Main news for 3 October 2026

Reflecting on spiritual life, Paul mentions certain human teachings, which he calls "philosophy"; by following them, in the apostle's view, a person can easily lose the main thing that gives Christianity its meaning (vv. 8-10). And the main thing, according to Paul, is that new life, the life of the Kingdom, for which the Savior paid by His death on the cross (vv. 11-15). When he speaks of what was "against us" ("the handwriting that was against us," v. 14), the apostle, it appears, has the Torah in mind, whose testimony always only condemns the sinner by exposing his sins. Such testimony could be answered only by becoming completely free from sin and revealing the fullness of righteousness, becoming, in the expression common in rabbinic circles of that time, a "living Torah." But this ideal remained unattainable for a person wounded by original sin, and only the Savior Himself, in whom, according to Paul's word, all the fullness of God dwells (v. 9), was able to show the example of the "living Torah." It is precisely the pattern revealed by the Savior that renders the Torah's testimony about our sinfulness powerless and opens the road to the Kingdom for us (v. 14; the corresponding Greek word means not only "teaching," but also "example" or "pattern").

But, as it appears, the church in Colossae was being troubled by preachers who were trying, in essence, to return the Christians there to a pre-Christian past. Evidently they were the ones who gave special importance to the religious side of Judaism, again and again reminding the Colossian Christians of religious rules and customs and insisting on their strict observance as the chief condition for receiving the Kingdom (vv. 16-19). For Paul, however, any return to religion is not a path into the Kingdom, but a departure from it. He understands perfectly well that all religious norms and rules belong not to the Kingdom, but to our world, still not transformed (vv. 20-22). Of course, at times they can help a person on his spiritual path. But they can also become an obstacle for those seeking the Kingdom if they are made the goal and meaning of life: then they only create an illusion of spiritual life, while in reality having nothing to do with it. It is no accident that Paul says of such religiosity that it only has the appearance of wisdom, without truly being wisdom (v. 23): for him the Kingdom is the only goal of the Christian life, and he rejects everything that can distract from it and lead a person off the path.

And in the time of Paul, and later in the Church sounded various opinions as regards the rite and its role in the life of the church. And most of those who took seriously the spiritual life came to the conclusion that it should not be put in the first place. But does Paul speak only about it? Because in fact, he calls shadow of things to come all the existing Jewish religiosity at that time, and calls the Church literally only the body of Christ. And what thus: religiosity does not have a place in the Church? Probably, such a question sounds all the same a little bit categorical. It would have been more exact to ask: what religiosity could find a place in the Church? And of what could consist its role?

It is obvious to Paul Himself that the Church is not a religious community, as well as Christianity itself is not a religion. The Kingdom is Kingdom; it can’t be contained in any religious frame. But indeed, there are also again the forms, necessary for the non transformed world. Of course, for the very Kingdom they are not necessary. But they are necessary when the Kingdom through the Church enters our world, are necessary for this world, in order to receive at least a certain representation of what within the framework of the non transformed reality is impossible to imagine.

And here it is in particular the religious language that helps: because of all the existing cultural languages, it is the best adapted for the expression and the realization of the revelation received from God. That is why throughout our era, the era of the Kingdom to come, the Church speaks with the world in the religious language. But in the religious images and symbols, it puts new meanings, meanings connected already not to the religious life, but to the life of the Kingdom.

It is exactly in this meaning, apparently, that Paul calls the elements of the religious tradition, modern to him, the shadow of things to come, i.e. of what has to come into the world with Christ. And for Paul himself, the language of his religious tradition was close: all that was said by him about the Messiah, about the Kingdom, about salvation was said in particular in this language. And it is all the same very important not to confuse the tool of the acquisition of the purpose, even the most important, with the purpose itself, and that’s what Paul reminds us.

In our everyday thinking, we suppose that repentance arises from sorrow over the lawlessness we have committed. But in today’s reading the apostle Paul says something very important: godly sorrow produces irrevocable repentance leading to salvation (in the Synodal translation: “godly sorrow produces unchanging repentance for salvation”). For this irrevocable, once-for-all change of mind to take place (the literal meaning of the Greek word usually translated as “repentance”), one must long for God, grieve at being separated from Him, and desire to meet Him. This alone bears fruit. This alone makes us capable of living according to truth and the commandments. All our striving for self-improvement is commendable, but fruitless.