This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Jesus and the Law” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, October 26, 1986.

This morning, Scripture reading from Colossians chapter two. We will be reading from the sixth verse. Colossians two, verse six: “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Beware, lest anyone take you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

For in him, that is, in Christ, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, triumphing over them in him.

Let no one therefore judge you in food or drink, or in respect to a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath day—these are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one beguile you of your reward, in voluntary humility and worship of angels, intruding into things he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint and band, grows with the growth that comes from God.”

Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the elementary principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship and humility and neglecting of the body, but not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. And then, from Exodus twenty, of course, verse seventeen: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is.

Let us pray together.

We do wait upon You, Lord. Where else can we go? We find You, who delight in our soul. There is no satisfaction found anywhere else but in our God. Lord, may this be plain to us and teach us to delight in You more and more. For the sake of Christ, as we give our hearts to Him and our ears to Your word. Amen.

There are many things that can be brought together in this passage that we have in front of us, and I am thinking specifically of verses nine and ten in Colossians two. There is the seasonal consideration. The matter of the Reformation and its heritage. We should take stock of that heritage and remind ourselves of those things which have now been given us by God’s grace and providence, that we might walk in the liberty of the children of God. There is, as well, the matter of this series on the commandments. And we are at the end of this series.

And I think that you can see, as you take stock of verses 9 and 10, something there that does, in fact, pertain to the tenth commandment. We have spoken to you about the significance of that commandment. Although it is true that the commandment comes in sequence, a conclusion to those that have gone before it indicates that, with the tenth commandment in place, the heart is revealed. Therefore, it is now impossible, literally impossible, for us to consider our relationship with God without taking into account the disposition of our hearts. We must, therefore, as we reflect on the tenth commandment, examine ourselves. But having reflected on the tenth, we now reflect on the first through the ninth and assess them afresh. We have also spoken to you about these commandments and how it is impossible for us to view them, not only apart from our hearts, but also apart from what God has done.

Therefore, as we think about coveting and its remedy, we do well to consider this matter in light of what has taken place in Jesus Christ. I have turned to Colossians 2. This passage, which some of you know, is my foundation. It is one of those well-known texts that I often return to in order to remember the perspective of the apostle and my own responsibilities in light of what God has done in His Son. It has been some time ago. A few years back, I was listening to a book review aired on the radio. The book in question described American eating habits. The author was convinced that Americans have misplaced faith in food, and that Americans would not recognize good food if they had it. It seems that this author went on to suggest that American eating habits are a way to understand the entire American culture. That one can understand the entirety of America from the vantage point of its diet.

Pressing the image of it. The Colossians had. They had the very. That Paul had to remind them of that fact because it seemed some had suggested to them a poorer, more deficient diet. The Christians at Colossae were being asked to digest a philosophy, so-called by Paul. Therein lies the inverse.

And this philosophy. So it was playing. It offered a better life. Certainly an improvement over what they formerly or presently had. This philosophy, according to its proponents, was productive of fullness in both the old and the new. But Paul, when he describes this philosophy, this substitute diet, says that it is empty. It produces emptiness. The purveyors of the philosophy suggest that their diet is the product of special revelation.

Note Paul’s comments in verse eighteen. Were some here claiming visions, extraordinary revelations, things that arose apart from, or at a distance from, the revelation communicated by the apostle himself? Paul identifies the ruminations of these philosophers as the same old tradition. Those things that are wise not from God in the spirit, but from man in the earth. The purveyors of the philosophy, those suggesting the substitute diet, said that they were advancing an understanding of the most grand spiritual reality.

But Paul says that these things are infantile. They are the ABCs of this world, the elementary principles of this age. Paul therefore says to the Christians at Colossae, you are enjoying the perfect meat. The troublemakers have intruded. And they say, forget the apostolic message. What you need is our message. Our philosophically fortified, vitamin-enriched, naturally sweetened, protein-packed, polyunsaturated, can’t-fail, ten easy steps diet. The program. But note the way in which Paul deals with these distractors.

What was the specific idea behind this philosophy? Paul, the apostle, says simply that it is not according to Christ. Why is that? He explains in verse nine: for in him dwells all the fullness of the deity, all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily. What does Paul mean by these words? To understand the apostle’s intention, we must first address a key question.

You may be aware of the traditional interpretation of this passage, Colossians 2:9. It has been understood to affirm the essential deity of Jesus Christ—that he was, in fact, God in human form. When the verse speaks of the fullness of deity dwelling in Jesus Christ in bodily form, it is commonly concluded that the apostle refers to the incarnation of God, specifically the Son of God, and that Jesus was fully God in human form. But does the apostle intend to emphasize what Jesus is in his own nature? Or does he intend to highlight what Jesus possesses? Is it essence? Or possession? Is it essence? Or possession?

To answer this question, it is important for us to understand the flow of the argument from verse nine to verse ten. After stating that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the deity in bodily form, the apostle continues: in him, that is, in Christ, you have been made complete.

