Lesson #05

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Colossians

September 21, 2015

Lesson #01

January 20, 2010

Lesson #02

January 20, 2010

RETURN TO LIST OF LESSONS

COLOSSIANS 2:1-10
Lesson #05
THE KEY TO TRUE WISDOM

• Memory Verses Col 2:9-10
• Because the Gnostics believed in knowledge and wisdom, Paul tells them from where comes true wisdom.

• Read Col 2:1-3
  • Paul mentions the mysteries of God that we discussed in our previous lesson. This particular mystery is the Mystery of the Fullness of the Trinity in Jesus Christ. (2)
  • Paul’s great conflict:
    • Paul tells us of his intense strain on behalf of these believers.
      • We get the English and Spanish word “agony” from the Greek word, “conflict”. (1)
        • Why was Paul so concerned over a people he had never met?
          • In this we see the heart of a pastor that did not limit his love to a local group. His perspective was broad and universal just as God’s heart is broad and universal to include anyone that does not know God intimately.
    • Paul was worried about the dangerous doctrines being taught in the churches in the cities of Colosse and Laodicea.
      • The dangerous false doctrine was Gnosticism.
        • This was a cult of the intellect.
          • They believed that they possessed the fountain of wisdom. However, Paul tells them that Jesus Christ possesses the fountain of wisdom. (3)

 

• “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

 

(3)
• Wisdom and knowledge are God’s treasures personified in Jesus Christ.
  • This treasure in Jesus Christ is so profound that Paul calls it “unsearchable riches”. (Rom 11:33 Eph 3:8)
    • It is going to take believers in Jesus Christ an eternity to discover all the depths of these riches in Jesus Christ.
• The important difference between ” knowledge”, “understanding”, and “wisdom,”
  • Knowledge:
    • According to the Greeks, knowledge is a real tangible thing. It is static and abiding.
    • According to the Hebrews, they thought that knowledge was an entry into a relationship with the experienced world, which makes demands on the understanding and on the will.
    • According to Noah Webster’s dictionary of 1828, knowledge is a clear and certain perception of that which exists, or of truth and fact. We can have no knowledge of that which does not exist.
      • God has perfect knowledge while man has limited knowledge gained primarily by observation and experience.
  • Understanding:
    • According to Noah Webster’s dictionary of 1828, understanding is the part of the human mind through which we apprehend the real state of things that confront us or by which we receive and comprehend communication. Understanding is also called the intellectual ability by which we obtain the majority of our knowledge.
  • Wisdom:
    • Like all Hebrew virtues, wisdom is intensely practical and not theoretical.
    • Wisdom is the art of being successful; of forming the correct plan to achieve the desired effects.
    • Wisdom is centered in the heart. It is the center of moral and intellectual decisions.
    • Wisdom is the correct use of knowledge, or knowledge put into practice.
  • Additional scriptures:
    • Pro 1:20-33 Pro 2:1-22 Pro 3:13-23 Pro 4:1-22 Pro 8:1-36 Pro 9:1-6 1Cor 1:17-30 1Cor 2:1-13.
• How does a believer in Jesus Christ obtain wisdom?
  • Read Jam 1:2-8
    • Notice the progression:
      • =1= Trials or testing.
        • Discipline is to remove foolishness from us and to establish the fear of the Lord in us.
      • =2= Patience
        • Our faith is tested to trust God through it all.
      • =3= Perfect work or completeness.
        • The end result is Christian maturity.
    • Notice that wisdom is given to all men liberally (abundantly and freely).
      • Then why do so few people have it?
        • According to James, it is because of an unstable faith.

THE FOUR-STEP PROGRESSION TO WISDOM – PRO 6:23
-1- COMMANDMENT FROM GOD	KNOWLEDGE OF FACTS OF THE TRUTH	PRO 8:12
-2- TEACHING	UNDERSTANDING THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE TRUTH	PRO 14:6
-3- CORRECTION	INSTRUCTION AND PERSONALIZED APPLICATIONS OF THE TRUTH	PRO 19:25
-4- WAY OF LIFE	WISDOM AND SUCCESS RESULTS FROM THE PREVIOUS THREE STEPS	PRO 21:11
	THESE STEPS LEAD ONE BACK TO THE BEGINNING STEP TO BEGIN THE CYCLE OVER AGAIN.	PRO 4:11
	IF YOU DO NOT DO STEP 3, YOU WILL GO STRAY	PRO 10:17 PRO 12:1 PRO 15:32 PRO 19:27
	THE PURSUIT OF WISDOM REQUIRES AN ACTIVE COMMITMENT	PRO 2
	THE PURSUIT OF WISDOM REQUIRES TWO BASIC CHRACTER QUALITIES: HUMILITY AND FAITH	PRO 15:33 JAM 1:5-6

THE KEY TO WISDOM – JAM 1 GOD’S MORAL WILL FOR OUR ATTITUDES
GOD’S WILL IS:	GOD’S WILL IS NOT:	SCRIPTURES
LOVE	LUST	MAR 12:28-31 1COR 13:1-3 ROM 13:14 ROM 14:13-19
RELIANCE	INDEPENDENCE	PRO 3:5-6 GAL 5:16
HUMILITY	PRIDE	JAM 4:6 PHI 2:5-8
GRATITUDE	PRESUMPTION	COL 3:17
CLEAR CONSCIENCE	GUILT	ROM 14:22-23
INTEGRITY	IRRESPONSIBILITY	COL 3:17, 22
DILIGENCE	LAZINESS	COL 3:23
EAGERNESS	COMPULSION	1PET 5:2
GENEROSITY	SELFISHNESS	1TIM 6:17-19
SUBMISSION	SELF-ADVANCEMENT	1PET 5:5-6
COURAGE	COWARDICE	JOH 16:33 MAT 10:26-28
CONTENTMENT	GREED	HEB 13:5 PHI 4:11

