Colossians 2:9–15: "The “in Him” Christ Hymn of Colossians 2"

Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the book of Colossians. We are continuing our verse-by-verse study of this book. Our series is entitled “Preeminence.” And we come today to one of the most christological and theologically rich sections of the book of Colossians.

If you want to emphasize something, you… repeat it. Right? Take a look at the emphasis that Paul lays down for us in Colossians 2:9–15.

1) 2:9 – “For in him [in Christ, just so we are clear] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”

2) 2:10 – “and you have been filled in him”

3) 2:11 – “in him also you were circumcised”

4) 2:12 – “having been buried with him.” Okay, that’s a new wrinkle… we’ve got “with him.”

5) 2:12 – “you were also raised with him through faith”

6) 2:13 – “God made [you] alive with him.”

7) 2:15 – “by triumphing over them [the rulers and authorities] in him.”

By my count, that’s seven times in seven verses that Paul emphasizes this “in him” or “with him” language. That’s emphasis, folks.

Last week, I called this section of text the Christ hymn 2.0. And that’s not technically correct. This is not a hymn, like Colossians 1:15–20 is a hymn. But it is poetic. And it is Christ-centered.

Paul was warning the Colossian church in Colossians 2:8 about the “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, and not according to Christ.” And instead of talking more about those kinds of deceits and human traditions, he just goes on an extended oration about how awesome Christ is in comparison to those other things—those philosophies of empty deceit! And he goes from verse 9 all the way to verse 15 describing the goodness of Christ and the goodness of what it means to be in Christ.

But let me make one distinction between the Christ-hymn of Colossians 1 and what I’m calling “The ‘in Him’ Christ-hymn of Colossians 2.” In Colossians 1, the Christ-hymn was more about he. This is more about what it means to be “in him.” Does everyone follow?

If I could get technical with you, Colossians 1 was about Christ as the subject, the nominative case. He is… He is… He is…the firstborn of all creation, etc., etc. This section in Colossians 2 is about Christ in the dative case. It’s what we have “in him.”

And so Paul has moved from who Christ is in Colossians 1 to what Christ has done for us in Colossians 2. That’s the emphasis of this “in him” Christ-hymn of Colossians 2.

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So, what has Christ done for us? We know who he is. That’s settled. We’ve looked at that already. What has he done for us? Write these down. Four things.

1) In him, we are made complete (2:9–10)

Look at verse 9 with me.

⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

Is Christ God or is Christ man? Is he deity or is he humanity? He’s both. And he will always be both for eternity. Let me be super technical and precise so as to avoid error. Christ, the second person of the Trinity, was and is God eternally. He existed in eternity past with God the Father.

But at the time of the incarnation, he added humanity to his deity. The full deity of God was poured into the human flesh of the incarnate Son, and the second person of the Trinity became both God and man. And that both-ness continued all throughout his life, his death, his resurrection, and will continue at his return, his millennial kingdom, and on into eternity. He is eternally the God-man. In Jesus, “the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily.”

By the way, most of the ancient and modern cults attack Jesus’s humanity or his deity. This is where most heresy emerges. Ebionism attacks Jesus’s deity. It asserts Jesus was merely a human prophet, not divine. Adoptionism says that Jesus was a man whom God adopted as his Son. Arianism says that Jesus was the highest created being, but not fully God. Socinianism denies Christ’s preexistence and deity. Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is a created being (identified with Michael the archangel), not Almighty God. Unitarianism rejects the Trinity and Christ’s full deity. Mormonism affirms Jesus as divine in a different sense than historic Christian orthodoxy and denies the classical doctrine of the Trinity. Those are (some of) the heresies that attack Jesus’s deity.

But then there are also heresies that deny Jesus’s full humanity. Docetism (also Manichaeism) teaches that Jesus only appeared to be human, but his physical body was an illusion. Gnosticism taught that matter is evil, so Christ could not have truly become flesh. Apollinarianism asserts that Jesus had a human body but not a fully human mind.

