«　WEEK 3　DAY 1　»

　　Col. 3:11 Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.

　　2:8 Beware that no one carries you off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.

　　In Colossians Paul is dealing with the hidden matter of man’s culture. A strong indicator of this is the use of the word barbarian in 3:11, a word not used in either 1 Corinthians 12:13 or Galatians 3:28, verses parallel to Colossians 3:11. Paul’s use of the word barbarian in Colossians indicates that this Epistle deals with culture.

　　The source of the trouble among the believers in Colossae was culture, Jewish culture and Greek culture. I believe that all the churches in Asia Minor had been saturated with Jewish culture, particularly with respect to religious observances, and with Greek culture, particularly related to philosophy. At the time of Paul, the culture in the Mediterranean region included three main elements: Jewish religion, Greek philosophy, and Roman politics. Two of these elements—Jewish religion and Greek philosophy—had invaded the church.

　　Just as culture exerted a strong influence on the believers in Colossae, culture today exerts a strong influence on us. Unconsciously, we are under the influence of the culture into which we were born. It seems that the religious and philosophical elements of culture are part of our being. In many groups in Christianity the political element of culture is present also. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 273-274)

　　In Colossians 2:18 Paul says, “Let no one defraud you by judging you unworthy of your prize, in self-chosen lowliness and the worship of the angels, dwelling on things which he has seen, vainly puffed up by his mind set on the flesh.” Here Paul warns the believers not to be defrauded through self-chosen lowliness, or so-called humility. He does not warn them about fleshly indulgence. Humility is one of the best human virtues. In many ethical teachings, a high value is placed on humility. In certain respects, humility is even a finer virtue than love. But even humility can be used to defraud the believers of the enjoyment of Christ.

　　The principle is the same today. Satan, the subtle one, is still using ethics and religion to defraud Christians of the enjoyment of Christ. In saying this, I am not referring to others, such as those in the Catholic religion, but especially to us in the Lord’s recovery. If we get into the depths of the book of Colossians, we shall see that it deals not with sin or with the law, but with man’s culture. Culture is the unconscious living of every human being. This is true both of primitive society and of advanced countries as well. The principle is the same everywhere. People throughout the world are under the influence of their culture…. According to the book of Colossians, what defrauds us of the enjoyment of Christ and frustrates the church life is our culture.

　　The book of Colossians speaks to our need today. Mainly we are not troubled by the sinful things, as in 1 Corinthians, nor by the law, as in Galatians. But we are all unconsciously and subconsciously under the influence of culture. When we came into the church life, we brought our culture with us. This culture is now undermining our enjoyment of Christ. Culture is the systematic method we have developed to exist and to maintain our being. The stronger our culture is, the more critical we shall be of others. Based upon the culture we have, we develop our type of asceticism, our own practices to restrict the indulgence of the flesh. Our asceticism is the method we devise to restrain ourselves and to keep from doing sinful things. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 274-276)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msg. 33