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<h2><a onclick="return mV('Col',2,'1-');">Col 2</a> - Refuting the Colossian Heresy</h2>
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<p>A. Paul's conflict.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,'1-3');">1-3</a>) Paul wants the Colossians to know the depth of his conflict for them all.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and <i>for </i>as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and <i>attaining </i>to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">For as many as have not seen my face in the flesh</span></b>: Apparently, Paul had never visited Colosse himself. Most of them had never seen his <b><span class="c3">face in the flesh</span></b>. Even as Paul's authority extended to those he had never met, those who had never seen his face, so it extends to us.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">What a great conflict I have for you</span></b>: This <b><span class="c3">great conflict</span></b> was <i>inside Paul</i> (<b><span class="c3">I have for you</span></b>). It wasn't that Paul fought with others about the Colossian Christians. Paul described his spiritual warfare and heartfelt care for the Colossians as a <b><span class="c3">great conflict</span></b>. What was Paul concerned about?</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Paul was concerned about their <i>enthusiasm</i>, because he longs <b><span class="c3">that their hearts may be encouraged</span></b>. Paul knew that discouraged, downcast Christians are easy prey for the world, the flesh, and the devil.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Paul was concerned about their <i>unity</i>, because he wanted to see them <b><span class="c3">being knit together in love</span></b>. The unity wouldn't come from coercion, but <b><span class="c3">love</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. Paul was concerned about their <i>understanding</i>, because he watned them to gain <b><span class="c3">all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God</span></b><span>.</span> The term <b><span class="c3">mystery of God</span></b> is used in a few different ways in the New Testament. Here, Paul uses the term regarding the character and person of God - something we could not know unless it were revealed by Him.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">All the riches of the full assurance of understanding</span></b><span>: For Paul, real </span><b><span class="c3">riches</span></b> were found in the believer's <b><span class="c3">full assurance</span></b>. Many Christian lack this <b><span class="c3">assurance</span></b> in their lives. If you have it, you are rich. If you don't have it, you are poor.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Many lack <b><span class="c3">full assurance</span></b> about the character of God. <i>Is He really good and loving?</i> The answer is in knowing God as He is revealed in His word.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Others lack <b><span class="c3">full assurance</span></b> of their salvation. <i>Is my Christian life for real?</i> The answer is in knowing that at the bottom line, our salvation rests in God, not in us.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge</span></b><span>: It is clear that the </span><b><span class="c3">whom</span></b> is Jesus. He has all the <b><span class="c3">treasures of wisdom and knowledge</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. With this, Paul refutes some of the bad teaching troubling the Colossian Christians. They were influenced by teachers who told them to seek the <b><span class="c3">treasures of wisdom and knowledge</span></b>, but <i>not</i> to seek them in Jesus. Paul says, "You will only find <b><span class="c3">all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge</span></b> in Jesus. He has them <b><span class="c3">all</span></b>." <span > </span>It's not wrong to seek after <b><span class="c3">wisdom and knowledge</span></b>; but we must seek it all in Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. In that sense, the Colossian heresy was a "preview" of gnosticism - those who prized <i>gnosis</i> (knowledge), which were presented as deep, hidden esoteric mysteries.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,4);">4</a>) Paul's concern and warning.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words</span></b>: Those who taught these dangerous things among the Colossian Christians were very <b><span class="c3">persuasive</span></b>. The lure of "hidden" and "deep" wisdom and knowledge can be strong, but still deceptive.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. Many today <b><span class="c3">deceive</span></b> with <b><span class="c3">persuasive words</span></b> by quoting a whole bunch of Bible verses. But the Devil himself quotes Scripture. We must compare everyone's teaching against all of God's Word.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. We should all have the spirit of the Bereans (<a onclick="return mV('Act',17,11);">Act 17:11</a>), who compared even the teaching of <i>Paul</i> with Scripture.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Lest anyone should deceive you</span></b>: It might sound simple, but deceivers are deceivers. They won't announce their false doctrine as false doctrine, and it will often be similar enough to the truth to be dangerous.