Colossians 2:9-11 - Understanding Jesus Christ as Mediator between God and Man (Session 11)

 This episode is a verse-by-verse Bible study of Colossians 2:9-11, exploring the historical context, theological meaning, and faithful application of the passage within the Christian faith. 

Ever wonder about the true essence of Jesus Christ? Ever pondered about His dual nature being both God and human? On today's episode, we dive into the heart of Colossians 2:9, where we unpack the divine and human sides of Jesus Christ. We shed light on His unique ability to be the mediator between God and man, which makes Him the ultimate source of our salvation and redemption. You'll marvel at the depth of His wisdom and love, and the significance of being 'in Him', rather than 'in man'.

Imagine feeling entirely whole, complete, and content with your life, not needing anything else. That is the power of aligning ourselves with Jesus and understanding that He is our ultimate Completeness. We challenge you to trust that Jesus knows the beginning from the end and to adopt this mindset in your own life. We remind you that because you are 'in Christ', He has declared you complete. This isn't just a feel-good idea; it's an empowering and liberating truth that sets us free from the chains of dissatisfaction and searching for more. Join us as we dive deeper into this concept in our next episode. So, gear up to experience a spiritual rejuvenation, a strengthening of your faith, and a renewed sense of completeness in Jesus Christ.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:15

The world today leaves us so cold and empty that we need something to fill us. The good news is, the Word of God tells us that it will fill us, and fill us to overflowing. And on today's lesson in Colossians, chapter 2, you're going to be introduced to a full dose of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is the one that will fill us to overflowing. And, steve, we're going to get, as I said, a full dose today of the Lord Jesus.

Speaker 1 0:41

Yeah, I also think we're going to find out about being complete and how we can be made complete.

Speaker 2 0:45

And he is the one that can complete us. So hello and welcome to our guest. We are reasoning through the Bible. My name is Glenn and this is Steve, and if you have your copy of the Word of God you might want to open it to the book of Colossians, chapter 2. And we're going to be starting in verse 9. Just a little bit of overview again of the book.

Speaker 2 1:05

The book of Colossians is written by the apostle Paul to the church at Colossae, which he did not found, but he had a concern for them because they had some false teachers that had corrupt him and he was responding to these ideas they had been introduced to, and he focuses on a couple of main things, one of which was the person of the Lord Jesus, who he is and that he is sufficient.

Speaker 2 1:33

And he describes Jesus in such a way as to lift him up to the highest of the heights and as the preeminent one of all creation. The Lord Jesus is presented as the God Almighty. That's one of the themes in Colossians. The other theme in Colossians is this radical, dramatic transformation that happens to people that become in Christ. We start out as being lost people under the wrath of God, in the domain of darkness and he comes and rescues us and transfers us into the kingdom of the sun and then showers great blessings on us. This theme of this radical transformation, that could only be done by this one person, the Lord Jesus, that is the message of Colossians, and we are neck deep in this wonderful, wonderful teaching. So, steve, if you could read in Colossians, starting in chapter two, and just read verse nine, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form.

Speaker 2 2:32

Short verse, but it's very clear, for in him that's Jesus. All the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. So this is as strong and clear of a statement about the deity of Jesus as you're going to find anywhere in the Bible. Jesus is Almighty God, all the fullness of God dwells in his body, and, steve, that is quite profound.

Speaker 1 2:56

It is. And in the reason why that he's mentioned in bodily form here, glenn, is because one of the things that he's fighting from the false teachers, they were saying that, well, everything spiritual was good, but everything that was physical or in the body was bad. Therefore, jesus, he didn't actually die in his bodily form and because that would have been tainted it would have been bad. So I think, do you think that Paul is mentioning here bodily form in order to drive home that point that Jesus was actually? He was fully, fully man, fully human, yet fully God as well.

Speaker 2 3:31

Yes, I think that's exactly what he's doing. The Gnostics had taught that, just as you said, things that are spiritual, or what's really real, and the things that are physical or somehow weak and less important, and they had a hierarchy of that. And actually that teaching is crept into some corners of the church in the sense that people think that that our spirits are what's more important than our bodies, and the Bible teaches that both our spirit and our body make up us. I am as much my body as I am my spirit. Yes, he's, he's saying that, but he's he's lifting up Jesus to the highest of the highs and he says that Jesus is 100 percent man and 100 percent God. He is both, and all the fullness of deity is put into him in bodily form. There's nothing evil or weak or bad about having a body, and Jesus had a body.

