Colossians 2:1-23 Discussion Guide

DISCUSSION GUIDE 12.3.21

Colossians 2

Group Discussion Questions:

• As you reflect on the sermon this week, how did the Holy Spirit speak to your heart? Was there a verse/passage that jumped out to you? Share why the verse or passage struck you.
• Concerning Christ, Paul wrote, “In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
  How would you describe this treasure of wisdom and knowledge? What is one treasure of wisdom and knowledge you treasure in Christ? Share with the group the implications it has had for you personally.
• Trace opened with the following question: This year I hope I get ___________? What are you hoping for, or in, this year? Please share with the group.

Note: Paul gives the church at Colossae Three Warnings about getting true wisdom. Apparently, a group of agitators were teaching a false sense of what true wisdom really was. Paul wanted to encourage the Colossians to hold on to true wisdom by giving the following three warning: 1) Wisdom is reality, not rhetoric; 2) Wisdom is in the substance of God, not the shadow of God; 3) Wisdom produces actual growth, not apparent growth. Discuss these warnings with your group.

Read and discuss Chapter 2 Then discuss the following warnings.

Warning #1 – Wisdom is reality, not rhetoric. ⁸ See to it [command] that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

• Where does true wisdom come from?
• How does religious/human activity differ from true wisdom?
• v13-15 speak of biblical reality? How can we stand firm true wisdom?

Warning #2 – Wisdom is in the substance of God, not the shadow of God. ¹⁶ Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ.

• What is the difference between shadow and substance?
• How does the enemy use “shadows” to deceive us?

Warning #3 – Wisdom produces actual growth, not apparent growth. ¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you… [A word commonly used to describe act of a sports official to disqualify someone for unfair play…] Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism [form of strict self-denial] and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

• How does true wisdom produce actual growth in Christ? How do we get there?
• Read verse v23. Is there anything you’re currently doing that has an appearance of wisdom? How is it different from putting on true wisdom? What implications are there for you?

Application: What can we do personally to apply verses 6-7?

⁶ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.