I have a blog article on Colossians that is more complete, but this is a shorter version. I encourage you to stop right now and watch this 5 minute video on the historical background of Colossians. You might hear the term “dualism” and wonder what that means. This video will help understand some of the heretical philosophy being taught and discussed in Colossae.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2UW66oBEsA&list=PLWdLxfKtLrX6IqjbPbuybN0NouIq5nzjp&index=8

The theme of Colossians is “Christology“: the study (ology) of Jesus Christ, his person (who he is) and his work (what he came to do). The first two chapters discuss the person and work of Jesus Christ. Stop and watch this 4 minute video on the first two chapters.

This slide from Marvin Willis sums up the false teaching that Paul was confronting in the letter:

Gnosticism is complicated, but basically: all flesh is evil and God cannot come into an evil fleshly body, so Jesus cannot be “God in the flesh”.

HIs answer to all this heresy is that all the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. He is fully God while being fully man. That is hard to understand fully and we don’t have to understand it perfectly. In the first few centuries of Christianity there were several councils to debate the different philosophies about the nature of Jesus, such as docetism. (AI) “Docetism, (from Greek dokein, “to seem”), Christian heresy and one of the earliest Christian sectarian doctrines, affirming that Christ did not have a real or natural body during his life on earth but only an apparent or phantom one.” There were many more. The councils usually ended up deciding which view was correct, and then they declared as heretics anyone who disagreed with that view. It was a lot of unnecessary “splitting of hairs” that led to much division in the early church. We simply must believe that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus (i.e. He is fully God), that He did come in the flesh (i.e. the incarnation), that He is the only begotten Son of God (John 1:14), that He is the Christ (i.e. the Messiah: Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah). 1 John 2:²² Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”

Here is another good summary by Marvin Willis of what Paul says in chapter 1 and 2:

Or this slide (a little blurred) by Ernie Varra that gives the verses:

1:¹⁵ He is the image (eikón: Image, likeness, representation) of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” The word is used by Jesus of the image of Caesar that was on a denarius coin. Matthew 22:²⁰ And He *said to them, “Whose image (eikon) and inscription is this?” So when you see the coin, you see the likeness of Caesar himself. Jesus said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9). God is a spirit (John 4:24) and you can’t see a spirit (sorry, Casper is not real). But when you see all the qualities that Jesus had, you see what the Father is like.

1:¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Preiminent in the Greek is próteuó: To have the first place, to be preeminent. (AI) “The verb “próteuó” signifies holding the highest rank or position, being first in importance or influence. It is used in the New Testament to describe the supremacy and preeminence of Christ, particularly in relation to creation and the church.” The word is only used once in the New Testament and it fits so well in Colossians. The supremacy and preeminence of Jesus Christ. Why is He preeminent? 1:¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (i.e. b/c he was not just a man, a prophet, a spiritual guru: he was God in the flesh.

He was not a created being as the Jehovah’s Witness claim. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.” Everything is either created (from nothing, Genesis 1) or not created (eternal). The “Word” here is Jesus. 1:¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Thus Jesus created all things. Anything that was created was created by Jesus. If he was a created being, he would have to have created himself. He is the firstborn (prototokos: Firstborn) of all creation. (AI) “The term “prototokos” is used in the New Testament to denote the firstborn child in a family, emphasizing preeminence and priority in both birth order and status. In a theological context, it is often used to describe Jesus Christ, highlighting His supremacy and unique position in creation and redemption.” “Firstborn” here does not mean Jesus was the first thing created, which would contradict John 1:1-3. It means that he has the preeminence over all creation just as the firstborn son has preeminence.

All the elements that make up the earth are made up of cells with a nucleus in each cell. The nucleus has positively charged protons in the nucleus itself and negatively charged electrons that spin around the nucleus in defined shells and orbitals. Positive attracts negative. What keeps the negatively charged electrons from being drawn into the nucleus by the positively charged protons, thus collapsing the cell and destroying matter? 1:17 says that is is Jesus who holds thing together. Where does the force of gravity come from? 1:17 says it is Jesus’ power that creates gravity. There is an equation for the force of attraction between two objects: F = G * (m1 * m2) / r^2. M1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects. F is the force of attraction. G: is the gravitational constant (approximately 6.674 × 10^-11 N⋅m²/kg²). G is one of the many “constants” in physics and math that cannot be explained by random by chance atheistic explanations of how the earth came to be. But why does that equation exist and work? 1:17 says it is by the power of Jesus. Jesus created all objects. His power is the attraction between the two objects (which creates gravity and another constant, the force of gravity which is 9.8 m/sec^2). Jesus is the one who came up with the force of attraction equation and put it into effect at creation. Jesus is the one who wrote all the equations and constants that govern how the universe operates. It is by his power that they all work so consistently and perfectly.

1:¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” If he is preeminent over all creation, then certainly He is the head over his spiritual body, which is the church, i.e. those saved by his death, burial, and resurrection. The husband is the head of the wife, which means she is in submission. The church is in submission to follow and obey all the teachings of Jesus. Just as our physical systems of the body are controlled by our heads, so it is with Jesus and his body, the church. The pope is not the head of the church. Ephesians 4:11 lists 5 gifted leadership offices or positions: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors (elders), and teachers. Don’t you think that the position of “pope” would be in that list if Jesus wanted a pope to be the leader of the church? We must submit to Christ and Him only.

1:²⁰ and through him to reconcile (apokatallassó: To reconcile completely, to restore to favor) to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” Reconciliation emphasizes the total restoration of a relationship that was once broken due to sin. It is the restoration of a state of peace between two parties that were enemies in a conflict. Romans 5:¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only this, but we also celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” We were enemies of God due to our sin. It is not that we hated God. It is simply that our sins put us in a state of enmity with God. Reconciliation with God makes us at peace with God in our spiritual relationship. Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus’ is our means of achieving that peace. Ephesians 2:¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace.” 2 Corinthians 5:¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Paul continues with what Jesus did, what he accomplished. 2: ¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” He made us alive spiritually as we rose from immersion in baptism (the word baptism means immersion). Baptism is an act of faith, not a work to earn salvation. He was circumcised (peritomé: Derived from the Greek verb περιτέμνω (peritemnō), meaning “to cut around, the cutting around of the foreskin) cut off from the land of the living (hence the word circumcision). Isaiah 53:By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?”

Since Christ is all we need and he is the head of the church, we should not let anyone bind rules or laws on us that Jesus did not command. Apparently there were many false teachers who were doing that. They were teaching asceticism: the denial of the body’s normal desires in order to be more righteous: don’t taste, don’t touch. They were teaching the Gentile Christians that they had to keep the rituals of the old covenant, such as the unclean food laws, the observance of Jewish feasts and the new moon. Some were saying they had visions about angels and promoted the worship of angels. They were telling the Christians that they were not fully saved unless they did these things. None of these things were commanded by Jesus. We are sufficient in Christ. Don’t let anyone judge you or mislead you or bind human traditions or philosophy on you.

There is much to apply to today concerning the Christology that Paul presented. There are a lot of Christian denominations and cults that deny that Jesus was God, such as Christian Science, Jehovah’s Witness, and many others. There are many denominations that make their members observe the unclean food laws, such as the Seventh Day Adventists. Some groups have leaders that deceive the members with visions they claim to have seen. Some groups emphasize the teachings of their latter day prophets to the exclusion of making Jesus Christ the core of their teaching.

In other words, we have a lot of the same false teaching as the Colossians did.