“…Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

We’ve definitely come full circle.  Dan Brown’s novel, The DaVinci Code, made it’s explosive debut in 2003, and over 50 million readers and a record-setting movie later, Gnosticism has stuck its ugly head into mainstream popular Western culture again.  Probably the earliest detection of early forms of this heresy can be seen in the book of Colossians, where, for such a short letter comparatively, Paul wrote in very specific detail.  And in the process, we discover strong encouragement.

The term Gnosticism comes from the Greek word, gnosis, meaning, knowledge.  It has several meanings, two of which can be easily illustrated.  We all “know” what the sun is, and feel it’s warmth.  But none of us “knows” the exact inner workings of this heavenly ball of fire up close from personal contact.  Indeed, trying to do so means certain death!  It is this latter use of gnosis that some, the elite, turned into a mystical religion of personal, experiential contact with ultimate reality.  It should surprise no one that the foundational ideas of this religion are found in Eastern Mysticism.  In addition, the form it took in Colosse added elements of Jewish legalism: dietary laws and keeping of Sabbaths and other religious festivals (2:16).  No doubt Epaphras told Paul how it was affecting the church when he went to visit him (4:12-13).

The claims of the Gnostic elite went something like this: “We have special gnosis of the Supreme One, who chose to reveal it to a certain few.  We have followed certain procedures, rituals and practices to enhance our gnosis.  We know, you don’t.  Thus, if you follow our example and commands, you too can receive the gnosis we have and find salvation.”  In other words, it was a works-based mystical religion with claims and practices that were incorrect at best and eternally dangerous at worst.

Into this quagmire of swirling theological darkness Paul throws the piercing light of his letter to the Colossians.  Using many of the elite’s favorite words, like gnosis and fullness, he sets the record straight.  In three simple verses, he shows how faulty such a mystical system is: “For God was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in him…For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ” (1:19, 2:9-10).  Summed up, Paul says that Christ, as the perfect combination of spiritual and physical, is completely divine, and from his divine well he has shared with us to the point that we too are one with him.  Knowing this heresy would come, Jesus prayed very specifically against it (John 17:20-23).

So when we come to Colossians 1:27, we find Jesus described as “the hope of glory.”  And while we could go on and on about the possibilities of interpretation, it is best to stay with the immediate text.  This is linked to “Christ in you,” you Colossians, as representative of “the Gentiles [nations].”  And to determine the initial meaning, let’s emphasize those three words.  First, “Christ in you.”  It is not anything or anyone else that brings about your salvation.  It is Christ alone.  Only he came representing the Father, willing to do his will, submitting himself to live, die and be raised to restore our broken relationship.  Who else has done that?  Who else has the credentials?  Who else has the love?  Who else can appease the Father’s justified displeasure with fallen, stubborn, willful and selfish man and at the same time measure up to the righteous standards of heaven?  Suggesting anyone else is not only an affront and an abomination to the Godhead, it is also deifying something less than God.  Not a good way to get on God’s “good side.”

Second, “Christ in you.”  Not with you (although he is) or around you (he is).  Not behind or before you (ditto), but in you.  We were too important not to have “the Spirit of truth…in you” (John 14:17).  The Spirit’s personal residence within us is “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” (Eph. 1:14).

Third, “Christ in you,” as we said earlier, you nations, all of you.  What a statement of love and equality!  Love because it encompasses all peoples, and equality because it pulls the mask off the self-declared elite and reveals the ugly patronism inherent in their faulty worldview.  No second-class members in Christ’s family (Galatians 3:28)! No hierarchy of haves and have-nots, in heaven.  No, all are equally saved, equally filled with God’s Spirit, equally liberated, and equally blessed.  It is for “everyone” (v. 28).

Political systems across the globe reveal their religious underpinnings and worldviews.  Genuine Christianity equally sets people free.  How free are you today?  Do you help others obtain their freedom?