• The key to making wise decisions
  • =1= Obey God’s moral will above as stated in the related scriptures
  • =2= Where the Bible gives no command, the believer is free and responsible to choose his own course of action: any decision made within the moral will of God is acceptable to God.
  • =3= In non-moral decisions, the objective is to make wise decisions on the basis of spiritual expediency.
• To acquire wisdom, you need:
  • Correct attitudes:
    • These attitudes are reverence, humility, a teachable spirit, diligence, uprightness, and faith.
  • To take the correct approach:
    • Ask God for wisdom. (Jam 1)
    • Seek wisdom in scripture (book of Proverbs)
    • Seek wisdom through personal research.
    • Seek wisdom through wise counsel.
    • Seek wisdom from life experiences — Learn from your mistakes.

• Read Col 2:4-7 Beware of enticing words

 

• “And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.”

 

(4)
• The word, “beguile”, means to deceive, to reason falsely; to cheat by false reasoning; to tell a person something not true to deceive him.
  • This word was used in the court of law to describe the words of a legal counsel that would disguise the truth in his appeal to the judge and to the jury.
• The word, “enticing” refers to those people that deceived others using their speaking abilities and talents to speak words of deception. They used attractive and appealing words as if they had the truth.
• The most dangerous falsehood or heresy is that which is closest to the truth. It is a subtle deception.

• According to Col 2:1-7, what is Paul’s desire for God’s people?
  • =1= Paul wanted to be sure that the believers were encouraged to continue in the faith. (2)
  • =2= Paul wanted them to be unified. (2)
  • =3= Paul wanted to be sure that the believers had the experience and knowledge of Christ. (2)
  • =4= Paul wanted to be sure that they had order in the church. (5)
    • The word, “order”, is a military term that refers to the cohesiveness of a military unit.
  • =5= Paul wanted to be sure the believers had strong faith. (5)
    • The word, “strong”, is also a military term that refers to an army set in an immovable formation, even in the event of the coming of the enemy, they will not break or bend.
  • =6= Paul wanted to be sure that the believers walked their lives in Christ. (6)
    • The word, “walk”, refers to the normal pattern of living. It means we are to make a steady progress with Christ in our daily living.
  • =7= Paul wanted to be sure that the believers be rooted in the faith. (7)
    • This means there was a past action of faith when they were born again.
  • =8= Paul wanted the believers to be built up in the faith (equipped) (7)
    • This means there is a present action of maturing in the faith.
    • The word, “built up” means = to draw up in the way that the well-rooted plant draws up the nourishment from the earth. The believer must draw up nourishment from Christ.
  • =9= Paul wanted the believers to be established in the faith. (7)
    • This refers to a continuous action of becoming increasingly stable and firm by committing your life to mature in the faith.

• Read Col 2:8-10 Beware of false philosophy

 

• “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,…”

 

(8)
• The warning is to be constantly looking for the enemy to spoil faith.
  • The word, “spoil”, means = to capture so as to make a slave of that person.
    • This is what heresy does. It makes people slaves to false doctrines.
      • Heresy means = to deny some basic doctrine held by the apostles as basic truth.
• For what is the believer warned to watch?
  • Look out for philosophy (8)
    • This word “philosophy” comes from a Greek word that means “the love of wisdom” and refers directly to the Gnostic doctrines.
  • Look out for vain deceit (8)
    • The deceit of human vanity and pride which is futile, empty, and without purpose.
• Philosophy and vain deceit are built on:
  • The traditions of men (8)
    • In the case of the Gnostics, they included some Jewish traditions.
  • The rudiments of the world (8)
    • This probably relates to astrological terms.
    • Some Gnostics believed that wisdom was found in the stars.
      • However, Paul tells us that all wisdom is found in Jesus Christ.

 

• “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”

 

(9)
• This is the mystery to which Paul referred in verse 2.
• The word, “dwelleth”, means to have permanent residence.
• The word, “fullness”, means completeness.
  • Therefore, everything that is in God, the Father, it permanently lives in Jesus Christ.
• The phrase, “in him” is used for emphasis.
  • In many of the new versions this phrase is deleted from the text.
• The word, “bodily”, refers to Jesus’ physical body in the incarnation and to his resurrected body for the word is a continuous verb tense which means He continues to be even now the fullness of God himself.

 

• “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”

 

(10)
• The believer in Jesus Christ is “complete” in Christ.
• The word, “complete”, means fullness. That means our fullness is based on Christ’s fullness.
• The phrase, “head of al principality and power”, refers to the powers and authorities in the spiritual world, both good and evil.
• Summary and application:
  • In this passage, we see the contrast between the true wisdom that comes through Jesus Christ as compared with the warnings against the false wisdom of Gnosticism.
    • Everything the believer needs to live his life, is found in Jesus Christ.
      • James tells us that God gives us wisdom liberally through experience and faith.

HOMEWORK
Colossians 2: 11-17
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher for correction.

• Application of Col 2:1-10
  • In which areas of your life do you need wisdom?
    • Pray and ask God to give you wisdom. By faith, trust that through your experiences of life, God is giving you His wisdom.

 

• Preparation for Col 2:11-17
• Read Col 2:9-17
  • Compare Gen 17:9-11 with Col 2:9-11.
    • What is the value of the Old Testament circumcision in man’s relationship to God?

• Read Deu 10:16 and Deu 30:6.
  • What is the circumcision made without hands mentioned in Col 2:11?

• Compare Rom 6:3-5 with Col 2:12.
  • What is the value of the New Testament baptism in man’s relationship to God?

• Memory Verse: Col 2:13