The false teachers tried to tell the Colossians that they needed to do more than accept the gift of salvation. This daily devotional looks at how salvation is based on the relationship of change.
Nuggets
- God is interested in an inward conversion, not just an outward show.
- Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross so that His blood could be used to pay the penalty for our sins.
- Jesus’ sacrifice was a triumph.
Devotions in the Joy in the Gospel series
The false teachers wanted to augment the gospel with Old Testament laws and commandments. Paul told them that Jesus’ way was sufficient and triumphant.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Circumcision v. Baptism
“You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col. 2: 11-12 CSB)
God is interested in an inward conversion, not just an outward show.
Some who were Jew tried to get the Gentiles to submit to circumcision to receive salvation. Covenant circumcision was the physical sign the Israelites agreed with the covenant. The cutting off of the flesh of the foreskin was to be a visual representation of cutting off and casting away the sins of the flesh.
They would be false teachers.
Barlow explained what God really had in mind. He wrote, “Manual circumcision was the cutting away of only a small part of the flesh. But the spiritual circumcision consists in putting off the whole body of our corrupt nature — the entire fleshly principle.”
Resource
We’ve called it circumcision of the heart. Circumcision of the heart is where God changes our hearts. “But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God” (Rom 2: 29 ESV).
This circumcision can only be done by the Holy Spirit. It only happens when we profess our faith in Christ. Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
Glossary
So, if the circumcision of the heart happened at conversion, why was Paul needing to write to the Colossians and tell them they have already had it?
It wasn’t like it was a new concept. “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn” (Deut. 10: 16 ESV).
But it is a confusing concept. Many people today struggle with the concept of being a new creation.
- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (II Cor. 5: 17 ESV)
- “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20 ESV).
Glossary
Spence reminded us that the purpose of the circumcision was to change the whole person. Maclaren said it was “… not a rite, but a reality …”
Resources
To me, the circumcision of the heart is a picture of cutting sin out of our lives. It is about transforming us to be the children of God.
Glossary
We don’t get there by age-old ceremonies.
Circumcision is the inward change; baptism is the outward manifestation of that change.
Baptism is the symbol of our conversion experience, providing the physical evidence that we have died and been buried to sin and have risen in a new spiritual life with Jesus.
Baptism is a more in-depth picture of the change represented by circumcision. It not only signifies the change but also the burial and resurrection.
Alexander pieced together some verses that give us a beautiful picture of being buried with Christ.
- “My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4: 19 CSB).
- “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20 ESV).
- “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Rom. 7: 4 CSB).
- “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6: 4 CSB).
- “For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.” (Rom. 6: 5 CSB).
- “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2: 4-6 NIV).
Resource
The Sacrifice of Christ
“And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2: 13-14 CSB)
Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross so that His blood could be used to pay the penalty for our sins.
Owen reminded us that Paul was talking to both the Jews and the Gentiles here. The Gentiles were spiritually dead because they were not circumcised. The Jews were spiritually dead even though they had been circumcised.
Once Jesus was born, died, and rose again, the religious ceremonies were not enough. What may have been fine in the past, no longer was.
Owen put it this way. He wrote, “The great error of Judaism as the rabbis made it was to mistake religious ordinances for religion; equally fatal is the same error in its pseudo-Christian shape.”
Resource
Paul didn’t tell the entire story in these two sentences. Instead, he gave a condensed version.
What Paul left out was the fact that Adam had been made in the image of God, so he had been alive. But then Adam and Eve committed the original sin. They became spiritually dead.
That is where Paul picked up the story and told it like it is. Even in our sinful state, Jesus paved the way for salvation to occur. That included making the way for God to forgive us of our sins.
- Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart. Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Forgiveness is, when we ask, the act of God pardoning us because we have shown repentance for breaking His laws and commandments, which allows us to become holy as He is
- Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
The “And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh …” (Col. 2: 13 CSB) amazes me sometimes. Most of the time when we are spiritually dead, we don’t know just how bad we have it.
It is bad. Spence wrote, “Alienation from God ever produces spiritual callousness.”
Resource
If we aren’t focused on God, we just keep getting more and more insensitive to His love.
We get worse instead of better.
When we turn to God, accept Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, we find spiritual life and forgiveness of our sins. We are free from all of our sins.
We get that forgiveness only when we genuinely submit our lives to God.
That is something only God can do. He has chosen to do it only because Jesus was the Sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins.
Jesus died a horrible death on the cross so that we could be free from our sins.
Devotions in the Love Led to the Cross series
Let’s read verse 14 in another translation. The English Standard Version says, “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2: 14 ESV).
Maclaren explained that Jesus took the ceremonial laws and fulfilled them. We no longer have to perform them. The false teachers were telling the Colossians they still did.
That also means that the law cannot punish us anymore. I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way before. Maclaren wrote, “Paul believed that the burden and penalty of sin had been laid on Christ, and trusting ourselves to the power of that great sacrifice, the dread of punishment will fade from our hearts, and the law will have to draw the bolts of the prison and let the captive go free.
Resource
I had always heard that disciples are still under the moral law. Maclaren begged to differ. He said that, while we still have the obligations of morality, it is because we are now pursuing the character of Christ.
We fulfill the obligations of morality through love, not because it is the law.
The Triumphant Christ
“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him” (Col. 2: 15 CSB)
Jesus’ sacrifice was a triumph.
Spurgeon was right. We look at the cross as something of sorrow. It was an instrument of shame.
Resource
But it was Jesus’ triumph. Yes, He died on it, but He arose victorious.
Making the Connections
Spence told us the characteristics of this new life. It has
- Spontaneity
- Assimilation
- Growth
- Aspiration
- Individuality
Resource
How Do We Apply This?
- Since we are all spiritually dead at birth, we must make the decision to admit our sin, believe Jesus paid the price to save us, confess God as Sovereign Lord, and daily live in submission to Him.
- Give up on the idea that we can find salvation through our own actions or thoughts.
Resource
Only faith in Jesus can deliver us from our sins. We each have to choose whether we are going to accept the gift of salvation or not.
Father God. We are humbled that You designed the Plan of Salvation so that we could have our relationships with You restored. We believe that Jesus is our Savior Please forgive us of our sins. Amen.
What do you think?
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