Seeds for 2/16/2023 - Colossians 2:6-7, part 4

Scripture: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

Observation: “Faith” is a word that carries a variety of connotations. Sometimes “faith” is used as a generic term for belief and trust. But here Paul means something else. He speaks of “the faith as you were taught.” Faith has content. It is not a generic feeling (as in our culture) or another word for belief. It means the truths of “the faith,” that is, doctrine—specifically Christian beliefs about God, humankind, salvation, and the rest. Part of continuing to live our life in Christ, “just as [we] received Christ Jesus as Lord,” is getting stronger in our knowledge of the content of the Christian Faith: The mystery of the Trinity. The reality of human sin. The promise of Jesus as Messiah. The reality, reliability, and meaning of the cross and resurrection. The gift of the Holy Spirit. The nature and calling of the Church.

In other places (see 1 Corinthians 15, for example), Paul grounds what he is teaching by reminding his readers that it is “according to the scriptures.” In other words, this Faith is not something he’s making up. It’s not just generic “having faith”—vague spiritual belief. It’s knowledgeable trust in real truth claims. Biblical faith can certainly be an appropriate response of belief and trust in the Gospel. Biblical faith is also the content of what the Church teaches and proclaims is true. The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds are a way the early church summarized “the faith as you were taught.” So, part of continuing to live our lives in Christ is being “strengthened in the faith as [we] were taught.” Having what C.S. Lewis called in Mere Christianity, “a child’s heart and a grown-up’s head.”

Application: What opportunities do you have to strengthen your knowledge of the Christian Faith? What are the faith benefits of having “a child’s heart and a grown-up’s head”?

Prayer: “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalm 25:4-5)

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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