Colossians 2:6-15
For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily… (v. 9) This verse is a direct response to the Gnostics who taught that Jesus was not truly God and man, with various interpretations on what that meant and who He really was in body and spirit.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses … God made alive together with Him … by canceling the record of debt [and] nailing it to the cross. (vv. 13-14) I eliminated some (very good) words in these two verses to highlight what I wanted to bring out – Paul’s description of our debt of sin being fully paid and Jesus nailing that debt invoice to the cross, marking it “fully paid”. (My own additions…)
…rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith… (v. 7a) A gentle little triad here: rooted, built up, established. Paul is describing for each of us our own Christian experience. We are first of all rooted when a seed of faith is planted in us. That seed grows upward extending its roots downward. (We see this firsthand in Carol’s garden every spring and summer! But it’s only when we “uproot” the plants that we see how vast their root system has become.) Then we are built up as we progress through our Christian faith, ideally together with others building each other up. (Some of Carol’s plants need stakes or wires to grow up on and all of the plants need the weeds around them to be controlled.) Finally we are established in that faith – not completed, but certainly established. We become known for our faith and we share that faith with nonbelievers. (With regular care those plants grow and flourish and bear fruit. In fact, it is in their bearing fruit that we truly know what kind of plants they are! But still they need to be watched and protected because animals and bugs are there to destroy them.) I love Carol’s garden; I’m proud of her!
Slava Bohu!
Great analogy!