We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints – that faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you.
Colossians 1:3-5 New International Version (NIV)
For he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13-14 (NIV)
Apologetics – a theological exercise in which a person discusses, debates and defends their understanding of the beliefs of the Christian faith.
Heresy – a belief or opinion that is contrary to the standard religious belief or doctrine.
The “Colossae Heresy”
Gnosticism
2 basic assumptions (according to William Barclay)
1- The spirit world was good and the material world was essentially evil.
2- The material world [matter] is eternal; the universe was created out of flawed evil matter.
So…
- God could not have been the creator of the world
- Jesus was an emanation [manifestation] making him only a partial revelation of God.
- It was an emanation so distant from God’s goodness that created the world.
- Jesus could not have been flesh and blood but some kind of spiritual being.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all this fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:15-20 (NIV)
CHRIST RULES!
All of God’s fullness, goodness, perfection, and creativity dwells in Jesus!
Who or What is Your #1?