Defeated Hostile Powers
Colossians 2:15
02/22/15
by Bob DeWaay
Colossians 2:15
by Bob DeWaay
Gospel of Grace Fellowship
February 22, 2015
Defeated Hostile Powers: Colossians 2:15
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Colossians 2:15a (ESV)
He disarmed the rulers and authorities
“Disarmed” literally means “having put off” or
“stripped”
§ The context is the cancelled debt accomplished on
the cross (Colossians 2:14)
§ The “rulers and authorities” are evil spiritual
powers
§ These are real entities, not just ideas or human
authorities
§
Defeated Hostile Powers: Colossians 2:15
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Colossians 2:15b (ESV)
and put them to open shame, by triumphing
over them in him.
§ “Open shame” implies “shown in their true
character” and “exposed publically”
§ This term is used in Matt. 1:19
§ The triumphal procession was when a conquering
general paraded the vanquished foes through
Rome
§ “in Him” could be translated “in it” i.e. the cross
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Defeated Hostile Powers
Colossians 2:15
02/22/15
by Bob DeWaay
1John 5:19 (NASB)
We know that we are of God, and that the
whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
This is global and not about the presence or
activities of individual demons
§ This is relational and not geographical
§ See John 14:30; John 16:11
§ “World” is kosmos; here denoting the world in
its sinful rebellion against God
§
Defeated Hostile Powers: Colossians 2:15
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Acts 26:18 (NASB)
to open their eyes so that they may turn from
darkness to light and from the dominion of
Satan to God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among
those who have been sanctified by faith in
Me.'
“Turn” is a synonym for repentance
Without turning to Christ we are under the dominion
of Satan and subject to God’s wrath – 1Thess. 9b, 10
§ The gospel is the only escape; Heb 2:14, 15
§
§
Defeated Hostile Powers: Colossians 2:15
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Colossians1:13 (NASB)
For He rescued us from the domain of
darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom
of His beloved Son,
We go from the domain of darkness to the
kingdom of God
§ Rescued, transferred, redeemed and forgiven
(Col. 1:13, 14) see August 17, 2014 sermon
§
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Defeated Hostile Powers
Colossians 2:15
02/22/15
by Bob DeWaay
Revelation 12:10b, 11 (NASB)
for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown
down, he who accuses them before our God day
and night. And they overcame him because of the
blood of the Lamb and because of the word of
their testimony, and they did not love their life
even when faced with death.
The blood atonement removes our debt of sin
See Zech 3:1, 2; Jude 1:9
§ The damning document was used by Satan against
us to accuse us before God; Col. 2:14
§
§
Defeated Hostile Powers: Colossians 2:15
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Galatians 4:8, 9 (NRSV)
Formerly, when you did not know God, you
were enslaved to beings that by nature are not
gods. Now, however, that you have come to
know God, or rather to be known by God, how
can you turn back again to the weak and
beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want
to be enslaved to them again?
“Beings” are demonic spirits
§ They were tempted to go back to law-works
§
Defeated Hostile Powers: Colossians 2:15
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Clinton Arnold:
“This concept [Col. 2:15] bears striking similarity
to what we have already seen to be present in
Gal. 4: Jewish believers were at one time
enslaved to the stoicheia by virtue of the fact
that life under Torah was life in the old aeon—
an age dominated by Satan and his force (Gal.
4:3). But Christ has brought redemption (Gal.
4:5) for those ‘under law. . . ’” (The Colossian
Syncretism, 191)
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Defeated Hostile Powers
Colossians 2:15
02/22/15
by Bob DeWaay
Clinton Arnold:
“Therefore, there is no reason for the Galatians
to embrace Torah. To do so is tantamount to
regressing to life in the old aeon where evil
stoicheia hold sway and where believers were
formerly held in bondage by evil spirits through
their idolatrous practices (Gal. 4:8-10)” (The
Colossian Syncretism, 191)
Defeated Hostile Powers: Colossians 2:15
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Luke 10:20 (NASB)
“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the
spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your
names are recorded in heaven.”
It is not where demons are vis-à-vis us,
but where we are vis-à-vis Christ
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