Series from Paul's Letter to the Church at Colossae

1. Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ
Grace Bible Baptist Church
Adult Sunday School Class
Room 204
Teacher: Pastor Chuck Brooks
Week 23

2. Week 23
“…rooted and built up in Him, and
established in the faith, as you have been
taught, abounding in it with
thanksgiving”. (Col. 2:7)
“in the faith” – is tēi pistei (τηι πιστει), “Paul did not mean the experience
of faith, or “personal faith,” even though the Colossians’ personal faith was
strong. The attack was against “the faith,” the system of Christian truth and
its ramifications in life. The church was commended for its growing
strength in Christian truth”.
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

3. Week 23
Q: How did you act when you first
believed? How did you feel about
the Scriptures when you first
believed? Do you feel you have
progressed or drifted?
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

4. Week 23
“…rooted and built up in Him, and
established in the faith, as you have been
taught, abounding in it with
thanksgiving”. (Col. 2:7)
“abounding in it” – is perisseuō (περισσευω), “to be in abundance.” As the
Colossians were established in their faith, they would have more of it (faith)
in abundance. Because of abundant faith, they would overflow with
thanksgiving.
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

5. Week 23
It should be no secret to any Christian family today that colleges and universities
have become a bastion of secularism and atheism. The atheist movement in
academia is trying at every turn to move students away from a firm faith in Christ.
God’s Not Dead may be a movie with fictional characters such as a bitter atheist
professor and few students with the courage to stand against him, but it is based on
real-life events.
Make no mistake. Christian parents and grandparents are doing their children a
great disservice by telling them that Christianity is just “because the Bible says so”
or “because the pastor says so” or “because I say so.” It’s like sending them straight
from grade school to college. It simply doesn’t hold any water in today’s culture.
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

6. Week 23
Many students when first attending college do not initially select a
major and choose their major after taking a series of "General
Education" courses. These "Gen Ed" courses usually include
History, English, Science, Math and Philosophy.
There is a push to make Philosophy mandatory in high school.
They say they want to introduce “critical thinking” but since they
rarely give the Christian perspective and use the time to lay out a
case against God and Christianity, it’s brainwashing.
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

7. Week 23
If you exclude God from you’re your search for being, you are left to science and
rationalism.
•Empiricism is the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience.
•Rationalism is a belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on
reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response.
Paul deals with both of these hopeless “isms” in I Corinthians 2:9.
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

8. Week 23
"Eye, hath not seen..." You can't discover truth by empiricism.
"...nor ear heard, neither have entered in the heart of man..." You can't
discover truth by rationalism.
"...the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has
revealed them unto us by His Spirit."
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

9. Week 23
Philosophy without Christ is not the answer.
According to the atheist, human beings were
produced by blind, purely naturalistic processes
(Macro Evolution). There was no intelligent
guidance whatsoever in producing life on the
atheistic worldview. Simply put, there can be
no purpose to life if we came about by blind
purposeless processes. To say otherwise would
be absurd. You'd basically be saying that we
have purpose even though we came through a
purposeless process. The only way for our lives
to have purpose would be if an intelligent being
brought life about. In other words, in order for
my life to have "purpose", I'd have to be
created ON "purpose". From an Internet Blogger
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

10. Week 23
“See to it that no one takes you captive by
philosophy and empty deceit, according to
human tradition, according to the
elemental spirits of the world, and not
according to Christ”. (Col. 2:9)
“See to it that no one takes you captive” – “spoil you” (KJV) – “to carry
you off” - referring to the spoils of war at conquering king or general would
return home with after vanquishing his enemy. (Cp. 2 Timothy 3:6 – to
carry off weak women laden with sinful desires).
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

11. Week 23
“See to it that no one takes you captive by
philosophy and empty deceit, according to
human tradition, according to the
elemental spirits of the world, and not
according to Christ”. (Col. 2:9)
“by philosophy” – philosophia, fil-os-of-ee'-ah - literally the “love of
wisdom”. In place of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that the
Colossians already possess in Christ (2:3), this ‘philosophy’ offers only
human tradition and the basic principles of this world.
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

12. Week 23
“See to it that no one takes you captive by
philosophy and empty deceit, according to
human tradition, according to the
elemental spirits of the world, and not
according to Christ”. (Col. 2:9)
“and empty deceit” – Here Paul is offering a description of the philosophy
he just mentions. While the philosophers of that day thought what they had
was the epitome of wisdom, Paul describes it as fraudulent and deceptive.
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

13. Week 23
“See to it that no one takes you captive by
philosophy and empty deceit, according to
human tradition, according to the
elemental spirits of the world, and not
according to Christ”. (Col. 2:9)
“according to human tradition” – it was valueless because of where it
came from. It came from man. It was “traditions of men”. A tradition is
something passed down from one person to another and just because it is
handed down this way doesn’t make it true.
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

14. Week 23
Moralism - ˈmôrəlizəm
Striving to bring about moral changes in society while ignoring the deeper-
rooted cause of humanity’s true problem of sin is the “human tradition” of
moralism.
Trying to change a person’s thinking or behavior without Christ His work
of salvation and sanctification in the person’s life.
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

15. Week 23
“See to it that no one takes you captive by
philosophy and empty deceit, according to
human tradition, according to the elemental
spirits of the world, and not according to
Christ”. (Col. 2:9)
“according to the elemental principals or spirits of the world” – This second
source Paul identifies for philosophy has been difficult for Bible scholars to
interpret. The problem lies in the ambiguity of the word translated as ‘basic
principles’ or ‘elementary principals’ (stoicheia)
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

16. Week 23
“See to it that no one takes you captive by
philosophy and empty deceit, according to
human tradition, according to the elemental
spirits of the world, and not according to
Christ”. (Col. 2:9)
“and not according to Christ” – The alternative to this superficially attractive
‘philosophy’ is the life and truth is found in Christ. Don’t surrender yourself to
any of these attractive philosophies espoused by smooth-talking theorists and
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ

17. Week 23
“For in him the whole fullness of
deity dwells bodily; And you are
complete in Him, who is the Head
of all principality and power…”
(Col. 2:9-10)
Colossians
The Supremacy and Sufficiency
of Jesus Christ