Christ Alone
Our New Testament passage in the lectionary for this week is from Paul’s letter to the Colossians chapter 2:6-23, and it is a very important one. It is what I would call one of the majors in Scripture. What do I mean by that? Well, I’m going to give a very quick overview of biblical interpretation as the introduction to this post. The Bible is a very big book, and it is a collection of a lot of different genres of writing, from a lot of different authors from very different time periods. This makes it a complex book in many ways. But it also speaks to its miraculous nature as well. How could a compilation like this one with so many variables involved result in such a largely consistent message? There really is no other book like it on earth. There is no other book that spans so many different ages yet comes out saying the same thing. Still, as I said, it is a very complex book as well when you get into the variety of contexts and idiosyncrasies of each individual book and its author. SO, when we read the Bible we have interpretive tools or principles that we use to help us keep things straight. One of those big principles is that we let Scripture interpret Scripture. We are in line with the historic Church and hold the Bible to be the Word of God, His special revelation given to humanity. Each writer was inspired by the Holy Spirit as they wrote, which is why we see the consistency we do in the Bible – it is all ultimately from the same Source: God Himself speaking through regular folks like you and me. SO, it makes sense really that we would allow Scripture to interpret itself because how could there be any higher authority than God’s own Word.
But how does that work? How do we use Scripture to interpret Scripture? We can see in Scripture that there are majors and there are minors. There is a large overarching perspective in the Bible that is focused on God’s saving action towards a sinful and broken people. This book is about God saving the people he created and loves from death and destruction. That is the center of the Bible. There is no greater purpose to it than to show us God’s saving love, to tell us the story of how we got where we are and what God has decided to do about it. SO, this leads us to the “how?”. Theology is often concerned with the “how?”. It definitely spends a lot of time on the “who?” and the “what?”: who God is, who we are, what sin is, what grace is, etc. However, we don’t ever fully understand the “who?” and the “what?” without really grasping the “how?,” the purpose, or action of the main characters. So we come to know God by learning about how He operates and more specifically, how He approaches humanity, you and me. Which we have said, he saves. SO, how does God save us? He saves us through His Son Jesus.
There it is, we have found it. We have found the major of all of Scripture, the interpretive lens through which we read all of the rest of the Bible. This whole book is about Jesus. He is “the who?, the what?, the when?, and the how?” of all of it. The 16th century Reformers referred to this doctrine as Solus Christus, which is Latin for “Christ Alone.” When we run into difficulty with other passages, which we always will, we need to return to Jesus and think about the passage in question in light of Him and what He does for humanity.
In Colossians Paul does this very thing. He is writing this letter from prison, and he is writing to a group of people that are dealing with a very similar situation to the Galatians. They are being persuaded by false teachers that they need something more than the gospel they received in order to be mature in their faith and accepted by God. In this case, Paul did not directly evangelize the Colossians. The church was actually started by one of Paul’s disciples, Epaphras, as part of the larger mission to the Gentiles. And we learn later in the letter that Epaphras himself is also in jail with Paul. SO, we have relatively young Christian community that is without their leader in a city that is known for its fascination for all things magical and mysterious. There is certainly a lot of that in our current culture. Just consider our movies and books about superheroes, wizards, witches, gods, etc. Colossae was quite similar, and this surrounding culture was beginning to influence their thought.
And like the church in Galatia, there were Jewish teachers that were preying on this cultural influence. In this case the false teachers were Jewish mystics, like Madonna and Demi Moore, who subscribed to Kabbalah…a form of Jewish mysticism that has to do with wearing red string bracelets, that look an awful lot like the ones I used to get as a kid when I would buy an all-day pass to Kennywood, the local amusement park in Pittsburgh. So they wear these bracelets and drink a special kind of water apparently. At least that’s what I read, that Madonna has crates of this special bottled water shipped with her wherever she goes because it has been blessed by one of the Kabbalah rabbis and therefore carries some sort of spiritual enlightenment with it. Anyhow, the Jewish mystics in Paul’s time were teaching the Colossians that perfection was the achievement of new levels of spiritual status, marked by observance of law, sexual asceticism, and above all, having mysterious visions. In short, they saw Jesus Christ as only a beginning; to be fully mature before God meant taking on more elaborate and visible forms of religious observance (as one commentator put it). Does this sound familiar at all to you? It does to me. I have been in many churches and read many Christian books that argue the same thing: Jesus’ cross and resurrection is a great place to start, but now you need to get serious about your spirituality.
Into this situation Paul writes his letter. He carries a great deal of weight as Epaphras’ mentor, and he is going to remind them of the Truth. He is going to make a simple clarifying argument that Jesus is all they need. In that way, Paul gives us in this passage a lens through which to see the rest of Scripture and the rest of life. This is one of those major passages in the Bible that we do well to study and learn.
Tullian Tchividjian, pastor in Florida and Billy Graham’s grandson, sums up Paul’s argument in Colossains with the title of one of his books Jesus Plus Nothing Equals Everything. Jesus plus nothing equals everything. Nothing else is needed. We often talk about grace in our church, and every time we talk about grace you could substitute Jesus’ name in because He is grace personified. Grace is only possible in and because of Jesus Christ. And we really agree with Paul that nothing else is needed except for Jesus.
