Do You Know Who You Are?

Do You Know Who You Are?
A study of Colossians 2:6-14 (NIV)

In this section of Colossians we are given some important information about what Jesus did for us and who we are as a consequence. Over the next few days we will unpack this text a bit.

Verse 6 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,”

“Just as you received” means “in the same way as you received.”

How did we receive Christ Jesus the Lord?

According to Ephesians 2:8-9, “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” It tells us that salvation is not from ourselves. Instead, “it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Think about it. If we could somehow work our way into God’s good graces, we would be telling everyone how great we were. But if all we do is receive a gift; how can we possibly take any credit?

John 3:16 says that it is believing in Jesus that gives us everlasting life. That is such a disarming idea. We come prepared to work. That is what we have been taught. We have a hard time believing that believing can accomplish anything at all. It seems like the very idea must be something we have made up in our mind. Yet believing Jesus is exactly what God says we are to do.

In Romans 4:16 Paul tells us why. He says that “the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the Law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.”

You might recall that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Hebrews 11:6 makes it clear that without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith is what Father has always required. If we did not come to God by faith, by believing God, then there would be no way of knowing whether we love Him for who He is or just for what we could get out of it.

So, faith is the way we received Christ and verse 6 of our text in Colossians 2 concludes by telling us that faith is the way we are to continue to live in Christ.

Verse 6 concludes with “Continue to live in him.” The word translated “live” (or often “walk”) here is in the present imperative. The Greek is περιπατεῖτε (peripateite), which in this context implies continuing to do something one has begun. This verb is used in a literal way to refer to a person “walking.” That’s why many translations use “walk.” Here, it is used metaphorically to refer to the way one lives one’s life. We still do that today when, for example, we talk about people “from all walks of life.”

So what this is telling us is that we are to walk—or, live our lives on an ongoing basis—by faith; by trusting in Jesus Christ and His finished work. We live our lives in precisely the same way we received Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:7 “We live (walk) by faith, not by sight:”

This brings clarity to Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Do you see it?

We are to live our everyday working, playing, grocery-shopping lives by His grace through faith, just as we were saved by his grace through faith.

Now we will look at what Paul says in this passage about who we are in Christ. As we do, keep in mind that we accept by faith what is written about who we are, just as we accepted Christ Jesus.

Colossians 2:7 “rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

The Greek tenses here are important. Where you read “rooted” here, the Greek is in the past tense, so “having been rooted”, and where you read “strengthened” the tense is “now being strengthened (or built up).”

So, we have been (past tense) firmly (KJV) rooted. In the hills and hollers of West Virginia where we have our home, we see what happens to things that are not firmly rooted. When the winds come, they fall over. The good news is that this passage says that we have been firmly rooted. “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” Ephesians 4:14 (NASB 2020)

Ephesians 1:13-14 tells us, “You also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

This seal is like earnest money, a down-payment, if you will. A little skin in the game, so to speak, that guarantees the promise Father has made to us.

Again, we have been firmly rooted, but we are being built up in Him. It is especially important to notice that this is something that is actually occurring. There is no instruction here that we should build ourselves up in Him. Think about it; how could we? We who can barely scratch the surface of what it means to be in Him cannot possibly hope to do that.

But Paul tells us that we can confidently confess—agree with God—that we are firmly rooted, that we are being built up in Him, and that we are being established in our faith.

That is who we are.

Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”

One of the biggest issues we face as Christians is the temptation to follow popular psychology, traditions, and the principles of the world, rather than the principles of the Kingdom of God. These things make sense to the flesh. They feel right to our senses. They fit the patterns of thought and behavior that we have been taught and in which we have lived most of our lives.

One example is the sort of “standing for Christian values and principles” that is commonly thought of when the world talks about “evangelicals” or “fundamentalists.” Things such as decrying and fighting against the evil of certain sins, instead of declaring the good news of Jesus Christ. That is a fleshly thing that appeals to our senses and has nothing whatever to do with life in the Spirit.

