“…in all things [Christ] might have the preeminence.” Colossians is as relevant today as it was when first written. The false doctrines that had crept into this early Church have slithered into our contemporary assemblies. Eastern mysticism, Jewish legalism, and religious asceticism, along with the world’s philosophy and scientific astrology, had invaded that primitive band of believers, as they have our own.
And what was Paul’s answer to each of these heresies? The preeminence of Christ. Colossians is the answer to the so-called “New Age” movement. Christ is not one of many ingredients in God’s recipe for what ails us; He is the only ingredient. For we are “complete in him.” “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
The apostle teaches, the best way to confront error is to emphasize truth. Controversy has few converts. Paul did not waste his time in explaining each false doctrine, but in exalting Christ. He only refers to the errors of these false teachers in a general sense. He didn’t even take time to give us their origin, but simply made a passing reference to them, as he headed for the Head of the Church.
"The best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or to spend time denouncing it, but to lay a straight stick alongside it."
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