What Does Colossians 2:6-7 Teach Us about Our Faith Walk?

I have to confess. If you’ve ever given me directions or instructions, and those included more than three steps, I checked out on you before I heard that fourth directive. I don’t mean too, but for some reason my brain just shuts off after a moment because I start visualizing those first couple of steps.

I appreciate simplicity.

I wouldn’t have done very well with the false teachers at Colossae. From what we can piece together, these dudes had intricate systems which believers had to work through in order to experience the “fullness” of Christianity. Eat this, don’t eat that, celebrate this day, don’t celebrate that. Rules, rules, rules. Or perhaps this example from the Gospel of Thomas: 

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

That sounds so incredibly profound. But if you analyze it and try to follow its directive you end up slightly confounded. What exactly does this mean? Contrast that with this simple directive from Colossians 2:

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Pretty simple. Step 1: Receive Christ. Step 2: Live like it.

What Is the Context of Colossians 2?

Colossae was a place filled with superstition. Today we might say that they were in an animistic culture. To oversimplify it a bit, think about some of the silly superstitions we have in our culture. If you walk under a ladder, break a mirror, are crossed by a black cat, spill salt, etc. etc. bad luck is supposed to come your way. Or remember the little ditty we sang as children, “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.” Imagine if you firmly believed all of that stuff and it encompassed your worldview. You’d live in fear.

Now imagine that a group came into that culture and capitalized on some of those fears. You can sell any snake oil to a people who are fearing for their lives. How much better can you do if people are fearing for their eternal destination? The Colossian heretics were offering a system in which Jesus might have played a tiny part. But what was really needed was the “fullness” (their system of living).

Colossians is all about the fullness and sufficiency of Christ. Colossians 2 is the core of Paul’s argument against these false teachers. And verse 6 might be the key verse in the entire letter. Douglas Moo explains, 

“If 2:6–15 is the heart of Colossians, this verse (along with vv. 9–10) is the heart of 2:6–15. It serves as the hinge between the first major section of the letter (1:3–2:5) and the second (2:6–4:6). The first clause succinctly restates the key theological argument of the letter to this point: Jesus Christ is Lord, and we have entered into his Lordship. The second clause then summarizes the specific commands and warnings that follow: we are to continue to live in him, to work out just what it means in both our thinking and our acting to live under the Lordship of Christ.”

If this is the central verse, what does it mean?

What Does It Mean to Continue to Live Our Lives in Christ?

First, we need to be careful not to fall into the Colossian heresy when answering this question. We would do these by creating different classes of those who follow Jesus. You have those who are really living for Christ and then other groups of people who aren’t. And what separates them? Well, the first group engages in spiritual disciplines, is plugged into church, shares their faith, etc., etc.

Such a view would be no different than the philosophy undergirding the Colossian heresy — we’ve just substituted their actions for our own. Paul’s point here is that union with Christ comes through an act of repentance and faith. We are brought into union with the Lord Jesus. Through this, everything else flows. We didn’t come to Jesus by engaging in works, jumping through spiritual hoops, saying the right words, etc. We came to Jesus with nothing in our hands and simply asked Him to rescue us.

It's also important to note that there are three passive verbs and one active verb in verse 7. What does this mean? It means that being rooted, built up and established is something that happens to us. Paul, isn’t telling the Colossians to go dig deep roots, to be firmly planted in the soil, or to pour concrete to solidify our faith. What Paul is saying is that those things have already happened. That is an action that God does when we cry out to Him in faith — he roots us deeply in Christ.

But there is one more thing that needs to be said about these passive verbs. One of them is in the perfect tense and the other two are in the present. “Rooted” is in the perfect tense. It means we have been firmly planted in the deep soil of Christ. But the others are present. That means we are being built up and we are being established in the faith.

The one active verb in verse 7 is to “give thanks.” What does it look like, then, to live our lives in Christ? It looks like being continually thankful for what Christ has accomplished on our behalf. There is a story from the life of Matthew Henry that illustrates this.

Matthew Henry is known for his Bible commentary (mostly because it’s well-tested and typically free on the internet). On one occasion Henry was robbed as he walking along the roadside. After the robbery, Henry told his friend there were four things for which he was thankful. First, he was grateful that he had never been robbed before. After many years of life this was the first time he had been robbed and for that he was grateful. Secondly, he said, "Though they took all my money, I am glad they did not get very much." That was something to be thankful for. Thirdly, he said, "Though they took my money, they did not take my life, and I am grateful for that."  And finally, he suggested, "I am thankful that it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed."

That is an example of what it looks like to live out this life that we have in Christ.

In What Practical Ways Do These Verses Encourage Us in Our Day to Day Lives?

These verses, especially when we really camp out on Paul’s choice of verb tenses, can be incredibly encouraging. Imagine the Colossians who had lived so many days in fear. What if they did the wrong thing? What if the gods weren’t pleased on that particular day, would their entire family be wrecked? What if they accidentally stepped on a crack — oh, their poor mother!

We can look at their plight with a bit of humor, until we realize that we too live with similar fear. Is God going to turn his back on us when it seems like we make such little progress? Paul’s words here were helpful to them, and they can be helpful to us.

It tells us that even when we feel like we aren’t making any progress, that even still we are united to Christ. And this means that we are rooted and that we are being built up. Even when we don’t feel like it. We can drop an anchor here and be certain that in Jesus we are growing (even if painfully) and some day we will be fully and completely like Christ. I like how Sam Storms says this,

“Paul assures us that however imperceptible it may be, we are being built up in Christ. We are ever and always under on-going construction. A brick here, a board there, but always and persistently being built up by divine grace. Yes, every so often we dismantle what God has done, tearing down his handiwork and experiencing momentary, though painful, disintegration. But God will not give up on us. What he began by grace, he'll finish by grace. The building will be completed. Our souls will grow in conformity to Christ and one day we will be like him for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:1-3).”

Because of this we have every reason to be thankful. To be abounding in thanksgiving.

Conclusion

There is a spiritual discipline that I like to put into practice where I preach the gospel to myself. I either use God-Man-Christ-Response, or I’ll tell the story of the Bible of Creation-Fall-Redemption-Glory. And it’s places like Colossians 2:6-7 that fuel such a practice. It’s a constant reminder that we are rooted in Christ. Because of this we aren’t going anywhere — or better yet Christ isn’t going anywhere. That is the gospel that I proclaim to myself over and over again. It’s the good news of what Jesus has accomplished on my behalf.

And that’s where we come full circle to what Paul said in Colossians 2:6 — just as we received Christ (with empty hands outstretched) that we are to walk in Him. With abounding thanksgiving for His accomplishments on our behalf.

Source
Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2008), 177.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/peshkov