Colossians 2:1-20

You Are Built Up in Christ

1 For I want you to know how great a ¹struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at ²Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,

2 that their ³hearts may be encouraged, having been ⁴knit together in love, and attaining to all ⁵the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a ⁶true knowledge of ⁷God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself,

3 in whom are hidden all ⁸the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4 ⁹I say this so that no one will delude you with ¹⁰persuasive argument.

5 For even though I am ¹¹absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your ¹²good discipline and the ¹³stability of your faith in Christ.

6 Therefore as you have received ¹⁴Christ Jesus the Lord, so ¹⁵walk in Him,

7 having been firmly ¹⁶rooted and now being ¹⁷built up in Him and ¹⁸established in your faith, just as you ¹⁹were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

8 ²⁰See to it that no one takes you captive through ²¹philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the ²²elementary principles of the world, rather than * according to Christ.

9 For in Him all the ²³fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

10 and in Him you have been ²⁴made complete, and ²⁵He is the head over all ²⁶rule and authority;

11 and in Him ²⁷you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of ²⁸the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

12 having been ²⁹buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also ³⁰raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who ³¹raised Him from the dead.

13 When you were ³²dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He ³³made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

14 having canceled out ³⁴the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and ³⁵He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

15 When He had ³⁶disarmed the ³⁷rulers and authorities, He ³⁸made a public display of them, having ³⁹triumphed over them through Him.

16 Therefore no one is to ⁴⁰act as your judge in regard to ⁴¹food or ⁴²drink or in respect to a ⁴³festival or a ⁴⁴new moon or a ⁴⁵Sabbath day-

17 things which are ⁴⁶a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

18 Let no one keep ⁴⁷defrauding you of your prize by ⁴⁸delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, ⁴⁹inflated without cause by his ⁵⁰fleshly mind,

19 and not holding fast to ⁵¹the head, from whom ⁵²the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

20 ⁵³If you have died with Christ to the ⁵⁴elementary principles of the world, ⁵⁵why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to ⁵⁶decrees, such as,

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Colossians 2:1-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO COLOSSIANS 2

In this chapter the apostle expresses his great concern for the Colossians, and others he had never seen; exhorts them to constancy in the faith of Christ; warns them of false teachers, and their tenets; takes notice of various blessings and privileges they had by Christ, and cautions against several superstitions and corruptions, which were obtaining among the churches of Christ: in Col 2:1 the apostle declares the conflict he had for the persons he writes to, and for others, though they had never seen him, which he was desirous they might be acquainted with; partly for the comfort of their hearts, their cement in love, and the improvement of their knowledge of divine things, the treasures of which are in Christ, Col 2:2,3, and partly that they might not be deceived by the enticing words of the false teachers, Col 2:4, and should his absence and distance from them be objected to his professed concern and affection for them, he answers, that notwithstanding that, he was present with them in spirit, and had a discerning of their faith and order, and the steadfastness thereof, with pleasure, Col 2:5, wherefore he exhorts them to perseverance in the faith of Christ, and to an abounding: in it, Col 2:6,7, and to take heed of being hurt by the vain philosophy and traditions of the Jews, but to keep close to Christ, and the truths of his Gospel, seeing all fulness is in him, and they were full in him, who is over all, and superior to all, and therefore had no need to have recourse unto, and hearken to any other, Col 2:9,10, nor did they need any Jewish ordinances, particularly circumcision, since they were partakers of another and better circumcision in Christ; and besides, were buried in baptism with him; and even though they had been dead in sin, and in their fleshly uncircumcision, yet they were alive, quickened with Christ, and had the forgiveness of all their sins for his sake; who had freed them from the ceremonial law, and had rid them of all their former lords and masters, and had brought them into the liberty of the Gospel, Col 2:11-15, wherefore he concludes, by way of exhortation and advice, first with respect to Jewish ceremonies, not to suffer them to be imposed upon them, or to regard the censures of men for the non-observance of them, since these were but shadows, of which Christ is the substance, Col 2:16,17, and next with respect to the worship of angels, under a notion of humility, some were for introducing; who are described as bold intruders, vain, proud, and conceited persons, and as not holding the head Christ, to whom the body the church is joined, and by whom it is nourished and increased, Col 2:18,19, and seeing now they that are Christ's are dead with him to the ceremonial law, and that dead to them, the apostle argues that they should not be subject to the ordinances, commands, and doctrines of men; some of which he instances in, as if they were still under the rudiments of the world; and the rather, since these things had no true wisdom in them, only a show of it, and were no other than will worship and superstition, and lay in a negligence of the body, and were dishonourable and unsatisfying, Col 2:20-23.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 56

