Jesus + Nothing Part 4 – “Fully”
Colossians 2:9-15 What if our approach to connecting with God has been all wrong?
Week 4 Study Questions
Opening Question:
Share with each other how long you have been following Christ, and the ways you have seen your faith deepen and your discipleship grow over those months/years.
Important to Know:
In verses 9-15 Paul elaborates how Christ alone gives us fullness and freedom from the written code that stood opposed to us, and a spiritual circumcision unachievable by the hands of men. In the Old Testament, circumcision was practiced as a way to signify that you were part of the chosen people of God. It meant that you would live obediently to Jewish law and that your parents would raise you to understand the covenant between the Jewish people and God (Genesis 17:10-14). A spiritual circumcision, therefore, is still a mark of covenant, but one you receive because of faith and not because of nationality/culture.
Questions from the Text:
1. Verses 9-15 show us what is “according to Christ” and how he is better than the “philosophies”:
a) Look at v.9-10. How is the Christian revelation of God different to other religions and to agnosticism?
b) Compare 2:11-12 with 3:1-4. How are these verses similar? What does it mean that we have been buried with Christ in baptism, and raised with him in faith? What happened to Jesus has happened to you, how does this help us? How do other religions try to deal with a person’s character flaws?
c) Look at v.13-15. Do you find these verses comforting? Why or why not? What would you say to a Christian who doubted all their sins were forgiven?
2. What did Christ nail to the cross? How does this make us alive with Christ?
3. Because of the cross, Satan can no longer make true accusations about us (Revelation 12:10). Satan’s only weapon is deceit. He seeks to lure us away from the safety of the cross with deceitful ideas. How can you protect a) yourself b) your family and c) each other from the enemy’s lies?
Application Questions:
1. What have you remembered about your baptism that you may not have thought about recently?
2. What is an expectation/law you place on yourself that Jesus wants to nail to the cross?
3. What is the actual truth about that expectation? (about God; about you; about that situation?)
