Colossians
2
New
International Version - UK (NIVUK)
2
I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea,
and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be
encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches
of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God,
namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5
For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and
delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
Spiritual
fullness in Christ
6
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives
in him,7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were
taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive
philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual
forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.
9
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in
Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and
authority.
11
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human
hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[b] was put off when you were
circumcised by[c] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which
you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who
raised him from the dead.
13
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God
made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having cancelled
the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us;
he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the
powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over
them by the cross.[e]
Freedom
from human rules
16
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard
to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are
a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in
Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of
angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what
they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.
19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported
and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20
Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,
why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21
‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’? 22 These rules, which have to do
with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human
commands and teachings.23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom,
with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment
of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Footnotes:
a. Colossians 2:8 Or the basic principles;
also in verse 20
b. Colossians 2:11 In contexts like this, the
Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often
presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 13.
c. Colossians 2:11 Or put off in the
circumcision of
d. Colossians 2:13 Some manuscripts us
e. Colossians 2:15 Or them in him
IVP
Bible Commentary Colossians 2:3
Clearly,
verse 3 is parallel to verse 2 in thought. The idea contained in the phrase
full riches of complete understanding is virtually repeated in the following
phrase, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, so that the idea of mystery
finds a parallel in the word hidden. Significantly, sandwiched between these
two parallel phrases is their focal point: Christ, in whom all these mysterious
riches and hidden treasures of God's mystery are disclosed by the preaching of
Paul's gospel. Remember that for Paul the biblical Jew, the mysteries of God's
treasured salvation lie hidden within Scripture and are mined by exegesis; and
for Paul the Christian missionary, the proclaimed faith is a christological
monotheism, and so the wonderful riches of our faith are both deposited and
drawn through Christ.
Simply
put, spiritual maturity results from knowing Christ. The distinctive emphasis
in this letter on wisdom (1:9, 28; 2:3, 23; 3:16; 4:5), knowledge (1:9-10, 27;
2:2-3; 3:10; 4:7-9) and knowing (1:6; 2:1; 3:24; 4:1, 6, 8), especially linked
to Paul's proclamation of Christ, is no doubt made with Paul's Colossian
opponents in mind. They too are concerned with ideas, but their
"philosophy" is not centered by the teaching of and about Christ
(2:8) and therefore is "hollow and deceptive," incapable of forming
the spiritual life of the Christian congregation (2:6-7).
IVP
New Testament Commentaries are made available by the generosity of InterVarsity
Press.
The
Bible Panorama
Colossians
2
V
1–5: ENCOURAGED Paul wants to encourage the hearts both of the Colossians and
the Laodiceans so that each fellowship of Christians will increase in love to
one another, with assurance and understanding of God’s message. That assurance
concerns what God has done in Christ, and is the basis of all our wisdom and
knowledge. His ‘great conflict’ is his concern that they should not be deceived
by anybody. He encourages them by rejoicing at their good order and their
steadfast faith in the Lord Jesus.
V 6–7: ESTABLISHED His desire is to see them
established like a well-rooted tree or a building with good foundations. As
they have received Christ, so they must walk in Him with faith and
thanksgiving.
V
8–10: EMPTINESS People seeking to persuade them through worldly philosophy and
deceit are empty and have nothing to offer from this world. It is only in Jesus
Christ that all the Godhead dwells bodily and therefore it is only in Him that
each Christian is complete. Jesus is over all and more powerful than all.
V 11–19: EMANCIPATED Christ has put off the
sins of those who trust in Him, by spiritual circumcision. Baptism reminds them
of a new life through death to the old sinful life and benefiting from the
eternal life given by the resurrected Christ. There is no power in claiming
that they must now keep to man-made ordinances. They have been emancipated from
that by the risen Christ. Thus man-made laws are not to enslave them, whether
in the form of dietary laws, man-made festivals, or additional sabbath days.
Any man-made system of worship, including angel worship, comes from false
humility and a proud mind. Our freedom depends upon being under the headship of
Christ, over the body of the church. Each Christian is part of that body and
takes his directions from Christ.
V 20–23: EXHORTED Paul now exhorts the
Colossians to avoid legalistic man-made rules which will perish along with
every other man-made commandment and teaching. They may have an attraction of
organised religion, false humility, and abstaining from things, but can do
nothing to forgive sins or combat the inward pull of the old nature. Only
Christ can do that.
The
Bible Panorama. Copyright © 2005 Day One Publications.
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