Nestorianism divides Christ’s two natures in a way that threatens the unity of His person. Modalism denies personal distinctions within the Trinity and fundamentally alters who Christ is. Oneness Pentecostalism affirms Jesus’s deity, but it rejects the historic doctrine of the Trinity, resulting in a different understanding of Christ’s person.

All of these cults and divergent sects and heresies fail to take Colossians 2:9 seriously or literally: “For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” And Paul’s not breaking new ground here. This is just a summary statement of what he’s already said in the Christ-hymn of Colossians 1!

Paul uses that summary statement in verse 9, to get to the payload of verse 10. This is the power of “in him” in action.

¹⁰ and you have been filled in him,

You know Jesus? That person whom the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily? You have been filled in him. You being “in him” is more amazing than you even realize.

Because,

[he] is the head of all rule and authority.

There’s no angel or authority over him. Michael the archangel and the angel Gabriel answer to Christ. He is the head, not just of the church, but of all rule and authority. If the Colossian church was being encouraged to worship angels and pursue other authorities outside of Christ, they were barking up the wrong tree. There ain’t no authority or rule apart from Christ!

Now, let’s talk about this statement, “you have been filled in him” in verse 10. What does it mean to be “filled” in Christ? It means, that we are made complete.

It doesn’t mean that we are made God like Christ is God. That would lead us to another heresy. It means that our humanity is perfected because Christ as the perfect God-man has perfected us. We have been filled in him with righteousness and holiness. We are the best versions of ourselves. We are de facto sinless humans who can stand before a righteous God because we stand “in him.” Apart from him we are hopeless.

The Greek word for “filled” here is πληρόω (plēroō). And it means to “fill” or “fulfill” or “make complete” or “finish.” That verb is often used in the NT to talk about how the OT was fulfilled in Christ. And I would just say that in a similar way to the way that Messiah Jesus fulfilled the OT Scriptures, he has fulfilled us. He has completed us.

Here’s another way for us to think about this—the perfect God-man has made imperfect, sinful human beings perfect by bringing us into himself. It’s another way to frame imputed or vicarious righteousness. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).

I think there might also be a secondary reference here in Colossians 2:10 to the Holy Spirit.

¹⁰ and you have been filled in him,

Paul doesn’t talk explicitly about the Spirit here. But that verb πληρόω is used in the NT to talk about how believers are filled with the Spirit (e.g., Acts 13:53). How do we know that we are perfected (i.e., made complete) in Christ Jesus? Answer: We are filled with his Spirit.

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Write this down as a second point in your notes. In him, we are made complete. Also…

2) In him, we are raised to new life (2:11–12)

Stay with me here, because Paul’s argument in these verses is going to get complex. Look at verse 11.

¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Interesting statements here. Paul is alluding to two of the most important rites in the Bible: (1) circumcision and (2) baptism. But in both instances, he is not talking about the literal rite. He’s not talking about literal circumcision—the circumcision made with hands, if you will. And he’s not talking about literal baptism—the dipping of a person underwater after salvation. He’s talking about spiritual baptism. And he’s talking about spiritual circumcision—a circumcision of the heart.

Let’s talk circumcision first and then we can talk baptism. Circumcision was the OT rite of the Israelite people that God enacted with Abraham, the father of the Israelites. It was the physical symbol of God’s covenant with Abraham and his people. It involved the cutting off of a male’s foreskin. Every Jewish male was circumcised in infancy. And it’s not an accident that this covenant-making sign involved a man’s reproductive organ.

Here’s what John MacArthur says about that:

“The cutting away of the male foreskin on the reproductive organ was a graphic way to demonstrate that man needed cleansing at the deepest level of his being. No other part of the human anatomy so demonstrates that depth of sin, inasmuch as that is the part of man that produces life—and all that he produces is sinful. That is the biblical view. From the beginning, circumcision was used symbolically to illustrate the desperate need man had for cleansing of the heart.”

