I CAN STILL envision the scene as if it was yesterday. I was at the house of one of my colleagues, who had invited a group of faculty for dinner. He was going all out, having fired up the backyard grill and getting ready to throw some serious protein on there: beef, chicken, fish. We were chatting in the kitchen as he took the fish fillets out of the fridge and began seasoning them for cooking.

But I watched in silent horror as he used his bare hands to take the raw fillets out of their shrink-wrapped Styrofoam tray and slap them directly on the tiled counter. Splat! He used the same slimy hands to open the cupboards, retrieve and open the seasonings, pat the seasonings into the fillets, then flip them over and do it again, right there on the countertop. This was a man with a PhD — just not one in microbiology. Had he never heard of cross-contamination?

In my mind, I envisioned nasty little bacteria being spread everywhere. I wasn’t worried about the fish itself; that was going on the fire. But whatever bacteria he had picked up on his hands was now on the tile — especially the hard-to-clean grout between the tiles! — as well as the cabinets, the saltshaker, several spice jars, and the stack of formerly clean dishes from which he retrieved a plate to carry the fish out to the grill.

I waited to see what he would do next. The good news is that he cleaned up after himself.

The bad news is that “cleaning up” meant nothing more than a few quick swipes with a paper towel, spreading the mess even further.

Maybe it’s just me and my overactive imagination? After all, as far as I know, no one got sick that night. But food safety experts will tell you that the risk is real.

And something similar might be said of the risk of cross-contaminating Christian faith with philosophies and ideologies foreign to the gospel.

IN PREVIOUS POSTS, we’ve explored the questions of who wrote the letter to the Colossians, and when and where it was written. Now we’re ready to tackle briefly why Paul wrote the letter, and after that, what he said in response to the situation.

Paul was not the one who brought the gospel to Colossae, nor is it clear whether he ever set foot in the city. It was one of Paul’s associates, a man named Epaphras, who evangelized the cities of the Lycus valley near the western coast of what is now Turkey. Epaphras, apparently, was a native of Colossae and founded the church there, as well as in the nearby cities of Hierapolis and Laodicea. Indeed, the relationship between the churches was close enough that at end of his letter to the Colossians, Paul sends greetings to the believers in Laodicea, and instructs the Colossians to make sure that the letter is read there too.

Epaphras is the one who visits Paul in prison and tells him what’s been happening in Colossae. In his letter to the church, therefore, Paul addresses what we might call a kind of theological cross-contamination. In Colossians 2:8, he warns:

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. (NIV)

He seems to be referring to some kind of false teaching that was gaining traction in the church, which may also have been part of the surrounding pagan culture at large already. As is typically the case, Paul neither spells out the false teaching in detail nor refutes it point by point, leaving us to infer what was being taught by what Paul says in response. Scholars argue over the exact source and nature of that teaching, but some of the main points can be sketched.

First, there was an esoteric emphasis on spiritual forces at work in the world, including the worship of angels. The teaching included both pagan and Jewish elements, leading some to conclude that Paul may have been combating a form of Jewish mysticism. Second, such beliefs somehow resulted in a demanding set of religious rules, imposing a harsh form of self-discipline in the name of spirituality. And third, the teaching led to what the New International Version translates as a “false humility” (Col 2:18, 23) that was really the flip side of spiritual pride and possibly arrogance. People prided themselves on having special knowledge, in a way that may reflect the influence of some early form of a philosophy known as Gnosticism. More on that later.

The problem with all of this is that it leads Christians away from the centrality of Jesus and the cross. The answer to the question of what Paul teaches in response, therefore, is an exalted view of Jesus:

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. (Col 2:9-10)

Christianity in Colossae, it seems, may have had some of the trappings of the gospel but had begun to be contaminated by other ideas. Reading what Paul wrote, I can imagine how these contaminating beliefs supported a kind of spiritual striving that undermined the church’s unity. Life in Christ, however, is neither about a rigid adherence to religious rules nor the pursuit of esoteric spiritual knowledge. It’s about the living embodiment of love in relationship to one another:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Col 3:12-14)

Christianity isn’t a new religion or philosophy. As Paul tells the Colossians, it’s wonder at the mystery of God in Jesus Christ. It’s gratitude for what God has done through Christ. It’s stripping off our old selves and habits and putting on new life instead. The gospel heralds a new reality created through the cross of Christ — and nothing should be allowed to contaminate the message of the cross.

MUCH OF WHAT Paul says to the Colossians is specific to their false beliefs. But every believer in every time and place is subject to the influence of the surrounding culture. We are just as prone to creating religions that look Christian on the surface but move the cross to the periphery. We can be just as guilty of spiritual pride and false humility. And we are quite capable of pursuing spirituality in a way that undermines real community.

The answer to all of this is to continually remind ourselves and each other of who Christ is, what he has done, and what he will do; together, we are to “set [our] hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1). Christ is above all spiritual forces and angels, above all the things of earth and all the things we selfishly desire. Let’s see how Paul encourages us to think that way as we begin our study of his letter to the Colossians.