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 [Or the basic principles; also in verse 20] 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 [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.] was put off when you were circumcised by [Or put off in the circumcision of ] 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[Some manuscripts us] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled 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.[Or them in him]
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.
NOTES:
2:1 Laodicea: chief city in Phrygia, northwest of Colossae;
cf. Col 4:13, 16; Rev 3:14–22.
2:4–23 In the face of the threat posed by false teachers (Col
2:4), the Colossians are admonished to adhere to the gospel as it was first
preached to them (Col 2:6), steeping themselves in it with grateful hearts (Col
2:7).
They must reject religious teachings originating in any source except the
gospel (Col 2:8) because in Christ alone will they have access to God, the
deity (Col 2:9). So fully has Christ enlightened them that they need no other
source of religious knowledge or virtue (Col 2:10). They do not require
circumcision (Col 2:11), for in baptism their whole being has been affected by
Christ (Col 2:12) through the forgiveness of sin and resurrection to a new life
(Col 2:13; cf. Col 3:1 and Rom 6:1–11).
On the cross, Christ canceled the record
of the debt that stood against us with all its claims (Col 2:14), i.e., he
eliminated the law (cf. Eph 2:15) that human beings could not observe—and that
could not save them. He forgave sins against the law (Col 2:14) and exposed as
false and misleading (Col 2:15) all other powers (cf. Col 1:16) that purport to
offer salvation. Therefore, the Colossians are not to accept judgments from
such teachers on food and drink or to keep certain religious festivals or
engage in certain cultic practices (Col 2:16), for the Colossians would thereby
risk severing themselves from Christ (Col 2:19). If, when they accepted the
gospel, they believed in Christ as their savior, they must be convinced that
their salvation cannot be achieved by appeasing ruling spirits through dietary
practices or through a wisdom gained simply by means of harsh asceticism (Col
2:20–23).
2:8 Elemental powers of the world: see note on Gal 4:3.
2:9 Fullness of the deity: the divine nature, not just
attributes; see note on Col 1:19.
2:11 A description of baptism (Col 2:12) in symbolic terms
of the Old Testament rite for entry into the community. The false teachers may
have demanded physical circumcision of the Colossians.
2:14 The elaborate metaphor here about how God canceled the
legal claims against us through Christ’s cross depicts not Christ being nailed
to the cross by men but the bond…with its legal claims being nailed to the
cross by God.
2:15 The picture derives from the public spectacle and
triumph of a Roman emperor’s victory parade, where captives marched in
subjection. The principalities and the powers are here conquered, not
reconciled (cf. Col 1:16, 20). An alternate rendering for by it (the cross) is
“by him” (Christ).
2:16 Festival or new moon or sabbath: yearly, monthly, and
weekly observances determined by religious powers associated with a calendar
set by the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars (cf. Col 2:8).
2:18 Ascetic practices encouraged by the false teachers
included subjection of self humbly to their rules, worship of angels, and
cultivation of visions, though exact details are unclear.
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