"(all which things are to perish with the using)" Colossians 2:22

INSPIRED PARENTHESES (26)
"(all which things are to perish with the using)"
Colossians 2:22

THIS is a contemptuous parenthesis. In a few words, the apostle sweeps away as temporary and virtually irrelevant a whole system of pious observances so precious to those who lack a vital enjoyment of close communion with Him whom Paul calls "The Head" (v.19).

IT is a notable fact that as soon as Christ ceases to be central and supreme to Christians, they begin to give exaggerated importance to outward observances. At times these are connected with special days -- mere shadows, Paul calls them (v.16-17). Not seldom they relate to food and drink, and sometimes they even focus down to the emblems used at the Lord's Table. One might think it unlikely or even impossible that Christians should quarrel about the two simple elements, bread and wine, but often they have done so, and sometimes they still do.

PAUL'S parenthetic reference to what happens to food and drink after they have been assimilated might seem coarse to us if it had not first been spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself. "Such things", He said, "after they have been eaten or drunken are expelled from the body as waste products" (Mark 7:19). This is what Paul meant by his parenthesis concerning things 'perishing with the using'. What folly to allow such 'rudiments of the world' to affect our spiritual life!

THIS does not mean that we can be careless about such matters when they cause others to stumble -- far from it. Paul himself wrote that he would gladly forego legitimate food if there were any danger of being a menace to another's faith. For my part, I feel certain that in a society like ours, where alcoholism is a major evil, the apostle would have been a total abstainer, as many of us are.

THE danger associated with such abstinences or observances is that some spiritual values should be attributed to them, as though something in addition to simple faith was needed to enjoy acceptance with God. This makes the Christian life consist of 'Jesus plus ...'. It does not! Christ, and Christ alone is the sole and sufficient basis of our acceptance with God. It is a common human failing to grasp at some rudiment or element, as the Colossians were inclined to do. We like to see and touch things, instead of having them solely by faith. The trouble about such actions is that they not only hinder the purity of personal faith, they also have a divisive effect on Christian fellowship.

PAUL closes this chapter with the positive affirmation that all such prohibitions or observances are, in themselves, quite powerless to deliver us from carnality. Only the cross of Christ can do that.

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