Tag Archives: Colossians 2

Decapitated Religion

June 19, 2025 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
Colossians 2:8 (NIV)

The early years of the Jesus Movement were messy. You have to think about it. All of the scripture we trek through on this chapter-a-day journey, the texts on which Christian theology has been established for 2,000 years hadn’t yet been written. They were being written as handwritten letters by Paul and the other apostles, delivered by personal carrier, distributed to each local gathering of Jesus’ followers, and read to the believers.

The first century world in which the Jesus Movement emerged was filled with religions. There was certainly the Jewish religion from which Jesus and His followers emerged. There was a pantheon of Roman gods and Greek gods that each had their own temple, cult, worship, and traditions. There was a cult worshipping Caesar as god. There were also Greek philosophies that had all the hallmarks of being religions in-and-of themselves. As local gatherings of new believers in Jesus met on a regular basis to worship, learn Jesus’ teachings, and encourage one another to live their lives daily as His disciples, they were confronted from within and without with other religious and philosophical thoughts that some individuals wanted to connect to and with Jesus.

Reading between the lines of Paul’s letter to the believers in Colossae, it is obvious that he is addressing this very reality. Others were introducing religious thoughts, traditions, and philosophies into the local gathering that had nothing to do with Jesus. Over the centuries, scholars have argued about what competing religion or philosophy Paul is addressing. I don’t think it’s one. I think he’s addressing all of it: Jewish legalism, pagan rituals and traditions, Greek philosophy, and even the worship of angels are all described by Paul’s words.

What I have found fascinating while meditating on the letter yesterday and today is to circle and count the number of times Paul uses the word “Christ.” Ten times he uses it in today’s chapter. He’ll use it 30 times total in this brief letter. So, I took some time to consider what Paul is saying about Christ:

Christ is the mystery of God.
All creation was created in Christ, through Christ, for Christ.
In Christ, all of creation holds together.
Christ is the fullness of God in bodily form.
In Christ we are brought into that fullness.
Once dead in our sin, we are made alive in Christ.
Christ is the reality of God.
Christ is the head of all power and authority.
Christ is supreme.

I then listed and compared the adjectives Paul uses in describing these competing religious and philosophical thoughts that others are trying to introduce and merge into Jesus’ teaching:

fine-sounding arguments
hollow
deceptive philosophy
human tradition
elemental spiritual forces of this world
shadow
false humility
idle notions
rules of this world destined to perish
merely human commands and teachings
mere appearance of wisdom
lacking any value in restraining sensual indulgence

Wow, what a contrast. Paul then makes a point that all of these religious and philosophical notions have “lost connection with the head” and he had just identified “the head” a few paragraphs earlier as Christ. We all know of what worth the body is once it’s been decapitated.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself meditating on Jesus who is the Christ. Paul will make this point 30 times in this letter. He will make it 50 times in his letter to the believers in Ephesus. The point he is making is that the crucified and resurrected Jesus is the “anointed one,” the “messiah,” the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Reality of God, Mystery of God and Supreme Head over everything.

As a disciple of Jesus, I believe that if I diminish Jesus the Christ in any way, I’ve lost connection to the head and have become decapitated from the Truth.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Chapter-a-Day

Truth & Wackiness

October 11, 2023 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
Colossians 2:16 (NIV)

I have been something of a denominational nomad during my faith journey. The ancient Apostle’s Creed says “I believe in the holy catholic church” which confuses a lot of modern believers. They get it confused with the Roman Catholic tradition. The word “catholic” means “broad, universal, comprehensive.” In other words, the “church” is not contained by one denomination or tradition. I’ve always embraced this belief. Thus, rather than play for one team, I’ve been a bit of a free agent. I feel at home in many different denominational traditions, even though I may not agree 100% with the jots and tittles of their particular doctrinal statements.

Along my spiritual journey, I’ve encountered a number of individuals and groups that hold what I consider to be wacky beliefs. There are the Pentecostals who equate “speaking in tongues” with spiritual elitism (“You don’t have to speak in tongues, but why go Greyhound when you could fly first class?”). I’ve never had to work hard to find all kind of legalism that still exists around the Sabbath (“You can go outside and play catch, but don’t you dare play an actual game!”). I have a friend whose parent refused to attend their wedding unless they were baptized three times. Silly.

I find it fascinating that Christianity began as a spiritual movement. Jesus did not fret too much about structure. Twelve marginally capable men and a handful of dutifully faithful women were directed with little detail to spread Jesus’ love and teaching to the ends of the earth. Peter was given a leadership role, but no real job description. It wasn’t an organization as much as it was an organism.

As the Jesus movement spread, the reality is that there were a number of wacky beliefs that emerged in various locations. Paul’s letter to the followers of Jesus in Colossae was specifically written to address some of these. Paul doesn’t name any specifics. It’s likely that it wasn’t a single, organized false teaching but rather a loose number of strange things different individuals were spouting. What Paul does make clear to the believers in Colossae is that they were to hold fast to the simplicity of Jesus’ core teaching:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

In the quiet this morning, I am prepping for a message I have to deliver on Sunday from the book of Revelation. Talk about a book that spawns a wide range of thoughts and beliefs (and, yes, some of them are wacky). I find John’s Revelation is a lot like what Paul was communicating to the believers in Colossae. One can get spiritually distracted by all sorts of things. For the Colossians it was dietary restrictions, Sabbath regulations, and New Moon festivals. In John’s vision it’s beasts and horsemen and plagues. As I get to the core of it, however, the vision is about one thing: Jesus Christ is Lord. Paul was telling the Colossians to ignore the wackiness stay focused on that.

