MY KIDS, NOW in their 30’s and 40’s, grew up on Sesame Street. Even my grandkids are familiar with the Sesame Street characters: Big Bird, Oscar, Elmo, and of course, Bert and Ernie. But I grew up on a show called Romper Room, hosted by “Miss Nancy,” who created the show with her husband.

The mascot of the show was a cartoon character named Mr. Do Bee — yes, a honeybee — along with his evil twin, Mr. Don’t Bee. Every episode, Mr. Do Bee would have some word of moral advice for kids, like, “Do Bee good little boys and girls.” And of course, the corresponding negative advice would also be given: “Don’t Bee”…well, bad little boys and girls, however that might have been said in the early 1960s.

In a sense, that’s what Paul has done for the Colossians in the three verses of chapter 2 we’ve just explored: Here’s what I want you to do, and here’s what I don’t want you to do. As we’ve seen, verses 6 to 8 are the beginning of the main part of the letter, and they’re as good a summary as any of the main thrust of his counsel. Do: continue to walk in Jesus, be rooted and built up in him. Do: ground yourself in the apostolic gospel you were already taught. Do: recognize what you already have in that gospel, until you overflow with gratitude.

And the don’t? Don’t let anyone carry you away with their fine-sounding arguments and empty philosophies based on traditions, principles, and even spiritual forces that don’t depend on Christ.

In a sense, Paul has already given them the why behind the dos and don’ts. His vision of the person and work of Christ gives the Colossians ample reason to be amazed at and thankful for the gospel:

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Col 1:19-20, NIV)

The scope of what God accomplished through Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection is cosmic, because Jesus wasn’t just another human being. He was the embodiment of the one through whom all things were made, and all the fullness of God was in him.

The Colossians themselves, of course, are now part of the reconciliation Paul describes, and this has implications for how they should live:

But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. (1:22-23)

And this in turn shapes Paul’s understanding of his vocation as an apostle:

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (1:28)

Paul envisions the day in which the Colossians, along with other believers, might reach the goal of full maturity in Christ. They are already holy in God’s sight, but must also become holy and blameless as they continue to live into the gospel that was taught to them. That’s Paul’s ministry: to wisely proclaim, admonish, and teach in a way that helps others toward that goal of maturity.

With that as a background, we can hear Paul reiterating the why in chapter 2, immediately after giving them the dos and don’ts:

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. (2:9-10)

It’s a striking way to say it. He’s already spoken of God’s fullness in Christ in chapter 1 and linked it with the concrete, physical reality of the crucifixion. Here, he seems to link it with the Incarnation, that is, the fact of Jesus’ physical humanity, not just what we call Christmas. The word translated as “fullness” would later be used by Gnostics to speak of a realm of divine beings — a Gnostic version of heaven, if you will — so it may be that Paul is using the word in response to the “hollow and deceptive philosophy” he mentions in the previous verse.

What’s particularly striking, though, is that Paul uses the verb form to describe what God has done in Christ for the Colossians: he has “brought [them] to fullness,” or more simply, “filled” them. We probably shouldn’t take this as a statement about individual spirituality, as if any one believer could ever be God Incarnate in the same way Jesus was. Moreover, Paul uses similar language in Ephesians 1:23 to describe the church as “the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” But Paul doesn’t shy away from boldly declaring the miracle of who we already are in Christ, always with an eye to who we are becoming.

And having said that, he gives the why that will justify what he’ll say in the coming verses. Christ is “the head over every power and authority.” Here, he deliberately echoes what he said in chapter 1 about the absolute supremacy of Christ: all powers and authorities were created through and for him. Thus, Paul hammers once more on the superiority of Christ over everything in order to challenge the way the Colossians have begun to stray from the truth.

Again, beyond inferring from what Paul says directly in the letter, we don’t know what the Colossians had been taught about “fullness,” nor exactly what religious “power and authority” they were tempted to follow. But Paul’s words are a good reminder to all believers in any time or place. There will always be authorities and philosophies that will demand our allegiance. And for the faithful, the first line of defense against error isn’t to criticize what someone else believes, but to know what we believe, why, and to be grateful for it.