</p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,'5-7');">5-7</a>) Encouragement for walking with Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your <i>good </i>order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you have therefore 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.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Rejoicing to see your good order</span></b>: Paul, even though he is harsh with the Colossian heresy, does not consider them on the brink of hell. He is blessed by what is happening among the Colossians, and wants to <i>encourage</i> them as well as <i>warn</i> them.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him</span></b><span>: This is a </span>wonderful rule for Christian living. We cannot perfect in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit, so just as you <b><span class="c3">received</span></b> Jesus, <b><span class="c3">walk in Him</span></b> in the same way. The simple things of the Christian life provide continual the reliable spiritual fuel for growth. We always have to be reminded of the <b><span class="c3">things we have been taught</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. The Colossians were in danger of having <i>started</i> in the simplicity of Jesus, but thought they could be <i>perfected</i> by the search for hidden wisdom offered by the dangerous teachers among them.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">So walk in Him, rooted and built up</span></b>: Paul uses a curious combination of metaphors. As Christians, we <b><span class="c3">walk</span></b>, but we are also <b><span class="c3">rooted</span></b>, and we are also <b><span class="c3">built up</span></b>. The metaphors are somewhat mixed, but the message is clear: be established and keep growing.</p>
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<p>B. Paul warns against and exposes the Colossian heresy.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,8);">8</a>) Don't get cheated by what comes from man.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>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.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy</span></b>: The false teaching among the Colossians was marked by an emphasis on <b><span class="c3">philosophy and empty deceit</span></b>. Most of all, it was <b><span class="c3">according to the tradition of men</span></b>. <span > </span>It had the stamp of <i>man</i> on it, not <i>God</i>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">According to the tradition of men</span></b>: So much in the church today shouldn't be seen so much as <i>good</i> or <i>bad</i>. It is simply a distraction because it comes <b><span class="c3">according to the tradition of men</span></b>, not from God's revealed Word.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Traditions and philosophical or psychological speculations may have merit in their own right. But they are <i>dangerous</i> when presented as even <i>close to equal</i> in authority to what God has said in His Word.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. <b><span class="c3">Lest anyone cheat you</span></b>: When we take what man says as even near in authority to what God says, we get cheated.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">According to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ</span></b>: The ancient Greek word translated <b><span class="c3">basic principles</span></b> is <i>stoicheia</i>. It simply refers to basic, elementary knowledge.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. "A <i>stocheion</i> was originally a line of things; for instance, it can mean a file of soldiers. But it came to mean the ABC, and then any elementary knowledge." (Barclay, in his commentary on Galatians)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. The <b><span class="c3">basic principles of the world</span></b> are simply <b><span class="c3">not according to Christ</span></b>. The way that the world thinks and acts is contrary to the way that Jesus thinks and acts.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. False teaching is according to these <b><span class="c3">basic principles</span></b>, and not according to Jesus. In Jesus, we die to the <b><span class="c3">basic principles</span></b> of the world (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,20);">Col 2:20</a>).</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,'9-10');">9-10</a>) Why the message of Jesus is the only authority.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead</span></b>: This is a dramatic, airtight declaration of the full Deity of Jesus. Since <b><span class="c3">all the fullness of the Godhead</span></b> dwells in Jesus, He cannot be a halfway God or a "junior god."</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">All the fullness of the Godhead bodily</span></b>: The false teaching among the Colossian Christians was something like an early form of the Gnostic heresies that would come later. These Gnostic heresies made a radical separation between the <i>spiritual</i> and the <i>material</i>. That's why Paul needed to make it clear that <b><span class="c3">all the fullness of the Godhead</span></b> was in Jesus <b><span class="c3">bodily</span></b>, not in some strange, mystical sense. John also dealt with this false teaching in <a onclick="return mV('1Jo',4,'2-3');">1Jo 4:2-3</a> and other passages.