What MacArthur states there is true. God’s intention all along was heart-transformation not just flesh-transformation. And we see that in passages like Deuteronomy 10:16: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.” And we see that in passages like Jeremiah 4:4: “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.” “God was always concerned with the heart, not [strictly] with the physical rite.”

And what Paul is saying here in Colossians is not unlike what he said in the book of Galatians over a decade earlier: “Physical circumcision is not what’s ultimately important. It had its purpose for a time. But Jesus has transcended that and can cleanse hearts. So don’t be concerned about the circumcision of the flesh made by human hands and a flint knife… [thank goodness for that!]… be concerned about the permanent change of your heart that Jesus brings. Spiritual circumcision trumps physical circumcision.”

I can’t help but think the false teachers promoting the Colossian heresy were probably advocating for circumcision among the Gentiles, just like the Judaizers that Paul was dealing with earlier in Galatia. Why else would Paul include this section? And this is Paul’s way of saying, “Don’t listen to those ridiculous people out there who want to add circumcision to Christ as necessary for salvation. You have a true and better circumcision in Christ! Put the flint knife away!”

Now let’s talk baptism. Because unlike circumcision, baptism is something that is still expected of Christians in the NT era… not as necessary for salvation, but as a necessary testimony to the world that you have been saved. As I’ve said before, water baptism is the outward sign of an inward work.

So after his statements about circumcision, Paul says in verse 12,

¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Listen, when you get saved, you are buried with Christ in spiritual baptism. You died to yourself. Your old man is dead! And that’s great. But that’s only the half of it.

You are also at the same time raised with him to new life because Christ didn’t stay dead. God the Father raised him from the dead. And you have new life in Christ Jesus through faith.

Notice also that statement at the end of verse 12. You don’t have faith in your own working. You have “faith in the powerful working of God!” Everyone see that? He does the working. You do the faith-ing. Everyone with me? Sola fide. It is “through faith” that you have died and been resurrected to new life in Christ.

And by the way, that’s why we don’t baptize babies here at Messiah Bible Church. There’s no faith yet in a baby. There’s cuteness. But there’s no faith. When you baptize a baby, all you get is a wet baby. When you baptize a confessing believer, you baptize someone who has put their faith “in the powerful working of God, who raised Christ from the dead!”

From what I’ve read, Sam Houston, the first president of Texas, got baptized later in life. And he was baptized in a little creek outside of Independence, Texas (just north of Brenham). And when he came up out of the water, they said, “General Houston, your sins have been washed away!”

And General Houston said, “God help the fish downstream.”

Now that’s a playful way to think about your sins being removed. But that’s not really the case. Your sins don’t get literally removed or flushed by water when you get water-baptized. That happens when you are Spirit-baptized. But we symbolize the removal of sin in the waters of baptism. We symbolize death to self and new life in Christ through water baptism.

When I put someone under the water and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, I am symbolizing your death to self. You are buried in Christ. If I kept you under water you would actually die. But don’t worry, I don’t keep you under the water. I bring you up. And that symbolizes the new life that you have in Christ. You have been raised to new life sinless in Christ. The old has gone and the new has come.

And that symbolism is powerful! Don’t dismiss the symbolism. Because what we are symbolizing in that moment is what Paul writes about in Colossians 2—we are buried “with Christ” in baptism, and we are raised “with Christ” through faith!

We don’t baptize people here in the name of their parents. We don’t baptize people here in the name of Martin Luther or the Apostle Paul. We don’t baptize people here in the name of their favorite movie star or their favorite historical character or their favorite preacher.

I read this last week about a cult in South Korea that actually baptizes people in the name of the church’s founder. That’s ridiculous. That’s blasphemous! We baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, because that’s what Jesus told us to do. The Father sent the Son. The Father raised the Son from the dead. And the Son empowered us with the Holy Spirit. We are Spirit-baptized with Jesus and raised to new life by faith. And we signify that new life before the church body with water baptism.

