A World of “NO”
In his letter to the church at Colossae, the apostle Paul encourages and reminds the people there of who the Cosmic Christ is and endeavors to encourage them in their faith while giving them a spiritually cosmological understanding of their struggles within their everyday lives. He lays out two opposing ways of reality that we can live out in chapter 1.
Colossians 1:13 “13He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,”
Dominion of Darkness versus the Kingdom of the Son. He goes on to describe attributes of the Son, the ruler of the domain of light, as well as describe the domain of darkness.
Of the Son and His kingdom he ascribes these characteristics:
image of the invisible God, the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.
God’s fullness dwells in Him through Him
the firstborn over all creation.
He is the head of the body, the church; who is the head over every ruler and authority.
He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead
in Him all things were created (in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities, for Him and through Him.
saints have a new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator
He is preeminent, in Him all things hold together.
reconciles to Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross.
He presents you (the faithful) holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence
He forgave us all our trespasses, canceled the debt ascribed to us
disarmed the powers and authorities
the mystery of God (Christ in you, the hope of glory) in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast…these are a shadow of the things to come
you have been raised with Christ (who is) seated at the right hand of God.
Saints are present with other Saints in spirit
No outward markers of value/identity; unity/equality
There is no favoritism (Whoever does wrong will be repaid for his wrong)
Of the Dominion of Darkness he attributes these characteristics
where the mystery of Christ was hidden for ages and generations
deception by smooth rhetoric.
alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds
takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world
incompleteness
you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature
wear your sinful nature
decrees stood against us, debt ascribed to us because of our trespasses
powers and authorities are armed
judged by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.
religious people
delight in false humility and the worship of angels,
puffed up without basis by an unspiritual mind
lost connection to the head
the wrath of God is coming because of…
components of your earthly nature:
sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language, lying/deception
the sons of disobedience
Outward markers of identity/value; discrimination: Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free
spiritual forces of the world have regulations based on human commands and teachings.
restrictions have an appearance of wisdom but have no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Religiosity
Religion is a word that comes from Latin religio(n-) ‘obligation, bond, reverence’, perhaps based on Latin religare ‘to bind’.
“This noun of action was derived by Cicero from relegere "go through again" (in reading or in thought), from re- "again" (see re-) + legere "read" (see lecture (n.)). However, popular etymology among the later ancients (Servius, Lactantius, Augustine) and the interpretation of many modern writers connects it with religare "to bind fast" (see rely), via the notion of "place an obligation on," or "bond between humans and gods."” -Etymology Online (emphasis my own)
I was told long ago that the idea of religion was to be chained to your God and the image never left me. When I look at the characteristics of these two kingdoms, the domain of darkness and the Kingdom of the Son, only the latter has the markers of being religion, with words like restrictions, regulations, debts, judgements, human tradition and captivity for crying out loud! This is why the world treats religion with such distaste. Who would want to be bound by an cruel master?
I believe Paul sees this and combats it in Chapter 2 of Colossians.
Colossians 2:20-21 “20If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: 21'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’?”
He refers to a worldview and cosmology that is assumed and then the means in which we interact with that system daily. Let’s look at the worldview first.
Spiritual Forces of the World
Paul assumes that his readers knows “the world” was a system personified by forces that had real power and authority. The world he’s talking about here isn’t just the dirt and stones earth we walk around on but a kingdom unto itself, not defined by geography and location so much as legal and spiritual framework that infiltrates the material earth we are familiar with through our 5 senses. This system, as the ancient audience knew, was under the guardianship, meddling and manipulation of spiritual beings according to geographic location, natural or elemental realm and or domain of existence. City, region, wind, rather, crop, fertility, family life, war, sun, rain, women, workers, protection, you name it. Non Israelites understood these powers and authorities as the gods and demi-gods or their pantheons, while the Israelites knew these to be the sons of God, gods or elohim assigned to the nations (Deut.32:8). Paul clarifies one elohim as he expands this teaching to the church at Ephesus.
