Alright, let's get together. Colossians chapter 2, 16 to 23. Okay. Let me ask you, now that we've been in it maybe about 5 or 6 weeks, are you getting the hang of things and asking questions and looking for observations? Okay. Yes? Alright. Tell me, just by show of hands, because I can't tell just by you nodding your head, how many of you feel like you're getting the hang of things?

Okay, raise your hand. How many of you guys are getting lost every week? Okay, a few of you. Okay. You're getting the hang of getting lost every week, huh? Okay, good. Alright, like I said, from the beginning, our goal in the study wasn't simply to go through Colossians, it was to kind of give you some guidelines as to what to look for and how to do Bible study on your own.

Okay, so that's why we're not going through every line by line thoroughly, the meaning behind it, because it would, there would be too much to cover and there's no way I'm going to be able to do that in 30 minutes every single week. So the goal of it is just to highlight it, give some outlines, certain things to look for so that you can do your study and hopefully that the main part of your study is something that you do on your own and then when you come, you're able to share with your group.

Okay, so let me pray first and then we'll jump in. Gracious Father, we thank you for your living word. We thank you for the amazing truth, Lord God, that we find week to week. There's so much depth and wisdom behind all that you have to tell us. Help us, Lord God, to search through it, to really dig for treasures.

Every part of it, Lord God, speaks to us. It enlightens us. It gives us a vision of who you are and what you desire. We pray that through it that you would teach us to know you better. We thank you, Father Jesus, and we pray. Amen. All right, so the first thing we want to look at is the hermeneutical principle and every week we're looking through are there any kind of repeated words or phrases that give us some guidelines as to what you should be looking for.

One of the first things that I mentioned, if you look at the first page that was passed out, compare translations to see if there are words or phrases that have been translated differently to clarify certain ambiguous references in the text. So the four translations that I usually look into is the NASV, ESV, NIV, and the KJV or the NKJV.

Now, if you have Bible programs or if you're online looking through translations, you can probably find about 40 or 50 different translations. You don't need to be comparing all of that. The reason why I choose these is because of the different philosophies that they used. The first line is the literal.

King James is the most literal. King James didn't care if you understood it or not. They just did not care. So if that's exactly what it means, that's exactly what they put in there. Sometimes it makes absolutely no sense in English. So the reason why I look at King James is when there's certain phrasing that's really, really awkward, and even for King James sometimes, it's to the point where it makes no sense at all.

Like I said, King James, it's just put whatever was in Greek, they just put it in. Even the word order, they follow the exact word order. But if you have a hard time understanding if something is awkward, you know there's something in the Greek that they had a hard time translating.

So it wasn't simple. So if it was, "I ate food," that's not hard to translate in any language. Maybe the order of the verb and the subject, all of that may be twisted or maybe it would be in a different order, but that's not hard to translate. But if you speak two languages or more languages, you know there are certain words or phrases that you cannot translate.

And so sometimes it would be a single word, but you would have to use a whole phrase to translate that. Or sometimes it would be a phrase and there's a good word in the other language that can summarize the meaning behind that. So those of you who speak two languages, which probably many of us in this room, or at least somewhat, you know at least enough that there are certain words that just can't be translated that way.

So when you compare the translations, you'll see that the words that are not easily translated, oftentimes you'll see the words differently in each translation or the phrase will come out differently in each translation. I know that some of you are already doing that, but that already tells you there's something going on in the Greek.

Now it doesn't mean that there's hidden meaning, it just means that there wasn't an exact word that they could have used. So that's why there's debate as to well this word. So sometimes it's good to look at all of it. A perfect example of the word is the word "meno".

It means to abide, and the word abide has many different facets of that word. And so if you look at the different translations, it'll say "remain", "to continue", "to abide", and all of that combined is the meaning of that word. So each translation only picked one that they thought would capture to the best of their ability.

But if you really want to know, you have to know the meaning behind all of it because that word encompasses all of it. So I think getting in the habit of comparing translations is a good way to study the Bible. So now it's online. So before I used to have a Bible that had four translations.

So basically New Testament was this thick because it was four translations. So you open it up and it would have about five or six different translations and the Greek text. And then so I was able to look it up like this and show it. So whenever I looked at that Bible, again, just...

