Col 2:6-15; Disarming the Powers

6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

Introduction--Paul and the "Modern" World

There are two problems you have to face if you want to "take Paul seriously." The first is that we meet in Paul a personality that is not hugely attractive to lots of people. He is brilliant and passionate, but he also is defensive and even vindictive. My earlier essays on Paul have exposited facets of his personality based on the passage for the day. The second problem we encounter with Paul is his language. Do not let your familiarity with the general tenor of Paul's thought make you think that you understand him! In fact, he speaks a language, especially in this passage, that might even have been a little strange to his first century compatriots.

For example, in the passage for the morning I think that the following terms/ideas are either not clear in themselves or are difficult for our "modern world" to hear. We are told not to let systems of human philosophy deceive us--but the way that Paul frames the exhortation is strange. These systems are "according to the elemental spirits of the universe" (2:10) and are according to "human tradition." We can define each one of the words, but we don't know the specific, or even general, referent Paul had in mind. Then, what does it mean that we have come to "fullness" in Christ? Third, we are said to have a circumcision in Christ. If this isn't difficult enough for us to understand, we are told it is a "spiritual" circumcision. What is that? We are told that Christ's actions on our behalf "erases the record that stood against us with its legal demands." Well, what is this "record?" I think I can hear someone somehwere begin to talk about sin and guilt and breaking God's commands/demands, but it isn't clear that this is what Paul has in mind. Finally, how is it that Christ disarmed the rulers and authorities, making a public example of them? We need a full theological education just to try to understand what some of these terms might have meant in the first century.

This is coupled with the problem of whether this type of language, even if we knew what it meant, still has resonance in the 21st century. In order to have its full impact, the message of the Gospel has to be perceived as relevant and understandable in the culture which hears it. But what are the "equivalents" of the "powers and authorities?" What can it possibly mean that we are already sharers of the fullness of Christ and have already been raised with him to the heavenly places? Is the language of cancelling bonds or releasing us from legal demands an understandable or even helpful language for us today?

Trying to Sort Through the Maze

I think there are a few points that can be made from this pasage that help us in 2007. The first is that I believe in the reality of forces in our world that cannot fully be understood but can only be characterized as "powers" or authorities" that hold people captive and want to undermine or even destroy our lives. Let me give two examples, both from the field of autism. One idea that held sway in the field of autism for more than a generation was that articulated by the famous German psychologist Bruno Bettleheim. Shaped strongly by his experience in a Nazi Internment Camp in WWII, he made the analogy between prison guards and parents (especially mothers) of autistic children. He developed the thesis that the persons to "blame" for their children's autism were mothers, the "prison guards" of the children, the "refrigerator moms" (though another person first used this term) who were possibly overeducated and not sensitive to the real needs of children. Eustacia Cutler, he mother of Temple Grandin (a professor at Colorado State Univ. and the most visible autistic person in America today) told us how in the 1950s she was told that Temple's problem was a result of her poor parenting skills.

This idea was adopted by the psychologists, heavily under the influence of Sigmund Freud, and was the regnant theory until the 1980s in America--it still holds sway in part of Europe. But, as I would characterize it, it is not only a bad theory, one that isn't supported by facts, but is an evil theory--one that appeared like a "power and authority" that was just too much to fight over the years, until the consensus gradually started crumbling a few decades ago. This isn't a unique situation. We are in the grip of many ideas in our culture which for some irrational reasons, continue to hold sway. Do you have one to add?

Another way that there are still "powers and authorities" in our world came home to men through a conversation with a parent of an autistic child. She is an accomplished attorney, but her son's school district refused to provide helpful or useful services for her son. She thinks it might have been a perverse way for them to "pick a fight" with someone who was already armed, just like lots of people would want to "get in the ring" with a professional boxer or go "one on one" with Michael Jordan. When she came to the "due process" hearing before a neutral official, the school district people unanimously testified that the science curriculum was not 'hands on' and therefore wouldn't be appropriate for her son. Thus, they wanted to shunt him off to a special needs classroom. The next day the local paper ran a screaming headline talking about how the school district was going to implement a new "hands on" science curriculum. It had been in the planning stages for months. In other words, they district had not only stonewalled her but had connived to put together obviously false testimony to buttress their position. This, indeed, is the work of th "powers" that is still alive today. It goes beyond simply an act of human meanness or insensitivity but represents a systemic or pervasive attempt to mislead and control.

I think these two examples help "make the case" for there still being lots of these kinds of forces "out there" in our world today.

Triumphing Over the Forces

The second part of the passage that has a resonance for today is the fact that Christ somehow brings victory over these forces and that those in Christ share in the victory or fullness. This is a hopeful message, but it needs to be "fleshed out" with stories of how systems were overcome, beliefs fell, people were exposed, or something like that. While the battles are going on a person has to live with hope or else there is little reason to continue the battle. Col. 2 helps us embrace this hope. Give attention to stories of hope that are alive in members of your congregation. The stories are "out there." Inded, I think it is best that I not give you any here so that you will go out and find them!

Paul's language can still speak to us today, but it will only do so if we use our imaginative capabilities to make the connection between then and now. Do so, and you will be attentive both to the text and to life--the best kind of biblical reader that exists.

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