God's Word For You

INTRODUCTION

Paul wrote the letter to the Christians at Colossae because there were false teachers in the church who were undermining the believers’ faith and confidence.

The false teaching corrupted understanding on two counts:

[1] about the person of Jesus Christ: it taught that Jesus Christ was neither the creator nor the full and final revelation of God. He was just one of many rungs on the ladder which led to knowledge of God. The inference of this was that Christians had to go beside and beyond Christ to further sources of revelation (for example, from other intermediaries such as angels) to gain more knowledge of God. (This aspect of the false teaching was related to Gnosticism).

[2] about the salvation the believer has in Jesus Christ: it taught that what Jesus Christ did on the cross was not sufficient to sustain the believer’s relationship with God, that the believer must add on to the work of Christ his own works which would gain, sustain and maintain his salvation. (This aspect of the false teaching was related to Judaism, Gnosticism and asceticism, and was definitely legalistic.)