It would be huge. The four, the three different philosophies of translation... Did I say something? Oh yeah, yeah. Okay. Somebody already pointed that out to me. Okay. You guys can fix it on your own. So the literal translations are the ones that use the philosophy where they're going to make it as close to the Greek as possible.

So NASB, King James, and RSV was translated with that philosophy. So it's not that they made it difficult. So when it comes to NASB and RSV, they tried to make it so that it's understandable, but their primary philosophy was they're going to keep it to the Greek as close as possible.

Where King James used the same principle, but they just didn't care. They just stuck with the Greek. Dynamic equivalent, NIV, and there are other translations, but the NIV is the one that most people know about. Dynamic equivalent is they did their best to translate the Greek text, except when it came to things that you couldn't understand.

If they phrased it a certain way that it just wouldn't make sense in English, they translated it for you. So it's kind of in between the literal and the paraphrase. That's what the NIV is. But the reason why NIV is not the best translation to study out of, if you're really trying to dig, because when it came to certain issues, they translated it for you.

Meaning they basically put into the Bible, this is what this word means. This is what this phrase means. This is what Paul meant when he said this. So they go the extra step and it kind of functions like a commentary. For the most part, it's a great Bible. I would say majority of it, that is not an issue.

But there's enough of it in the NIV that as you are studying it, word for word, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, oftentimes when you compare with other translations, especially the literal translations, they did a lot of translating for you. It's almost kind of like reading a commentary rather than the Bible itself.

And then the paraphrase translation, obviously, is they wanted to get the Bible, but they were more interested that you understood it. So they paraphrased it. So I've been going back and forth with Everest, whether this is a dynamic equivalent or not. The pigeon, P-I-D, not the pigeon, the bird, but the message, the Ebonics Bible, these are all things that they were more concerned that you understood it in modern language.

Let me read John 3, 16 for you in the pigeon language, okay? God went get so plenty love and aloha for the people inside the world that he went send me his one and only boy so that everybody that trust me don't get cut off from God, but get the real kind life that stay the max forever.

Again, we were going back and forth whether this is dynamic equivalent or not. I'm not sure about that. Anyway, the reason why I sometimes compare with the paraphrase translations, because it's hard to understand in the literal, and even the dynamic equivalent, you kind of have a hard time understanding what it means.

So when I look at the paraphrase, they actually would have a whole sentence. It's almost kind of looking at a commentary, that this is what they think that this meant. So whenever I study the Bible, I have different translations that are open on my computer and I compare, especially the ones that are difficult to understand.

So in this text that we're looking at, there's some examples of that. What are some words... I already got a couple of questions about elementary principle, taking his stand, the word self-abasement. These are a lot of words that you look at and say, "Well, what does he mean by that?" We'll get to that.

So if you look at the different translations, you'll see that those words were translated differently in different translations. So you already know what's going on. There's something going on that couldn't be translated directly. The word here for self-abasement literally means voluntary humility by own volition. Now King James straight up said, "Like some voluntary humility, or delight in voluntary humility." That's what it says.

But what does that mean? So the ESV translated asceticism, NIV translated false humility, and then the NASB translated self-abasement. So again, you kind of get the idea that there's something going on here that couldn't be translated literally, so they have to use what? The context. The context of what could he have possibly meant by voluntary humility.

So we're not there yet, but since we're here, what do you think he means when you look at the context? Voluntary humility. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize, but abide delighting in self-abasement. Look at all the different translations. Asceticism, false humility, voluntary humility. What do you think he means by self-abasement?

Looking at the context. Look at the context of what he's been saying, and what he is saying. What does it mean to delight in self-abasement? Are you guys thinking, or just waiting? What is he talking about in the context? Faith? Okay, fake humility. What is he talking about in the context here though?

Self-denial, right? Don't do this, don't do that, don't touch this, right? So basically when they're doing that, what are they doing? They're presenting themselves as godly by denying themselves, but it's fake, right? Because what are they doing that for? They're all of that for what? For presentation, just like the Pharisees.

When they would fast, they would make sure that everybody knew that they were fasting, right? They put on long faces and they're walking around saying, "Hey, I'm fasting, I'm not eating." So all of that, that self-denial, this fake godliness on the outside, all for self-righteousness, right? So if you look at it in the context, voluntary humility, false humility, asceticism, self-abasement.