Speaker 2 4:31

There's some implications here that fall out because of that. Because Jesus is God, then he is worthy of worship. He alone is worthy of worship. Because Jesus is God, then he has the authority to declare the truth and give us commands that we all should follow. So he has the authority to declare the truth. Because he's God, he is all loving. Because he's God, he's all knowing. Because he has a body, he's also human. He's 100 percent God and 100 percent human at the same time. Those two elements, those two natures, are critical because, as God, he has the power to reach out and save us. Because he's human, he has the ability to pay for our sins. If he wasn't human, he couldn't be the sacrifice for human. If he wasn't God, he wouldn't have the power to live a sinless life. Because he's both God and human, then he has the unique ability to be the mediator between God and man. All of that is wrapped up into this one verse.

Speaker 1 5:42

Yeah, and another thing I think would be good for our listeners to key in on is, as we go through these verses, just like here in verse nine, it starts out in him. We're going to see that phrase in him, with him listed throughout all of these next verses that we're going to be looking at. That's the same thing of what we talked about before, that Paul is stressing being either in Christ or not in Christ, and whether you're in the light or in darkness, or whether you're in Christ or in man. We don't see any in between possibilities that are there. You either in or you're out. And Paul is beginning to drive home and expand on the things that he's talked about before, but in each of these sentences he doesn't say specifically in Christ, but he'll say in him or with him, talking obviously about Jesus himself.

Speaker 2 6:36

So point this out, just to reiterate what you just said, Steve. Verse nine, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells. Verse 10, in him you've been made complete. Verse 11, in him you were also circumcised. He's emphasizing exactly that. And the question for you and the question for me is are we in him? If we are in him, then we have all these benefits and all of them come with it. If we're not in him, then we don't.

Speaker 2 7:04

Again, one of the themes is this radical, radical transformation from the person that is not in Christ to the person that is in Christ. When we're not in Christ, we're lost, we're separated, we're in the domain of darkness, we're under the dominion of Satan and the wrath of God. When we're in Christ, he rescued us, he transferred us, he moves us across, and once we're there, then now we have all this long list of benefits that go along with it. Just absolutely tremendous. And, Steve, here's one of the things that I think some people trip over Again verse nine, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. Now the King James version uses the word Godhead. There in him, All the fullness of the Godhead, bodily, it says. And because Godhead is just not a word that we use very often nowadays. It's sort of old King James word. I think a lot of people trip over exactly what this verse was saying. But what it's really saying is exactly what the newer translations say. In him, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. How much of the deity dwells in him? All of it dwells in bodily form. This is again a full and complete statement about the nature of Jesus. All the fullness of deity was in Jesus Christ. There's no room for a lesser God or a kind of sort of God, or a God with a little G, or a mighty God. That's not an almighty God. No, all the fullness of God dwells in his body.

Speaker 2 8:40

The other thing I think clear here is that this word deity here is the only time this word is used in the New Testament, and it's because Paul was trying to have a comprehensive, exhaustive term. All the fullness of all of God dwells in Jesus. Paul's apparently using one of these terms that the false teachers used the Gnostics to describe Christ. They said, well, he was a deity, he was a sub deity, or or that there was deity and then there were some sub beings, angels, under that. And Paul is saying no, no, no, no, a thousand times no. All the fullness of all of deity dwelt in Jesus Christ in bodily form.

Speaker 2 9:24

Paul was very direct in this verse. He's hitting the false teachers right between the eyes, saying that what they're teaching is false, and he's doing it by declaring the truth. All the fullness of God dwells in Jesus in bodily form. It's not true that we have to decide whether to proclaim truth or to refute false teachers. It's not an either, or we can declare the truth and refute false teachers all at the same time, because that's what he's doing right here. The Gnostic heresies taught that Jesus was less than God, but was actually some kind of a sub God. And Paul says no, no, all the fullness of deity dwells in him in bodily form.