1. Colossians 1:29; Colossians 4:12
2. Colossians 4:13, 15; Revelation 1:11
3. 1 Corinthians 14:31; Ephesians 6:22; Colossians 4:8
4. Colossians 2:19
5. Ephesians 1:7, 18; Ephesians 3:16
6. Matthew 13:11
7. Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:3; Colossians 1:26; Colossians 4:3
8. Isaiah 11:2; Romans 11:33
9. Ephesians 4:17
10. Romans 16:18
11. 1 Corinthians 5:3
12. 1 Corinthians 14:40
13. 1 Peter 5:9
14. Galatians 3:26
15. Colossians 1:10
16. Ephesians 3:17
17. 1 Corinthians 3:9; Ephesians 2:20
18. 1 Corinthians 1:8
19. Ephesians 4:21
20. 1 Corinthians 8:9; 1 Corinthians 10:12; Galatians 5:15; Hebrews 3:12
21. Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 2:23; 1 Timothy 6:20
22. Galatians 4:3; Colossians 2:20
23. 2 Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 1:19
24. Ephesians 3:19
25. Ephesians 1:21
26. 1 Corinthians 15:24; Ephesians 3:10; Colossians 2:15
27. Romans 2:29; Ephesians 2:11
28. Romans 6:6; Romans 7:24; Galatians 5:24; Colossians 3:5
29. Romans 6:4
30. Romans 6:5; Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:13; Colossians 3:1
31. Acts 2:24
32. Ephesians 2:1
33. Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 2:12
34. Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:20
35. 1 Peter 2:24
36. Ephesians 4:8
37. John 12:31; 1 Corinthians 15:24; Ephesians 3:10; Colossians 2:10
38. Ephesians 4:8
39. 2 Corinthians 2:14
40. Romans 14:3
41. Mark 7:19; Romans 14:17; Hebrews 9:10
42. Mark 7:19; Romans 14:17; Hebrews 9:10
43. Leviticus 23:2; Romans 14:5
44. 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 31:3; Nehemiah 10:33
45. Mark 2:27; Galatians 4:10
46. Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 10:1
47. 1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:14
48. Colossians 2:23
49. 1 Corinthians 4:6
50. Romans 8:7
51. Ephesians 1:22
52. Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 4:16
53. Romans 6:2
54. Colossians 2:8
55. Galatians 4:9
56. Colossians 2:14, 16

Footnotes 24

[a]. Lit "in the flesh"
[b]. Lit "of the full assurance"
[c]. Lit "and seeing"
[d]. Or "your good order"
[e]. Or "lead your life"
[f]. Or "by"
[g]. One early ms reads "in it with"
[h]. Lit "and not"
[i]. Lit "full"
[j]. Lit "of"
[k]. Or "by reason of"
[l]. Or "divested Himself of"
[m]. Or "it;" i.e. the cross
[n]. Lit "judge you"
[o]. Or "days"
[p]. Lit "body"
[q]. Lit "of Christ"
[r]. Or "deciding against you"
[s]. Or "humility"
[t]. Or "going into detail about"
[u]. Or "conceited"
[v]. Lit "bonds"
[w]. Lit "of God"
[x]. Lit "from"