Real Spirit-life often looks foolish and seems to make little sense. That is because it is not about our senses at all. Spirit-life is non-sense. It has nothing to do with our senses. It is grace and faith.

Now we will take a look at verses 9 and 10.

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.”

You have been given fullness. You are complete in Him who is the head over all rule and authority. Did you get that? You already are complete in Christ. You aren’t missing something. You aren’t on the outside looking in until you die. You are complete. The Greek word here <G4137> πληρόω (plêroô) is accomplishment, completion, fill, fill up, fulfillment, and it’s describing you.

Like many of you, I thought for years that I needed more of Him. I thought I needed a renewed filling to walk closer to Him. But that’s not what Scripture teaches is true under the new covenant. This verse says I am complete, it’s accomplished, I’m filled up with Him. It is finished!

Under the old covenant the Spirit “came upon” a few people and they were able to prophesy, be brave in the face of danger, and so on. Under the new covenant, the Spirit lives in everyone who believes. Listen to how Jesus put it.

John 17:20-23 (NIV) “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

This sounds like a pretty tight fusion of the Holy Spirit of God with us, doesn’t it? How much more of Him could we possibly get? NONE! He is in us in the same way that He is in the Trinity.

That’s a God we can love. That’s Abba!

Colossians 2:11 “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”

This verse is telling us that something has been removed from us—removed by Jesus. The body of the sins of the flesh. Obviously, this can’t mean our physical bodies. Those, I regret to say, did not change when we accepted God’s wonderful gift, so He must be talking about something else.

It was our sinful nature.

The next verses explain this.

Colossians 2:12 “having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”

You were buried with Him.
Who gets buried?
Dead people!

And you were raised with Him.
Baptism is the way we visually demonstrate this.
Down you go; and then,
up you come.

This is also called rebirth.

The first time we were born we were Adam’s seed.
We were “in Adam.”
Born into sin.
Slaves of sin.

But we were reborn by the seed of the Spirit.
We are “in Christ.”
Born into righteousness.
Slaves of righteousness.

Who we are is not determined by behavior.
Who we are is determined by birth.

Still not sure?

Romans 6:6-7 “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

Ask yourself this question. “If it was not my old sinful Adamic nature that died, what was it?”

In 1 John 3:9 we find this amazing statement, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

The Greek word behind “seed” in this verse is sperma (σπέρμα). You are well and truly born of God.

Back in Colossians, to be sure that we do not miss the full force of all of this, Paul goes on…

Colossians 2:13 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,”

How many of our sins has He forgiven?

ALL of them.

All the sins we had committed when He paid for them on the cross?
We had not yet committed any at that time, had we?
Even my grandmother was not around back then.

So, it’s not just those that we committed before we placed our trust in Him.

What does the text say? It says “all.” God is not confined to our temporal realm. Neither is the covenant in Jesus’ blood.

All your sins have been forgiven.
Your past sins.
Your present sins.
And the sins you have yet to commit.

You, my beautiful friend, are forgiven.

Colossians 2:14 “having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” (NIV)

What is that written code, or certificate of debt?

The King James renders it, “the handwriting of ordinances.”

Ephesians 2:15 tells us that Jesus broke down the wall that separated the Jews (His chosen people) from the Gentiles (that’s most of us) “by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. (NIV)

2 Corinthians 3:7-9 “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!” (NIV)

So that written code that Jesus canceled and nailed to the cross was the Law of Moses, which he says brought death and condemnation.

“Who do you think you are?”

Your answer to this question will either suck the life out of you or it will infuse you with spiritual power.

We have seen that you are:

• firmly rooted
• being built up and established in your faith
• complete in Him
• buried with Him
• raised from the dead with Him
• forgiven—totally, completely, forever
• debt free—the debt we owed, but could not possibly pay, has been taken away
• no longer under the Law

This is who you are. Embrace it, own it, and live in freedom and victory.