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COLOSSIANS 2:6

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 26, 1876

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 48, No. 17.

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COLOSSIANS 2:6.

By A. S. Hutchins

THIS scripture is seized by some good people and wonderfully forced out of its latitude. The text reads: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.”
A few days since a lady professing the Christian religion said, in justification of keeping the first-day of the week as the Sabbath, “I am satisfied to walk in Christ Jesus as I received him.” This, in short, was saying, I was converted when I believed the first-day of the week to be the Christian Sabbath, therefore I ought to keep that day.
Now, if this premise sustains the conclusion, why would not a similar conclusion drawn from cherishing any other false sentiment at the time of conversion be equally good? I had supposed when a man was converted to God by feeling a deep and genuine conviction of sin, and true and godly contrition for it, and by full and unreserved confession of it, that he was then brought into the school of Christ to learn of him who spake as never man spake; and that his faith and practices were to be brought in harmony with the word of inspiration, wherever in his previous life he had walked contrary to it, as light from that sacred volume should shine upon his pathway.
If this be otherwise, then the experience of the Christian ends just where it begins. Not only so, but the apostle must have made a great mistake when he wrote, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.
The above interpretation comes forward and says, “No, no; my doctrine was all right when I received Christ; and as for correction and instruction in righteousness, I am not wanting here; I was all right when Christ met me. I was a first-day keeper when I gave my heart to God, and there I must stand.” This view of the subject completely nullifies all the teachings of the Scriptures on practical piety, and on the development of the Christian graces; it extinguishes the brilliant blaze of light on the subject of growth in the knowledge of the truth.
The injunction, “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby,” is superfluous. The babe in Christ rears its infantile head and shouts above the voice of inspiration, “I have learned it all. I grasped it all at once.”
Whether the Christian lady above referred to is correct in the use of this text or not, I think all will see that the text may be driven too far. A good man who formerly lived in my native county in Vermont State, was converted while a sailor. This great and glorious change was made while wearing a pea-jacket. The good man spent the balance of his life in usefulness, loving and beloved, and died lamented. But he, too, influenced by an interpretation similar to the above, from the time of his conversion, through life, continued to wear a jacket like the one he had on when converted, because he read: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” And who dare say that his practice was not as innocent and scriptural as the observance of the first-day for the Sabbath, claiming support for it from Colossians 2:6?
A. S. HUTCHINS.