deity of Christ | The Spirit and the Word

Stay on the Clear Path

We’re continuing our look at the book of Colossians. Paul started this letter by commending the faith and love that they’re walking in. Now he talks about who they learned it from.

You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Colossians 1:7-8 NIV

What we need to know about this epistle, is that in all probability, Paul did not establish the Colossian church. While he was in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul won Epaphras to the Lord. With Paul as his mentor, Epaphras established churches in Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossi – cities in Asia Minor.

At this point, Epaphras is the pastor of the Colossian church. It’s been a while since Paul was in this area and “wolves” were creeping into the churches with false doctrines. These doctrines eventually became known as Gnosticism.

To put it simply, Gnostics taught that everything in the material world is evil. God cannot touch it. But he can touch an angel a little lower than Himself. So, a large number of spiritual beings were created, a little lower than the one before. At the bottom of the spiritual ladder is Jesus.

This was a blatant denial of the Lord’s deity. They also taught that since the body is evil, it will be destroyed, so it doesn’t matter what your body does. You can fulfill all your fleshly desires with no consequences. Clearly this teaching was devastating the church.

Because of this, Epaphras goes to Rome to consult with Paul who then writes this letter. Because he’s dealing with this subject, Paul gives us one of the clearest pictures of Christ in this small letter.
Knowing all of this, helps us to understand Paul’s next statement.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Colossians 1:9 NIV

The word, Gnostic, comes from the Greek word for knowledge. These heretics felt they had a knowledge that was above all other believers. Paul is letting the church know that there’s a knowledge even higher than what these wolves think they have.

Paul says that he’s praying for them. He’s expecting God to fill them up with the full knowledge of His will. This is a supernatural knowledge that goes beyond the normal human experience.

But, even more than that, God wants to give them all spiritual wisdom and understanding. These are two of the greatest gifts we can receive from God.

Wisdom is the ability to take the knowledge we have and use it to make right decisions. Understanding is the ability to take everything we see and put it together in order to understand the whole scope of what we’re experiencing.

What God has for us in Christ, is more powerful than anything these Gnostics were offering the church. So often, believers are looking for a shortcut to blessings. Unfortunately, these always lead to a dead end.

We need to keep to the path that the Lord has given us in His Word. That’s the true path to a blest and victorious life.

Question: What wisdom and understanding have you received from the Lord recently?

Jesus Christ – God and Man

18 Nov

As we continue to look at the Gospel of Luke, we’re at the point where Jesus is in Jerusalem, during the last weeks before the cross. The religious leaders were testing Him with questions. Their desire was to discredit the Lord before all of the people.

Instead, their plan backfired. Their hypocrisy was exposed for all to see. Now Jesus turns things around and asks them a question.

Then Jesus said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David? David himself declares in the Book of Psalms:

‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’

David calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

Luke 20:41-44 NIV

Jesus is giving the crowd something to think about. It’s also a testimony as to who He really is. Any teacher of the Law would know exactly what He was saying.

First, the Lord asks a question. Why do the teachers of the Law use the term Son of David for the Messiah?

That’s important because the phrase Son of David is never used in the Old Testament in relation to the Christ. It does teach that Messiah would be a king from the line of Judah.

So they were right in assuming the connection to David. But the title, Son of David, was coined by the Rabbis. So in answering the question – they call Messiah the Son of David because their careful study of the Scripture pointed them in that direction.

The next question is harder to answer without a willingness to have your heart changed. If David calls Him Lord, how can the Messiah be his son? Jesus is quoting the prophecy of Psalm 110.

In the Hebrew, David gives a prophecy that “Yahweh will say to my Adonai…”. But in Scripture, both Yahweh and Adonai are names of the one, true God.

It’s through this teaching that Jesus declares to all the religious leaders who He is. By their own study, the teachers of that day should realize that the only way for the Son of David to be Adonai is for God Himself to take on flesh.

That’s what sets Christianity apart from all the seemingly Christian based cults. Jesus Christ declared Himself, on more than one occasion, to be God in the flesh. That’s the test of what is the true church versus the false.

Even in Paul’s day, there were those who would try to deny the deity of Christ. He condemned the church at Corinth for not being careful with their teaching.

For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
2 Corinthians 11:4 NIV

That’s also what separates Christianity from all other religions. They all teach that man has to strive to reach acceptance with a god or struggle for perfection. The true God tells us that it’s impossible for us to do it on our own. So He took the initiative to take on flesh and provide the way of salvation for us through the work of Christ on the cross.

I am so grateful for the gift given to us by Jesus Christ. There truly is no other name under heaven that provides such a rich reward for those who choose to follow Him.

Question: What events brought you to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Who is Christ?

11 Jun

As we continue to look at the Gospel of Mark, we’re at the point where Jesus is in Jerusalem, during the last weeks before the cross.

While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:
“‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” ‘
David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”
The large crowd listened to him with delight.
Mark 12:35-37