So when you look at it, it's like, okay, they translate it in different words, but when you put that all together within the context in which he's writing it, he's talking about somebody who's using their humility, but they're not really humble. They say, "Look at my humility. I'm the most humble person in the world." So it's the opposite of humility, it's fake humility.

So that's just an example of looking at the text, looking at the different translations, see what's going on, dig a little bit further, and then the immediate context is always the one that you wanna look at, right? And then if you wanna go a step further than that, you look at cross-references.

Or there are other parts of the Bible where this word is used, and how did Paul and how did other writers use this word? And that'll help you to see collectively, "Oh, this is what he means by that." So when it comes to this, so far I've asked you to not to look at commentaries, not to read your study Bibles, because I don't want you to jump from the text to someone else's insights and then say, "I've got an insight," right?

You get in the habit of doing that, you'll be doing that all your life and you'll never really know the Bible. You'll know what somebody says about the Bible, but you don't know the Bible itself, okay? One of the tools that I would want to introduce to you is a Bible dictionary.

So especially for something like this. So when a word comes out that is hard to understand, the translators had a difficult time, then that's when a Bible dictionary comes out and you look up that word and look at the literal. A lot of times it doesn't help, okay? And the reason why it doesn't help, it'll say, "Humility, lowering yourself," right?

Something like that. So it doesn't necessarily help until you get to the actual application of it, right? So if you say, like, "Submission," the literal word is to put yourself under military command or something to that effect, or stand under something. Or "Perseverance" is to be under pressure, right?

Standing under pressure, that's a literal understanding of it. So those type of words, when you look at the literal understanding of it, it gives you a picture, right? "Patience" literally means long suffering, suffering for a long period of time. So those type of things, it helps, but that's not there for every single word.

Sometimes you can get carried away, and sometimes I hear preachers saying, "God says to work hard, and work hard means to really labor with all your might." Yeah, that's what "work hard" means, you know what I mean? But they kinda get carried away thinking, like, if you dig into the Greek, there's some special meaning that you're gonna be able to find in every single word, in every single context, it doesn't.

Majority of it is plain in the text itself. Only when it comes to words like this, where it's clearly they had a hard time translating it with one word. Then you can go to the extra help to help you to do that, right? You don't need to be carried away.

Majority of what you need to know is already in the English, okay? So that's my point. Alright, let's look at the outline. I outlined it in three ways, let no one judge you. If you look at it, the two words that pop out in verse 16 and 18 is "let no one," right?

Let no one judge you, verse 18, let no one defraud you, right? So that's the first outline. Let no one judge you, 18, 19, let no one defraud you. Again, this is not science, this is just, you know, this is the way I outlined this. So if I was giving a sermon, or if I was giving a lesson, this is the outline that I see, and this is how I would break it up, okay?

Because this is, I see his thought flow in this way, okay? And then the last part, verse 20 to 23, "If you died with Christ, then why do you live for the world?" If this happened, why do you do this? And that's verse 20 to 23, okay? What's interesting is, if we go back to the previous passage in chapter 2, verse 4, and then chapter 2, verse 8, it also has the "no one" verse, right?

Let no one delude you, in chapter 2, verse 4, right? With persuasive speech. Chapter 2, verse 8, let no one take you captive. So if you look at these four "no one" statements, chapter 2, verse 4, 8, 16, and 18, the first two about not, let no one, let no one delude you, let no one take you captive, with false teaching, okay?

So the two warnings is about false teaching. The two warnings that are here is the application of that false teaching, okay? So the "no one" in verse 2 and 8, and then the "no one" in verse 16 and 18 are connected. Because Paul is basically giving them warning about these false prophets who are coming in and they're deluding the truth and they're taking you captive, and don't let them judge you, and don't let them defraud you of your prize.

So the two are, watch out for false teaching, and then the next two is basically watch out for the, watch out for the application of these false teaching, okay? All right, so that's where we are. So therefore, no one, no one, no one judge you, no one defraud you, okay?

Regarding food or drink, and this is a theme that we see here, right? Do not touch, do not eat, do not taste, right? About respect for festivals, new moons, and Sabbath day. Who is this speaking to, Jews or Gentiles? Clearly, the Jews. The Gentiles didn't practice the Sabbath, right?

