Spectacle....
Col. 2:6-15 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, [7] rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
[8] See to it that no-one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
[9] For in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form, [10] and you have been given fulness in Christ, who is the Head over every power and authority. [11] In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, [12] having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
[13] When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, [14] having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. [15] And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
When Paul talks about a public spectacle, he has in mind the victory celebrations of the Romans, when they dragged their defeated enemies through the streets of the city, where the populace could pour scorn and derision onto them.
This is the power of the cross in the cosmic realms. It is God’s final and everlasting triumph over evil. It is his demonstration that once and for all, for those who accept the gift of life which is offered up by the cross, there is victory. Death has been conquered and overcome. Hell has been humiliated. As we approach Christmas, it is good for us to refelect on the life mission that Jesus would embark on, and the hope that was to be found in the infant born to us on Christmas day.
[8] See to it that no-one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
[9] For in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form, [10] and you have been given fulness in Christ, who is the Head over every power and authority. [11] In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, [12] having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
[13] When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, [14] having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. [15] And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
When Paul talks about a public spectacle, he has in mind the victory celebrations of the Romans, when they dragged their defeated enemies through the streets of the city, where the populace could pour scorn and derision onto them.
This is the power of the cross in the cosmic realms. It is God’s final and everlasting triumph over evil. It is his demonstration that once and for all, for those who accept the gift of life which is offered up by the cross, there is victory. Death has been conquered and overcome. Hell has been humiliated. As we approach Christmas, it is good for us to refelect on the life mission that Jesus would embark on, and the hope that was to be found in the infant born to us on Christmas day.
posted by Gordon at
1:31 pm
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