I am so glad to be with you for part two of “Complete in Christ.” If you missed the first part of this teaching, please take the time to look it up; it is worthwhile. The first reason we are complete in Christ is because of His person. The following two reasons are His power and His provision. Notice the three “P” words: His person, power, and provision. Each of these comes through knowing Jesus. He is the real focus; we are here to learn about Him.
Turn to Colossians 2:8, and J Mark will read these verses before we look at Christ’s power and provision.
Last week, we began exploring Paul’s teaching in Colossians 2:8 to 15, “Complete in Christ.” As we resume our study, here is the Scripture text.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
The Next REASON (that reassures us that we are complete in Christ) is,
Because of His Power
An attack on Jesus’ person is an attack on His power. If He is not who He said He is, then He doesn’t have the power He claims. Christ’s sufficiency is evident in three things that God has done for us through Him: He has spiritually circumcised us (vv. 11-12), He has forgiven our sins (vv. 13-14), and He has given us victory over the forces of evil (v. 15).
In stark contrast to the teachings of the Gnostics, Paul emphatically states that the Colossian Believers were complete in Christ! Completeness means being filled up, crammed, and fully furnished, like a net crammed with fish when the miraculous catch broke the nets of Peter, James, and John.
As he did earlier, Paul reasserts Christ’s preeminence. He is first in both time and rank. He is the head of ALL powers, whatever their source. They are ALL subject to His control. Not only is His power absolute, but it’s also transformational.
Paul speaks of a circumcision performed without human hands, a spiritual circumcision. Circumcision was given to Abraham and his descendants to signify their separation from the world. Romans 2:28 and 29 state “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”
That circumcision of the heart enables us to put off the indwelling power of sin. “The body that was put o...
