The Book of Colossians

Shane Vaughn Copyright © 2014 Shane Vaughn; The Apostolic Church of God & Overcomers International Ministries All rights reserved. ISBN: ISBN-13: DEDICATION I lovingly dedicate this entire series of Bible Commentaries to the ones who planted within me a love for the sacred scriptures; all of my former Pastors Elder. Marvin Terrell Rev. Lois Gatlin Terrell Rev. Jerry Cox Rev. Daniel Jordon Rev. Jean Holland Rev. B.A. Spell Rev. George Guy Revs. Randy & Renee’ Clark Rev. Steven Shelley Rev. Gene Simpkins CONTENTS 1 The Fullness of God 1 2 Paul’s Plight with Pagans 39 3 The Overcomers 90 4 A Call to Prayer 114 Shane Vaughn vi i I wish to thank Dr. Saundra Seale of Crisis Recovery Institute for affording me the quiet space and the reprieve necessary to write so many of the books that God has planted in my Spirit. I wish to also thank you for the many years of friendship that you have granted to me in your grace. 1 n the primordial verses of this great book to the Gentile church at Colosse; Paul introduces himself and presents his credentials to this particular church and establishes his authority as a legitimate Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ; Yeshua. 1 1 Throughout these several commentaries you will notice my use of the Hebrew name of the Messiah; Yeshua. I Shane Vaughn 2 Notice the verbiage in verse five of the preceding verses as we began explaining the true meaning of this wonderful little letter from the hands of the beloved Apostle. WHAT IS THE HOPE WAITING FOR US IN HEAVEN? What is this hope that’s laid up for the believer in Heaven exactly? Is our hope as many suggest the hope for Heaven itself? Or is our hope rather for something that is The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 3 presently “laid up there”? Is our hope rather for that very special something or someone that’s being reserved until it or He is released from Heaven? The Christians must never make Heaven his hope but rather what Heaven holds in reserve or in stewardship until such a time as the heavens release it or Him unto the earth. The very thing that heaven holds right now waiting to be revealed is the King and His Kingdom. The soon-coming kingdom of God is what’s laid up for us in Heaven; the very Kingdom or government of God that shall descend to earth from Heaven with her glorious and magnificent King. Now let us continue our study; CAN WE LOSE OUT WITH GOD? Shane Vaughn 4 Again, we find a pleading or a beseeching in Paul’s writing that repeats itself over and over in his Pauline epistles. He issues a warning and an extreme caution to the beautiful and most blessed Beloved; to not lose out with God but rather to walk worthy of the hope that waits for them in Heaven, Jesus Christ being that hope. The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 5 Again for emphasis; We are not waiting for Heaven 2 but rather we are waiting for what Heaven presently holds; the Kingdom of God and the glorious King of Kings. Unlike the modern church; Paul was not notified of the memo that believers couldn’t lose out with God once they “asked Jesus into their hearts” as the modern so-called church teaches because as his writings will bear out in this letter; Paul was fearful of us not walking worthy of our calling or worthy of Christ; the very hope that waiteth for us in Heaven. What does Paul now tell us is necessary to be counted worthy of Christ? His answer will shock you because it flies in the face of modern day preaching. Read the scripture for yourself again and see what Paul attributes to walking worthy. The answer is found in verse Ten (10). 2 Order my book; “Heaven, the untold truth” for more information on this subject Shane Vaughn 6 The only way to walk worthy of Christ according to Paul is 1. To have the fruit of good works in your life 2. to be growing in your spiritual knowledge. Now, this continues to prove our point that no Christian will be counted worthy of the kingdom or government of God without good works in their life and without a continual moving forward from Mt. Calvary to Mt. Zion; from your beginning faith to the end of your faith. Contrary to what modern preaching says when they issue their vile statements against any mention of the word “works” they stand in stark contrast to the plain dictates of your Bible. Mark this clearly in your mind; there is a huge difference in “The Works of the Law” and “righteous or good works” the word “works” is not a cursed word and neither should it be re-christened into the other word that they love to replace it with “legalism”. Allow me to explain to you the The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 7 difference in good works and legalism. N Legalism it when man tries to earn salvation by doing good deeds; when he places his faith for salvation in his own merits. However, the natural result of true conversion is a life of righteous works; living a good, clean and righteous life; continually rising above the hold of sin. We place no faith in those works rather we place faith in WHAT or WHO produces those works in our lives, the very indwelling presence of the Holy Ghost: Christ Himself. Again, Paul says that the only way to obtain the hope that waits for us in the heavens; Christ Jesus Himself; is to produce fruit in our lives; The fruit of good works and the continual increasing in our knowledge of God’s Word and His will. WHAT WORKS IS PAUL CONDEMNING? Now, for the naysayer who will argue that we are not “saved by works lest any man should boast”; I would beg you to answer the following question. Do you have any idea which works Paul was speaking of? That verse has been taken completely out of its context Shane Vaughn 8 and used as a battle axe against the preaching of good works and holiness and sanctified living in the life of the believer. When Paul speaks of our not being saved by works; he is speaking of a particular work! Any idea what works he is speaking of? Is it not GOOD WORKS that’s he’s speaking against. He is speaking of the WORK of the priest in the daily sacrificial offerings at the temple and the faith of the Jewish people remaining in these works or these sacrifices! THE “WORKS” OF THE PRIEST AND THE DAILY SACRIFICES There was no more strenuous labor in the economy of Israel than that of the priest who worked or labored at the bloody altar of sacrifice. In fact, there were so many priest that worked in shifts or courses that collectively they were probably the hardest working men in Israel. From morning and all during the night they were butchering animals on behalf of the millions of Israelites that were daily offering The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 9 sacrifices for their sins. The sins of people were forgiven in those days by “the works” of both the repentant Israelite and by his bringing the animal to the temple and then even more so by the priest who worked relentlessly for the forgiveness of the peoples sins. It can truly be said that in those days the people were “saved by works”; by the works of the priest; by the working of those who slew the lambs and the goats. In the heat of the desert this was quite strenuous works and in fact salvation depended upon what YOU did and upon how many sacrifices YOU brought and upon the WORKS of the Priest. After Christ came YOU no longer had to any of this and therefore you are no longer saved by THESE WORKS. When Christ came and shed His blood once and for all 3 as the ultimate lamb and for the complete removing of “sins that are past” 4 then there was no further use of the works of the priest (the butchering of animals) for man’s forgiveness. Now, man was to be saved by his 3 Hebrews 10:10 4 Romans 3:25 Shane Vaughn 10 faith in the final sacrificial work of Christ at Mt. Calvary with no works or killing of animals now required by men; Christ did all the work, He provided Himself as the lamb. However, many of the Jews refused to believe this and they continued bringing sacrifices to the temple (their works) for the forgiveness of their sins and with these works they endeavored to receive forgiveness for sins. These are the works that Paul waged war against not the GOOD WORKS of the believer that are required to be found worthy of Gods kingdom. THE REQUIREMENT OF GOOD WORKS Required? Dare I say that good works are required? Those very words will draw the ire and condemnation from all the hierarchy of the modern church system. Allow me to put it another way; If I tell you that we’re going to ride in the buggy to town must I also tell you that the horse is going to town as well? I don’t have to mention the horse because it is a given and understood fact that the buggy doesn’t move without the horse; they are one and the same. What’s easily understood need not be The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 11 explained. The horse is the natural partner of the buggy just as works is the natural partner of faith; one does not exist without the other. So, for me to tell you that salvation is by faith does not require me to tell you that works will accompany that faith because good and righteous works is a natural result of your faith and therefore a natural requirement for your salvation just as faith is. Just as no one has to instruct the sheep to grow wool nor do they have to instruct the truly repentant and spiritually-begotten converted Christian to produce good and righteous works; it’s natural to the truly converted. Therefore, any argument to the contrary is a moot point it is a straw mans circular argument because good works is a natural part of the Christians progression from Mt. Calvary to Mt. Zion. If your life is void of the works required by Christ then you must stop and question whether you will be found worthy of Christ’ kingdom. INCREASING IN OUR KNOWLEDGE What about the second part of Pauls instructions to the church in this verse and Shane Vaughn 12 terms it “Walking Worthy”: The next phase of this growing experience includes “Increasing in knowledge of truth”. Sadly, the majority of Christendom will not be found worthy because they have no desire to increase in their knowledge of God’s Word. They desire worship services, worship conferences and camp meetings. They desire fellowship and food and baptism and a spiritual uplifting or a weekly worship feel-good fix but they have no true desire to UNDERSTAND the mysteries of God’s Word; the depth and the breadth and the length of His purposes for mankind. This can only prove according to Paul’s writing that many in God’s church are not walking worthy of their calling. If you are not learning more and more than you knew yesterday concerning the things of God; if you are not seeking out truth and more of this treasure than you knew before then you are not walking worthy. However, the very fact that your reading this booklet is pretty good proof that you desire to increase in the knowledge of truth. THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 13 Many people fail to realize that the purpose of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is not speaking in tongues nor for power to heal or the gift of prophesy. No, the gift of the Spirit has a primordial and primary purpose; “to lead and guide you into ALL TRUTH” 5 . Now, this can only mean one thing by inference..... “You did not have ALL TRUTH when you were converted” but rather you had to be led into more and more truth. Sadly, so many hold on to what they consider all truth when in fact it is quite simply “some of the truth”. Truth is an ocean, never think you’ve swam it all, the more you learn there more there is to learn. If you have not experienced this constant leading into more and more understanding then you are not walking worthy of Christ. The only reason He called you and granted you repentance 6 and called you 7 into His 5 John 16:13 6 Acts 11:18 7 John 6:44 Shane Vaughn 14 glorious church is that you might be changed and transformed into His dear likeness by the washing of His word 8 over your life. In those washings of the Spirit and while hiding in those pavilions of prayer and those wings of worship your mind will be opened to new and wonderful truths and only when you are learning today what you did not know yesterday... only then are you walking worthy of Christ, the hope of glory. I cringe when I meet people who have no desire for more truth but they love having more church! These folks deny the Holy Ghost and rob Him of His divine privilege... His right to LEAD THEM into ALL (more) TRUTH. The truth you had yesterday is not ALL TRUTH. The truth you have today is not ALL TRUTH but rather it is part of a path of truth that you are on and as you walk in the Spirit then many wonderful revelations will come to you. Many corrections will come to the child of God who walketh after the Spirit of God. Let’s continue our verse by verse study. 