When it comes to Thanksgiving dinner my Mom’s cooking is unrivaled. One of my favorite dishes is her candied yams. With absolute care and expert precision, she adds the essential ingredients such as brown sugar, marshmallows and walnuts – and a few hours later the oven yields the incredible result. Now imagine if someone were to open the oven door while my Mom was away, and begin to add ingredients that do not belong in the recipe like anchovies, ranch dressing and pickle juice. The end result would be drastically different. In fact, the dish would be completely ruined.
The church of Colossae faced a similar contamination. The problem was syncretism, combining ideas from other philosophies and religions with Christian truth. The resulting heresy later became known as Gnosticism, emphasizing special knowledge (gnosis) and denying Christ as God and Savior. Not unlike the church of Colossae, today’s Church struggles with the conglomeration of New Age philosophies and religious pluralism.
Combating this devious error, Paul stresses Christ’s deity, his connection with the Father, and his sacrificial death on the cross for the sins of the world. Only by being connected with Christ through faith can anyone have eternal life and only through a continuing connection with him can anyone be justified before God. “But now [God] has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel” (Colossians 1:22-23a). With clarity and passion, Paul teaches Christ is God incarnate and the only way to forgiveness and peace with God the Father.