And by the way, we don’t baptize pets. Probably I don’t need to say that here, but I read this last week about a church that actually baptizes pets. That’s absurd. Your pets are not made in the image of God, and they cannot be raised to life in Christ Jesus. I’m sorry.

I can’t think of anything more ridiculous or more uncomfortable than trying to baptize one of my cats in that baptismal tank over there. They would rather me drown them than baptize them in that tank. Even they know how ridiculous that is.

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Let’s move on. Write this down as #3 in your notes. In him, we are made complete. In him, we are raised to new life. Thirdly…

3) In him, we are forgiven (2:13–14)

Paul says in verse 13,

¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision [literally: foreskin] of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

How many of our trespasses? Some of our trespasses? No, all. And all means all—past, present, and future trespasses. We were dead in sin. God made us alive in Christ. And now all our sin is forgiven. All of it!

Notice too that Paul uses the first person “our” here. Paul’s included in this.

having forgiven us all our trespasses,

Paul was a sinner too. His trespasses were great indeed! Paul called himself the chief of sinners (1 Tim 1:15). But all of Paul’s sins were forgiven in Christ. And if all of Paul’s sins were forgiven in Christ, then all of our sins can be forgiven in Christ too.

Let me emphasize the two great realities of this statement in verse 13. Because these are absolute statements. Not only were all your sins forgiven, but also, before Christ, Paul says that you were completely dead. Everyone see that in the text?

It’s not like, “Yeah, I was mostly dead before Christ.” That’s not what it says.

And also you can’t say, “Yeah, most of my sins were forgiven by Christ.” No! Feel the totality of this. Before Christ, you were totally dead. And after Christ, all your sins were totally forgiven. Don’t minimize either of those statements here.

In the early church, there was a debate that emerged between the British monk and scholar Pelagius and the church father, Augustine. And many of their arguments revolved around how dead was a person before they put their faith in Christ. Pelagius said, “sick, but not totally dead.” Semi-Pelagians said later, “mostly dead.” But Augustine said, “dead-dead.”

Pelagius said, “Man can generate goodness on his own and earn God’s favor.” Augustine said, “No sir. Man without Christ is absolutely dead. No life. No righteousness. No way to please God.” Pelagius saw a patient who needed help. Augustine saw a corpse that needed resurrection.

And the church rightly affirmed the Biblical teaching of Augustine and dismissed Pelagius. And that’s in large measure because of verses like this in Colossians 2:13. Without Christ, you are dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. You are dead in your trespasses and sins. You are lost. You are unsaved. You are condemned for eternity.

But in Christ you are made alive. And you aren’t just made alive with the same old problems you had when you were dead. You are not a walking zombie full of sin and trespasses before a holy God. No, your trespasses have been totally and completely forgiven.

By the way “trespasses” is a colorful word. It’s a synonym for sin, but it’s more vivid. In Greek the word is παράπτωμα (paraptōma), which means literally a “fall by the side” or “a false step.” In Christ, all of your false steps are removed. All of your misdeeds are forgiven.

And to add a little more heft to this statement, Paul writes in verse 14,

¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

The reality is that our sins, our trespasses, aren’t just forgiven willy-nilly. That’s not possible for a God who requires perfect justice. Those sins are forgiven, but only in the sense that they are paid for by another. Because there is a legal demand for punishment. There is a debt to be paid. There is an I.O.U., and Jesus paid that debt.

Listen up, everyone. Let me hammer on this for just a bit. Your debt, Christian, isn’t paid by your good intentions. And it’s not paid for by your good works. And it’s not paid off with a payment program.

But also, it doesn’t just disappear into thin air. In Paul’s language here, it’s nailed to the cross. The legal demand was met, and it was met at the cross. And so, nailed to an empty cross is a sign that says, “Paid in full.” My debt and your debt haven’t just disappeared, they’ve been retired. Jesus’s bloody and brutal death on the cross paid the debt that we owed. Don’t ever, ever forget that!

