Colossians 2:3: in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (quiz at the end)

Combined with the previous verse, we have the trifecta: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. We are told there is nowhere else to go because the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ. The previous verse says the gateway to riches is through understanding the knowledge of Christ. That is clearly a redefinition of riches and treasures.

Peter told Jesus, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). The point is that the words of Christ, from Christ, about Christ, have eternal value.

The kingdom of God as the treasure you sell everything to gain is a lesson we learn from Jesus. (Matthew 13:44). Jesus said that if people do not drink his blood and eat his flesh, they do not have life in them (John 6:53). That highlights the life-giving nature of the knowledge of Christ (John 6:53-55).

Paul was telling the Colossian Christians that there is no other place they should go to satisfy their desire for knowledge, understanding, and ultimate wisdom. He said they need to find their rest in Christ and in nothing else. And it’s not just rest, but soul flourishing also.

He wants them to explore Christ, know his fullness, and see him for who he is and what he means to them.

Let's say that the Colossians are losing economic opportunities because they are Christians; Paul wants them to see themselves not as having lost anything but as having gained Christ, and that’s better than all the treasures and riches of the world.

• Jesus said it this way: what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36)

• “…we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either.” (1 Timothy 6:7), wrote Paul.

• That is why Jesus said “But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

People want to create a gulf between Christ and Paul by saying that Jesus preached the kingdom, but Paul was saying something else.

They forget that both existed in different contexts. For example, Jesus said he had not to be sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24), and Paul specifically sent to the people who Jesus said are not of this sheepfold (John 10:16).

So, Jesus and Paul were not singing from different hymn sheets, and to try to put them on the same pedestal is an insult to Jesus. Paul laid bare the ugliness of this approach when he rebuked the Corinthians against putting anyone against Christ, saying, Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? Were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul” (1 Corinthians 1:13).

Let's stop this silliness about trying to create a contradiction between Paul and Jesus, merely exposing severe biblical ignorance, to say the least.

What is a better message of the kingdom than immersing the subjects in the knowledge of the king, letting them know that the new life is inward, that their riches are not earthly, and that it is a spiritual kingdom where we live in God and God lives in us right now? Paul did not contradict Jesus; he expounded him. That I need to say this, is sad, but here we are.