8 Ephesians 5:26 The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 15 PATIENCE AND LONGSUFFERING otice carefully the beautiful teaching here: If you and I walk worthy of Christ with good works (prayer, fasting, helping the poor, loving our neighbors etc.) and with an ever increasing desire to know truth then we will find true strength. Because in learning Gods Word and basking in His revelations of the Spirit something very special and something very unavailable to the world will begin developing in you; those priceless virtues of patience and longsuffering. However, something even greater develops in you as your knowledge of God’s word increases; something greater than patience and longsuffering. What you ask? The ability to have patience and longsuffering with joyfulness! You see, many people have developed N Shane Vaughn 16 patience or either they are born with a patient personality but they are miserable in their patience. In their longsuffering they may not say anything and it may seem as if they are such longsuffering people but you will find them to be bitter people because of all the suffering they’ve had to endure. You will find them most unpleasant because they feel like a martyr and that the world owes them retribution for all they have suffered. However, to the maturing Christian who is walking worthy of their calling they will find a supernatural strength, a set of Eagles wings that not only grants them patience in trials and longsuffering in persecution but it will also grant within them a grateful heart of praise and adoration and in those mangers of maturity will be birthed a true joyfulness. It will truly be a joy that cannot be explained and it will indeed pass all understanding. Let’s continue . . . THE SAINTS IN LIGHT The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 17 The word “meet” means “worthy” in the above verse. We are told to give thanks to the Father for “making us worthy” to be partakers of “the inheritance of the saints in light.” What a beautiful affirmation and how true it is that you and I could not and did not make ourselves worthy. Rather, the Holy Spirit abiding within began producing good works in our lives. Before the entrance of the Holy Spirit we were selfish and consumed with our own lives and our own good carnal works for our four and no more. If we had any good works before conversion they were rooted in selfish desires for the good feeling that they brought to us. We had no compassion for humanity and no love for our enemies. We worked for our own kingdom and we built our own empires. Because of the Holy Spirit and His working to bring good works out of us and to draw us into more and more truth we have now come into a place of wholeness in Christ and maturity in Christ and because of that we will be found worthy. For this we owe all praise and glory to The Shane Vaughn 18 Father who dwells in us by virtue of His own life force, The Holy Spirit because as the scriptures teach us; the Holy Spirit “proceedeth out of the father” 9 proving that it is not separate from The Father but rather it is the very life of the Father that dwells in us and makes us worthy. This is the very same Spirit that dwelled in Christ and that now enthrones His church. There is nothing for us to boast about because without this indwelling presence we would never desire more truth; we would never be growing in knowledge of God’s Word and therefore we would never be counted worthy of Christ. I once heard a Prophet say that the true evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is one’s ability to hear the Word of God for their day. 10 However, all praise be unto The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for entering into our minds and converting us from “the way of get” to “the way of give.” 9 John 15:26 10 William Branham The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 19 WHAT IS THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS What inheritance is Paul speaking of in verse twelve (12)? The inheritance of the Saints is our deliverance from Satan’s deception into the marvelous light of truth, the token of our salvation; the Holy Spirit. Scripture teaches us that Satan has deceived the whole world. 11 Now, think about that for a moment... the whole world? Don’t you live in the world? Well.... Doesn’t that include you? However, there is a very select group of people in the earth that God has called unto salvation in our day and this group is known in the New Testament as THE ELECT and according to the scriptures, this group alone cannot be deceived. 12 The very Elect could only be deceived if it were possible; and it’s not! This is our inheritance; The scales have been removed from our eyes and we have 11 Rev 12:9 12 Matt 24:24 Shane Vaughn 20 seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! We are now children of the Day and no longer children of the night.... We can see because we saw the light! Let’s continue . . . CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT e, the elect of God, have a wonderful inheritance with the saints in light because we alone have been delivered from that worldwide deception and the power of darkness. We are no longer in the night of confusion and chaos and hopelessness but rather we are in the light of clarity and truth. We need no substances; no drug or no alcohol to give us joy because we have seen the light; we have seen the future; we have seen the kingdom of God that’s soon to come to this wicked planet and we have seen the W The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 21 weapons being turned into plowshares 13 and we have seen the time in Messiahs kingdom where there is no more divorce and we have seen no more adultery and no more lies and no more sickness and because we have seen we now rejoice and we now have hope that the inhabitants of this world does not have. We must never judge those bound by addictions; could you imagine if you looked around your life and had no hope beyond today? Could you imagine if you had no faith in a coming King; could you imagine the despair, the destitution? Until they see the glorious light of truth they have no hope for tomorrow. We are truly a blessed people because we have been given this wonderful inheritance of light. We have been removed from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of understanding and revelation and light. Now replace this ill-translated word kingdom in the above verse with its original Greek word basalaia and you will more perfectly use the word “authority” rather than kingdom. Meaning that you and I have been transferred 13 Micah 4:3 Shane Vaughn 22 from the authority of the darkness into the authority of the light. Our minds are no longer controlled by confusion and chaos but rather by revelation and understanding. What an inheritance of light! Let’s continue through this glorious book . . . THE PRE-EMINENCE OF CHRIST The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 23 In the above verses we find Paul illustrating to us the absolute pre-eminence of Christ as the Head of the body. Paul will soon be teaching about the sons of God and how that you and I have a destiny that we’ve never understood as co-rulers with Christ in His soon coming kingdom over the nations of the world. However, he will first make it paramount in our minds that even though we will be just like Christ and actual brothers to Christ in the same exact God family or family of God; there can be no question that Jesus Christ will always be pre-eminent among the brethren. He will in fact be the first born and according to Gods law the firstborn son receives a double portion in the inheritance. So even though you and I will be members of the God family just as Christ is we will never be the same in authority even though we will be the Shane Vaughn 24 same in composition and character. WHAT IS THE FULLNESS OF GOD emember well these words: God has determined to reproduce Himself in a family of sons who shall one day rule the universe. He has determined that just like a Father, He will only be complete when His family is complete when His sons are manifested or born. The Sons of God, the entire family of sons that bear His name; the name of Israel; the family name; they are indeed the fullness of God of which Christ is but the first of; He is not the completion of this new creation of sons but rather He is the “beginning of the creation of God.” 14 Sadly, many groups have totally misapplied 14 Rev 3:14 R The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 25 the above verse as a tool in the doctrinal debate of the Godhead. This shouldn’t be so because the above verse is not dealing with the Godhead at all. The fullness that is being attributed to Christ in this verse can be found in the preceding verses, specifically verse eighteen (18). What is the subject of verse eighteen (18)? “He is the Head of the Body” THE CHURCH; the many brethren; the Israel or family of God - or The Body. What fullness dwells in Christ? Why beloved it is nothing less than THE CHURCH. The Church is recognized IN THE HEAD. Jesus is the federal head of the body of spiritual sons just as Adam was the federal head of natural sons. Therefore, the fullness of God; His many sons are recognized in their elder brother; their HEAD and as such THE FULLNESS OF GOD (His Family) is recognized IN CHRIST. Every conceived child of God is recognized only “in Christ” 15 ; the fullness of the new creation of sons is seen in Christ. Just as all sinners are recognized in Adam and the fullness of creation of fallen man is identified 15 I Cor 15:22 Shane Vaughn 26 in the federal head of Adam even so in Christ is the fullness of all the body of Christ, the eklesia; the many brethren are identified in the elder brother. All one must do to see this plainly is to go up and read a few verses before reading verse nineteen (19) and it will be become so clear to you that you will wonder why you always believed this was a Godhead scripture. To prove the point even further allow me to introduce to you a corresponding verse; Before we proceed to the next verse in Ephesians what is the subject in the above verse? Any English teacher should have taught you to look for the subject, verb, preposition and so forth. So in the above verse find the subject! What is Christ head over? THE CHURCH.. now let’s proceed and see what the church is referred to as The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 27 The fullness of Christ is His what? His body... and what is His body? The CHURCH and therefore the fullness that dwells in Christ is His church and the fullness that dwells in the Church is Christ and because The Holy Spirit of God was IN CHRIST this means that God is in His church and the church is His fullness. The Greek word for “fullness” is “pleroma” and means “a ship inasmuch as it is filled (i.e. manned) with sailors, rowers, and soldiers” What pleroma means is that just like a ship is filled when it has sailors and rowers and soldiers; so God is FINISHED or COMPLETE or FULFILLED when He has a church to dwell in; a group of people who collectively make up His family. This is the very reason why The Mystery of God in the book of Revelation will be complete at the 7 th trumpet – the Church will be finished. Only in His family is He full to completion of His purposes for creation. This is why Satan seeks to destroy the people of God because on the earth we are the fullness of God; we are the completion of God’s presence and the ultimate end of His purposes. Notice that God fills “all in all” what that means is that by Shane Vaughn 28 filling you and I with His presence this is how He is filling ALL of the earth by first filling all of us; all IN all! Now, for the sake of complete study there is indeed a verse that is used for Godhead debates found in Colossians 2:9. I will deal just as fairly with that verse when we arrive there. Howbeit, be assured that neither scripture deals with the Godhead as erroneously taught for so many years. You will find that the word “Godhead” is a horrible English translation and should rather be translated “God” and not “Godhead” I will wait and deal with this when we arrive at that particular verse in our study of this book. THE ENEMIES OF GOD The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 29 find the fact that we were at one time God’s enemies a very disquieting and startling statement. The reason being is because the modern church teaches that God loves everyone and that we are all His children and like a loving grandfather He is simply overlooking everyone’s lawless ways and as they break His laws he just sort of winks at them and “loves em anyhow”! However, Paul says that at one time you and I were the very enemies of God; not His friends; not His children; not His family but his avowed enemies. According to the scriptures God has one plan for His enemies, their total annihilation! Why were we His enemies? What caused us to be such adversaries to God? Paul answers the question in the same verse when he says “by wicked works.” We were God’s enemies because we broke His laws and worked iniquity which is wicked works. If you think for one moment that God will ever accept you into His kingdom with a life I Shane Vaughn 30 filled with wicked works then you have been sorely deceived. Those who are now friends with God have forsaken their law-breaking; they have forsaken their evil ways and they have converted to the light and they now walk in truth and understanding and revelation. Why was Abraham a friend of God? Because “his ways pleased the Lord”. Those who have been and are being converted; They now know how precious God’s laws are to Him and they love His laws and as a result they are His friends and no longer His enemies; to God be all praise! CONTINUING IN THE FAITH The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 31 t is paramount and of utmost significance that you read the two verses above over and over again until the light of revelation comes on in your spirit mind. You will not be presented to God as unreprovable at the judgment because Christ died for you and you believed in His death by faith. A million times no! Why not? Because, even Satan believes in the death, burial and resurrection and surely we don’t contend that he is saved. However, there is a group of people who will be presented to God as forgiven and unblameable.....But Who? Those who CONTINUE in the faith!!! Notice the meaning of the original Greek word for “continue” which is epemaeno - to stay at or with, to tarry still, still to abide, to continue, remain Those who “stay at it” will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God which is waiting in Heaven for us and soon to be released to the earth. Not those who began running; not those who did run well 16 ; not those who started at it but didn’t stay at it; not those 16 Gal 5:7 I Shane Vaughn 32 who were satisfied with grace alone without any good works; not those who were satisfied with initial knowledge of God’s Word but sought no further understanding...... none of those will be without blame. However, those who abide in Christ they will all be presented unblameable. THE HIDDEN MYSTERY The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 33 hat mystery? In many of my books you will find my love for this word “mystery” as Paul mentions it so many times in the Pauline epistle. The Greek word for “Mystery” is “musterion” and simply means “a secret”. We must not think of this word as what we normally consider a mytery; something that cannot be solved. This is not a mystery in the fact that it can’t be figured out. Absolutely not! but rather it is a secret to everyone except those to whom the secret is being revealed and Paul tells us PLAINLY who the secrets of God are being revealed to – THE SAINTS IN LIGHT! God loves revealing Himself, His plans, His ways and His desires to His saints. We are in facts stewards 17 of the sacred secrets or mysteries of God; we hold them in sacred trust; we gather together in our assemblies and rejoice over the revelation of them; we ascend to Zion and dance and celebrate over their glorious meanings for our future. But What Exactly Is This Mystery? 