Chapter one starts out very typical to the other letters Paul wrote praying for blessings upon the church and to thank God for the church at Colosse. Timothy was with Paul during the writing of this letter as stated in verse two. This is rather significant since many of the following verses refer to the writer(s) as "we". Please note that In this letter, the emphaisis is on the "we heard about..." mentality since Paul and Timothy never visited this church. Paul and Timothy continue on the theme of prayer in verses nine throught twelve asking God to show the Colosse church all of the wisdom and understanding the Holy Spirit gives. After this friendly greeting, we see in verse thirteen that Paul gets down to business establishing the principles of God bringing them forth out of the darkness into the marvelous light of God to be free from sin.

In verses fifteen through twenty-four, Paul explains in further detail the true intent of this letter. Here, Paul reemphasizes the point where Christ, being exactly like God created everything seen and unseen. This is important as it dispels the myths of the pantheistic nature and dispels the myth that one needs a little from all the "religions" of the world to be a complete person. Paul states empathically that Christ holds everything together through the sacrifice of His blood on the cross and not some external force known as "mother nature". It is the natural physical things that speak of the spiritual depth and creations by God. In actuality, Christ does "have the whole world in his hands" per the popular childrens song. Paul encourages the church at Colosse to hold steadfast and keep rooted in the faith.

We see throughout the rest of Chapter one that Paul is relieved that the sufferings experienced is not for vain, but for the glory of Christ. It is explained that the covenant of Christ was once kept secret from the Gentiles for the Israelites but now is made available for everyone who believes through Christ. The purpose of Paul and Timothy is to state that Christ lives in me. You see, this dispels the teachings of the Gnostics who believed that they were the only ones who had "special access" to "secret teachings". As the Colosse church experienced the various differing cultures intermingling with true Christianity, Paul stood out at a great cost to state that Christ is the only way. Paul continues in the same conversation in chapter two by bringing the churches in Colosse and in Laodicea up to date on the struggles of Paul. Remember, Paul never met with the church people of nor visited the churches at Laodicea and therefore, these churches did not know about Paul's sufferings. It is also apparent here that Paul did not know about these two churches until someone told him while in prison. Paul readdresses his concern for the stability of the faith again by stating that he prays for this church against deception.

The message of being firmly rooted in Christ reappears in verse six of chapter two. Paul addresses these issues that hit to the heart of the Colosse church. In verse eight, Paul deals with people who tried to mix the philosophies of the day with the Gospel. Along with this Paul deals with the Judiastic traditions prevalent in the time where once again, similar to the church in Galatia the law was preached over the cross. Where in Galatia the cross was an addition to the teachings of the law, the cross was viewed by the jewish teachers of their age as the anarchistic replacement for the law. Paul also addresses circumcision of the heart through the nailing of the sin to the cross and through the shedding of his blood. In verse fifteen, Paul states the Christ spoiled all principalities by openly triumphing over them. In many Gnostic, New Thought, and heretical religions today, the emphasis is placed upon the "secrecy" and the "elitist" access to the secret knowledges. In Christianity, the emphaisis is based on the openess and the servantude of all believers to the causes of Christ.

The rest of chapter two reads very similar to the dealings Paul had in the Galatian church that I had discussed in my article The Galatia We Live In. We see teachers from other religions intermingling within Christianity telling the Christians in Colosse that they still had to drink certain drinks and eat only certain foods. We also see an teaching in the worship of angels as being above God. This same mentality is also being practiced today where many Christians are so obsessed with finding angels that their eyes and focus is off of Christ and instead on God's creation. This is fueled by the same spirit of pride that caused Lucifer to rebel and attempt to exalt himself above God. God, the Creator, created the creations and not the creations invented God. Paul ties this together in verse twenty concerning more teachings of the judaizing teachers. We see that following man's law brings forth death, but to follow the laws of Christ brings life. We are to worship Christ in spirit and in truth and not on rituals and traditions. What these false teachers were doing was adding more man made rules to teachings laid down by God. We said that God's teaching was not enough. Therefore we had to add physical do's and dont's to further exalt God. What was designed by man to show us as being "extra spiritual" ends up placing us spiritually under "extra bondages". Many churches today worship "worship" instead of the one (Jesus) who we need to worship. The Gospel was supposed to be simple for all to receive. Instead through the additions of these trituals to God's word, we have made the Gospel more complex and more elitist in nature.

What ends up happening is that the Gospel becomes less and less inspired by God and becomes more and more similar to the teachings of the Gnostics where to observe the teachings of God plus some teachings of man entitles us to enter a secret place of the holy of holies that God already had provided access to if we accept the atonement of sin on our life. Like the church in Colosse that mixed different teachings for the best of all worlds, we (most of the time inadvertently) mix the cross with the gnostic spirit and call it "the one and true remnant church". We tend to establish rank and file priviledges and form our spiritualized pyramid schemes measuring annointing based on legalism instead of the flowing of power by God. We do not need charts to measure annointing. When annointing flows, it flows and it is too easy to tell who is under the annointing and who is not. We do not need a corporate church (see my article Power And Glory or Numbers And Money) mixed with oppression for the lower classes, the latest New Age, or the Stephen Covey Mormon influenced mind control techniques. We need a Holy Spirit flowing church where Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and only the Bible is taught.

Click Here for part three of The Colosse We Live In.