I’ve always found that to be a good plan.

I’ll stick with that.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Rooted

May 20, 2019 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)

Last summer Wendy and I had five fire bushes planted at the back of our yard. As the hot, dry summer wore on the bushes struggled for life. Despite the fact that I gave them water and they had plenty of sunlight, they slowly withered and died. Fortunately, all of our other landscaping, which had been planted two years earlier, made it through the drought and is full of life this spring.

It’s been a beautifully warm, wet spring this year and I’ve been mowing my lawn twice a week. As I passed by the dead bushes at the back of our yard on Saturday, I happened to bump a couple of them with the edge of the mower. I noticed that they quite easily bent and seemed to pull up from the ground. They had no depth of root structure grounding them.

I thought of those bushes as I read this morning’s chapter. Paul instructs the spiritually immature believers in Colossae that having made a decision to follow Jesus was just the beginning of their spiritual journey. They are spiritual saplings, newly planted. Now, it’s time to put down deep spiritual roots which only happens slowly, over time. It is the continual processing of Word and Light and Spirit and relationship in spiritual photosynthesis leading to a chain reaction of praise and gratitude which perpetuates the cycle.

In the past few week’s I’ve written about an observation I’ve had over the years. The brands of Jesus’ followers with whom I’ve been associated most of my life have had a penchant for focusing on getting people “saved” like a nursery of seedlings dropped into a tiny pot of loose soil and sprinkled with water. When life begins to scorch, or the storms of circumstance blow in like a midwest thunderstorm, there are no spiritual roots. The seedlings wither.

This morning I find myself meditating on the long, slow, gradual process of growing deep spiritual roots. It’s not a quick fix. It requires time, attention, and a certain amount of discipline. It goes against the grain of a culture that worships the quick, simple, and easy. But, it’s good. The deeper my roots, the more capable I found myself to weather the unpredictable ebb and flow of both drought and storms in life.

Dig deep. Build up. Strengthen faith. Let gratitude flow.

Have a great week, my friend.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Colossians 2

April 18, 2012 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7 (NLT)

When we moved into our house about seven years ago, I discovered a meager little yellow rose bush growing behind the garage. You couldn’t see it from the patio and you only noticed it if you were looking for it. The back of the deteriorating garage is a bit of an inhospitable place. It’s a place where junk gets tossed amidst the remnants of old paint peelings and where the wind and weeds tend to collect blowing garbage.

I paid little attention to the humble yellow rose bush. I did nothing to tend it. Yet, every summer as I mowed around the back of the garage I would see beautiful pale yellow roses touched with pink blooming from the little bush. I’d snip them and bring them in the house for my Love.

Last summer I decided to plant a few rose bushes in our main garden bed behind the house, which is a bit of a joke because I have no agricultural acumen whatsoever. Nevertheless, I planted three rose bushes and decided I would transplant the meager yellow rose bush from behind the garage to join them. I grabbed my shovel and went to work to uncover the root structure of the little bush.

What I discovered as I dug deeper and deeper was a massive, thick system of roots that descended down into the soil deeper than I could easily unearth. I began to realize why this little plant continued to bloom despite the difficult environment and lack of tending. After a lot of digging I realized I was not going to easily get to the bottom of the roots. I finally decided to cut the roots as deep as I could. That was no easy task. The roots were strong and did not yeild easily to my blade. The rose bush did not like the move and struggled through last summer, but it is already showing signs of life again this spring.

What a great word picture that little rose bush gave me in conjunction with the encouragement in today’s chapter to “let your roots grow down deep into [Jesus].” I’m asking myself, “If people dig around my life, what will they find? Are the roots of my life growing strong, thick, and deep into the source of Creation, who is Christ? Will my life continue to bear fruit despite the antagonistic surface conditions that I experience through the seasons of my everyday life?

Today, I’m thinking about where the spiritual roots of my life go. I’m determined once more to dig a little deeper.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Colossians 2

February 16, 2012 Tom Vander Well 2 Comments

He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:14 (NLT)

Anyone who has been deeply in debt knows the heavy weight it can become on one’s life and soul. It feels unescapable. With each payment you stick your shovel into the debt load to try and dig yourself out, but the interest on the debt seems to fill in every hole you make. It leaves one feeling utterly hopeless.

The same is true of our spiritual debt. The things I want to do are the things that never get checked off the task list. The things I tell myself I’m not going to do because they are bad for me (or others) are the things I find myself doing again and again. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to stop doing the things I don’t want to do and do the things I should do. It leaves one feeling utterly hopeless.

Imagine being that person so deeply in debt that you can’t possibly pay back what you owe. The phone rings off the hook with collectors pressing you for money. Repo men are casing your place to take away your things. You’re left living each moment of every day with the knowledge that you about to lose everything you own and leave you utterly bankrupt. How would you respond if someone came along, a person to whom you owed one of those debts, and that person wrote a check to pay off everything you owed? No strings attached and nothing requested in return. You walk away free and clear, your debt paid. Would you feel grateful? Would you not offer to do anything that person asked in thanks for the exceeding, unwarranted kindness they showed you?

According to God’s Message, that’s exactly what Jesus did for us and our spiritual debt. Despite what we’ve done. Despite our inability to stop our bad behaviors and consistently do what we know we should do. No matter how great a debt we’ve built up from all the shitty things we’ve done in secret and in public to ourselves, to others, and to God Himself – Jesus paid our debt. The end we each deserve is the end He experienced when He died on the cross. He was paying off our spiritual debt once and for all.

How am I going to respond to that?