So he's talking to the Judaizers who are coming in and saying, "It is not enough for you to believe in Jesus. You have to believe in Jesus and you have to be a Jew." So you have to first be a Jew to be a Christian. That's what the basic teaching of the Judaizers were.

So remember, we talked about where Colossae existed. How close are they to Galatia? Remember? Right, they're right there, right? So remember when Paul wrote Galatians, right? Because of the concern that the Judaizers were having on the churches, and not just Galatia but all the churches there. Colossae is one of the churches there.

So Judaizers had a tremendous influence in that area, that area in Asia Minor, okay? So he's addressing that issue of these false teachers who are coming in and saying that you're not free, right? You still have to obey these laws. So Paul is writing this to basically saying that, right, don't let them judge you.

In other words, don't let them pressure you to go back to the old system. These are just these festivals, what to eat, new moon festival, Sabbath. These are things that's the shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ, okay? The word for substance, I think somebody asked a question.

The word for substance literally means body. That make sense? So when you look at it in the Greek, when it says body, it says the shadow, all of these things are a shadow, but the real body is Christ. It makes a lot more sense in the Greek, right? So King James says body.

Yeah, everything else, they said substance or anybody have NIV or, I forgot to put that down. Who has different translation of the NISB? Huh? Bound? Found? Foundation? NIV. How did you get that? Which translation are you looking at? Yeah, reality is in Christ, right? That's what I remember. Anybody have ESV?

I think ESV also has substance, right? Yeah, okay. All right, so it's one of those words, again, I think, I don't know why they didn't translate it body, because the body makes a lot more sense, because it directly connects the shadow to Jesus, right? So in other words, what is he saying?

That all of these things were just a shadow, reflection of Christ. So why would you go back to the reflection when the body, who is Jesus, shows up, right? Unless you didn't have the body, all you had was a shadow, then you're carefully studying the shadow, but why would you carefully study the shadow when Jesus is standing right in front of you, right?

That's his point. So don't let them judge you on these things, because the reality, the body itself has come in Christ. Verse 18, "Let no one keep defrauding you of your price." Not only are they judging you, they're preventing you from your price if you go back to the old covenant, by delighting in self-abasement, and we already talked about that, right?

This false humility of thinking that they're being pious, right? And that was a whole rebuke toward the Pharisees and the scribes, right? Everything you do, you do for other people to see. You're not being righteous in the eyes of God, you wanna be seen as righteous before men, right?

And that was the Judaizers. You can be a Christian, but you still have to fall in line. So basically what the Judaizers were doing, they earned this religious credit among the Jewish people, and they were the top leaders in the synagogue, so everybody had to submit to them. So when Christianity came, all of a sudden, Jesus flips the table over.

He had tax collectors, he had fishermen, he had people who didn't have strong standing in society, all of a sudden, they became the leaders. So what the Judaizers were doing is they were trying to maintain their status while bringing in Christianity. So by them saying, "No, no, you have to keep the Sabbath, you gotta do this, this, and this," which they were already doing, they were experts in doing.

They were known in the community as being law keepers, right? So it wasn't simply a confusion of the law, it wasn't simply that they had a hard time transitioning from the covenant, old to the new covenant. What they were having a hard time with is this new kingdom where he completely overthrows their values.

They wanted to maintain their status while bringing Christianity underneath, right? So you can convert, and we're allowing you to come because of Jesus, but you still have to come under us, right? And that's what's being rebuked, that everything that they do is not because they're seeking righteousness, it's false humility, false righteousness.

Worship of angels, which we talked about, in that particular area, Asia Minor was struggling with that. Taking a stand on visions he has seen. Again, the word "taking a stand," some of your translations says, "goes into much detail," right? "Goes into great detail." Basically, what he's saying is, this is their source of pride.

They're going on and on about this extracurricular vision that they saw, and what is the reason why they're doing that? I'm more spiritual than you, right? Just like their false humility, they're going into these details in order to what? Just like the NASB says, "to take their stand." In other words, to keep status above everybody else, right?

Does that make sense? Or you look confused. It make sense? Okay. So, all of it has the same theme. It's fake righteousness, all for the purpose of their own glory, right? Inflated without cause by fleshly mind, right? In other words, they have no real cause to brag. It's all in their flesh.

