Colossians 2:1-23
1 For I would that ye knew what great conflicta I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
3 In whomb are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudimentsc of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.d
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat,e or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
18 Let no man beguilef you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudimentsg of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglectingh of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
If for a moment we glance back at the passage beginning with 1:24 and ending with 2:3, we find reference to a threefold mystery: the first, the Church, which is the Body of Christ; then the secret of life in the individual believer, "Christ in you, the hope of glory"; finally, the deepest mystery of all, "the mystery of God even Christ." The apostle declared his reason for having so carefully stated this doctrine of Christ and the Church. It is that the Colossian Christians might not be deluded.
The central declaration of the epistle is found in this chapter, "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him ye are made full, which is the Head of all principality and power."
As the apostle approaches the personal and practical application, he shows what this relationship of the believer to Christ means in two fundamental respects. Union with the death of Christ means union with His work of reconciliation. Union with the resurrection of Christ means union with all the glories of His Person.
Certain perils were threatening the Church at Colossae with which the apostle dealt. Some were attempting to bring believers into bondage to external observances, and the apostle warned them against such. The other peril was putting Christ at a distance by allowing intermediation between the soul and Him, even that of angels.
The perils against which the apostle warned these Colossians have often recurred in the history of the Church. By pledges and promises according to human ordinances a man is constantly in danger of worshiping his own will. By submission of the conscience to human intervention an unwarranted subservience is created. How true it is that there may be a development and strengthening of the lower side of human life in self-denial, in submission to false authority, and in the mere bruising of the body. There can be no such result where the soul is living in conscious experience of death with Christ and life in Him.