Tell me, what else is needed? If Christ has indeed done what the Bible says he did, if Jesus has accomplished what Paul lays out here in this passage, if he has made us alive together with him having forgiven us all our sins by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, nailing it to the cross…if he has done all of this, what else is there that needs to be done (v. 14)? What can I add to this work that will somehow improve upon it? What can I bring to the table that He has not already completely covered? Why would I go on trying so hard in my ascetic practices, worrying about special days or drinking or sounding super spiritual or whatever when He has already dealt with my sin full stop? To put it Paul’s way, “If I have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why as if I am still alive in the world, would I submit to regulations – do not handle, do not taste, do not touch – according to human precepts and teachings?” (v. 20-22) Why worry about this stuff if I know through the testimony of God’s Word that I am already free from all of it? I am trying to control something that He has already removed from me.
What else is needed other than Jesus Christ? I say to you, nothing!
Paul is getting uncomfortable in this passage. He’s getting too radical! He is following the lead of Jesus. He is stepping on the toes of the religious establishment of the professionally spiritual. If a pastor were to really preach this passage today and start listing many of our Christian practices that we think are so essential to our faith he or she would get into trouble. Consider verse 16. Don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink – how often do we hear of Christians thinking drinking alcohol is bad? Or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath – “You’re not really a Christian if you don’t go to church on Sunday or if you don’t take a Sabbath rest.” I remember one of my college professors telling us that we were being terrible Christians if we mowed our lawn on Sundays because that is the Sabbath and we should be resting. He asked how are we being good witnesses to our neighbors when we work on the Sabbath? I remember thinking: my neighbor has no idea what the Sabbath is!
What about the law of the quiet time? Uh oh! Sean, now you are steering straight into dangerous waters. How can spending time reading the Bible and praying ever be a bad thing? Well, when it becomes something that dictates your value before the Lord, it is headed that direction. If your quiet time is an obligatory thing, if it is something that you point to, even only quietly in your mind, that says: I’m a good Christian. I’m doing well because of how much time I spend in the Bible everyday. You’ve crossed over into putting faith in your actions. It’s never the action itself that is the problem here. Everything that Paul lists is not inherently a bad thing, but it is the heart motivation. It is always the heart motivation. The fact that these things sound so good is exactly what makes them such a huge problem for people. They have the appearance of wisdom! (v. 23)
How many times did Jesus get cornered by the Pharisees and Scribes and get grilled about things pertaining to the law, to working hard to be good people? The answer is every time. They were always focused on trying harder to be better. They were largely very faithful people, the Pharisees. But they just could not handle this Jesus guy. He was always defying what they thought was good. He was always breaking their rules. The story of Jesus and his disciples walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath and picking grain and eating it. The Pharisees called them out for not observing the Sabbath – a commandment of God in the Old Testament – and Jesus gave the famous answer: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28). What about every time Jesus chose to hang out with the poor and outcast people of society? The unclean, unrighteousness, give-you-a-bad-rep-just-for-being-around-them types?
You may say to me, “Duh, Sean. We know being legalistic about anything is bad. We’ve heard it all before.” I would join in you thinking this way except for when I think about how often I allow others to take me captive (v. 8)? How often do I allow others to judge me (v. 16)? How often I allow others to disqualify me to use Paul’s words by buying into keeping up the appearance of holiness (v. 18)? More often than I care to admit, I think the self-made religion is the way to go (v. 23). I think that having an ascetic approach, a denial of certain behaviors, is going to somehow get me further down the path of holiness. I buy into the lies that Paul is exposing here. I agree that there is something that I can do; there is something that I can put my faith in, maybe not instead of Christ, but certainly in addition to Christ, that will improve my situation.
Paul says that is completely wrong. Thinking or saying that you can add anything to what Christ has done for us and to who Christ is for us is the same thing as saying that he doesn’t matter at all. It is an all or nothing situation. Paul does not compromise. “Jesus plus nothing equals everything.” Another way to say that is Jesus plus anything equals nothing. The moment you try to add anything to Jesus you are subtracting from him. He is everything. He is all that we need. He is the fullness of God, and we are filled in him (v. 10). Filled! Lacking nothing. That is the image that Paul wants his readers to have – completeness, wholeness, justified, sanctified – all in Christ and him alone.
Examine your hearts. Are you putting faith in practices or rituals, anything outside of Jesus, that you think will somehow stop your sin or to put it another way, make you a better person? Is it about your effort – self-made religion or is it about God’s saving work for you?
If there is anything that you think, “If I stop doing X, then God will not be pleased with me or He will love me less, or I won’t be a good person, etc.” Then stop it immediately! As Paul says, “It has the appearance of wisdom, but it has no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (v. 23). It doesn’t give you what you think it does. It does not give you what it promises to give you. It is robbing you of your freedom and joy in Jesus Christ. It is taking away the very thing that it says it will give you. Stop doing it immediately and return to Jesus Christ. Return to the center of all Scripture, God’s living incarnate Word of Grace to you and me, Jesus Christ, our Savior. He is for you. He has forgiven you. He has filled you. He has made you alive. Only in him do we find rest and peace. Only in him do we grow in faith, a growth that is from God as Paul says in verse 19. It is always about His work for us and in us. Anything else is slavery.
So, I encourage and echo Paul in verse 6 and 7: “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Amen.
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