It's not real. And then, verse 19, "and not holding fast to the head," because true righteousness in the New Covenant is found in relation to Christ, right? So they're trying to find their status and righteousness outside of Christ, which is all false humility, false righteousness. They're going into details about visions and experiences that they had, instead of connecting to Christ, right?

So doesn't that happen in our generation, in our churches, in our lives? If we want status and to be recognized, we can talk about our experiences. We can talk about how much schooling that we had. We can talk about how big our churches are. We can talk about our status, our finances, whatever it may be.

If we want to be recognized, we present, "This is what I did. Oh, I fasted this much," or "I did that and I did that," right? And that's basically what they're saying is doing. They're trying to present themselves to be more godly, more righteous than other people, but it's all fake, right?

It has nothing to do with Christ. And not holding fast to the head, not holding fast to the head, which is Christ, for whom the entire body, right? So notice how he says that the shadow is what to come, but the body belongs to Christ, which is fulfilled, and we are part of that body, right?

So again, it would make a lot more sense in the Greek when you're reading it and you see these words that are connected, right? So the entire body being supplied and held together by joints and ligaments grows with growth, which is from God. So how does growth happen? Our body connected to his body, right?

When we are connected to his body, all this stuff about self-abasement, worship of angels, you know, taking stand on divisions, inflated by our flesh, all of these things are fake that God rejects, right? What God desires is for us to be connected to the head, that our body connected to his body, right?

And then he goes to the second part, "If, then why," right? If you died with Christ, why do you live in the world, right? That's the argument. If you died with Christ, the elementary principles of the world, the word here for elementary principles, again, is another one of those words that, you know, requires a little bit of digging.

The word, again, literally means rudimentary things, like fundamental, foundational, right? ABCs. So if you died to the ABCs of the elementary principles of the world, and what is he talking about here, the elementary principles? The law, specifically. This is why you need the context, right? Without the context, you can say, you know, like you can just go into just the world and say, "Oh, these are the fundamental things that we learn," like, you know, ABC 1, 2, 3, right?

That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about specifically the elementary principles that was given to you in God's design. In other words, you're going back to the first step, right? God brought you to calculus, but you're going back to plus and minus. Does that make sense? So in other words, he's saying, if you died to the elementary principle, the ABCs of the gospel, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to the decrees?

The purpose of learning ABCs is so that you can read, right? You don't go around memorizing ABCD and then you're 15, you're still, "ABCD." Wow, you're really good at your ABCDs, but you can't read. Because the point of learning the ABCD is so that you can read. And then every year you're learning to read better.

So in other words, he planted his law in the Old Testament and all the covenant and all the things of Leviticus as a foundation, right? As a foundation for what? To understand Christ. So understanding Christ, he gave us all of this so that we can read Christ. So if you, if you miss Christ, you miss the whole point of the ABCs.

Does that make sense? So if you don't understand how Leviticus, how Numbers, how Old Testament laws, the prophecies, the judgment, the kings, how all of this laid the foundation for the coming of Christ, then you missed the whole point of the Old Testament. Isn't that exactly what Jesus said?

He looked for the scriptures to look for life. In other words, you thought that the ABCs were going to give you life. He said, "ABCs was all about me." That's why he says, "I didn't come to abolish the law." He didn't come and say, "The ABCs are wrong." What did he say?

"I came to fulfill it." You learned your ABCs so that you can know who I am, right? That's what he means. If you died to the elementary principles because now the body, now the shadow, right, that was cast by the body, Christ, came, why are you laying again the foundation of ABC, right?

If you know how to read. You don't take somebody who knows how to read and say, "Hey, I got a lesson for you. Let's go back, study ABC." Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, right? All Old Testament stuff, which all are destined to perish, right? In accordance to the commandments of teachings of men, these are just teachings of men.

This is not from God. They have the appearance of wisdom and this is why this was so tempting. They are made self-made religion and self-abasement with severe treatment to the body, but have no power against the flesh. And the reason why this was so deceiving is because it's tangible, right?

It's easy. Just like anything else, right? If you want to lose weight, do these three things and don't do these three things, right? You want to get closer to God, do these three things, don't do these three things. But the fundamental teaching of the gospel is you can't get to God like that, right?