Speaker 1 10:05

So, glenn, do you get a sense that, as we go through these next verses and he talks about and gives these characteristics and attributes of being in Christ, do you get the sense that Paul is emphasizing once again but maybe in a fuller matter he's he's expanding on what he said in chapter one that we just get these benefits by being in Christ and there's nothing additional that we need to do or that we have to do, or that these people in Colosse there's nothing additional that they have to do, there's nothing that we have to do to add to it whenever we're in Christ.

Speaker 1 10:44

Now, that kind of goes against the grain of of us as human beings that we kind of sometimes feel that we were not good enough, we have to do something. But isn't that kind of the background of how some of these false teachers if not all of these false teachers they all pray Don't know if that's the proper word to use or not but they all go off of this? Maybe human nature that we have that says you know, I'm just not worthy enough and it just can't be as simple as being in Christ. Do you think that that's one of the major things that he's fighting here?

The Sufficiency of Trusting in Jesus

Speaker 2 11:18

I think that's one of the major things he fights here and in the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians, the Judaizers had come into the church at Galatia and we're teaching you have to do something, you have to do some sort of an act. And I think that that that idea has permeated the church throughout its history is that there's people that think it can't be just as easy as just trusting him. I have to do something to make myself righteous. And the message that God says over and over again in his word we can't do enough, there's nothing we can do to pay for our past sins, there's nothing we can do to pay for our present sins it really is trusting him entirely, completely. He does it all, and that's the message. And it keeps saying this because we keep getting it wrong and we keep thinking I still have to do something. But yeah, I think you're right.

Speaker 2 12:17

So the next verse, verse 10, says and in him you have been made complete and he is the head over all rule and authority. So in him you have been made complete. Some of the translations say you have been filled. So the idea here is that those who are in Christ have nothing lacking. We have nothing lacking, and that speaks to the exact point that you were just making, steve. We feel that, oh yeah, he paid for my sins, but I'm still not completely there. I still feel this weakness in me. So I must have a weakness. And God views me as weak. No, he says look at it again in verse 10. In him, you have been made complete. When it says complete, what does it mean? It means complete. Same thing is over in chapter one. He says you have been qualified. He made us qualified. He made us complete. Why am I complete? Because I'm in him, because I'm in him.

Speaker 1 13:14

And the second part there where it says he's the head over all rule and authority. I think that this partially gives a picture of well, who is it that comes in and provides these false teachings and the false teachers? They're usually heads and authorities. So it's not just the governmental that he's talking about here, that that obviously Jesus is above all of them, but I think it could be possibly talking about the leaders in the church that want to impose additional things and additional requirements on the people. Yeah, you're a believer in Jesus, we understand that but and I think possibly Paul is addressing that here when he says that Jesus is above all rule and authority. So, in short, what he's saying is you're sufficient, You're complete in Jesus and he's above all these rulers and authorities that might come in and say but you have to do additional things.

Speaker 2 14:15

It's because because of verse nine. All the fullness of deity dwells in him and bodily forms, and he has the power, much more than any power that any human has, to make us complete. He declares us complete because we're in him. The idea here is that we're not lacking. The word complete means we're full or complete. There's nothing lacking where we're. When he views us, he views perfection, and it's not through anything I did, it's because of his blood. So how complete are we? Well, he already told us back in chapter one, verse 22,. We're complete enough to be in his presence. In Colossians one twenty two, we are qualified to be in his presence because he put us there. He's again saying this to regular human beings in the church and Colossians, but the verb tense will keep pounding on this because Paul keeps pounding on it.

Speaker 2 15:13

Verse 10, in him you have been made complete. What does he not say? You're going to be complete after a while. You're going to work towards complete. I got you part of the way towards completion. You just have to keep hanging on and finish the course. No, you have been made complete. It's a done deal. That happened in the past. It's a sure thing. You have been made complete and sufficient enough to appear in the very throne room of God. That's what Colossians is saying.

Speaker 1 15:45

I think this is also a mindset that we should get into as Christians, in that we see God from the very beginning, that he knows the beginning from the end. We know that because of the different foretellings that he told to the various patriarchs and the prophets, and through the prophets told things, and we have future, things that we know that are yet to happen and we can trust that they are actually going to happen, because the things before that God said were going to happen happen. That's kind of the mindset of God he knows the beginning from the end. We have been made complete and that we should have that same mindset. We're new creatures. We're now in this realm of our citizenship, is in heaven. We should think of it that way. Yes, we're still here bodily, in our fleshly body, here in the world, but we've been made complete spiritually and we have hope for a glorified body that we're going to have in the future.