17 I Cor 4:1 W Shane Vaughn 34 Hardly can I contain myself with this mystery! No, the mystery is not simply God in Christ but it’s even better than that.... It is GOD IN YOU!!!! You see, God held a secret before the world began. He was going to have a family of sons which were in fact the very reproductions of God Himself; He was going to have an earthly tabernacle called man and in so doing He was not just going to have one Son but rather a myriad of sons an entire cornucopia of family members who would collectively make up the God family or the family of God, both phrases meaning the same thing. Yahweh was going to have a family of sons and in order for there to be many sons He must be willing to give up one! So He gave Christ as His tithe into the earth. He planted Christ in the womb of the earth and from that Tithe, from that investment; from that planted SON SEED there is about to be produced or harvested from graves all over the world a harvest of sons, THE FAMILY The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 35 OF GOD that the world is groaning for. 18 WHAT SECRET DID GOD HIDE FROM SATAN? s plain as paper this scripture proves the point! Had God made public His ultimate plan for a divine family of sons that would fill the universe and had He revealed that His ultimate goal was not only Christ and this His ultimate completeness or fullness would be in MANY SONs then Lucifer would never have plotted to kill Christ 19 . Had Satan known that Jesus must die 18 Romans 8:22 19 I Cor 2:8 A Shane Vaughn 36 in order to prepare the way for millions of others just like Him and had he known that Christ must conquer death so that we all could follow in our own order and in our own time then Lucifer would never have killed Christ. BUT HE WAS CLUELESS as to Gods great mystery – THE CHURCH (The mystery or secret of God_! The fullness of God is HIS CHURCH. CHRIST IN HIS CHURCH ! This is the mystery; that God could manifest Himself in a man and then in many men; Oh the Mystery of It! CHRIST THE ETERNAL SEED Paul says that if Satan had known this secret that he would never have killed Jesus Christ for in killing Christ he caused the planting of an eternal seed that he is powerless to ever stop the harvest of. That harvest will soon reveal itself from every garden in the world called a cemetery and then God will place on display for all of His enemies to see a family of sons a literal GOD FAMILY and each of them bear will bear the name or the character of God and each of them are not only in His image The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 37 now after a lifetime of testing and trial and conversion by the work of the Holy Spirit, they will then be also in His exact likeness. Just like God we shall be composed of Spirit and just like God we shall be holy and without any blame because we continued from Mt. Calvary to Mt. Zion and used the process of time for the development of Godlike character. We made it all the way from grace to righteous works and from faith to action and the results will be our membership in the great company of manifested and fully born spirit sons in the resurrection. This is the secret of God that Satan has no knowledge of. Every promise that God ever made in His Word was to natural Israel and that is where Satan’s focus is. To his way of thinking; If he can destroy natural Israel then he destroys all the prophecies and if he destroys the prophecies then he prolongs his eternal torment. Ah, but our God has a secret that He kept even from the angels. God’s plan B is ever better than His plan A. You and I are now the many dwelling places of God. You and I are now the many Shane Vaughn 38 membered places where God is enfleshed; you are the fullness of God, the end of the purpose for creation;the completion of the big secret of God; YOU ARE THE MYSTERY! At one time Jesus Christ was the only dwelling place for God. However, He went away to make room for us; to make a place for us that we might also become dwelling places for God and now in His father’s family or House there are many dwelling places where God dwells. The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 39 Shane Vaughn 40 It will not take very long for the faithful student of scripture to notice the exact same theme of chapter one being carried forward in chapter two. In these introductory verses the beloved Apostle is allowing us to hear the beating of his heart in regards to the flock of God as he encourages all of us to allow our hearts to be bound together in love. In loving one another as he mentioned in verse two (2) then we actually show our high regard for the “Mystery of God” which of course by now I hope I have proven to you is The Church. The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 41 The New Testament church is the mystery of both God and Christ manifested in a group of called out people, the firstfruits unto God. So, as we love one another we are actually loving the “mystery of God” His very holy and sacred virgin bride-church. WHERE ARE THE TREASURES HIDDEN? t is important to note that in verse three (3)many people have read right over this seemingly insignificant verse without mining its glorious richness of revelation. Many people at first glance seem to attribute this storehouse of Gods treasures of wisdom as being the person of the man Christ Jesus. However, if you will read more diligently it will unfold before you seeing eyes. Where are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden? They are all hidden in or revealed unto “The Mystery of God” In other words all of the secrets of God have been revealed in Christ and are being revealed unto the very body of Christ; the fullness of God is I Shane Vaughn 42 found in The Church which collectively make up this profound “mystery of God.” As we arrive at verse five (5) we find that Paul begins admonishing the church of their absolute responsibility of “finishing the race.” Paul is about to preach to them a sermon that totally goes against the doctrine of eternal security as postulated by John Calvin. It is with abated breath that you can almost hear the pleading of Paul as he now begins to encourage the church to go further than just an initial experience at Mt. Calvary. He does not write to congratulate them about receiving their initial experience of faith in Christ as the modern church makes such ado about. However, Paul is encouraging them in verse five to remain “Steadfast” in faith. Many and in fact most will accept an initial experience with Christ but they will not continue with a steadfast experience in Christ. This is why Paul is incumbent to remind the saints of God that there is something much more important than their initial trip to Calvary but rather the finishing of their trip at Mt. Zion. Paul is offering no praise unto those who The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 43 start the race but rather he is calling the church to “remain” in their faith and in so doing they will be counted worthy of the coming kingdom of God. NINETY-NINE POINT NINE JUST WON’T DO hese baby Christians were so excited about their receiving Christ and their initial trip to Mt. Calvary. However; Paul sees the need to lift their vision to a place past Calvary. He begins writing to them with his Apostolic pen that they must be just as excited about “walking in Christ” as they were about receiving Christ. Herein lies the problem with modern Christianity; In our zeal to bring people to Christ; in our zeal for the mass marketing of Judahs Messiah, we totally abate our responsibility of causing people to continue walking in Christ, becoming T Shane Vaughn 44 disciples. We fail as pulpiteers many times to encourage believers to move on past receiving Christ and move into “The Journey” or the “walking with Christ”. As we walk with Him we begin developing that relationship with Him that He so desperately longs for. In the exact same exuberance whereby you accepted Christ as your Lord you must now walk with God all of the way to the finish line or else your beginning this journey will have been in vain. May God help us all to heed these hallowed warnings in this our day. ROOTS AND FRUITS n the above verse we find one of the most beautiful verses I have ever found to display how perfectly faith and works are joined together. Many people in Christendom are guilty of trying to make faith I The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 45 and works the enemy of one another and this is a sad legacy in our holy church. Truthfully, both words are beautiful when both words are fitly joined together but disparaging when one is used without the other. The rooting of a Christian beside the rivers of water is a special act of grace. The initial calling of the sinner to repentance is a very distinctive grace granted by election and sovereign foreknowledge to Gods chosen people. This gift of faith that God gives to the new believer is the actual “rooting” of the Christian that Paul is speaking of in verse seven(7). However, just as Paul eluded in verse six to the “receiving of” and the “walking in” Christ as two separate experiences; so also he now repeats the same thought with another set of analogies such as roots and fruits. Paul stresses to the church that we must not be rooted only but we must also grow and produce the fruits of good works. The rooting is a free gift of grace granted to us by God but it must now be accompanied by our responsibility of growing in faith and knowledge and good works while in fact “building up” upon what God in His sovereign grace has rooted. Shane Vaughn 46 Many are the Christians who have enjoyed the planting of the Lord while failing in the responsibility of “growing in grace” into the “full stature of a perfect man.” 20 Yet we must; we must move beyond just being called until we are in fact chosen. You see; many will be called or rooted but few will “build up” on their “most holy faith” and few will be chosen as a result. If only the church would read the plain words of warning by our Apostle rather than the deceptive words of an anti-Christ mother harlot church and all of her protestant daughters. As we continue reading this one particular and illuminating verse even more depth of truth is revealed to us. Paul tells us to “abound” or “remain” in the very faith that we’ve been rooted in. When man fulfills his responsibility to his calling then you will see perfectly how grace and works are a marriage made in the mind of God. If God did not root us by grace then all of our “building up” would be in vain for we would in fact be building upon nothing that would be acceptable to God. However, as we overcome sin and as we abide in Christ and abound in 20 Eph 4:13 The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 47 the faith wherin we were planted then both man and God; both faith and works are bringing to pass the plans of God upon the earth. You are just as responsible as God is in the plan of conversion. Although the modern sellers of salvation a.k.a. preachers would have you believe otherwise you must let your ears listen by the Spirit to see what message is of God. If salvation be without no responsibility of man then indeed all men are saved and universalism is correct. Without man’s response then Gods root would produce nothing. THE GODHEAD? We now come to a most interesting part of Shane Vaughn 48 our Bible study. If you will remember in chapter one we learned together about the scripture that spoke of the “fullness of God” being In Christ. We spent a while studying what the fullness of God actually is and we learned that the fullness of God is indeed the entire family of God in heaven and earth wherein God dwells in His fullness. This church that carries His name is indeed His fullness with Christ being our head and therefore the fullness of God, the church is recognized in one body, the man Christ Jesus. Outside of Christ none of us exist. The Father does not recognize any of us outside of Jesus. We all abide and exist in Him and in Him alone and we are recognized; only as He exist do we exist. Therefore, the fullness of God, all of the sons that He indwells, the fullness