Now understand the power of the language. The choice of words is deliberate here. What Paul has done is take the noun form of fullness in verse nine and transform it into a verbal form in verse ten. Thus, the Apostle is saying that what is described in verse nine is now placed upon the believer in verse ten, or something into which the believer has been introduced, something that the believer now enjoys. The fullness of deity spoken of in Christ is also something that has now become the believer’s experience. Now I ask you, is it essence or possession? What is it that Christ has that we come to share?

We should read it in this way: For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made full. Full of that deity yourself, the very fullness of God has become yours also. This does not settle all the questions. Return to verse nine once more and consider the phrase “in bodily form.”

What is the apostle referring to when he speaks of Jesus and the fullness of God, and then “in bodily form”? Does he mean the incarnation, when the eternal God entered human life? Or does he mean the resurrection of the body, when Jesus, having been exalted to the position at the Father’s right hand, received the reward intended for him—the fullness of God? The apostle here does not intend a contrast between Christ and you. Rather, he intends to declare to you that which you share.

The issue is not whether we can share. The issue is that we do share what Christ has gained. What is it that Christ has gained? It is described here as the fullness of God. What might that be? Although the Spirit is not mentioned frequently in Colossians, you might think of the reward given to Christ as the fullness of the Spirit. But what is the purpose of the fullness of the Spirit? The Spirit is described as a down payment on the inheritance, to be given to the saints. Since we have received this gift in Christ—the fullness of God, the fullness of the Spirit—what is the inheritance that is ours in place of that? That is why, you see, Paul expresses himself in the way he does. He does not speak about the Spirit. He does not even mention the inheritance at this point. He speaks about God himself.

It is the fullness of God that is the reward. So that you may understand that the reward given to you is perfect, never-ending fellowship with God. That is the objective, and that has been the objective all along. Do you remember the Garden of Eden before sin? God would come and go. Once sin entered, the presence of God became increasingly difficult throughout the Old Testament. Even now, you see. Even now.

As Christ himself has been exalted, there is laid before us the consideration of the glories given to us in him—namely, the beginning of unending, perfectly satisfying communion and fellowship with God, which has already started. What have we thought? We have thought that it begins only at death. But the apostle says, not so. It has already begun.

The fullness of God is yours. Now you can speak of all of this in terms of liberty and activity, for you see what Paul is doing in verse eight? How can you allow these people to come in and take you captive? Do you not realize what you have? I know that all the force of what the world can oppose you with conspires against this conclusion: that you already have the fullness of God at work in you.

It is your possession. It is not something you must obtain, beg for, or wait for. It is not something only certain people can give to you, come to you, and offer through ten easy steps. No! You already have it. That is the message, that is the glorious message of the gospel. It is not longing to receive something you lack. It is possessing something you already have. You have it. Now, do not allow anyone to take it from you.

You cannot. For if you do, it is a denial of the gospel. You hear Paul speaking to the Galatians: “Oh, you foolish Galatians!” It is a similar matter. Do you not understand what these people are trying to do? They are trying to rob you of what you have in Christ. Now, this is instructive regarding freedom and captivity. It is also instructive, you see, concerning the covenant. Is it necessary for me to explain further? If you have the fullness of God, and you do, can you be satisfied? You must be. You must be.

Q. That which the law could not grant is granted in Christ. The fullness and the satisfaction that were not fulfilled even in the Old Testament find their culmination in Christ. And eternal intelligence knows God Himself in all of His fullness. He is giving Himself to you. There is the final matter.

You must consider how these Colossians could be so vulnerable; we have already hinted at the problem. We look at the world, we look at our lives, we look at the strains and the stress, we look at our wants and our disappointments, and we look at all of these things, and we say to ourselves, We are liable to be deceived by what we see.

The message of the apostle here is precisely to the point. For you see, the circumstance of your life is overlaid with the message of the fullness of God. So that in the various trials and tribulations, in the stress and the strain, you begin to perceive the fullness, and it is the fullness that now ministers to you and applies the ointment for your healing.

It is not a matter of you running from the predicaments that overtake you. It is not a matter of you becoming irresponsible and burying your head deeper under the covers each morning, refusing to get out of bed to face the problems of the world. It is precisely in those circumstances that you must grasp the fullness that is yours. And God is glorified all the more because it is only that fullness, which is yours, that enables you to persevere.

You cannot run from the character of life in this world. You cannot. The issue is, will you perceive in that life in this world the pattern and the power of the fullness of God given to you? That is your trial. Lose it, and you are lost. Hold fast to it. It means glory. Let us pray.

Father, may we remember that the intent has always been that we would be with You forever and enjoy Your presence, and that You would never depart from us and we would never depart from You. But Father, let us also realize what the gospel has meant. Surely Your servant Paul communicates that to us by telling us even now through Jesus Christ, the reward, the fullness of God, is mediated unto us. Lord, may we be maintained in the insistence of the apostle. And Lord, may we not be taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit, those things that would rob us of what You have given to us. Father, in the circumstances of our lives, as hard and as harsh as they may appear, may we see that it is the very fullness of You that is ministering to us by Your Spirit for our good. May we glorify You accordingly.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.