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. A false teaching related to this in the early church was called <i>Docetism</i>, which claimed that Jesus had no actual human body, He only <i>seemed</i> to have one. Another false teaching was called <i>Cerinthianism</i>, and it said that the "Jesus the man" was separate and distinct from "the Spirit of Christ."</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">And you are complete in Him</span></b>: This can only be true because Jesus is truly God. If He were not God, we couldn't be complete in Him. Anything that says we are <i>not</i> <b><span class="c3">complete in Him</span></b> also takes away from the deity of Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <b><span class="c3">You <i>are</i> complete in Him</span></b>: Paul says that this is a fact to be enjoyed, not a status to be achieved.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Head of all principality and power</span></b>: In many New Testament passages, <b><span class="c3">principality and power</span></b> describes ranks of angelic beings, either faithful or fallen angelic beings (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',8,38);">Rom 8:38</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',1,21);">Eph 1:21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',3,10);">Eph 3:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',6,12);">Eph 6:12</a>). Therefore, Paul here declares Jesus' authority over all spirit beings. The false teaching among the Colossian Christians emphasized these lesser spirit beings, but Paul makes it clear that Jesus if far above them.</p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,'11-12');">11-12</a>) Paul relates circumcision to baptism.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with <i>Him </i>through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">In Him you were also circumcised</span></b>: Most of the Colossian Christians were Gentiles who had never been physically circumcised. Paul assures them that they <b><span class="c3">were</span></b> indeed circumcised in a spiritual sense, which is even more important than physical circumcision.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. The Colossians Christians had to deal with a whole smorgasbord of false teaching. Not only did they have wrong ideas about Jesus, but they also had wrong ideas about things like circumcision. Apparently, they were being taught that they had to be circumcised to be right with God. Paul makes it clear that they <i>are</i> circumcised, <b><span class="c3">by putting off the sins of the flesh</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">By the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism</span></b>: Paul says these Gentile Christians find their true <b><span class="c3">circumcision</span></b> in their <b><span class="c3">baptism</span></b>. Christians don't need to be circumcised, they need to be baptized.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Even the Old Testament acknowledges that there are two types of circumcision: one of the body and one of the heart (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',10,16);">Deu 10:16</a> and <a onclick="return mV('Deu',30,6);">30:6</a>). Sincere baptism shows that the real "circumcision of the heart" has taken place.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God</span></b>: Baptism <i>answers</i> circumcision, but it doesn't <i>illustrate</i> it. But baptism does illustrate our identification with the death and resurrection life of Jesus. We were <b><span class="c3">buried</span></b> with Jesus, and <b><span class="c3">buried</span></b> under the water. We are also <b><span class="c3">raise with Him</span></b>, and raised up out of the water.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Because Paul makes a connection here between circumcision and baptism, some - especially Reformed theologians - say that just as babies were circumcised, so babies should be baptized. But this presses Paul's analogy between circumcision and baptism too far, and neglects examples of baptism in the Book of Acts. Paul doesn't say that circumcision and baptism are the same thing, but that circumcision is unnecessary for salvation because we are identified in Jesus and baptized to show that.</p>
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<p class="c1">4. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,'13-15');">13-15</a>) What happens when a person is born again.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">And you, being dead</span></b>: This is the place of every person before they <i>are raised with Him through faith in the working of God</i> as Paul described in <a onclick="return mV('Col',2,12);">Col 2:12</a>. Before we have new life, we are <b><span class="c3">dead</span></b>. Before a person comes to new life in Jesus, they are not a sick man who needs a doctor; they are <b><span class="c3">dead</span></b> people who need a Savior.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh</span></b>: Before we have new life in Jesus, we are dead <b><span class="c3">in</span></b> our <b><span class="c3">trespasses</span></b>. A trespass is a specific kind of sin: overstepping a boundary. We are dead because we overstep God's boundaries in our sin and rebellion.