of His house or His royal dynasty; all of them or us exist as ONE BODY; we are all bodily in Christ Jesus and as long as we remain there then we are recognized as the body of Christ or the fullness of God. Sadly, the above scripture for many years has been used in the Godhead debate and it should not be so. The very reason for this misunderstanding is because of the word The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 49 “Godhead” in verse nine(9). However, in the original manuscripts we do not find the word “Godhead” but rather we find the word “God”. When you replace the word Godhead with it’s proper word “God” then you can begin to understand the verse. The verse more accurately would read that the “fullness of God dwells in the BODY of Christ or in The Church.” Indeed, Gods church; the Church of God in its original Apostolic order is the dwelling place of God in the earth today and we are therefore the fullness of God and we are the Body of Christ where the fullness of God dwells. he above verse proves without any further question who the scriptures is referring to when speaking of the fullness of God. Notice the first clause... and YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM. The fullness of God is you and you are under the headship of Christ and only recognized as you remain in Christ as Paul is warning us all to do in this chapter. He is the Head of the church but you and I are the church and if God is in Christ and Christ is in the church then by T Shane Vaughn 50 default God is fully in His church and thus the fullness of God in IN CHRIST as the church is recognized IN CHRST. THE CIRCUMCISION ow, upon the church of God comes a sobering responsibility. As we start the process of “building up” upon our “root” or our “foundation of faith” we begin keeping the commandments of God or the Ten Commandment laws of God and as verse eleven (11) so plainly tells us we must begin putting off the body of lawlessness or rebellion; also known as the body of flesh. Those of us that are In Christ; the proof of such a position will be proven as Christ fills us; the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth; then you and I will begin to be circumcised of the Spirit of God as the New Covenant of N The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 51 Gods laws are established in our minds or our Spirit. As we begin building ourselves up into the full stature of Christ all of our lawless ways and all of our selfish ways will began to succumb to the ways of God and thus promoting the true believer from simply called to absolutely chosen. The circumcision or the cutting away of the flesh man or the sinful nature is done without natural hands as the above verse tells us but rather it is done by the supernatural means of the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God (Yahweh) Himself. If you are claiming salvation and if you are claiming to be a member of Gods Apostolic church then all the actions mentioned in the above verses must be happening in your life 1. The circumcision of the Spirit 2. The eradicating of rebellion to Gods laws 3. The building up of your faith with good works 4. Faithfulness 5. Increasing knowledge of Gods truths Shane Vaughn 52 If all of the above are operating in your life now then these will all be visible attributes in your life. Otherwise, you must fear being one of the called but failing to be one of the chosen. THE WALKING DEAD hy does Paul say that you and I were once dead? Because of our breaking of Gods laws! It is imperative that a Bible student understand what the meaning of the word “sin” is – the breaking of Gods law. So, Paul tell us that W The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 53 you and I were all at one time dead enemies to God because we were in sin or iniquity or lawlessness. We were breakers of Gods eternal laws; the Holy Commandments. As a result of our selfish sins we were uncircumcised, covered with the flesh nature; ruled by our passions and our lust. However, for the believer, Paul is saying that all of this should be in the PAST tense and not a present condition. Paul did not believe that a true Christian of pure faith could live a lifestyle of law breaking or a lifestyle of sin. He gave no hall passes for the Christian who was simply sweeping through life with grace. What is the proof that we have been “quickened together” with Christ? By the very fact that we no longer live in our former trespasses. Not by our so-called non-living faith but rather by our actions; our lifestyle and our holiness unto the Lord. I encourage the Bible student to notice how Paul speaks in the past tense concerning sin in the life of a person. The point is made emphatically and for further study that the child of God should not be living a lifestyle of sin nor even falling into the same pitfalls of sin. You WERE Shane Vaughn 54 DEAD IN YOUR SINS, this is indicative of the fact that you are no longer dead in sin because you are no longer living in sin and have in fact been lifted above the strongholds of sin by the indwelling presence of God, the Holy Spirit. When you were buried with Christ in water baptism in the lovely name of the Lord Jesus Christ you left behind that old man who loved breaking Gods law. You buried that old nature that despised Gods laws and you came up in baptism unto the newness of life and you came up with a supernatural energy from God called “the operation of God” and in that supernatural energy or power you now are able to be delivered from sin and the lifestyle thereof. THE TWO LAWS OF SCRIPTURE ; The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 55 ow we come to a most misunderstood scripture; especially pertaining to the “handwriting of ordinances”. Many good and sincere Christians have mistakenly thought that these handwriting of ordinances were the Ten Commandments or Gods laws. However, nothing could be further from the truth! One must only remember that God’s eternal laws were not written by hands but rather they were written by God. So, therefore, the handwriting of ordinances were rather another set of laws and judgment’s as written by the hands of the Prophet Moses and saved in what the Old Testament calls “The Book of the Law.” 21 This was an absolute separate set of ordinances that were added much later than Mt. Sanai where God gave us His Ten eternal principles. The laws of Moses were laws pertaining to sacrifices for sin and punishements for sin and those ordinances were “against us” in the fact that they spelled out our due punishment. Why were these ordinances written? Because as men began to transgress Gods eternal laws of the Ten Commandment principles for living; punishment became 21 Duet 31:26 N Shane Vaughn 56 necessary. As a result Moses began to codify another set of laws or ordinances that stood outside and completely separate of Gods eternal Ten Commandment principles. These additional laws and requirements; thousands of them all made up what the Old Testament refers to as the “Book of the Law or the Covenant.” This was in fact a handwritten book which spells out plainly the various punishments for breaking Gods laws. Death was one of these punishments upon those that were guilty of breaking the most important of these laws. These punishments were against us; they were our enemy and brought our very death and when Jesus Christ came he took these handwritings of ordinances as handwritten by Moses which demanded our death and He gave you and I the power to rise above the hold of sin and in so doing causes us to escape from these horrible sentences of death contained in these ordinances. Thank God for the Holy Ghost! It should be made abundantly clear that the death of Christ did not remove the law of God! Nor did His death remove the curse of the law for all men because if that were the case then all men wouldn’t die. The CURSE of the LAW was the penalty of death and to The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 57 this day this curse still exist. However; what Christ did do was to deliver a CERTAIN people from the curse of the law and that certain people is US, the Beloved; the Elect. How are we delivered from the curse of death? By allowing the Christ of Calvary to live in us and to live through us; He begins transforming us into obedient sons of God who no longer break Gods law and as a result we are LIFTED UP above what brings death to us and that is SIN. As we forsake sin by the power of the indwelling Christ and as we rise above sin we rise above death and it is Christ In Us that gives us this ability; definitely not we in ourselves as it is not by our works of righteousness but by His works within us. SATAN’S RIGHT TO RULE, DESTROYED Here we arrive at another most misunderstood verse. This verse has been used over the years to introduce a teaching about Christ supposedly having gone into the Shane Vaughn 58 regions of the lake of fire after His death and there defeating Lucifer and his angels and then publically displaying His triumph over them. Nothing could be further from truth as the above scripture has absolutely nothing to do with such vain imaginations of men. If truth matters and I pray that it does; then allow us to dissect the above verse in its original language, the language of the Greek. Before we can properly understand verse fifteen (15) we must find the context of the several pronouns listed in this verse. In verse fifteen (15) there you will find the pronoun of “it” and we must first discover what noun or subject this particular pronoun is referring to. That answer is found in verse fourteen (14) where the subject of that verse is “The Cross of Christ.” So, in understanding this then we must realize and remember when reading verse fifteen (15) that the pronoun “it” is referring to the Cross of Christ. With this understanding in plain view let us continue dissecting the true meaning of verse fifteen. English words serve us poorly many times The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 59 when translating the original words of scripture. Therefore such words as found in this current verse; the word “Spoiled” can place in our mind a total different meaning than was actually meant in the original text. So, what does the primordial phrase of this verse “Having Spoiled Them” actually mean in it’s original language? The Greek word for this English phrase is apekdyomai and to keep it’s meaning as simple as possible I will state it in laymen’s terms; To completely separate oneself from or To completely put away from oneself. So, first we see that Jesus Christ completely put something away from someone; He completely took away something from a certain entity a certain thing and in so doing made an example of this certain entity; let us study carefully now into the depths and the beauty of this verse. The English “principalities” comes from the original Greek word “ARCHE” and basically means “The origin or the beginning or the first” and this is where our word Arch-Bishop comes from because the word Arch means that this bishop is the first of all the other bishops. This verse is in reference to the originator of sin; Lucifer himself; the arch enemy; the first Shane Vaughn 60 in order of creation. Also, there is a reference in the definition that also speaks of being FIRST in a hierarchy which of course perfectly describes Lucifer as King of Demons or first among the fallen. So, quite obviously as the context dictates Jesus Christ totally removed from Lucifer his right to rule the earth; a divine right that was originlally given to Satan by God. 22 Now, for further proof of this very fact let us look at the word “powers” that Christ totally separated or spoiled Lucifer from. The English word “powers” is derived from the Greek word “Exousia” which simply means “Authority or right to rule or jurisdiction.” So now the question is answered “What exactly did Jesus Christ strip away from Lucifer or spoil from him?” The answer was just given in the meaning of POWER. Until Christ came to the earth and lived a sinless life and grew in all things and resisted the temptation of Lucifer in the same garden of Eden that Adam failed in; As He stood before the two trees in the garden which are 22 Luke 4:6 The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 61 symbols of rebellion or obedience; He passed the test of time and He earned the right to replace Lucifer upon the throne of the earth and to in fact take as a spoil from Lucifer the very right or the very jurisdiction of which Lucifer had for so long ruled with a legal right. Upon the cross of Calvary; upon the tree of obedience and under the shackles of shame our Lord earned the right to rule over the nations of the world. And His right to rule was won on His cross for it was there under the burden of obedience and sweating the drops of despair that the beginning of the end now commenced for Lucifer. Although Christ has still not yet claimed this throne He has the right to it and soon upon His second coming He shall implement that right and rule over Satan’s former jurisdiction or Satan’s former power or authority with a rod of iron. Much confusion will still exist on this verse because when King James translators decided the meaning of these Greek words in English they assumed that principalities and powers were two separate entities and as a result they use the pronoun “them” to refer back to the subject. However, the Greek word used for “them” in this verse is “autos” and should in fact be translated “HIM” as it is in 1,942 other Shane Vaughn 62 times in the New Testament rather than “them.” With this understanding we can now read this above verse as it was originally intended. If we were to read this verse as originally written it would read like this: Jesus Christ took completely away from Lucifer his power and his authority and his jurisdiction over the earth realm by qualifying to replace him on the throne. Christ made an example of Lucifer and the fate of all those who disobey God by obediently going to the cross and triumphing over the evil that Lucifer succumbed to. THE HOLY DAYS DEBATE The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 63 ow, we enter into a deep study that will demand the students concentrated attention because the two verses above have been so molested and misunderstood by the majority of Christendom; to my mind I will never understand why they do not take the time to actually study these two verses. These verses are thrown of out of context by nearly everyone when they are looking for a scripture to use when arguing against the keeping of the Sabbath day or to convince Christians that the keeping of God’s annual Holy Days are no longer necessary. These are their pet verses and yet I trust that by the time you study with me their actual meaning that you also will see the futility of their sophistry. Before we can begin dissecting the words as we love to do let us first understand the setting and the context of Paul’s writing. First, the church located at Colesse that Paul is writing to were majority converted Gentiles. These new converts were NOT FORMER JEWS but rather they were former Pagan, Gnostics, Docetist and Spiritualist; what we would in modern times call “new N Shane Vaughn 64 agers”. This short booklet will not allow me the length of space needed to explain the various nuances of the above mentioned groups. The serious student should research these groups of antiquity by various encyclopedias or online resources. In your searching you will find that most of all these pagan groups were very interested in ascending the “spiritual ladder.’ They were the new age believers of their day. They all wanted to be enlightend by the Light but of course not by Jesus Christ. My grandmothers favorite mantra comes to mind “The more things change the more they stay the same.” In their efforts to “approach the light” or to “embrace the divine” these groups of Pagans taught and practiced a very sacrificial and vegetarian life. They taught that the flesh and any enjoyment thereof was wrong and would hinder you from being close to the gods. So, therefore, any enjoyment of eating meat was forbidden as they were vegetarians and much more enlightened than all the carnivores in the human family who ate meat. They forbid sexual pleasure, encouraged celibacy, forbidding to marry and any fruit of the vine that brought you into a celebratory mood; as they believed life should be lived in complete The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 65 somberness. In your studies of these groups you will find that they forbid many of the things that Christ allowed. When these former pagans were converted to Paul’s gospel they realized that their salvation was not found in tormenting the flesh or in denying food and drink but rather by faith in the finished work of Christ. In their new understandings they began to enjoy the things that they once were denied and as a result their former pagan friends were judging them and condemning them for their freedom. These new Christians were in fact celebrating Gods Holy Days or the new moon Sabbaths with so much eating and feasting and celebrating that their former friends were condemning them for what they considered their gross immorality. Now, there can be no doubt when the elders of this congregation wrote to their Apostle; their father in faith that this issue was presented to him for his counsel and in the above verses we will indeed find his counsel to this newly converted former pagans. Primarily we must look at the very first Shane Vaughn 66 phrase of this verse “let no man” for some interesting revelation. The word “man” in the original is the Greek word “tis” and “tis” means “a certain one” not just anyone and not everyone but rather a certain one. Now, why is this important? Because if we don’t understand what “tis” means then we make the mistake of thinking that when Paul says “let no man judge you” we will mistakenly think he is referring all men. However, Paul proves by using the word “tis” that his letter and the “men” that he is referring to are indeed a “certain group of men” and not every man of creation. Our job in this Bible study is to prove emphatically who these CERTAIN MEN are. Upon the learning of who these certain ones are then your eyes will open and you will never be confused again about Pauls admonition concerning the Sabbath days. Let no certain men “judge” you! The word judge here in the original is “kreno” and means “to pronounce an opinion concerning you”. So Paul is saying that there is a certain group of people that are not qualified to make opinions or judgment’s concerning you. Now, we know Paul is not referring to ALL MEN because in fact those The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 67 of us in the House of God are demanded to judge one another. 23 How could we fulfill that command if indeed we are to let “NO MAN” judge us. However, when properly understood there is only ONE GROUP OF PEOPLE who are qualified to issue opinions of what’s right and wrong for the child of God and that group of people is THE CHURCH or the Body of Christ. The church is where judgment begins 24 and where it must be practiced. We as the members of the body of Christ receive no law but the law of Christ. We allow the body to judge us and to keep in safekeeping as a virgin bride of Jesus Christ. However, the opinions of men OUTSIDE of Holy Church matters to us as much as the opinions of Satan; we answer only to the government of Gods church; Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Evangelist and Pastors and not the prejudices of certain outside men. This is exactly what was happening to these 23 I Cor 5:12, I Cor 6:2 I Cor 6:3 I Cor 6:4 I Cor 6:5 I Cor10:15 I Cor 11:31 I Cor 14:29 24 I Peter 4:17 Shane Vaughn 68 Gentiles of new Christian faith. Their outside influences from former days were trying to sit in judgment of Gods church and this infuriated Paul, I am sure. So, he writes to them that their new-found freedom in Christ regarding their celebrating the new moon Sabbaths must not ever be demeaned by the opinions of certain outside men. What were these certain outside men judging these Christians for? First, they were judging them for their enjoyment of meat for their feasting at the feast days. Paul’s states “let no certain men make opinions about the meat your eating” Now the Greek word for food here is “broses” and actually means “eating.” As you study the New Testament the early church almost gave up meats completely for fear of eating common meat that had been sacrificed to pagan gods and then sold immediately afterwards in the market. Why? Because they never knew if the meat they had purchased had been used in pagan practice; so they had discussions about discontinuing the eating of any meat in order to never be displeasing to our Lord. Oh that today’s church cared so intently about their ways pleasing the Lord more than The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 69 just desiring to be saved. However, Paul instructs them all that meat even if it had been offered to idols was no longer “common or unclean” when God was recognized and prayer is offered. (Order my booklet on Unclean Foods for more understanding of this subject) Thus we see more clearly that this idea of eating meat rather than being vegetarians was a paramount problem in the early church and one that Paul clearly had to deal with. So, in his writing this verse he is encouraging the church to continue enjoying their festivals with feasting and eating and drinking and to never allow these Pagans to condemn them for their doing so. Now, let us continue our word by word study to prove my postulations. After dealing with the eating of meat and the drinking of wine, now Paul will prove to us exactly where this celebratory eating of meat and drinking of wine was taking place. One must remember; When God set up these festivals in the Old Testament He demanded that they be a time of much Shane Vaughn 70 happiness and joy and celebration; 25 These celebrations were exactly that as we will notice in the meaning of the Hebrew word “chagag” which is the word we derive “celebrate” from: to hold a feast, hold a festival, make pilgrimage, keep a pilgrim-feast, celebrate, dance, stagger. These were the feast days of Gods church; dates originated by Him; divine appointments with His people and all of these days were scheduled and determined by the new moons. He continued now “or in respect of a holyday.” All of these eating and drinking celebrations was taking place at the holyday festivals as historians have proven; the early church continued keeping the feast days for generations after the Apostles until forbidden to do so by the Roman Catholic Church. When Paul said “or in respect” that word respect in the Greek is “meros” and that word actually connects the holy days with his mention of eating and drinking and I’ll show you why. “Meros” means “one of the constituent parts of a whole” This proves to us emphatically that the holydays he is now mentioning are 25 Lev 23:41 The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 71 one part of the whole conversation and what the whole conversation is about. There is no separating this eating and drinking from the holydays; “meros” connects both thoughts together. So, these new Christians are evidently keeping the Holy Days and while doing so they are eating meat; they are drinking; and they are celebrating and now they are being condemned by their former pagan acquaintances. For Clarification: For those that do not believe the early church drank wine that could bring drunkenness; you have simply not read your Bible. One need only read I Cor 11:20-26 to discover that many people were drinking so much communion wine that they were getting DRUNK and Paul tells them if they were going to drink to go home and drink. In the next few verses it will be made abundantly clear that Paul is not referring to JEWS who might be condemning these Christians for NOT KEEPING THE FESTIVALS as the modern church loves to teach. Rather, these new Christians ARE INDEED keeping Gods Holy Days with much celebration and being condemned by CERTAIN MEN and the next few verses will Shane Vaughn 72 prove who these certain men are. For there to be no confusion in your mind as you begin reading the rest of these verses you must understand that all of the Old Testament Holy Days were called by God to be Sabbath(s). Each festival was a “Sabbath” unto the Lord. If you will remember; during the crucifixion it was the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread and this day was called in the New Testament “a High Sabbath.” 26 Now, the way that the Israelites could determine the exact dates for these annual celebrations was not by man’s calendar but rather by Gods and God’s calendar per His instructions was by the observing of the new moon and thus these festivals became known as the “New Moon Sabbaths.” It is this type of knowledge that is needed to understand these verses and sadly most Christians do not have nor desire this type of knowledge. Paul will now list three distinct titles for the exact same events and it can be confusing if you don’t know what the meaning of “or ” is. I realize I am getting a bit Clintonian in my 26 John 19:31 The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 73 writing but in this instance it really does matter what “or” is! The Greek word for “or” is the one letter Greek word “e” and the meaning of “e” when used as a conjunction can mean “either” or “than” and this changes the meaning completely. Because rather than the word “or” replacing each phrase it is actually supplementing each phrase. I’ll prove this with an article from Thayers Greek Lexicon; This is a distinctive conjunction: to distinguish things or thoughts which EITHER mutually exclude each other OR one of which can TAKE THE PLACE OF EACH OTHER. Without the above explanation of “or” one can fallaciously think that when “or” is written in this verse that it is separating the thoughts but in fact “or” can be used when allowing the separate thoughts to take the place of each other. For Example: If I say to you “It’s a sunny day or a bright day or a perfect day” neither sunny, bright nor perfect are separate thoughts or separate events but rather they are three references separated by “or” for the exact Shane Vaughn 74 same thought. If I tell you “I’ll go to New Orleans or The Crescent City or Sin City” have I mentioned three separate places or have I used three different explanations for the same place? You be the judge of what “or” can mean in writing. So when Paul says “holy days or new moons or Sabbath days” as we learned from the Greek Lexicon he is not necessarily replacing one with the other but in fact allowing each one to further identify and explain each other. Why is this the case? Because all of the Sabbath Days of the Old Testaments (not the weekly Sabbath); they were all holy days and they were all set by the new moon. Therefore one must understand that these three separate thoughts are actually one thought and in fact makes absolutely no reference to the weekly Sabbath but rather the new moon Sabbaths Day(s). Notice that the Sabbaths Paul is referring to is plural whereas the weekly Sabbath is always singular. If we paraphrase these two verses in their original context here is what we would have: “Do not let those former pagan acquaintances and their opinions of how freely your