Speaker 1 16:49

That's the mindset that we need to have, I think, in order to help understand and that, look, there's just nothing else that we need to do Now. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try and strive to continue to live godly lives. That's again, that's not the opposite side of it that says, okay, well, you can just go off and do what you want to. But if we have that mindset, the same mindset of God that knows this is something that's already been done, then it might help us to be able to say, okay, I finally get it, I'm in Christ, and now I have all these wonderful things that Paul is talking about here, and I don't have to worry anymore about being good enough and have to worry about what else do I have to do?

Completeness in Christ and Circumcision

Speaker 2 17:35

I think part of the reason your question a minute ago, steve why do we kind of feel like we have to do something additional Part of it is because those of us that are Christians that get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus, get a glimpse of heaven, we realize they're still. I'm not perfect. I still have these sinful desires. I still have, you know, I fall down every now and then. So we naturally ask these questions how can I, as a weak, fallible human being, appear before the perfect God? That's why too many Bible teachers over the years say well, you're complete, but you're not complete because you still have to merit something, you still have to go through some process, you still have to have something purged from you or burned off of you. He got you part of the way there, but you have to kind of finish the race here. And no, he's saying exactly the opposite of that. He's saying that he made us complete. He made us complete enough to appear before the himself. Why are we complete? Nothing do I did. It's because of he made me this way. We're not completed by our own efforts or our own suffering. We're completed because he made us complete.

Speaker 2 18:50

So the question that I'd ask, for all of our listeners. Have you ever felt like something is just missing in life? Something is just not right, something's I've, I'm unsatisfied, there's something missing. Well, the Bible says you could be complete in Christ and that we've been made whole, and isn't that great To the Christians. My Christian brother and sisters, you can rest in Christ. You don't have to wallow in your old sin. You can go to the Father and he will welcome you with open arms because he has washed us and he has made us complete.

Speaker 1 19:26

I want to add to what you just said in that how can we be presented before a holy God? And that's where we falter. But in here it's being in Christ, with him, in him, and that is how we can be presented to a holy God. God, the Father is because we're in Christ and it's through what Christ did. That's how we can be presented before God. I think that would help if we could just get that into our thick skulls. That it's, it's being in him, that's the key, and we just need to be in him and then, through Jesus, not on our own merit or not on looking at us in our bare, naked spiritual form, it's being in Christ or wrapped in Christ. That is what God sees, is what Christ has done and, as Paul puts, it's been. Our debt has been nailed to the cross and we no longer have that debt anymore. It's been paid.

Speaker 2 20:32

People then naturally ask well, they still have uncleanliness in my life. How can it really appear before God? And that's exactly who he's writing to is people that had that exact question? And he's telling them no, no, you have been made complete, because these false teachers were saying the same thing as we hear today. But does he have to do something else? You have to go through something else. No, you've been made complete. That's exactly the false teaching that he was speaking against. Just to wrap that part up, it's not how we feel. It's not whether I feel complete in Christ or whether I feel clean before God. He has made me clean. That's what the Bible says, and do we trust it or do we not? Now, moving on to the middle of verse 10, it says he is head over all rule and authority. So, Steve, how much is all rule and authority?

Speaker 1 21:30

It's all, it's everything. There are none that are out there that are above him. He's over all of them.

Speaker 2 21:37

If Jesus has all rule and authority, is there anything in heaven or earth that he does not have authority over?

Speaker 1 21:46

No, he doesn't. Therefore, since he has authority over everything, he can give us all of these characteristics and attributes that Paul is talking about.

Speaker 2 21:56

It means that Jesus has all the sovereign rule and authority on heaven and earth. He can declare things to be when they're not there already. He can declare a sinful person righteous. He's not some sort of a. Again, if he has all rule and authority, it's not some sort of a sub God, demigod or sort of a God. He's not an assistant God. He is the head of everything. Only God Almighty has all rule and authority. This verse is once again saying that Jesus is Almighty God. If he has all rule and authority and he declares us complete, then it is so. And who am I and who are you to sit before God? Who has declared the person that is in Christ to be holy and righteous? Who do you think you are? How dare you declare that you are not righteous? Because that's what he's saying.

