What is it that we have received? Nothing less than the full and complete word of God, both in scripture and in the flesh. Why does Paul feel the need to admonish the Colossian community and, by implication, us, here “to continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught?” He does so because the Colossians were being accosted constantly by “false teachers” teaching things that were outside of the gospel teaching, that would lead them away from God. The same threat is true for us today.

This phenomenon continues in our day. Sometimes false teachers today are those who are simply misinformed. Some, on the authority of their own egos, misinterpret or misrepresent some aspect of scripture and claim this new authority, even boldly, in Christ’s name.

Unique to today are the growing numbers of people who claim that there is no God, that religion is a primitive response to the world, and that science now can explain everything. In either case, there is something other than God in these things. And these things can cause doubt, or division within the Body of Christ, or even the complete loss of faith. This is why Paul’s message here is still important to us today.

Paul knows that it is in and through Christ alone that we have access to the Father. It is Christ who has taught us the fullness of truth with both his words and his deeds. It is Jesus and no other who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no other. Who, other than Christ, could cancel the debt of sin that stood against us with all of its claims? Who else could have redeemed us? Who else could have taught us the whole law of Love and commanded us to live it as he did? Jesus revealed everything we need to know about the Father, about the nature of God who is love, and about ourselves. Our salvation can come through no other means.

Paul admonishes the Colossians, and us, to remain true to the gospel, to what we have been taught, and to avoid the importunings of any teachings that come from outside of the gospel. We Christians should be recognized by the way we live our lives in imitation of Christ. The Church, the Body of Christ, must be rooted in Christ alone. There is no other “message” that can save us. That is what Paul wanted the Colossians then, and us now, to remember and to live by.

Lord, give us the grace to keep our eyes only on you. You alone are the Way, the Truth and the Life. Lead us away from temptation and deliver us from all that is evil. We pray these things in your name, Jesus. Amen!

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