celebrating the holy The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 75 days bother you” The very next verse, so misunderstood by so many will make it perfectly clear what Paul is saying. ONLY THE BODY OF CHRIST efore we proceed allow me to teach you one of the tools of Bible study. Anytime you see a word in “italics” in your Bible there is a reason. That particular word was not in the original inspired Word of God but rather added by carnal men in order to help bring clarity to the verse. In the above verse you will find a perfect example of how the adding of these italicized words have molested the proper meaning of many verses and this verse is a perfect example. In this verse what word do you see that has B Shane Vaughn 76 been added by the translators? “IS”... that’s the word added and it completely alters the original meaning of this verse. Who did we discover earlier is qualified and allowed to judge the church? Only the church can judge the church and what is the church called in all of the New Testament? The body of Christ! Now, when you remove the word “IS” from this verse you will find how it originally reads. “but the body of Christ” without the word “is” included. By removing the word falsely added by the translators the true meaning will become abundantly clear. Each of the Holy days were sketches or shadows of things to come or things that are yet unfulfilled in the mind of God. All of the Holydays have not been fulfilled in Christ as the modern church so erroneously teaches; only the first three of the spring festivals were fulfilled by His first coming; there remains four more yet to be fulfilled at His second coming Therefore, until the second coming of Christ these Holy days still serve as sketches or outlines to us of what is in the mind of God for His people and thus the perfect reason to continue celebrating them because they have not all been fulfilled. This is the reason that Paul tells these Christians to The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 77 keep celebrating and disregard everyone’s judgment EXCEPT THE GOVERNEMT OF THE CHURCH! Because, he tells them that these festivals are sketches of things yet to come; namely; Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles! For simplicity sake we will now write the scripture in it’s original intent and see now if your eyes do not open to its plainness; “Do not let your former pagan acquaintances condemn you for keeping the new moon holy day Sabbaths with your eating and drinking and celebrations; because you are celebrating the sketches or the shadows of things still yet to come and only the government of the church is qualified to judge in these matter Now, let’s prove this point even futher in the following verses. Your eyes will see immediately in these next lines of scripture EXACTLY who Paul is referring to as the ones who were judging these new Christians for their liberty in Christ. Before we read these verses you must keep one thing in mind. The Jewish people were firm believers in ONE GOD. They did not dare worship any Shane Vaughn 78 other God as it had been inculcated into their minds as babes the truth of One God! The Jews were the purveyors of the one God message and they didn’t worship any other gods or angels or any such thing upon the pain of death; according to their laws. So, now let’s find out in the next few verses if Paul was referring to Jews or pagans as those who were trying to seduce these young Christians away from their liberty. Was it Jews that was trying to get them to return to the keeping of the feast as the modern church claims or was it actually pagans who were mocking the fact that they were indeed keeping the feast. THE WORSHIPPERS OF ANGELS, WHO WERE THEY? The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 79 ow be reminded that earlier Paul starts of this often misunderstood verse concerning the keeping or the not keeping of the Holy Days by referring to “Let No Man” judge you. Now, again he is going to use the exact same verbiage and immediately afterwards he is going to describe exactly WHAT men he is referring to. These particular men or people that he is cautioning the church to be careful of and to completely ignore their opinions and judgments just happen to be famous for “voluntary humility” This is not a reference to the Jews as this is not how the Jews behaved; with Voluntary Humilit. This is how the Pagans obeyed: the Wiccans or the Druids or The Wise One of the Old Religions. (Did you notice the use of the word OR on that line?) They believed the body was evil and the soul was good and that in order to advance the soul that all pleasures of the body must be eradicated and denied; they even forbid people to marry or have sexual relations. These folks live today in the new age movement as they try to “deny themselves” and in so doing “reach Nirvana”. Pagans in those days loved “voluntary humility” and the forsaking of all pleasures while they obtained N Shane Vaughn 80 those secret messages from their spirit guides and from the vortexes of the east and the west. They lived with absolutely no cognizance of worldly goods or money ; in plain words they were hippies who were in rebellion to the way the world woks and they were focused on “spiritual things” rather than earthly. This does NOT describe the Jewish people. Paul continues; these men that I am warning you to ignore their judgments are not only filled with so- called voluntary humility but they also worship angels or false gods or anything to do with the planets and the stars and the heavens. How anyone cannot see that this was NOT the Jews is beyond my ability to understand. This is a direct practice of Pagans; Jews did NOT worship angels or anything else except Yahweh. So, again to think that Paul is telling these believers to ignore those Jews who would desire you to keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days is to think without thinking. Paul is making it as plain as day what men he is referring to; Pagans from whom these Gentile Christians came from. Paul goes on to talk about these Pagans who were “intruding into things which eye hath not seen.” With those words the Apostle has once again left no question of his Pagan inferences because The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 81 the Jews did not intrude into heavenly things but rather they shied away from them so much that they refused to even pronounce Gods sacred name upon their lips. This reference is about those pagans who just like the pagans of today were always trying to “contact the otherworld” or “Channel” or “get in touch with the universe.” They were pushing their way into things that they were absolutely clueless about. As Paul said they were indeed “Puffed up” and because of this “spiritual pride” and this “Puffing up” with their super spirituality they were judging these new Christians because these Christians had found the only way to Nirvana or God and that was through Jesus Christ and as such they no longer had to pretend a “voluntary humility” because they had identified with the humility of Christ and accepted His free gift of the promise of eternal life. Shane Vaughn 82 ithout one further doubt we can peg and identify and prove exactly who these “certain men” were that were judging Gods church and her newest members for their keeping of the new moon Sabbaths also called the Holy Days and for their eating and drinking during those new moon Sabbaths. This group of super spiritual new agers who wanted to ascend into the heavenly or into the spiritual and who wanted to know the goddess and the gods and who wanted all types of planetary knowledge and who trusted in their own ability to reach perfection by voluntary humility and the denying of any fleshly pleasure.... Paul says in the first line of the above verse that these Pagans who worshipped angels and other gods refused to “Hold the Head” or in other words they have tried to ascertain all these heavenly and spiritual things by simply bypassing THE HEAD; Christ Jesus the ONLY WAY to The Father or what they refer to as Nirvana. He says that these folks were bypassing Christ and trying to reach to pinnacle that Christ reached by their forsaking of meat and drink and marriage and sexual pleasure and by worshipping angels and gods aplenty. While W The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 83 appearing to be humble they were actually walking in the greatest pride by trying to be a bunch of individual “Christ” themselves; by obtaining the “Christ Consciousness” themselves without submitting to nor embracing the man Christ Jesus; The Head! Paul continued to explain that without the HEAD you cannot have God nor the increase of God and yet these Pagans were all trying to “INCREASE IN GOD” or in the “Universal Mind” by their own ability and Paul tells the church there is only ONE WAY to find the INCREASE OF GOD and that is through the Head; the man Christ Jesus; the Son of God. oes any doubt remain? Is there any shroud of obscurity still hanging over your eyes as to the identity of these “certain men” that Paul is referring to? The good news is that in these next two verses your eyes should open immediately! Paul is now presenting a question . . .WHY if D Shane Vaughn 84 you have come to THE HEAD would you ever submit yourselves again to the restrictions or the ordinances or the customs of these pagans of the world. Now that you have learned that your righteousness is not in starving yourself or forbidding to marry but rather you are made righteousness in Christ Jesus... why would you ever allow their judgments about your new found freedoms to condemn you? Notice the word “rudiments” in verse twenty. In the original we find out the depth of this word; the Greek Word is Stoicheion and the meaning is very explanatory: any first thing, from which the others belonging to some series or composite whole take their rise, an element, first principal Allow me to paraphrase: The rudiments are the “first things or the first customs or the first practices from which you have RISEN or from which you have been delivered from.” There was CERTAIN rudiments or customs or ordinances from which these new Christians had RISEN OUT OF and the major question that we must now answer; what EXACTLY where those ordinances or customs or The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 85 rudiments that these new Christians have risen out of? Since these converts were not former Jews but rather Gentiles – is it even remotely possible that Paul was referring to Judaism as their former rudiments or ordinances? Absolutely Not! The VERY next verse will give you the whole context for this chapter. The customs or ordinances that they had RISEN OUT OF are the following; With those three phrases the whole meaning is revealed to us of who Paul is addressing as these “certain men.” These Pagans lived by this three phrase mantra or creed; They believed all things of the flesh were evil and they believed in that Satanic doctrine of the immortal soul as created by Satan and postulated by Plato and Socrates. Just as many of us Christian often quote our favorite mantras or verses such as “One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism” well, guess what? These Pagans quoted the above mantra as Shane Vaughn 86 their worldview – everything was evil and not to be touched (sexual intimacy and marriage) tasted ( no eating of meats, total vegetarianism and no alcoholic wine) handle not ( the enjoyment of anything pleasurable). Again, for emphasis this would NEVER apply to the Jews as they were not bound by such ordinances or mantras. As we continue to the final verse of this chapter we will prove yet again that Paul was raging against the old Pagan practices of these Gentile believers. et’s understand something clearly! There is one thing that Paul LOVED and respected over and over in his epistles and that is the Ten Commandment laws of God. He said in his writing that the law of God was holy, spiritual, good and needful in our lives. He would never in ten trillion years say anything disparaging to those “Living oracles” as he calls them over and over. So in reading verse twenty two (22) we can prove that he was not referring to the Jews L The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 87 laws or ordinances because he calls these ordinances the “Doctrines of men” and trust me he would never make such a statement about the laws of God. So for those who read this chapter and try to say that it is actually telling the church not to worry about keeping the Sabbath or the Holy Days any longer because Paul is condemning those Jews who were judging the church for not keeping the Sabbath.... How much more wrong can you be? Paul is coming against the “Commandment of MEN” and dear reader the keeping of Sabbath was the commandment of God! The keeping of Holy Days was the commandment of God. Yet. The audience Paul is referring to were practicing the commandments of men! Shane Vaughn 88 n closing this chapter with verse twenty- three (23) Paul again for the umpteenth time clarifies who “certain men” that was giving their judgments and opinions of the practices of Gods church really are. This group of people have an outward expression of denying their flesh and a great search for wisdom! They love their sages and their shamans and their “deep” teachers who can speak in such mystical language and feed them such grandiose meals of mystic words. They love “knowing things” and they love “escaping this flesh and finding the gods within.” It would do you well to research the practices of “ascetism” and you will find these practices are the ones that were alive then and continue to this day; this is who were badgering Gods true