Ephesians 2:2 “when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” BSB
In this passage, we see “the world” linked to a specific “ruler” who is a “spirit” being connected with the sons of disobedience. Another translations puts it this way…
“following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—” ESV
The ESV translates ruler as prince. Is this a prince among the sons of disobedience who are spiritual beings working through lesser elohim to corrupt humanity in their world system, or are the sons of disobedience fallen humanity? Food for thought.
Jesus speaks to this concept of “spirits”, “authority” and “power” after his disciples returned from mission. He even refers to the satan, elsewhere referred to in scripture as a prince of spiritual significance, but especially as we just saw in Ephesians, Paul sees satan as the prince of the power of the air.
Luke10:17-20 “17The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.” 18So He told them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.20Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Jesus conflates spirits with demons here, and his confirms that the enemy has power in the earth. The fact that he gave his guys authority proves that there is already an authority structure in place on the earth, regarding demons/spirits, alongside creatures and regions. Jesus again talks about these concepts in Mark 3 just after being accused by his own family of lunacy.
Mark 3:22-24 22And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,g” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.” 23So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?
Here the language infers that there is hierarchy among spiritual forces. Names like “Beelzebul” and “Prince of the Demons” are thrown into the conversation by scribes yet Jesus turned around and uses the term “Satan.” Let’s do a refresher on what these names mean.
Beelzebul: Baal Zebub = "lord of the flies," a Philistine god. In Jewish tradition, this name was adapted to refer to the chief of demons, reflecting the Jewish disdain for pagan gods. By the time of the New Testament, Beelzeboul had become synonymous with Satan, the adversary of God and His people. (Strong’s Lexicon) Baal meaning Master or Lord.
Demon: Daimonion: In the Greco-Roman world, "daimons" were considered lesser deities or spirits that could be either benevolent or malevolent. However, in the Jewish and early Christian context, "daimonion" took on a more negative connotation, referring specifically to evil spirits that were in rebellion against God. (Strong’s Lexicon)
Satan: H7854: שָׂטָן (Satan) -(transliteration of Hebrew word) Refers to an adversary or accuser, used in the Old Testament to describe both human and supernatural adversaries. (Strong’s Lexicon)
So, Jesus ascribes a kingdom here on earth understood through it’s relationship to spirit entities and their authority and power over it, until he steps in of course. Again we see Jesus talk about this world and its ruler/prince.
John 12:31 “31Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler (prince) of this world be cast out.”
The apostle John tells us so much after Jesus died, resurrected and ascended.
1 John 5:19 “19We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”
Can we agree that the ancient audience of Paul understood a cosmological view of their day as one where spiritual forces that had power over the world and infiltrated their daily lives? Let’s look again at the Col 2:20 verse.
Colossians 2:20-21 “20If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: 21'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’?”
These spiritual forces of the world, we now can understand, are demons/spirits and their higher ranking superiors, like Beelzebul and/or Prince of the demons, culminating in the satan, God’s chief adversary also know as “the evil one.” Paul tells us that they have imposed regulations upon the world, the system of their making. It appears that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them, yet turned portions of them over to be ruled and run by creatures of intelligence in an act of participation or concession. Whatever reason we know it all led successfully to the redemption of things back to God in Christ on the cross! It all leads to none having excuse (Rom1) and all creation being submitted to God in the end (1 Cor 15:28).
I find it curious that it is the world system in place by anti-God spiritual powers that is responsible for the spirit of religiosity in the world. That it is the powers of the evil one that imposes restrictions we assume come from God.
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.
I’d bet money that if you said this without context people would ascribe these commands to God and not Satan. But why? Well, we could point to the 600 plus laws of the OT and assert that God is a grumpy rule maker who wants everyone to be miserable. But misery, really? Is that the motive behind God’s actions? Perhaps instead of ascribing that character trait to God we reassess our view of the reason behind the OT laws and instead see what spiritual entity with authority has a motive of misery.
My proposition is that the institution of restriction stems from an anti-God nature.
More to come!