 |  |
"But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; that the head of the
woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God" (I Cor. 11: 3).
To live in the spirit of such a revelation is not bondage but glorious fullness:--
"Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or
Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present or things to come; all
are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's" (I Cor. 3: 21-23).
Freedom from the domination of man, his doctrines, his traditions and his religion is
not a state of spiritual lawlessness, but a state in which one Head alone is recognized--
Christ. Freedom from false and harmful travesties of sanctification is not to be found in
carelessness of life and walk, but in the recognition that all our acceptance is in Christ.
Freedom from the handwriting of ordinances that were against us, and freedom from the
bondage of types and shadows is to be found only in the realization of the fullness of
Christ. So, the apostle rejoiced in their "order".
He rejoiced, moreover, in the stedfastness of their faith in Christ. We have
re-translated the passage, "The solid firmness of your Christward faith", in order to give
fuller expression to the apostle's meaning. The word translated "stedfastness" is
stereoma, used by the LXX in Gen. 1: 6 for "firmament". The word gains in
significance when we remember that apostereo means "to defraud" (as in Mark 10: 19)
and occurs in I Tim. 6: 5:--
"Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute (apostereo) of the truth."
This seems to suggest (apo means "away from") that the deception against which the
apostle warns would entice the believer away from the solid basis of Christ and His
fullness.
The close association of doctrine and practice is seen in the apostle's exhortation:--
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Col. 2: 6).
The repetition of the article here, ton Christon, ton Kurion, conveys the idea that the
Colossians had received Christ as their Lord. Well, says the apostle, walk in Him as your
Lord too. It is a complete summary of the apostle's teaching, which is expanded and
enforced in the subsequent verses.
The reader will probably have noticed the slight change in the participles of verse 7:
"having been rooted", "being built up" and "being established". "Having been
rooted", corresponds to the receiving of Christ Jesus as Lord; "being built up"
corresponds to the walking in Him. True practice follows from true doctrine; it is the
fruit upon the tree whose root is planted in grace.
Finally, the apostle draws attention to what the Colossians had been taught as a
corrective to the doctrines and traditions of men: "As you have been taught" (Col. 2: 7).
The word "teach" is didasko, which gives the word "doctrine" (didaskalia), as found in