PRAYING FOR WISDOM
“Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!” That is how Psalm 82 ends. A hopeful declaration of what God will do, of what God has done in and through Jesus, as Colossians 2 reminds us. Spend some time meditating on Psalm 82 today in light of the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth, Christ our Lord; asking to “be filled with knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord…”
God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
‘How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them form the hand of the wicked.’
They have neither knowledge nor understanding they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’
Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
GETTING INTO COLOSSIANS
Read Colossians 2:1-23, then watch The Bible Project’s video overview of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, which you can find here.
We all have stories that shape our understanding of reality—the world as we experience it. Stories that help us find our place, deal with the difficulties, and hope for the future. The stories that shaped the worldview of the Colossian saints, both those from a Greco-Roman background as well as those with a Jewish heritage, were stories in which humanity (and all of creation) interacted with divines, spiritual beings, gods, elemental spirits, etc. Therefore, unlike our day and age, the hearers of his letters would not psychologize, cringe at, aggrandize, or gloss over such statements like Paul’s in Colossians 2, warning the Jesus followers to not be taken captive by “elemental spirits”, or his reminder in Ephesians 6 that,
“…we do no wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places.”
Paul was not writing to convince them of such realities, but rather to demonstrate to them the dynamic shift in how these realities relate through the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
To appreciate the dynamic shift and recognize how such realities relate in our moment in history we need to understand a bit about how they connected in the minds and lives of “the great cloud of witness” that surround us.
What follows is a very brief overview. You can listen to the Gathering’s sermon here for more detail, and, if you are interested in digging into more detail, I’d recommend Michael Heiser’s book The Unseen Realm: recovering the supernatural worldview of the bible. While having his own biases, he attempts to give a well-researched and well-rounded biblical and historical view of the spirituality that is not based primarily on experience. I (Jeremy) would also be more than happy to chat over a cup of good coffee!
REFLECTING ON TRUTH
The basic assumption of the early church member in Colossae was that the created beings that we can see and touch and classify and dissect, are not the only beings in existence. We saw such a confession in Paul’s poem about Jesus in chapter one, that through Jesus “all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” (v. 16)
Inherently we affirm our belief in the existence of other beings when we confess a belief in God, at least the God of our scriptures who cannot be seen, who is Spirit. But God never claims to be the only other being. Certainly, he is the first—having never not existed—and greatest—as Creator and sustainer of all things; including elemental spirits (see Psalms 8 and 82). That is why, in most of our bibles, especially in the Old Testament, the word “LORD” is all caps, and his titles are capitalized. In this way, the writers are distinguishing our God as something more than the other “gods” (elohim is the general term for a divine being in much of the OT) but without dismissing their existence.
We can call these other beings angels, demons, deities, idols, demigods, spirits, principalities in heavenly places, princes of darkness, Satan, etc.; for our scriptures give us many names for them. Already as we move from the Old to New Testament times, the majesty of the “gods” is beginning to fade under the rise of human reason and power, and thus we see the change in the way they are referenced. What is important, is that the writers of our sacred texts recognized the existence of a visible world and invisible world; worlds at one time interconnected, overlapping in “very good” harmony, and worlds now in conflict, separated by rebellious intentions, disharmonious and destructive, especially to the visible world. This does not mean that they saw every illness or misfortune as the work of mischievous spiritual forces, but they also did not assume the world was only what the rational mind was comfortable comprehending.
From the Ugarit to the Mesopotamian, the Canaanite to the Egyptian, the Greek to the Roman, and for many centuries following, the creations stories that set the course for how life was lived where based on the conception that there was a cosmic battle ever waging, in which different divines would have rule and exercise their authority at different times; and humanity was caught in the middle as victims or pawns (objects to ogle, abuse and use) or prizes. Kings and rulers, of course, where either divine manifestations themselves, or at least had the privilege of speaking for the divine(s) who gave them dominion to exercise.