Tell me if you’ve heard this before. Maybe you recognize this.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more;

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul!

Horatio Spafford wrote that hymn circa 1873. He wrote it with an understanding that his own sin no longer has any hold on him. We don’t have to bear it. And we don’t have to bear the penalty for it. It’s been paid for. It’s been atoned! That’s why his soul was at peace. That’s why he sang, “It is Well with my Soul.”

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And that’s why verse 15 is so powerful. That’s why Paul would argue the following… write this down as #4 in your notes.

4) In him, we are triumphant (2:15)

Paul writes,

¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Those rulers and authorities, both Jews and Gentiles, who thought that they had eliminated Jesus as a threat to the regime… they thought they had gotten rid of him… they only made him more powerful by crucifying him. His crucifixion disarmed them. And he rose triumphant over them.

The “rulers and authorities” mentioned here in verse 15 are probably another reference to angelic beings—in this case demonic beings. God shamed them and triumphed over them. Christ rules over them and triumphs over them.

The language of disarming and putting them to open shame evokes the image of a Roman general parading into town with his enemies beaten and bound behind him as prisoners. This is Christ victorious over his enemies. Someday we will actually see every knee bow before King Jesus. That event awaits a future coming. But verse 15 is framed in the past tense. This has already, in a sense, happened. Christ is victorious already, even though we anticipate the not yet.

By the way, the “in him” at the end of verse 15 could be read “in it.” The same Greek pronoun is used for masculine and neuter pronouns—αὐτός (autos). So this could be saying that Christ triumphed over them “in the cross” or “by means of the cross.”

In the end it doesn’t really matter. The point is the same. The cross is the means by which Christ conquered evil and made salvation and forgiveness possible for us. And because of that, “in him,” we are triumphant. In Christ, we are triumphant! In Christ, we are forgiven! In Christ, we are raised to new life! And in Christ, we are made complete!

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Let me close with this. A few years ago I heard a pastor tell a story about an eagle that was captured and held in captivity in Australia. And this large majestic bird that could spread its wings and soar with grace and beauty had a rope tethered to his foot. And it was just sad to see this great bird trapped and grounded like that.

And the public outcry over this injustice became so strong, that the bird-owner eventually had to untie the bird and free him to fly away. But you know what the bird did? I’m sure you can guess. The bird had been conditioned to not fly. It just hopped around that property and refused to use its wings.

I think some of us live our Christian lives like that. We hop, hop, hop around in our sinfulness, and we refuse to fly. God has freed us from the power of sin, but we still think we are tethered.

And I might say this morning, “in Christ, you are made complete.” And you say, “I know, Pastor Tony, but I don’t feel complete.”

And I might say to you this morning, “in Christ, you are raised to new life.” And you say to that, “I know, but I don’t feel like I’ve been raised to new life.”

“In Christ, you are forgiven.” “I don’t feel forgiven.”

“In Christ, you are triumphant.” “I don’t feel triumphant.”

I get it. The distance sometimes between your head and your heart is like a thousand miles. If that’s you this morning, then you need to let the truth of Scripture transform your mind and take hold of your heart.

No, you are not triumphant, forgiven, raised to new life or made complete in yourself. Those things aren’t possible apart from Christ. But “in him” you have all of that and more. Let your emotions be informed by the truth of Scripture. Repeat these things to yourself if you have to. Say them out loud.

In Christ, I am made complete.

In Christ, I am raised to new life.

In Christ, I am forgiven.

In Christ, I am triumphant.

And here’s something that helps—you can sing it. Sometimes the instrument that God uses to bridge the chasm between your head and your heart is music. You can say these things out loud. Or, even better, you can sing them.

Or, here’s another thing that we can do. We can take communion and remember what Christ has done for us. Let’s do that now. Pray with me.