A story is told of a man who responded to the altar call at a crusade and gave his life to Christ. In his excitement, he shared his testimony during a counseling session and said, “I now have two gods: My father’s shrine and Jesus Christ.” He was enlightened by the counselor, but that could be a common issue for many in this generation.

Today, Jesus appears to be like an add-on, or something to get in order to add to. A great doubt is cast upon the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. The bait of many false teachers today is to use philosophy and ideas to entice ignorant believers as it was with the Church in Colossae.

Knowing that there were enemies already attacking the church in Colossae, Paul cautioned “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8).

The church in Colossae and the believers faced the problem of syncretism i.e. combining ideas from other philosophies and religions with Christian truth. “How do false teachers manage to deceive people?” It is possible because most church members are ignorant of the truths of the Word of God. They become fascinated by the worldly philosophy and empty delusion of the false teachers. When a person is unfamiliar with the teachings of the Christian faith, they can easily be swayed by false religions. This calls for intentional discipleship to combat the treachery of false teaching.

Of course, the false teachers in Colossae did not ask the believers to forsake Christ; they asked them to integrate Christ into the new system. But this would only remove Christ from His rightful place of preeminence. So, Paul gave the true and lasting antidote to such false teachings and wrote: “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So, you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority”. (Colossians 2: 9-10)

This signifies that all of God’s being and attributes are embodied in Christ, and every believer partakes in that fullness.

When a person is born again into the family of God, he is born complete in Christ. His spiritual growth is not by addition but by nutrition. He grows from the inside out. Nothing needs to be added to Christ because He already is the very fullness of God. As the believer draws on Christ’s fullness, he is “filled unto all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

Certainly, Christians encounter spiritual dangers. The fundamental test of any religious teaching is “Where does it put Jesus Christ—His person and His work?” Does it rob Him of His sufficiency? Does it deny either His deity or His humanity? Does it affirm that the believer must have some “new experience” to supplement his experience with Christ? If so, that teaching is wrong and dangerous.

If all fullness is in Christ and believers have been made complete in Him, why would you need anything else? Jesus is sufficient in every way and He is enough for the believer. His Sacrifice is Sufficient (Hebrews 10:14); He is Sufficient for Righteousness (Philippians 3:9), He is Sufficient for our Needs (Philippians 4:19) and He is Sufficient for strength in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

God has blessed us with a new year; however, it may not be without challenges. The challenges of this year will require a stronger conviction about who Christ is and what he means to us as believers. As we reflect on the pages of scripture daily, may we hold on to our conviction that Christ is all-sufficient in holding all things together for His glory (Colossians 1). Happy New Year!!

E. Derek Koomson (Rev.)
General Director/CEO
Scripture Union Ghana