Colossians 2:1
Θέλω γὰρ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι ἡλίκον ἀγῶνα ἔχω ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ καὶ ὅσοι οὐχ ἑόρακαν τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἐν σαρκί,
Colossians 2:2
ἵνα παρακληθῶσιν αἱ καρδίαι αὐτῶν, συμβιβασθέντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ καὶ εἰς πᾶν πλοῦτος τῆς πληροφορίας τῆς συνέσεως, εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ,
Colossians 2:3
ἐν ᾧ εἰσιν πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι.
Colossians 2:4
τοῦτο λέγω ἵνα μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς παραλογίζηται ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ.
Colossians 2:5
εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ ἄπειμι, ἀλλὰ τῷ πνεύματι σὺν ὑμῖν εἰμι, χαίρων καὶ βλέπων ὑμῶν τὴν τάξιν καὶ τὸ στερέωμα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ὑμῶν.
Colossians 2:6
Ὡς οὖν παρελάβετε τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν κύριον, ἐν αὐτῷ περιπατεῖτε,
Colossians 2:7
ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ ἐποικοδομούμενοι ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ βεβαιούμενοι τῇ πίστει καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε, περισσεύοντες ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ.
Colossians 2:8
Βλέπετε μή τις ὑμᾶς ἔσται ὁ συλαγωγῶν διὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου καὶ οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν·
Beware lest anyone will be taking you captive through philosophy and empty tricks according to the tradition of men according to the foundational teachings of the world and not according to Christ.
Paraphrase: Now be on your guard. There are so many sophists and travelling teachers out there who enter your towns claiming to have the very latest in scientific and philosophical thinking. They speak with great confidence of their scholarship and knowledge. Watch out! These are quacks and frauds. Their knowledge leads straight to bondage; they will surely lead you into slavery if you fall for their tricks. Here’s the problem. All their learning and teaching is something they spun out of their own heads. These are just man-made stories; just so much fiction. So many different “scholars” spin knowledge out of their own head, and then make these teachings the fundamental and foundational truths of an “exciting, new” worldview. People gather around and ooh and ah over these “brilliant new insights.” Then, they write a book or launch a website and garner even more acclaim. But what good is it? One worldview or religion or philosophy is as good as any other if its origin is merely human. Why should we believe one person over another? The only way to know the truth is sit at Jesus’ feet and to learn from Him.
Comments:
Colossians 2:9
ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς,
because in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Paraphrase: You might ask the same question about Jesus teaching; why should we believe Him over any other teacher? The reason is simple; because Jesus is Lord. This means that all the perfections and authority of God Himself are found in the man Jesus. Since, His teaching is from God, it is infallible. (Hebrews 1:2) This is what sets the teaching of Jesus apart from every other philosophy and self-help program that is extant. They all fail to recognize that Jesus is God incarnate, and therefore, He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6) He is the teacher sent from God, and we must listen, believe, and follow Him. His teaching is the truth that sets us free. (John 8:32)
Comments:
Colossians 2:10
καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι, ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας,
and you are in Him having been filled who is the head of all powers and authorities.
Paraphrase: Now if Jesus is God incarnate, then what are we when we are joined to Him in a saving union? Think about this if you can; we are united with Someone who is the Supreme Sovereign over all powers and authorities that exist in heaven and on earth! (Matthew 28:18) Why do we need anything else? We have everything we need in Christ. Why fill your head with the twisted and futile imaginations of some human person when we have been made partakers of the holiness of God Himself? (2 Peter 1:4) Why sit at the feet of a human teacher when all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are already in Christ? (Colossians 2:3)
Comments:
Colossians 2:11
ἐν ᾧ καὶ περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός, ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
In whom, even you were circumcised, a circumcision not handmade, in the removal of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ.
Paraphrase: But perhaps someone from a Gentile background might wonder how s/he can really be complete in Christ if they are not circumcised. Perhaps, some Christians from a Jewish background might even be teaching this idea that one must be circumcised in order to be saved. This, my brothers and sisters is not a right way of thinking. Circumcision was indeed a wonderful privilege, but it was just an outward, physical sign pointing to an inner, spiritual reality. Let me put it this way. Are you a believer in Jesus? Have you been joined to Him in this saving union? Then you are circumcised! In fact, you have the only circumcision that really matters, not the surgery performed by human hands but the heart surgery which our Savior performs on all those who are in union with Him. This circumcision cuts off, not your foreskin, but your sin nature so that you can live to God’s glory.
Comments:
Poole: He removes what they who are addicted to superstition might suggest, as if there were somewhat defective to a completeness in Christ, by showing there was no need of any addition to what he required in the gospel; for that they might most plausibly urge of circumcision, as being the seal of the old covenant, and an obligation to the whole law (Galatians 5:3), which some pressed as necessary to salvation (Acts 15:1, 24), he here shows was altogether needless now, that they were sanctified and had the thing signified by it, the circumcision of the heart (Romans 2:28, 29; Philippians 3:3), and were complete in Christ without it; yea, that the urging of that and other ceremonies now, was a pernicious error, tending to annihilate the cross of Christ, and overthrow the whole mystery of His grace.