Speaker 1 22:53

And this might be a good place to mention faith and talk just a little bit about faith. So what is faith? We've discussed in the past and other sessions through our other books that the faith that Abraham had was believing in the promises that God had told him about. Our faith is the faith that in the promises that Jesus has told us that we would have through belief in him. It's a question of if we don't believe these things that are here because you just mentioned it, If we don't have belief in these things here, do we really have faith?

Speaker 1 23:32

Isn't that the essence of faith, of believing? This is what Jesus has said. Paul is saying we're made complete and in him and Jesus has the fullness of deity in the bodily form. He's a ruler over all the authority. There's none that are above him. Therefore, he has the ability to say that we're complete and that there's nothing else to be done. So if we don't believe what Paul is saying here because we want to add something else to it or allow false teachers to come in and say, no, no, you got to add something else, what is that saying about the faith that we have?

Speaker 2 24:13

But yeah, that that's exactly it. And again, paul is writing to the church at Colossae to exactly correct the same false teaching that has permeated some churches for thousands of years, which is that, ok, yeah, your sins are forgiven, but you're in Christ. But and the but is you're still not complete. And he says no, you are complete and he has all rule and all authority to declare you complete. Do you trust him? Do you have faith?

Speaker 2 24:43

Moving on, verses 11 and 12 say in him you were also circumcised, with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And just like everything else, steve, in the book of Colossians it's it's very dense and there's a lot here in those two verses. Just very quickly, circumcision was a right or a process that was given to ancient Israel and it was a procedure that was supposed to symbolize being made clean, of cutting off an unclean, sort of dirty part of the body that was a representative of the old self being made clean. It was also a symbol of being part of the covenant. Now you're in with God's people. Circumcision symbolized two things the removal of an unclean part of the flesh and a sign or a seal that you're now part of the covenant. When this says in those verses, we just read what's it talking about?

Speaker 1 25:57

Well, I think that it's a direct argument to the Jewish leadership that we're coming in and say oh yeah, ok, you're a believer in Christ, but their but was you got to be circumcised? And that's one of the things. I think it's a direct reflection of addressing that and Paul saying you are circumcised, but you're circumcised in spirit, you're circumcised in something that's without hands. Therefore, you don't need to be physically circumcised, you don't need to worry about that, because you already are circumcised. While Paul is giving this to them as far as assurance, I believe he's also given them reasons to go back and rebuttal what these Jewish leaders that might be coming in saying OK, I understand that you're a believer in Christ, I understand all that, but you need to be circumcised. Now they have a rebuttal and they say no, I don't, I am circumcised, but I'm circumcised in a circumcision that's made without hands, spiritually, and you need to understand that.

God's Work of Circumcision and Transformation

Speaker 2 26:57

So normal, regular circumcision was done by human with a man's hands, and obviously what he's saying here is that, ok, this is a different kind of circumcision, this circumcision was done without hands. Therefore, if it is a circumcision and it was done without hands, what are the implications of that? And who did it? It wasn't a man. It wasn't anything I did or any other human did. A circumcision without hands had to be done by God. Had to be done by God. What it's saying is God went through the process of every Christian, everybody that's in Christ, and cut away the old, dirty part of the flesh and gave you a sign or a seal of being in the covenant in Christ. That's the key here is that God goes and does this work and takes away the old, unclean part of you and puts you in his body of people. That's what it's saying with a circumcision made without hands.

Speaker 1 27:55

And at the last part of 11, he doesn't specifically say in Christ, but he says by the circumcision of Christ. So it's very clear that once we're in Christ, then we have this circumcision that has been provided by him, either either in or out.

Speaker 2 28:14

You're either in or out. We're going to be out in just a minute because we're running short of time, but we'll be back in next time because we're going to be still dealing with these same concepts, the idea that he goes on in chapter two of taking away the old, unclean part of us and bringing in a new, clean part of us, and that theme plays out through this chapter and we're going to be here next time reasoning through that, as we always reason through the Bible.

Speaker 1 28:43

Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.