Today’s passage: Colossians 2:20-23
Helpful thoughts:
- The “elemental spirits of the world” simply refers to the basic principles of life or the worldviews held by the cultures of the world.
- If a person abstains from things or participates in them, for the purpose of self-achieved righteousness and salvation, both are indulgences to the flesh.
- A person who abstains from all things for the purpose of feeling super religious, they get their reward…which is nothing more than to feel super religious. But they have not saved their soul.
- Those who have “died with Christ” (Who are truly saved) understand our righteousness is found in Christ alone. We are saved by grace, through faith, in Christ alone.
Questions to consider:
- When we add other rules or forbid certain actions to ensure our salvation, who will our confidence eventually be placed in for our security? When those rules and actions are not found in the Bible (Which they aren’t) to whom do we go to learn them? How careful must we be to base our faith on Scripture alone?
- In what way can withholding or abstaining from certain things become just as much of an indulgence of the flesh as participating or consuming them? Why/How are both contrary to the gospel?
- Why then do we refrain from certain actions or activities? Why do we seek to do what is right and refrain from doing what is wrong? What is our right motivation to pursue righteousness?