Colossians 2:12
συνταφέντες αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ βαπτισμῷ, ἐν ᾧ καὶ συνηγέρθητε διὰ τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν·
being buried with Him in baptism in which even you were raised together through faith of the working of God who raises Him from the dead.
Paraphrase: So don’t think for a minute that somehow you are a lesser sort of Christian because you are not circumcised. Think about it this way; are you baptized? I know you are. Well if you are baptized, then you are circumcised. How so? Because both baptism and circumcision are visible signs of the same invisible reality. Circumcision was a sign of the cutting away of your sinful nature and baptism a sign of the washing away of the same sin. (1 Peter 3:21) Now then, it is these spiritual realities which are the real thing, not the presence or absence of the physical sign. Take another look at your baptism. The symbolism is so rich with meaning. You went down into the water and were plunged under it. What is this but a physical and visible sign of your dying with Christ on the cross. Your old self disappeared under the water never to be seen or heard from again. Then, you rose up out of that water a new man just as Christ burst forth from the grave alive again. Now was it the actual, physical water which made you a person? Of course, not; it was the power of God who gave you this new life. It’s the same power which brought Jesus back to life after He had been buried. This is the power which gave you a new life and made you a new person.
Comments:
ἐνεργείας could be a subjective genitive – …through faith, which you received from the powerful operation of God who raised Jesus from the dead.
Colossians 2:13
καὶ ὑμᾶς νεκροὺς ὄντας ἐν τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν, συνεζωοποίησεν ὑμᾶς σὺν αὐτῷ· χαρισάμενος ἡμῖν πάντα τὰ παραπτώματα,
and being dead in trespasses and uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him being forgiving us all trespasses.
Paraphrase: Now just as Jesus lay in the tomb dead and lifeless, so you also were at one time completely dead in sin. (Ephesians 2:1-3) I know you will remember this time in your life. You were utterly unable to turn your life around. You were not just uncircumcised in flesh but also in heart and life. (Acts 7:51) Your condition was completely hopeless. It was then that God did for you what you were unable to do for yourself. He raised you from the dead with the same power that He raised Jesus from the dead. He forgave all your guilt and gave you the gift of eternal life. (Ephesians 4:18)
Comments:
Colossians 2:14
ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ’ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόγμασιν ὃ ἦν ὑπεναντίον ἡμῖν, καὶ αὐτὸ ἦρκεν ἐκ τοῦ μέσου προσηλώσας αὐτὸ τῷ σταυρῷ·
having cancelled the handwritten charges against us which were contrary to us, and He removed it from between [us] nailing it to the cross.
Paraphrase: At the same time, He cancelled the charges which had been brought against us. Those charges stood between us and Him and brought us under His terrible wrath. God, however, took those charges and put them to Christ’s account and sent Him to the cross to take the punishment for them. (Galatians 3:13) Now there was nothing standing between us and God; because of His grace and by Christ’s substitution, we were reconciled.
Comments:
On χειρόγραφον, see Deissmann (p247).
Colossians 2:15
ἀπεκδυσάμενος τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας ἐδειγμάτισεν ἐν παρρησίᾳ, θριαμβεύσας αὐτοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ.
disarming the rulers and the authorities, He exposed publicly triumphing over them by Him.
Paraphrase: Another thing that God did. He disarmed all the powers of evil and darkness which were fighting against His Son. (Psalm 2:9) He made a public disgrace of them by foiling all their plans and gaining the victory by what Jesus did on the cross.
Comments:
Colossians 2:16
Μὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω ἐν βρώσει ἢ ἐν πόσει ἢ ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς ἢ νουμηνίας ἢ σαββάτων,
Colossians 2:17
ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων, τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
Colossians 2:18
μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω θέλων ἐν ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ θρησκείᾳ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἃ ἑόρακεν ἐμβατεύων, εἰκῇ φυσιούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ νοὸς τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ,
Colossians 2:19
καὶ οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν, ἐξ οὗ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα διὰ τῶν ἁφῶν καὶ συνδέσμων ἐπιχορηγούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον αὔξει τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ θεοῦ.
Colossians 2:20
Εἰ ἀπεθάνετε σὺν Χριστῷ ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων τοῦ κόσμου, τί ὡς ζῶντες ἐν κόσμῳ δογματίζεσθε·
Colossians 2:21
Μὴ ἅψῃ μηδὲ γεύσῃ μηδὲ θίγῃς,
Colossians 2:22
ἅ ἐστιν πάντα εἰς φθορὰν τῇ ἀποχρήσει, κατὰ τὰ ἐντάλματα καὶ διδασκαλίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων;
Colossians 2:23
ἅτινά ἐστιν λόγον μὲν ἔχοντα σοφίας ἐν ἐθελοθρησκίᾳ καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ ἀφειδίᾳ σώματος, οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινι πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκός.