FIRST QUARTER 2026
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #10
MARCH 7, 2026
"COMPLETE IN CHRIST".

 

Reading the second chapter of Colossians, we uncover Paul’s motivation for writing this letter. His solicitude for the believers in Colossae and in Laodicea is unmistakable (Col. 2:1; 4:15,16). He earnestly desires that the believers will obtain the spiritual wealth that comes from knowing Christ (Col. 2:2,3). He is alarmed that they (and us!) might be ensnared by “philosophy and empty deception” following human traditions and ideas (2:8). Paul yearns for the Colossians to understand the powerful truth, that in Christ was all the fullness of the Godhead, and we are complete in Him (2:9,10). This is an almost incomprehensible thought. Fallen and weak as we are, yet having faith in Christ, we are complete in Him. In Him, we lack nothing.

 

Ellen G. White captures this vividly.

To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour. —The Desire of Ages, p. 389.

When led by the Spirit of God, the Christian may know that he is made complete in Him who is the head of all things. As Christ was glorified on the day of Pentecost, so will He again be glorified in the closing work of the gospel, when He shall prepare a people to stand the final test in the closing conflict of the great controversy….—Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, Nov. 29, 1892, quoted by A. G. Daniels,  Christ Our Righteousness, p. 126.

 

A.T. Jones also emphasize this truth. 

 

He took all the sins which we have committed; He answered for them and took them away from us forever and all the tendencies to sin which have not appeared in actual sins—these he put forever under foot. Thus He sweeps the whole board and we are free and complete in Him. —A.T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin,Feb. 25, 1895, p. 267.

 

It is unclear whether the deceptive philosophy facing the Colossians was the result of Jewish mysticism or a syncretic mixture of pagan, Jewish, and early Christian ideas. The idea of Jewish mysticism is supported by the reference to visions and the worship of angels (2:18), the connection to circumcision (2:11) and festivals (2:16). Paul’s use of the expression ‘elementary principles’ (2:8,20), suggests it was rooted in a syncretic mixture of pagan, Jewish, and early Christian ideas. As we listen in on part of a conversation between Paul and the Colossians, we don’t have a full picture. We do know that the believers were in danger of turning from Christ by submitting to decrees that were based on the teachings of men (2:20-23). These may provide an outward appearance of spirituality but cannot protect us against indulging the flesh. 

Despite the source of the false teachings, a deeper understanding of what Christ has accomplished is Paul’s defense against them. After sharing that we are complete in Christ, Paul adds point after point to unfold the riches of what Christ has fully accomplished for believers. In Christ they are circumcised through Christ’s circumcision. They are buried with Him through baptism, and more than that, they are raised up with Him and made alive together with Him. Despite having been dead in the flesh, they are made alive in Him (2:11-13). The close duplication of ideas in verses 12 and 13 sounds as though Paul is repeating himself. However, verse 13 starts with “and you,” and in this way Paul reaches beyond the Colossians and includes all believers. 

All this is accomplished for us, by God’s will and action. It is given to us through Christ’s death on the cross. In the next several verses Paul illuminates, through a variety of metaphors, the cosmic battle that took place on the cross. Paul wants the believers to be grounded in the facts of the gospel and thus unaffected by the prevailing philosophies. 

Paul further explains how we are forgiven, and he ties it to what occurred on the cross. His first image centers on the cancellation of our debt. Paul describes what happened to the “handwriting of ordinances” (KJV) which is against and hostile to us. It has been cancelled or obliterated, taken out of the way, through being nailed to the cross. The lesson identifies two explanations of this handwritten document. It is often interpreted as imagery pointing to the ceremonial law. This is supported by the following focus on Jewish festivals and Paul’s use of the word ‘ordinances’ in Eph. 2:14,15. In this reading, believers are no longer subject to the Jewish ceremonial decrees, they have been cancelled at the cross. Certainly, this interpretation is in harmony with the larger teaching of the New Testament. 

A complementary interpretation is based on the use of the word “handwriting” (cheirographon) in the ancient Greek world. In examining Greek papyri, it was discovered that a cheirographon represents a specific, personal, certificate of debt. In other words, Paul’s imagery suggests that everyone carried a personal IOU acknowledging our sin and guilt before God. He took this debt, cancelled it, and removed it out of the way by nailing it to the cross through Christ’s death. Given the use of cheirographon in Paul’s day, and the wider imagery describing the false philosophy in the chapter, perhaps Paul intended to communicate this imagery. 

All interpreters agree that anything we might owe to God from our former lifestyle has been obliterated, taken out of the way, and nailed to the cross. We are complete in Him. God has wiped away, as one might clean off a chalkboard, the debt of sin that stood against us. What stood between us and God has been removed and erased. 

Paul has not exhausted his metaphors. In addition to canceling the bond of our debt, at the cross the powers of evil are vanquished. The rulers and authorities have been stripped off, throwing aside like dirty and tattered clothing. The powers of evil attacked Christ throughout his entire life, tempting him to turn aside from his mission. At the cross they are fully repulsed and revealed. As a Roman emperor might display his defeated enemies, Paul tells us that through Christ’s death, the forces of evil are completely crushed. Such powers are openly and boldly shown to be vanquished foes (2:15). 

Therefore, we should not be taken in by ancillary philosophies and traditions. None should act as a judge regarding food or drink or festivals or new moons or sabbath days (2:16). Paul’s description is similar to one used by Ezekiel when describing regulations connected with the temple. In Ezek. 45:17 there is a parallel construction of food and drink offerings, feasts, new moons, and sabbaths. Paul instructs us that such ceremonial activities are not binding on nor meritorious to the believer. 

Some interpreters have gone farther than Paul, concluding that the weekly Sabbath itself is not to be observed. Two considerations argue against this inference. The first is the reference back to Ezekiel and the list of instructions related to the temple. This gives us a clear scriptural context in which the setting is unquestionably the ceremonial law. Therefore, we can safely conclude that the list in Colossians is also referring to those instructions related to sanctuary. Second, Paul argues that these are all shadows of something to come (2:17). This is true regarding the sacrifices, festivals, and offerings connected to the temple. They were a shadow pointing to the reality found in Christ. However, the weekly Sabbath is not a shadow of something to come, it is a reminder of what God accomplished in creation. The sabbaths that Paul refers to here are evidently the ones connected to the ceremonial feasts (Lev. 23:11, 24, 32).

Paul continues his exhortation that we should not be defrauded of the prize of salvation by a false humility. We should not be moved away from the gospel even if someone claims to have visions of heavenly scenes or instructions from an angel (2:18; Gal. 1:8). 

In concluding his appeal, Paul comes back to his main idea—we have died with Chris, and therefore we are no longer held by the principles of the world. Since that is true, why would we choose to go back to any form of bondage?  

In what ways are we in danger of departing from the gospel by the thinking of the world around us? 

Have we lost sight of the principles of Christianity by attempting to follow a self-made religion? 

 

—Steven Grabiner