It’s Not Primary School
If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees Colossians 2:20
Elementary Principles – When you came to Jesus at the foot of the cross, you recognized your sin. You saw that your life was opposed to the holiness of God. You wept over your folly and pride. Then you came to the empty tomb and you realized that life did not end with nails through hands. You were reborn, conceived by the Spirit and adopted by the Father through the sacrifice of the Son. Paul would say, “You died with Christ.” Now what?
Your new life is not a sanctified version of your old life. Christians are not just better people. Christians are disconnected from the world by deliberate rejection of the world’s fundamental principles. You see, Paul is not talking about the simple, primary things you learn as a new Christian. He is not suggesting that dying with Christ improves your education. He uses a Greek word that means something much more profound. It is stoicheion. In Greek philosophy, this word designated the four fundamental elements of the entire creation: earth, air, water and fire. In other words, Paul is telling you that when you died with Christ, you were disconnected from the underlying doctrines of the world. The world and its assumptions no longer have any bearing on your life.
What are those assumptions? A partial list might look like this:
The world is a risky place and I must protect myself from what could happen to me.
Success in the world depends on my efforts and a little luck.
If I don’t take care of Number 1, no one else will.
Life is all about accumulation. The more I have, the happier I will be.
In order to manage my life, I must have control.
The goal in life is to become independent.
Worshipping God means going to church, tithing and obeying the Ten Commandments.
Jesus came to give me blessings and a prosperous and satisfying life.
Injury, sorrow, death and destruction are signs of the devil’s work.
God would never do anything to make me feel bad.
What are the fundamental principles of your life? What are the basic assumptions that guide your choices and behaviors? Paul says that you have died to those elementary principles that govern the world. Have you? Or are you still trying to use the world’s methods with just a little help from God? When did you decide to be disconnected?
