July 3
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ,” Colossians 2:6-8.
The apostle Paul encouraged the Colossians to continue in the Christian faith, and to live a Christian life in harmony with that faith. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” Generally in his writings the apostle was moved by the Spirit to record the most important facts first. The Colossians had been led by the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God and their Savior. That was the most important fact. The next important fact was expressed with the words, “walk in Him” – that is, your way of life should be in harmony with the faith you have in your heart and express with your lips.
Our Christian faith is rooted in and built on a firm foundation, as the apostle wrote to the Corinthians: “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” 1 Corinthians 3:11. The stability of a building depends upon a firm foundation. The holy Christian Church, which is called the body of Christ, rests upon the one firm foundation, and Christ is the Cornerstone.
As Christians, we belong to the household or family of God. To the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,” Ephesians 2:19-21.
Jesus speaks of our relationship to Him as being like that of branches to the vine. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing,” John 15:4-5.
The apostle urges us to continue in the one true saving faith, as we have been taught from Holy Scripture, which is the only source and norm for teachings in the Church. If we depart from Scripture as the source of our teachings and faith, we will lose our firm foundation. Therefore, the apostle adds a word of warning: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”
Beware of false religious leaders who try to deceive you with their false philosophy and empty words. They try to persuade you to accept the way of the world and the traditions of men, which direct you to trust your own good works as the means to get right with God. They do not direct you to the one true way of salvation, which is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus, who suffered, died, and rose again to redeem us from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
“The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is His new creation,
By water and the Word.
From heav’n He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
Though with a scornful wonder,
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed;
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, ‘How long?’
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.” Amen.