buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  (13) And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses , (14) having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.  And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians And the verses we study today address false teaching that was threatening the early church in Colosse.   The “Judaizers” there insisted on faith in Christ Jesus along with Jewish legalism and ritualism. The gospel Paul taught was  revelation of the grace of salvation through faith alone.  Colossians teaches the absolute supremacy and sole sufficiency of Jesus Christ – it is not Christ in part – not Christ plus ritual, ceremony or works or self denial.

Everything is is summed up in Jesus. All the longing of our souls and the nagging innate anxiety of our minds are answered in Christ Jesus.  Paul is refuting externalism that was characteristic of Judaism and the Mosaic Law – these rituals are shadows and we now have the reality of Christ.

The Judaizers put forward a kidnapping philosophy where the intellect is greatly esteemed. Legalism isn’t about spiritual realities  – And Paul wrote warning of a religion of human achievement. In Christ we are forgiven our sins and reborn to eternal life through faith by the grace of God, period.