church. Below is the definition of ascetism as practiced in the days of Paul and in the modern times. The very same demonic power that existed in those days remain alive in people today Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various worldly pleasures, often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals. Many religious traditions (e.g. Buddhism, Jainism, the Christian Desert Fathers) include practices that involve restraint with respect to actions of body, speech, I The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 89 and mind like that of the Pythagoreans. The founders and earliest practitioners of these religions lived extremely austere lifestyles, refraining from sensual pleasures and the accumulation of material wealth. They practiced asceticism not as a rejection of the enjoyment of life, or because the practices themselves are virtuous, but as an aid in the pursuit of physical and metaphysical health. They eschewed worldy pleasures and led an abstemious lifestyle Did you read that carefully? If you did your eyes should have opened and you should now compare that definition with Paul’s writing and then never again will you doubt who these “certain men” were that were trying to judge the freedom of Gods church. In closing; Paul in this chapter spends and entire chapter combatting Ascetism and Gnosticism he was NOT combatting the keeping of Gods holy commandments. Rather he was rebuking them for allowing the Pagans who were OUTSIDE OF THE BODY OF CHRIST to worry them because of their eating of meat and drinking of wine at the annual new moon Sabbaths; The Holy Days and therefore this proves emphatically that Gods true Apostolic church in their purest days were indeed keeping the annual Shane Vaughn 90 Sabbaths. In this chapter , the Apostle chosen by Christ Himself lays into and destroys that ill- begotten idea that was evidently running as rampant in the early church as is it does today; the idea that sin can reign in the life of the believer and there is no ramification and no The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 91 danger to the eternal destination of the soul. We have termed this idea in our day as Eternal Security. It is my estimation that the aforementioned doctrine is the most dangerous doctrine to ever enter the sacred halls of God Holy Church. It is quite evident that Paul feels the same way as I as you will see in this chapter that we are now approaching. FROM MT. CALVARY TO MT. ZION ll Christians who have truly been converted must now begin a journey from their infants steps to Mt. Calvary to their conquering steps to Mt. Zion. This journey is often termed in the language of the church as The Highway of Holiness. Why is it termed such? Because, this is a higher way of living. This is a way of living that rises above A Shane Vaughn 92 the animalistic nature of man and brings him into a higher place in Christ; a place in the Spirit rather than the flesh. This place that God is calling you to as a new Christian is a place of being “risen” or “elevated” from the control of your animal nature to the control of Gods nature; the mind of Christ. You will now as the above verse state begin seeking things that are higher and loftier and greater than you’ve known in your past life of sin. You are being called to the life of an Overcomer; to a life free from the power and the consequences of sin. This message that Paul is delivering flies completely into the face of the message of modern Christianity which only requires a “belief in Christ” rather than a submission unto Him. You were not called to Calvary to become a bigger sinner than you already were. You were not called to Calvary to become a greater breaker of Gods Ten Commandment laws than you already were. Rather, you were called to Calvary to receive power to become what God desired you to be from the beginning; Righteous before God. You were called to receive power to rise above what had always The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 93 risen above you; the power and control of sin! God is not giving anyone free passes for disobedience to His laws and His will because they mentally embraced the story of the cross. If the cross is not changing you then you are blaspheming the cross 27 ; you are embarrassing the cross; you are in fact denying the very power of the very cross that you claim to embrace and in this chapter Paul is going to let you know exactly what God expects of the newly converted Christian. our affections; your pleasures and your desires must be changing from earthly pleasures or in fact you have not been converted. If you are still more in love with the superbowl than you are a Sabbath worship service then you are in soul trouble. I assure you that very few will be chosen to 27 Heb 6:6 Y Shane Vaughn 94 enter into the government of God on the earth during His millennium reign because they have been lied to by their churches and they have come to believe that God just called them to “believe upon Christ” and to simply “be saved.” They have no idea that He called them for “training for reigning” and “schooling for ruling”. They and possibly you are clueless as to the true purpose of their calling and sadly it is not the peoples fault. Rather, their leaders preach to them in ignorance both willfully and sadly – sincerely. As a result the church has been increasingly weakened by the leaven of sin and carnality that has ballooned throughout the Holy and Hallowed church; the estimable and venerable Bride of Jesus Christ. The reason for this urgent caution of Paul about setting our desires on righteous things rather than sin is because this is in fact the pre-requisite for appearing in and qualifying for any future role in the earth- ruling government of God in the Golden Age of the reign of the Son of God as the next scripture so beautifully venerates. WORKERS OF INITQUITY The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 95 hen shall we appear with Him in His display of power or His glory? When we have overcome sin and overcome temptations and when we have begun living like men and women who are walking in the power of the resurrection by first rising above the stronghold of personal sin in our lives. NO ONE WILL APPEAR in Christ “government on display” as He presents us to the world in the air if they are living in a life or unrighteous acts and breaking Gods laws. You can either choose to believe this truth or be led to everlasting death by the false preachers of our day who have lied to the masses of Christians. As a result they will stand before Christ and say “But we believed” they will weep and they will wail, they will not understand why they are not being chosen; they were called unto this race but they did not finish this race. When Christ says unto them “Depart from me ye workers of iniquity” they will know then that God cared about His law and His ways of righteousness. The word “Iniquity” simply W Shane Vaughn 96 means in it’s original language “Lawbreaking” Jesus will say to all of these believing Christians “depart from you those of you who refused to keep my Commandments.” If you desire to appear with Christ in His government of eternal glory then you must begin imitating Him now and allow His indwelling presence to emaciate you with His very character and His very mind; the Holy Spirit. THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD aul is adamant again about the need to rid your life of sin or else you will NOT appear with Christ in His governmental and kingdom glory. In the previous verse he is speaking about the coming of Christ and those whom shall appear with Him and then in this very next verse he tells us that if we wish to appear with Christ then we are to Overcome or kill the P The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 97 flesh and to walk in the newness of life. We are not commanded to JUST BELIEVE but rather to walk in holiness being obedient to the commands of Christ. Paul then goes on to give us a few of those things which we must Overcome if we plan to reign with Christ in His government upon the earth. If you have the things in this list of sins in your life then you must rid yourself of this leaven. On your own you cannot do it but with the indwelling Christ; the Holy Spirit, then indeed you can and you must! THE END OF SIN f it could be any plainer then even an infant could understand it. Paul says to Christians who are TRULY Christians in I Shane Vaughn 98 more than just name. “You IN THE PAST lived in the power of sin and in the PAST you broke Gods laws and were disobedient BUT NOT ANY LONGER”! You are done with sin. You are walking in a victorious life over sin! Now, ask yourself is Paul describing you? This is his description of TRULY converted Christians; people who have been called out and have come out of the power of sin and breaking Gods laws. Now, granted this is NOT the description of a Christian given today from modern pulpits in the world. Today a Christian is someone described as having “Accepted Jesus Into Their Hearts” and believed that He died and rose again. That is absolutely as far as the church takes new converts today. The exception is the Pentecostals; they bring them a little further to being filled with the Holy Spirit and then they drop them off at the Upper room. However, the true Apostolic Church of God, the original Church of the first century believed in Holiness! The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 99 f anyone preaches another message to you than the one in the above verse; the Bible says call them accursed. If anyone tells you that you can enter into God’s kingdom with filthy language in your mouth, with anger and tempers and malice and blasphemy in your person and your character then you are NOT walking in the life that the gospel has called you unto. When you were conceived by the Word of God and called into God’s Holy church; the Apostolic Church of God you then began the process of conversion that you might come into full maturity. During that process you will be putting away all of these sins that separates you from your God. Paul says “Now, you have to put away some things.” Unlike the modern church Paul taught what they call a legalistic message; he preached separation from the world and holiness unto the Lord. He said you cannot JUST BELIEVE; you must now start putting away certain things that will hinder you from running this race all the way to the end. Get rid of every weight that is slowing you down. I Shane Vaughn 100 o you still lie? Do you still create your own fantasies and declare them as truth? Then you are not growing in God and therefore you are not fulfilling your purpose on the earth which is to be converted into His image that you might come to maturity for a full birth at the resurrection. You cannot live in that old order; in that old mindset... if all things are not being made new in your life then you must begin praying for more of an infilling of the Holy Ghost. The more you pray; the more you fast; the more you obey God; the more you will begin putting these things away and in so doing you will give Satan no evidence to condemn you with. ow, that you have accepted the gospel and surrendered your will, counted the cost and taken up your cross to imitate or follow Christ it is time to D N The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 101 begin shedding that old man; those old selfish ways of thinking; those old pleasures will begin changing and all of this does not happen by your own strength or your own works but rather by the strength of Him that now lives in you. LOSING YOUR IDENTITY ere is another often misunderstood scripture. It is quoted completely out of it’s context and used to excuse a litany of things. People use it to erase all gender separation in the gospel work; they use it to teach that there is no more separation among the sexes or the classes because we are all one in Christ Jesus. However, this particular verse is saying something much greater. We must go back a few verses to follow its context. We were just speaking in H Shane Vaughn 102 the previous verse about “putting on” the new man which is the mind of Christ. We are now being told that we should follow that command so perfectly that we can no longer be identified by the world as our OLD SELVES. We are no longer recognized by our race or our sex but rather by our complete and radical change and we should now be recognized as CHRIST IN US; He should be all in all of us. Those of us in Holy Church have to completely lose our old identities. If we were wealthy we no longer find our identity in our wealth. If we were poor we no longer find our identity in our poverty. We shed that old mindset and put on the new mindset. We no longer think like men or women, rich or poor, black or white but rather Christ becomes all in all of us. We will no longer justify sin in our community of white people or of black people. We will no longer take up for “our people” because we are no longer identified as being part of “our people” we are now citizens of a new nation and our allegiance is now to Christ and His Holy Word. If God’s Word commands it of us; we do it. If God’s Word calls it an abomination it doesn’t matter if it’s in our family, our The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 103 community or our race or our political party – we are no longer identified in those communities; Christ has become all... in all of us. This process of conversion takes place from Mt. Calvary all the way to Mt. Zion. This process begins when we are defeated men, controlled by the passions of our flesh but it ends as Overcomers; victorious over the strongholds of sin. Is this humanly possible? Absolutely not! But