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">He has made alive together with Him</span></b>: We can't make ourselves alive, but God can make us <b><span class="c3">alive together with</span></b> Jesus. We can never be <b><span class="c3">made alive</span></b> apart from Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. The new birth (<b><span class="c3">made alive</span></b>) and cleansing (<b><span class="c3">forgiven you all</span></b>) go together as features of the New Covenant, as prophesied by the Old Testament (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,'25-27');">Eze 36:25-27</a>) and the New Testament (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',3,5);">Jhn 3:5</a>).</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. <b><span class="c3">Having forgiven us</span></b> is the ancient Greek word <i>charizomai</i> - a verb form of the ancient Greek word <i>charis</i> (grace). We are forgiven by grace.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us</span></b><span>: </span>The <b><span class="c3">handwriting of requirements</span></b> has in mind a list of our crimes or moral debt before God, a debt no imperfect person can completely pay. But it can be <b><span class="c3">taken out of the way</span></b>, by payment from a perfect man, Jesus Christ.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. What a glorious picture! My "rap sheet" or "debit ledger" is settled forever, because Jesus<b><span class="c3"> nailed it to the cross</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Martin Luther told once how Satan laid heavy condemnation on him because of his sins. Luther told Satan to list them all, and even reminded him of some he had forgotten. Then he told Satan to write across the whole list "paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ," and Luther rejoiced in the payment Jesus made.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. <b><span class="c3">Having nailed it to the cross</span></b>: We must keep that list up on the cross. We get into trouble when we take that list down from the cross and carry it around. We forget that it was all settled at the cross.</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">Having disarmed principalities and powers</span></b><span>: Another aspect of Jesus' work on the cross is that He <b><span class="c3">disarmed principalities and powers</span></b></span>. These ranks of hostile angelic beings (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',8,38);">Rom 8:38</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',1,21);">Eph 1:21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',3,10);">Eph 3:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',6,12);">Eph 6:12</a>) don't have the same weapons to use against Christians that they have against those who are not in Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Against the believer, what weapons do demonic spirits have? They are <b><span class="c3">disarmed</span></b>, except for their ability to <i>deceive</i> and to create <i>fear</i>. These are effective "weapons" that aren't tangible weapons at all.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Demonic spirits only have power towards us that we grant them by believing their lies. The weapons are in <i>our</i> hands, not <i>theirs</i>. We will one-day see how afraid they were of <i>us</i>.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. Perhaps Satan, for a moment, thought that he had won at the cross. But Hell's greatest "victory" was turned into a defeat that <b><span class="c3">disarmed</span></b> every spiritual enemy who fights against those living under the light and power of the cross. The <b><span class="c3">public spectacle of</span></b> defeated demonic spirits makes their defeat all the more humiliating.</p>
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<p class="c1">5. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,'16-17');">16-17</a>) Applying the truth of Jesus' victory in light of the Colossian heresy.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">So let no one judge you</span></b>: The opening "<b><span class="c3">so</span></b>" is important. It connects this thought with the previous thought. <i>Because</i> Jesus won such a glorious victory on the cross, we are to <b><span class="c3">let no one judge you in food or in drink</span></b> or in other matters related to legalism. A life that is centered on Jesus and what He did on the cross has no place for legalism.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come</span></b>: The Old Testament law had certain provisions that are done away with in Jesus, regarding such things as <b><span class="c3">food</span></b> and <b><span class="c3">sabbaths</span></b>. It isn't that those laws were <i>bad</i>, simply that they were <b><span class="c3">a shadow of things to come</span></b>. Once the <b><span class="c3">substance</span></b> - Jesus Christ - has come, we don't need to <b><span class="c3">shadow</span></b> any more.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. The point is clear: days and foods, as observed under the Mosaic Law, are not binding upon New Covenant people. The shadow has passed, the reality has come. So for the Christian, <i>all</i> foods are pure (<a onclick="return mV('1Ti',4,'4-5');">1Ti 4:4-5</a>) and <i>all</i> days belong to God.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Christians are therefore free to keep a kosher diet or to observe the sabbath if they please. There is nothing wrong with those things. However, they cannot think that eating kosher or sabbath observance makes them any closer to God, and they cannot <b><span class="c3">judge</span></b> another brother or sister who does not observe such laws.</p>
