Lesson 12 – Struggling for the Right Goal, part 4 (2:9-12)
Read Colossians 2 - www.bible.com/bible/59/col.2
In the last 2 lessons we’ve seen the negative part of our struggle – the things we should seek to avoid. Now let’s look at the positive side of our struggle – what we are seeking to gain.
In verses 9 through 12, we struggle to understand the truth of who Jesus is. How can all the fullness of the Deity (God) dwell in Jesus in bodily form? Like other mysteries of the Trinity, we may not know the answer to this question until we see Him face to face. There must be no doubt, however, about who Jesus Christ is. The word ‘fullness’ indicates that our Saviour is so complete in the divine essence and grace that nothing can be added to him. Let’s think about the ocean full of water. If we back a tanker truck onto the beach and fill up the tanker with water, all the water in the truck will test exactly the same as the water in the ocean. The truck is full of ocean. Now if I go to the truck and dip my hands into the truck and fill up my hands as much as I can hold, all that is in my hands is ocean water. Such is the fullness of God. It is independent of the size of the vessel because of the nature of God.
Jesus was and is all God. Verse 10 says we have been filled in Him – we are made complete in Him. This happens because we as believers have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us (Ephesians 1:13-14).
Verse 11 says that in Jesus a part of our fleshly body has already cut off from us because (verse 12) we have been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through faith in the working of God.
Truly, for us to understand this is a struggle because this is part of God’s action on our part. Look at the words at the beginning of verse 11 – in Him. These are important for us to understand. There is only one way for us to hold two full handfuls of water for any length of time – we must put our hands into the tank of water so our hands will never be empty of water. Our hands are always filled with water only because our hands are IN the water. We can only be filled up with God because we are in God.
In Him we are complete, and He is our head, our leader, our authority for all that happens through us. We are separated from our body in the sense that we do not allow our body to tell us what we must do or want – we leave that decision to our Head – Jesus Christ. Let’s look at this more in our next lesson.