Also in Christ you had a different kind of circumcision, a circumcision not done by hands. It was through Christ's circumcision, that is, his death, that you were made free from the power of your sinful self. When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and you were raised up with him through your faith in God's power that was shown when he raised Christ from the dead. When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins. He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross. God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.
Don't Follow People's Rules
So do not let anyone make rules for you about eating and drinking or about a religious feast, a New Moon Festival, or a Sabbath day. These things were like a shadow of what was to come. But what is true and real has come and is found in Christ.
I. Beware of Empty Philosophies (Colossians 2:1-10)
II. Beware of Religious Legalism (Colossians 2:11-17)
III. Beware of Man-made Disciplines (Colossians 2:18-23)
II. Beware of Religious Legalism (Colossians 2:11-17)
These false teachers had mixed oriental mysticism with Greek philosophy and Jewish legalism — what a mixture! But the flesh loves to be religious, so long as that religion does not have a cross to crucify the flesh.
The Colossian believers were involved in Jewish legalism — rituals, diets, holidays, and so on. “You are going out of the sunlight into the shadows!” Paul cries (Col. 2:17). “You are forsaking the reality (Christ’s body) for the symbol!” Like the child who admires his father’s photo while he ignores his father’s presence, so these Christians had turned from the fullness of Christ to the ABCs (“elements” — Col. 2:8, Col. 2:20) of the world.
When we live sterile, self contained lives, we aren’t doing anything wrong, but sadly, we’re aren’t doing anything extraordinary. If in fact Jesus is living through you, what kind of experience is He having?
In Origins we don’t have a big fancy building. We don’t stake our religious turf with a steeple. We don’t have a big sign with information about our time commitments and staff rosters. We have you!
- Question: What are some of the ways you are filtering out the extraordinary by replacing it with a symbol?
All that we need has been accomplished by Christ on the cross. The circumcision of Col. 2:11 is not His physical circumcision as a child (Luk. 2:21), but rather His death on the cross. Just as Christ’s water baptism was a symbol of His baptism of suffering on the cross (Luk. 12:50), so His circumcision as an infant prefigured His “putting off the body” when He took our sins on Calvary. “Your spiritual circumcision in Christ is far more wonderful than physical rituals!” Paul states. “Why replace Christ with Moses? Why have a physical cutting instead of a spiritual operation on your heart? Circumcision removes a fragment of the flesh from the body, but our identification with Christ puts off the whole fleshly nature.”
All of this is made possible through our union with Christ, when the Spirit baptized us into His body. We died with Him, and we are risen with Him. The Old Covenant laws are now set aside; Satan has been completely defeated (Col. 2:15); therefore enjoy the liberty you have in Christ. “Let no man judge you!” Paul urges (Col. 2:16).
Beware of religious legalism!
- “I’m Glad That’s Cleared Up!”: Living under a set of requirements that have already been fulfilled in Christ, keeps us from experiencing faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
from Warren Weirsbe's Expository Outlines
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