Christianity is not a philosophy, a system of rules, or an austere way of life. It is a vital union with Christ. The believer is in Christ, and Christ is in the believer and in God the Father. (John 14:20) Through our union with Christ, Christians are also able to fellowship with the Father. (Colossians 3:3) When we live in Christ, we have fellowship with God.
As
followers of Jesus Christ, God is working in Christians to give us the desire
and power to do what pleases Him. (Philippians 2:13) We ascribe not to a religious system, but rather we surrender to the control of the
Holy Spirit. When led by the Holy
Spirit, the Christian is no longer irresistibly drawn to serve sin. Our desire is to please the Spirit. (Romans 8:5-14)
“I
want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at
Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. I
want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want
them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan,
which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge.
I am telling you this so no one will deceive you
with well-crafted arguments. For though I am far away from you, my heart
is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your
faith in Christ is strong.
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies
and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual
powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives
all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through
your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but
not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the
cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when
you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted
the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
You were dead because of your sins and because your
sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he
forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us
and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the
spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over
them on the cross.
So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or
drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or
Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come.
And Christ himself is that reality. Don’t let anyone condemn you by
insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have
had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and
they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole
body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.
You have died with Christ, and he has set you free
from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the
rules of the world, such as, ‘Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!’?
Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use
them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion,
pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in
conquering a person’s evil desires.” [1]
(Colossians, Chapter 2 NLT)
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