Colossians 2:6-15

Paul uses a powerful image to speak of the triumph of Christ (Col. 2:15). The Romans won victories in war. When they conquered their enemies in military battles they marched toward Rome. A celebration ensued when the Roman army marched into Rome.

A Roman general led his army through the streets of Rome as crowds gathered. The general rode into Rome on a two-wheeled chariot pulled by four horses. The general wore a purple robe, a laurel crown, and glowed in the grandeur of victory. Soldiers waved trinkets, jewelry, and other things which they took from the enemy. When Titus captured Jerusalem his soldiers held high the Jewish candelabras and the golden table along with scrolls of the Old Covenant.

Prize prisoners followed the procession, a symbol that Rome maintained its peace, freedom, and power while overpowering it enemies. The whole procession filled the streets of Rome with celebration, dancers, singers, soldiers in triumph, and the emperor himself in the glory of Roman victory.

Paul transfers this image onto Christ. Greater than Roman conquest is the triumph Christ delivers. Christ defeats the enemy and takes captive Satan himself. The historian Josephus tells of Romans decorating the city with garland laurels during a triumph. Paul uses the image to explain the eternal victory of Christ which decorates the hearts of believers with the laurel of peace.

How does Paul further describe this victory?

The Symbol of Victory: The Cross (Col. 2:6-14).

Paul yearns for the Colossians to welcome Christ in their lives and so walk in him (Col. 1:6). Christ’s love demonstrated on the cross takes root in the soil of the soul as love and establishes a firm faith for living (Col. 1:7). Paul knows that the world offers alternatives to the cross: philosophy, tradition, material sufficiency, intellectual self-sufficiency, and independence from God along with the worship of false gods. Paul, however, proclaims the truth of One God through Christ who gives personal, life-changing, and eternal victory. John Calvin warns of being “intoxicated with false confidence.” Paul invites true believers to place confidence in Christ.

The cross of Christ removes all obstacles on the path to victory (Col. 1:14). The cross supplies love (Col 1:7). The cross infuses the soul with grace that leads to gratitude (Col. 1:7) The cross produces forgiveness (Col. 1:13).

The American poet Robert Frost spoke of a road which he took that made all the difference: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” For Paul the road of the cross made all the difference.

The cross calls for personal response. C. S. Lewis once said, “Our highest activity must be response, not initiative. To experience the love of God in a true, and not an illusory form, is therefore to experience it as surrender to His demand, our conformity to His desire.” To surrender to the cross of Jesus is to be changed forever, or in the words of Oswald Chambers, “to be severely altered.” God’s love alters us for good (Col. 1:7).