You can't get to God by making three-year plans. You can't get to God by not watching certain programs and doing this and doing that, because all of that in and of itself has no power to change you. It can change your appearance. It can change the way you present yourself to people.

It can change the way that people look at you and say, "Oh, that guy is so disciplined. That guy is so godly." But it doesn't do anything to change who you are, right? It has no power to change who you are. So is discipline wrong? Of course not. The Bible is filled with commandments to be disciplined, right?

To run this race as to win, to buff up my body, make it my slave. That's possibly after I preach so that I may be disqualified. So the Bible tells us to be disciplined. But the problem with their teaching was the discipline was what led them to God, right?

And that was their problem. That was the false teaching, that if you kept these commandments, kept these laws, that somehow they were gonna be righteous. And that's what he's preaching against. You have no power in and of yourself to do that, right? All of these things, they look like they have wisdom.

It's coming from traditions of men. The self-made religion, right? If you think about it, in every religion, in every religion, the principle is pretty much the same. In every religion, right? If you're good, outweigh the bad. Good things are gonna happen to you. If you do good things, right?

You're gonna be rewarded with good things. That's the fundamental teaching of every religion, right? What that good is, is different. And what that reward is, is gonna be different. But the principle's the same. You work hard, be a good person, and good things will happen to you. The gospel doesn't teach that.

The gospel is exactly the opposite of that. You can be good all your life and stand condemned before God. Your good is not good enough, right? Because you can't change. Can a leper change his spot? Can a sinner change his ways? You can't. So the point of the gospel is that only Christ and what he has done, and when we receive it with faith, has the ability to transform us, right?

He was in Christ. He's a new creation. The old has gone, behold, the new has come. You become new. That's why he says you have to be born again. He doesn't say, "Hey, Nicodemus, you're great. You're a student, but you need to be A plus." That's not what he says.

You have to die and be born again. It's like, "How can a man be born again? Enter again to a mother's womb?" Yes. Spiritually. You need to be born again spiritually. But even then, spiritually, like, "Well, how are you born again spiritually?" Well, the spirit is like the wind.

No one knows when it comes and when it goes, right? Wait a second. I have to be born again of the spirit, but I have no way of knowing when it's coming, where it's going. So how can a man be born again? You can't by your own effort. It is by God's choice, right?

God will do it, right? That was the point that he was trying to make. And so all this self-work, again, one of the questions that I ask here for your discussion at the end, if you look at it, the third question, "If man-imposed discipline has no value against fleshly indulgence, what role does accountability and fellowship play in our sanctification?" So the mistake that we can make is, since all this, like, "Don't touch this," and "Don't do this," and all this is of the old covenant, right?

These are elementary things, and the reality is found in Christ, then why do we need to be disciplined? Why do we have to go to church? Why do we have to give? Why do we have to do any of it? We just receive and forget about it, right? Is that what this passage teaches?

Let me tell you, just so that you don't become a heretic. No, that's not what it's teaching, okay? So then what does it teach? So I gave a few verses, instead of me having a discussion with you, I gave a few verses for you guys to look at. How do we reconcile the imperatives in the New Testament with what he says here?

All of that, like, this self, you know, doing this, I'm not going to do this, I'm going to do that. Like, if all of that is false humility, it doesn't have the ability to change, right, to change the flesh, then what part does the discipline play? All right. I'm taking a chance letting you discuss this.

So we've already, so all the small group leaders have been given the discussion questions ahead of time, okay? But I'll just give you the final answer. No, it is not. All right. The imperatives are there for a reason. But what role does it play? How do you reconcile this?

Okay? So let me pray for us and then you guys can get into your group. Heavenly Father, we pray for much wisdom. We pray, Father God, that in a time of discussion that you would lead us deeper into understanding who you are, especially Lord God, as difficult as it is for us to leave behind our own flesh, desiring to have glory, to become somebody, to become better than who we are now.

We know, Lord God, that that's of the world. Help us to recognize what it means to be crucified with Christ, to really embrace, to live a life, Lord God, that is hidden in him and eagerly waiting to be glorified when he comes with his glory. Teach us what that means in a practical way, that it would not simply be theory, but the evidence and the testimony of our lives.

We pray for your guidance, Lord God, through our discussion. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.