"....that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ...." (Colossians 2:2)
"....the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ...." Blessed, "mystery." I may not fully understand, but I do fully embrace.
When I worked in the underground seminary program in Eastern Europe during the communist era, we had a course referred to as "Colossians 2:7." It is fundamental theology from which if one strays, they are subject to the threat described in yesterday's text, Colossians 2:8, "deceit,..tradition of men,..the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." If anyone or anything is, "not according to Christ"------------RUN! Jesus Christ alone is central, fundamental, foundational, "Alpha and Omega." There is nothing before, "Alpha," and nothing after, "Omega." Anyone or any idea which attempts to offer anything or anyone, "not according to Christ," is offering a nonentity, fool hearty, "deceit--tradition--basic principle[]....For in Him (Jesus Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." !!
In yesterday's exegesis of Col. 2:8, I used a "novel" approach to the very familiar passage in Hebrews 4. I wondered, Did I cross the line? The more I have mused on it, the more I believe it to be an accurate Biblical Theology. If this is true, "For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating of the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart" (Amplified)---------- then I must be a person full of, "The Word of God," Who is Jesus Christ, and, "the Words of God," that which, "proceeds out of the mouth of God"-- that which, according to surveys, most "Christians" rarely read--- if I am going to, "be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."
Have you ever heard or said, "That person can really read people?" The implication is that no one could ever pull anything over on such a person. Do not believe that for a second. The American 2008 Presidential Election was just one example of church-goer deception. There is no one who is absolutely foolproof. The deception in these last days will be so sophisticated that, "even the elect," will be in a battle for Truth. "Therefore if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world," make your priority in life the reading of and obedience to the Scriptures, the, "God-Breathed," Word. Whatever follows can only be God.
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to see the battlefield today. Amen.
***********
Read of the Latest "Flotilla" Attempts at: apf327.blogspot
"....the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ...." Blessed, "mystery." I may not fully understand, but I do fully embrace.
When I worked in the underground seminary program in Eastern Europe during the communist era, we had a course referred to as "Colossians 2:7." It is fundamental theology from which if one strays, they are subject to the threat described in yesterday's text, Colossians 2:8, "deceit,..tradition of men,..the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." If anyone or anything is, "not according to Christ"------------RUN! Jesus Christ alone is central, fundamental, foundational, "Alpha and Omega." There is nothing before, "Alpha," and nothing after, "Omega." Anyone or any idea which attempts to offer anything or anyone, "not according to Christ," is offering a nonentity, fool hearty, "deceit--tradition--basic principle[]....For in Him (Jesus Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." !!
In yesterday's exegesis of Col. 2:8, I used a "novel" approach to the very familiar passage in Hebrews 4. I wondered, Did I cross the line? The more I have mused on it, the more I believe it to be an accurate Biblical Theology. If this is true, "For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating of the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart" (Amplified)---------- then I must be a person full of, "The Word of God," Who is Jesus Christ, and, "the Words of God," that which, "proceeds out of the mouth of God"-- that which, according to surveys, most "Christians" rarely read--- if I am going to, "be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."
Have you ever heard or said, "That person can really read people?" The implication is that no one could ever pull anything over on such a person. Do not believe that for a second. The American 2008 Presidential Election was just one example of church-goer deception. There is no one who is absolutely foolproof. The deception in these last days will be so sophisticated that, "even the elect," will be in a battle for Truth. "Therefore if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world," make your priority in life the reading of and obedience to the Scriptures, the, "God-Breathed," Word. Whatever follows can only be God.
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to see the battlefield today. Amen.
***********
Read of the Latest "Flotilla" Attempts at: apf327.blogspot
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
