Be Complete (Colossians): Become the Whole Person God Intends You to Be (The BE Series Commentary) by Wiersbe Warren W

Author:Wiersbe, Warren W. [Wiersbe, Warren W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Colossae, Colossians, Wiersbe, Paul
Publisher: David C Cook
Published: 2010-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Jews

Believers

external surgery

internal—the heart

only a part of the body

the whole “body of sins”

done by hands

done without hands

no spiritual help in beating sin

enables them to overcome sin

When Jesus Christ died and rose again, He won a complete and final victory over sin. He not only died for our sins (salvation), but He “died unto sin” (sanctification; see Rom. 6:10ff.). What the law could not do, Jesus Christ accomplished for us. The old nature (“the body of the sins of the flesh”) was put off—rendered inoperative—so that we need no longer be enslaved to its desires. The old sinful nature is not eradicated, for we can still sin (1 John 1:5—2:6). But the power has been broken as we yield to Christ and walk in the power of the Spirit.

(2) Alive in Him (vv. 12–13). Here Paul used the illustration of baptism. Keep in mind that in the New Testament, the word baptize has both a literal and a figurative meaning. The literal meaning is “to dip, to immerse.” The figurative meaning is “to be identified with.” For example, the Jewish nation was “baptized unto Moses” when it went through the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10:1–2). There was no water involved in this baptism, because they went over on dry land. In this experience, the nation was identified with Moses.

Paul used the word baptism in a figurative sense in this section of his letter—for no amount of material water could bury a person with Christ or make him alive in Christ. Water baptism by immersion is a picture of this spiritual experience. When a person is saved, he is immediately baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12–13) and identified with the Head, Jesus Christ. This identification means that whatever happened to Christ also happened to us. When He died, we died with Him. When He was buried, we were buried. When He arose again, we arose with Him—and we left the graveclothes of the old life behind (Col. 3:1–14).

All of this took place “through the faith of the operation of God” (Col. 2:12). It was the power of God that changed us, not the power of water. The Spirit of God identified us with Jesus Christ, and we were buried with Him, raised with Him, and made alive with Him! (The Greek verbs are very expressive: co-buried, co-raised, and co-made alive.) Because God raised His Son from the dead, we have eternal life.

The practical application is clear: Since we are identified with Christ and He is the fullness of God, what more do we need? We have experienced the energy of God through faith in Christ, so why turn to the deadness of the law? God has forgiven us all our trespasses (Col. 2:13b) so that we have a perfect standing before Him.

(3) Free from the law in Him (v. 14). Jesus not only

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