because the apostle.

Exhausts.

The whole realm of Greek prepositions To make sure That he leaves no stone unturned He leaves no exit He leaves no way out. First at the beginning of the verse He says in him Probably by him But in his creative.

Power.

Then he uses By him.

Then he says.

Unto him.

For him Were all things created. I mean can you see the Gnostics Sitting there taking body blows At every shot. I mean Paul is not compromising Here in any way shape or form. He wants to make sure That people understand.

That all things.

Heaven and earth.

Visible, invisible, thrones, lordships, rulers, authority All things created through him All things created for him. Stop and ponder that one.

Just for a moment.

And he is.

Before, from.

All things.

And in him.

All things.

Hold together. Have their consistency. A very similar term Is about the Logos. The Logos ordered all things.

Here in him.

All things.

Hold together.

All things.

Stand together. Now think for just a moment. This is a description of the creator. Not some evil daddy urge.

But this.

Is a description.

Of the creator.

Well.

The simplest way.

Is just to dismiss the authority of the apostle Paul. And the authority of the bible. That is the standard direction. That is normally what the Mormons do when you point this out. Because it is rather destructive.

To their entire cosmology. Since their god once lived on another planet. And I point out, excuse me. But if a planet exists.

Jesus made it.

So it is up to Jesus to make a planet That his father lives on.

Well.

This is just about this world. I don't see any limitations like that. Jehovah's witnesses Have a really cool way Around with this. Just translate. They put the word other In brackets After each word. All I remember walking Right up this aisle once.

And looking over to the right I see laying on the pew Where a visitor had been sitting. And little red lights go off Little flags go up. Warning, warning, danger. Will Robinson. I'm immediately looking for this particular visitor.

And they didn't know what it was. They found it for 50 cents.

In a used bookstore.

It had really cool notes in the back.

And stuff like that.

So why not? It's like well let me tell you.

A little something about that.

It's not really a bible.

So we were able to give them Something significantly better.

But what they do.

Is they put the word other Now when they first translated it.

They didn't bother.

To put brackets around it. They just stuck it in there boldly And there was such a hue and cry That in later editions They put the brackets around it. They still try to defend it. And they have a fairly complex way Of trying to defend it.

We won't go into it today. It has to do with partitive genitives. Because by him Were all other things created In the heavens and the earth. There's one obvious fatal flaw To the argument. Think about it.

I can't tell you how many times I've had conversations With Jehovah's Witnesses. Very well read Jehovah's Witnesses But they don't tend To focus upon biblical backgrounds.

Very well.

And if you take their understanding.

Because remember.

He is one of the lesser beings.

In essence.

They agree with the Gnostics.

They agree.

Where the position of Jesus Christ falls. And so it's no wonder then That they render Paul's argument Against the Gnostics Meaningless.

They have to.

Because they sort of agree with the Gnostics. Well when you turn the Apostle's argument.

On its head.

And cause them to refute himself. You probably should not claim.

That Paul's teaching.

All things created By him and for him All things Exist in him He is before all things.

Therefore he cannot be.

A mere creature.

He cannot be an emanation.

In a paloma.

Instead he must be.

As he will say in Colossians 2 -9 All the fullness of deity Dwells in him. We are told that he is Beginning the firstborn.

From the dead In order that he might come.

To have first place in all things And that it was pleasing to the Father That all the fullness Should dwell in him And through him To reconcile all things unto himself Having made peace Through the blood of his cross Whether things in heaven Or things upon the earth.

The Cross, Reconciliation, and the Radical Claims of Christianity

Now let me just mention You could spend a lot of time.

If you could just stand back.

And see what the argument here is. The point is That everything God does All the justice. That he is going to demonstrate How he is going to sum All things up in Jesus Christ. Everything is focused upon Christ.

And what God does.

He does in justice.

Because of the cross of Christ Remember what we said this morning All of history. Look forward to the cross While we look back upon the cross The very center of time In Pauline theology And New Testament theology Is found in those three hours Upon the cross of Calvary.

And so what do we hear.

In the apostles words We hear. Words we need to hear. Brothers and sisters What we believe Is radical. What we believe is radical. We cannot try to make What we believe Palatable To rebel sinners. Only the Holy Spirit Can cause his sheep To hear his voice It is useless To try to shave off The rough edges of the Christian faith.