The Hebrew stories, however, painted a different picture. While not dismissing the image of cosmic conflict, the war was not a seesaw affair, nor was humanity a victim or a prize, but is rather dignified as a willing participant—even if ignorantly persuaded or straight up duped at moments by these other beings. The story starts with God creating humanity in his image, which is another way of saying, to reflect him, his attributes, attitudes and responsibilities. God created man and women to have “dominion” over the visible things he created (Genesis 1:26-27). The psalmist is amazed by God’s majesty in creating, and even more so by his graciousness to allow us humans to be “a little lower then the heavenly beings” (Psalm 8)! Or as one translation has it, “Yet we have so narrowly missed being gods…”
Humanity was not created as pawns or prizes, slaves or servants, but with divine dignity and responsibility to participate in cultivating a good world. A world that can only be good when dominion is exercised under submission to the One True God who spoke all things into being; including the being who tempted us to question our Creator.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’’ And the women said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband…Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew they were naked…” (Genesis 3:1-7)
And thus begin the rebellion that causes the earth to groan, subjected to futility, through a collaboration between human beings and “other beings”—this serpent who would come to be called Satan, the “father of lies” (see John 8:39-47)—in which they and we attempt to exercise our dominion to the destruction of all that was spoken “good” and “very good”. Whether “elemental spirits” or “human tradition” (Colossians 2:8), whenever we attempt to play God, to determine what is good and evil—no matter how appealing the desire and opportunity appears—we end up destroying out of ignorance or arrogance (see Genesis 4-6).
Eventually the LORD, our Lord, would capitulate to the rebels both human and divine in Genesis, in a way. Because he desired redemption and not destruction of his beloved created beings; when they had gathered together as one to do whatever they wanted to do, God gave them what they wanted, rule without him. Except, for one small, insignificant people, “But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage”, the children of Abraham (see Genesis 11 and Moses explanation of what was happening at Babel in Deuteronomy 32:7-9). God would not let the earth go without a fight; but he would not fight in the expected ways. He would overcome the rebellion by raising up a people who did know him, who did submit to his authority, and who participate in his re-creating that would bring peace (shalom) by reconciling “to himself all things, whether on earth of in heaven…” (Colossians 1:20).
The stories of the Old Testament are stories of God’s reclamation project, his fighting against rebellion (both human and divine) by not fighting but by forming a people to be different, holy, set apart in order to bless. His “allotted heritage” had a difficult time not partaking of the desirous fruit, either subjecting themselves to “sons of the Most High” in the gods of other nations or creating for themselves traditions by which to live and associate with God and others. Still, Creator God remained committed to overcoming evil through good, faithful to the point of entering into the battle himself in the most vulnerable of ways; to the surprise of all involved!
USE THESE QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU PRAYERFULLY REFLECT INDIVIDUALLY AND/OR DISCUSS AS A DNA GROUP.
What stories (books, teachers, movies, etc.) have influenced the way you think about spiritual realities?
How has that impacted the way you engage God, sin, difficulty, discipleship, etc.?
Why is it important to understand the mingling of human and non-human responsibility in the rebellion, usurping, of the Creator—then and now?
In what ways might the story of Genesis 3 (and 4-11), have influenced Paul’s exhortation to make sure “no one take you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to elemental spirts of the world…” (2:8)
What might the disadvantage be to assuming “elemental spirits” have too little or too much authority today?
In verse 15, Paul says that God has “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over in [Jesus]”. How does Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection; disarm, shame, and triumph over the rebellious spirits of the world? What does that mean for the way you and I live our lives?
BE ZEALOUS & REPENT
Repenting is one of the most ordinary and extraordinary practices of our faith heritage. The stories and letters that ground our faith are replete with exhortation to and examples of repentance. In a nutshell, repentance is the turning away from one thing and grabbing hold of something different. It is not merely the ceasing of action or attitude, but the replacement of what is let go with something completely other than what is released.
Paul says that we have “received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him…” We have in Jesus our authority, the one who shows us in his life how we are to exercise our dominion in the visible world, to participate in cultivating a good creation that the Father speaks into existence each new day. Yet, there are times when we “submit to regulations”, to the rulers and authorities which Christ has put to shame, by the way we treat others, the earth we inhabit, and even God himself. This why Jesus teaches us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13)
Pray with Jesus that prayer today, asking the Spirit to grant you discernment to recognize the images and ideas that invite you to think less of God (or think of him less), and thanking the Father for him delivering you “from the domain of darkness” and transferring you “to the kingdom of his beloved Son.