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<p class="c1">6. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,'18-19');">18-19</a>) Paul rebukes the strange mysticism of the Colossian heresy.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in <i>false </i>humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase <i>that is </i>from God.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Taking delight in false humility and worship of angels</span></b>: <b><span class="c3">False humility</span></b> and the <b><span class="c3">worship of angels</span></b> were parts of the false teaching troubling the Colossian Christians. That is why Paul touches back on these themes throughout the letter of Colossians. The antidote for both of these false teachings is simply more of Jesus, exalting Him above <b><span class="c3">angels</span></b>, and realizing that because of His finished work there is nothing to take pride in.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">False humility</span></b> and the <b><span class="c3">worship of angels</span></b> do not make anyone more spiritual. Instead, <b><span class="c3">holding fast to the Head</span></b> (Jesus) makes us truly spiritual.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <b><span class="c3">Intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head</span></b>: This describes the spiritual arrogance of these false teachers and those who believed what they taught. There are few things more dangerous among Christians than spiritual pride and arrogance.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">From whom all the body</span></b><span>: </span>When these strange, mystical movements arise in the church, they don't appeal to the <i>whole body</i>, but only to a few "elite" Christians. This is not the cause under <b><span class="c3">the Head</span></b>, Jesus - He wants <b><span class="c3">all the body</span></b> to grow together.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Grows with the increase which is from God</span></b>: This is God's plan for church growth. We remain faithful and connected to Jesus (our <b><span class="c3">Head</span></b>), and God gives the increase.</p>
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<p class="c1">7. (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,'20-23');">20-23</a>) Paul rebukes the essence of legalism.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as <i>though </i>living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations; "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using; according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, <i>false </i>humility, and neglect of the body, <i>but are </i>of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Do not...do not...do not</span></b>: This is a perfect description of legalistic religion, defined more by what we <i>don't do</i> than by what we <i>do</i>. Christianity is a moral religion; it does have clear moral boundaries. But at its foundation, Christianity is a religion of <i>positive action</i>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. The key to living above legalism is remembering that <b><span class="c3">you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world</span></b>. Our identification with Jesus in both His death and resurrection (as mentioned before in <a onclick="return mV('Col',2,12);">Col 2:12</a>) becomes the foundation for our Christian life, instead of our law-keeping.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">According to the commandments and doctrines of men</span></b>: One aspect of legalism is that the <b><span class="c3">doctrines of men</span></b> are promoted as the laws of God.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom...but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh</span></b>: We might regard this as the greatest indictment against legalism in the Bible. At the bottom line, legalism's rules have no value in restraining the <b><span class="c3">indulgence of the flesh</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. All your legalistic rules may have an <b><span class="c3">appearance</span></b> of wisdom - but they have no real value. Legalism doesn't restrain the flesh; it <i>feeds</i> the flesh in a subtle, powerful way.</p>
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<p class="c5"><span>ii. Spurgeon wrote of "a carnal repentance - a repentance that is of the flesh, and after the manner of the sinful nature of men. In this repentance the depravity of the heart remains the same in essence, though it takes another form of showing itself. Though the man changes, he is not savingly changed: he becomes another man, but not a new man. The same sin rules in him, but it is called by another name, and wears another dress. The stone is carved into a more sightly shape, but it is not turned into flesh. The iron is cast into another image, but it is not transformed into gold. This carnal repentance is caused by fear. Does not every thief repent of robbery when he is convicted and sent to jail? Does not every murderer repent of his crime when he stands under the fatal tree?" This kind of legalistic, fear-filled living is a dark parody of the true Christian life.</span></p>
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<p class="c5">iii. <b><span class="c3">Self-imposed religion</span></b> is man reaching to God, trying to justify himself by keeping a list of rules. Christianity is God reaching down to man in love through Christ.</p>
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