Our theme for this coming Sunday is Hope and the Cross. How did the cross, a symbol of shame, become a symbol of hope? We’ll discuss how various theories of the “atonement” – satisfaction, Christus Victor, and moral example — complement each other and offer hope against the power of sin.
As reading for this week, I’d like us to focus on Colossians 2. Take a few moments each day to read through this chapter of scripture. By way of some background on this chapter, the teachings that were troubling the Christians to whom Paul writes this letter probably were “Gnostic.” The Gnostics taught that Jesus was not really God incarnate, because they believed physical matter was essentially evil. They taught that Jesus’ body was a sort of illusion or phantom and that his death on the cross therefore was in a sense not “real.” They further taught that only a few people with secret, insider knowledge, usually involving mystical signs or words, would be saved, and that they were in a position to pass along that secret knowledge, which they had learned privately from Jesus. Think a bit about how this background informs the concepts of “fullness,” “headship,” and “life” that Paul uses in this chapter.
Another interesting bit of background is Paul’s use of the terms “power” and “authority.” This also relates to his refutation of the Gnostics, who claimed to possess special power derived from their insider knowledge. It is also a broader reference to the eschatological themes in Paul’s theology and elsewhere in the New Testament. A first century reader familiar with Jewish apocalyptic literature would recognize a political reference in Paul’s use of these terms. The Roman powers claimed the very authority of the gods. Paul’s references to “power” and “authority” here, then, relate to the entire range of political-spiritual-social forces that could threaten to disrupt the hope of God’s people.
After you read this passage each day, take a little time to meditate (think intently and prayerfully upon) these phrases that appear in the chapter:
“fullness in Christ”
“Christ, who is the head over every power and authority”
“alive with Christ”
“disarmed”
“triumphing over them by the cross.”
As you read, pray, and meditate on these scriptures, what does the Holy Spirit convey to you about the nature of the cross of Christ in relation to “hope?”