WITH GOD.... If it is truly “no loger I that live but Christ that lives in me” then all things are possible with God and that includes living a righteous and Holy life. PUTTING AWAY AND PUTTING ON There is absolutely no room left here for argument. Paul uses the most forceful of Shane Vaughn 104 words – you MUST do! This converted life is not only about putting off sin but its about REPLACING sin with righteous acts and godly deeds. The transformation of the sinner to the saint of the evil to the elect is about putting away and putting on. Check the list above; do you see any of these things being added to your life since your conversion? Are you becoming more and more tender, humble, meek and longsuffering? Are you seeing yourself grow in to the person that is bearing with other peoples evil against you and do you find yourself forgiving them with more ease than you ever have? If not – you are not being converted but rather you are playing church! Paul says these things you MUST DO. God is calling you to Holiness; He is calling you to a life of total surrender, total change and total consecration. He has called you to imitate Him not to believe on him but rather to believe on Him so much that you imitate His life, His character and His ways. THE WAY OF “GIVE” RATHER THAN THE WAY OF “GET” The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 105 ou will know that you are reaching a full measure of Christ when you arrive at the pinnacle of the Christian life; the life of love; the way of give rather than the way of get. As Christ is being formed in you; as you are growing as a spiritual fetus in the womb of Gods church you will begin to notice a peace of God that fills your heart to where you can’t be angry with people. You will notice such a love for every human that you will love those who do you wrong because it just comes natural. As you are filled with the Holy Spirit no one can offend you because you lose all self-worth and only have Christ worth. You realize that it is Christ in you that angers them and not you yourself. The peace of God will keep you calm in the midst of the storms of life. Your nature will Y Shane Vaughn 106 calm down; you will lose your bitterness and your temper and your quick tongue as a calmness will begin caressing your soul. It is when you arrive here at you are arriving at the place of perfection. When you can do good to your enemies; your arriving. When you can love those who have lied on you and hurt you; your arriving at the bonds of perfection. otice carefully that as the Love of God begins to fill your heart you will develop a love for His church; your spiritual family. You will begin to minister to one another and overlooking the faults of one another. You will enjoy the getting together and assembling of the Bride of Christ where together we celebrate the sacred mysteries of Christ that have been entrusted unto the stewards of His mysteries; the Church of God. I would like to interject briefly in this study N The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 107 that the above verse disproves the claims of the so-called Church of Christ which forbids the use of musical instruments in their local churches. They claim that the New Testament does not authorize the use of instruments in worship. However, the above verse actually does. Notice that they are instructed to use psalms and hymns; in the original Greek language of the New Testament the word Psalms is actually; Psalmos and it means “a striking of the chords of musical instruments” Then Hymn in Greek is; Hymnos and means “a celebration song in honor of a hero” and then Spiritual Songs means “a song or an ode sung from the depths of the spirit of man” what we would call in our day “praise and worship songs.” So in the above verse we have scriptural New Testament authority for the following in our meetings; Celebratory songs such as were sung unto hero’s of the day; a high praise. Also, the playing of musical instruments and Shane Vaughn 108 also the singing of intensely spiritual songs. All of this is to be done from a sincere heart of thanksgiving and love not only for God but for all the members of His church; the Church of God. UNITY OF THE CHURCH ow, in the following verses Paul makes a most interesting twist in his writing. He goes from talking about the unity of the church and now he will go into the unity of the family. Why? Because the unity of the Spirit can only abide in the church if it abides in the homes. However, Paul is going to reveal to us the secret of unity. He is about to reveal to us how to submitted to one another even when we don’t want to and even when it makes no sense. He teaches us the most lesson called “as unto the Lord”. If you can learn this vital principle as taught to me by my grandmother early in life then you can walk in godly submission to the N The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 109 government of the church and the hierarchy of the family and ultimately to God. Paul understood that men who couldn’t submit to other men could never submit to God. Although people love to use the cop out that they obey God alone; in actuality God is in His church and God is in the set order of authority that He has established and if you ignore that order then you are in fact rebelling against God. It would do you well to learn this lesson above all the lessons that I have shared in this book. This lesson will help you deal with the evil that is done to us at times from those who are in authority over us. This lesson will help a wife to submit to an unfair husband. This lesson will help a husband submit to an imperfect Pastor. The secret, you ask? Learning that everything we do in word or deed we are not doing towards the men or women that we can see with our eyes; rather as we submit to others we recognize that we are submitting TO CHRIST and in realizing this we can overlook the men in which Christ has chosen to dwell and we can gladly submit knowing that we’re doing it “as unto the Lord” or we’re submitting not to men but unto Christ. Shane Vaughn 110 I learned early in my life that when I gave to the poor or when I gave to the homeless; even if they were conning me and even if they were not really in need; I took comfort in knowing that I gave that money not to them but I was literally giving it to the Lord Jesus Christ as He himself said that many times we have given to angels and didn’t realize it. GOVERNMENT IS EVERYTHING As you evolve in your Christian conversion you must learn the lesson of submission. Why? Because to God “government is everything.” The very Kingdom of God in Heaven right now has a government or an hierarchy of angels with varying degrees of authority. The only way that God’s kingdom or any other kingdom can flourish is with the recognition of authority. A civil society cannot flourish without the rule of law and without the submission to the laws established by the government. God said that in the last days men would be despisers of government and this refers to church government; family government and national The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 111 government. But when the love and the peace of God begins to fill your heart you love to practice godly submission because in so doing you realize that you are submitting to God and training for reigning in His future government where the nations will be submitted to your righteous rule over the earth. Paul reminds us; How can you rule the earth if you can’t learn to submit to the government of the church and learn to judge among yourselves righteously. Now in the proceeding verses Paul will lay out God’s order of government upon the earth; Shane Vaughn 112 TRUE AUTHORITY As you can tell; there is no room in the Church of God for rebellion and attitudes of self government. There is no room in Gods church for those who do not wish to be in submission to human governmental authority. As you mature in your walk with God you will begin shedding that independent attitude that needs no one and answers to no one. You will begin to give yourself away to the authority of others and you will find satisfaction because you cannot be submitted to God without first submitting to one another. In the same vein you cannot say that you love God and not love others; it’s a complete contradiction in terms. We are all part of one body and that body must have a government or a set The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 113 authority that we all give an account to. There is great danger and you must check your spirit when you cannot submit to a human ruler. We are told that the king is the “minister of God” and also the Five-Fold ministry are the ministers of God and should be given “double honor” and should be submitted to so long as they are ministering the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It becomes allot easier to do when you realize that it is actually Christ that we are submitting to. This is Pauls commandments when he is telling us to put away rebellion; he then follows that dialogue with what we should be putting on; submission and selflessness and honor to those in authority over us. You cannot call yourself a Christian woman if your not submitted to your husband. Nor can you call yourself a Christian man if your not submitted to a church leader. Authority never stops with anyone except God. Therefore you cannot expect to be in authority without being under authority and this guarantees that you are in line with Gods authority. Shane Vaughn 114 n the closing of the previous chapter Paul was instructing the church what they would become like as they matured and I The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 115 began putting on the new man; the full stature of Christ. He told them that they would become obedient o godly authority; the children to the mother, the mother to the father, the father to the Church, the church to Christ and Christ to God who is all in all. Now, he not only teaches us about being under authority but how to also use godly authority such as that authority once held by Masters over their servants. Many people have a problem with this verse because of slavery but what you must realize is that for thousands of years servanthood and slavery were part of every society. Slavery was not just a black thing; the Jews were slaves to the Babylonians and in great countries poor white people were slaves and servants to the wealthy. This was simply the way the world operated. However, lots of slavery was more like employment. The slave was cared for and housed and clothed and fed in return for labor. However, Paul is instructing the Christian masters to treat those in their care responsibly and with kindness. It is imperative that one with power knows how to handle that power. Power without character leads to horrendous results. Shane Vaughn 116 In the coming kingdom of God; you and I are going to be entrusted with great authority over peoples, cities, counties and nations and regions. If we have been faithful over a few things we will rule over many people in the government of Christ. To qualify for that throne of power there can be no self exhalations in us; there can be nothing in us that would ever abuse that authority and this is the purpose of our sojourn on earth because the angels of the Lord; the watchers of the Lord keep a record of how we treat others in our care. We are being trained on earth for our jobs in the Millennium. ou will never endure until the end if you don’t learn the spiritual exercise of prayer. Prayer is a very misunderstood subject. Many in the church look upon prayer as sort of a spell to change events and circumstances in their life when actually the purpose of prayer is not to change events or circumstances in your life but rather to change your life. Prayer is the tool wherein we admit on bended knees that we are loyal subjects to a Heavenly king and that we are Y The Book of Colossians – a verse by verse study 117 not our own gods. Prayer is that mystical place where transformation from independence to total dependence takes place. All Christians that will be chosen in this future government will be people who have mastered the art of prayer. Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds 4:4 Paul now closes this great book with final salutations to the various members of the church as is so typical of his writing style. Shane Vaughn 118 THE END 119 OTHER BOOKS AVAILABLE BY SHANE VAUGHN  Any Evidence (Refuting the Pentecostal doctrine of the Initial Evidence )  The Dream Team (Those who shall rule and reign in the coming kingdom of God on the earth)  The Calling of the Bride All books are given free of charge Order Today The Apostolic Church of God 207 Mill St, Lone Oak Tx 7545 903 508 9376 www.theapostolicCOG.com www.facebook.com/shanevaughn38 120 ABOUT THE AUTHOR SHANE VAUGHN Born into a classical Pentecostal family and raised in the church of his forbears, Shane Vaughn holds a strong heritage of faith. He began serving the Bride of Christ at the age of 15 when he accepted his call to the ministry and began preaching revival services throughout the south. At the age of 19 he founded his first church and has served the Lord in various other capacities. He is a singer, musician, gospel music recording artist, song writer, radio host, television host and author of multiple books. During a very dark period in his life he walked away from the things of God in rebellion and suffered the tender mercies of God as the Lord did what must be done to bring him back to the purpose for which he was born. Today he has founded The Apostolic Church of God and Overcomers International Ministries as vehicles to serve the body of Christ around the world.