Colossians 2

 A Biblical understanding of Colossians 2:

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

Paul opens chapter 2 with this greeting to the gentile Colossian church and immediately points to the things that are in Christ as wisdom and knowledge of God. For citations on what wisdom and knowledge are Biblically, here are some proof citations. 

Deuteronomy 4:5-6 “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.  So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 

Psalm 19:7 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”

Psalm 119:98–100 “Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,For they are ever mine.”“I have more insight than all my teachers,For Your testimonies are my meditation.”“I understand more than the aged,Because I have observed Your precepts.”

 Psalm 119:130 “The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.”

Psalm 119:142 “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,And Your law is truth.”

Nehemiah 8:8“They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.”

Paul contrasts the wisdom of God as revealed in the Law of God -which is the mystery of Christ, with the worldly teachings and in philosophy of men 

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

Pervasive argument being that of men, and even people in the church.

Mark 12:13-17 Then they *sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. 14 They *came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” 16 They brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” 17 And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.  

 Matthew 22:34-40 34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets. 

Matthew 12:9-14 Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. 11 And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

Living the way Christ example shows us to live is in obedience to the Law of God in response to salvation by the work of Christ alone. Pharisees presented worldly arguments to try and trap people and sway them to man made traditions and Rabbinical decrees. 

5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. 6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Paul is telling us that we are to walk like Christ, who is in perfect obedience to God's law and without sin which is the breaking of the Law of God according to 1 John 3:4. By faith we are saved, but then comes obedience to Christ and the conforming of our lives to His example. As Paul mentions stability of faith in Christ, we should take note of what instability is as Peter in 2 Peter 3 remarks about the ways people misinterpret the writings of Paul

2 Peter 3:14-18  Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Peter is warning that those who are unstable take Paul's writings to mean Paul is writing against God's law and those people are unstable and distort scripture. Those people break through the restraint of God's law and gratify their lusts. This is in line with Paul writing that we are to live like Christ- who is our example of obedience to God's Law which is truth. 

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

Paul continues on in the contrast of the traditions of men being contrary to the Christ. We see this very contrast between Christ and the traditions of men in Mark 7 

Mark 7:3-9 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; 4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) 5 The Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” 6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:‘This people honors Me with their lips,But their heart is far away from Me.7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me,Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition"

This encounter shows us that there is a direct contrast from the teaching of the Pharisees and religious leaders who were following the philosophies and traditions of the world- Instead of the commands of God which are not based on the world but come from God and how we live like Christ. The matter Paul addresses is who we follow in authority. 

9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

Paul affirms that Christ IS God in human flesh. This is an essential element for context because there is no greater authority than God, and the commands of God- are from this highest authority rather than the world. The fullness of Deity dwells in Christ, not part of Deity- the fullness. Christ states outright that His teaching is the commands of God. 

  John 7:15-19 The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” 16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.19 “Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”

Again the contrast as shown here by Christ in John, is that the Pharisees and religious elite were not obeying the commands of God, they were not following God's law, and that Christ' teaching IS God's law. The obedience to the God's instructions is what has shown Christ to be wiser than the Pharisaic elite and that is the very point that Paul made in Colossians 2:1-3. 

11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Paul in this section is again addressing Pharisees who were telling Gentiles that they couldn't even be saved unless they underwent ritual conversion to rabbinical authority by way of circumcision as we see shown in Acts. It is essential to understand that this heresy was something that began in Acts 15 that stated that Rabbinic authority 

Acts 15:1  Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

 Acts 15:5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”

The matter addressed is salvation, not sanctification. Paul's statement is that we have already been circumcised in heart by Christ as salvation is by faith, it has always been by faith- it has never been something done in our flesh. What was nailed to the cross is the debt as a lawbreaker having transgressed against God's law. Christ, by His grace has nailed that to the cross. Proverbs 13 states that when we despised the Word of God ( obedience) then the debt is owed by us. We should fear the word of God and tremble at it. 

Proverbs 13:13 The one who despises the word will be in debt to it, But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

Paul is directing us to walk in the security that our salvation has already been paid for by Christ, who has given us grace for all sin and the debt we incurred as those who refused to walk contrary to God's laws when we were walking by the flesh in rebellion to Him. 

15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17 things which are a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 

John 9:22  His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue

 Verse 15- 16 are speaking together about those gentiles who are being kicked out of the churches for professing and walking according to Christ and His example. Here we see evidence that the Pharisees were angry at Christ and His disciples because they were plucking heads of grain- a violation of rabbinical interpretation, but something that the word of God shows is permitted as gleaning and harvesting are different things. 

Luke 6:1-2 Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 

Deuteronomy 23:24-25  “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket.25 “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.

The Pharisees were removing from the assembly anyone who held to Christ, and refused rabbinical authority. Paul is encouraging gentiles to hold to obedience and keep the commands regardless if a pharisaic pastor is judging them for keeping them and telling them to stop or that they cannot keep the commands of God unless they do it the way the Pharisees state it must be done. The substance belongs to Christ, which as several passages already listed have shown, is the one who is God who commands them, and is the example of how to keep them and the definition of what they mean. Christ is contrary to the rabbinical authority and pharisees that are telling people to NOT obey the sabbath and the new moon.  Christ tells us to keep the Sabbath. 

Matthew 24:9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. 15 “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 18 Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.

Again, Christ is preaching obedience to the Law of God as His example of what love means, and that we are to pray that literally the tribulation not be in winter or on the Sabbath- meaning that as it pertains to Colossians 2, The Pharisees telling people that they can't keep the Sabbath unless they convert to rabbinical pharisaic authority is contrary to Christ. Gentiles being told not to follow the Sabbath is contrary to Christ, and it is a man made tradition based on the world instead of Christ. 

18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

Paul here is making a case against gnostics and some of the order that were among the body who were introducing doctrines of asceticism which though rebuked, found their practice in the Roman Catholic Church anyway in defiance of apostolic succession. Valentinians and Basilideans were gnostic sects that worshipped angels and were reasoning with deceptive philosophies. When we hold to the head which is Christ, we do the things of Christ, and what Christ does is show us what obedience to God's law looks like.  It is also of note that in heaven, we will be keeping Sabbaths and New moon festivals - this is what is to come. 

Isaiah 66:22-24 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,” declares the Lord, “So your offspring and your name will endure. 23 “And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord. 24 “Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

Paul continues to showcase examples of the man made traditions of the Pharisees that were contrary to God's commandments

20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

Matthew 15:1-9   Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 3 And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” 6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 9 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”

So whenever you hear or see someone attempt to cite Colossians 2 as a means to judge you for holding to the commands of God or telling the truth about the Sabbath, know that they're unstable in doctrine and they're not holding to the example of Christ, they're distorting the writings of Paul, and they're like the Pharisees in rejecting obedience.  The arguments based on the world are rejecting obeying God's law and are not based on Christ. 

Matthew 7:15-29 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.