Colossians 2 · The Lantern

For I wish that you knew what great struggle I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

"For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for them at Laodicea." Then lest this should seem owing to their peculiar weakness, he joined others also with them, and as yet condemned them not. But why does he say, "And as many as have not seen my face in the flesh"? He shows here after a divine manner, that they saw him constantly in the Spirit.

Intending to proceed to teaching, he first points out his great love for them, in order to gain greater trust. I am concerned, he says, about you. But he places alongside them also the believers in Laodicea and others, evidently so that they would not become confused, thinking that the reason for this was their weakness. Why then are you concerned?

Above, Paul commended the condition of those who believe, that is, their state of grace, and its Author, Christ; here he protects them from what is opposed to this state. First, from teachings that destroy it; and secondly, from evil habits (ch. 3). In regard to the first he does two things.

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

And again, as if in eagerness to divulge this knowledge, he thus writes: "Warning every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man (the whole man) perfect in Christ;" not every man simply, since no one would be unbelieving. Nor does he call every man who believes in Christ perfect; but he says all the man, as if he said the whole man, as if purified in body and soul.

Finally, he now proceeds to the teaching; but he neither condemns them nor entirely frees them from accusation. In these same words is also contained the answer. I have a struggle, he says. For what purpose? So that they would not think differently, but would be in agreement and united in one faith. In what way?

Then when he says, that their hearts might be consoled, having been instructed in love, and in all the riches of a full understanding, so as to know the mystery of God, the Father, and of Jesus Christ, he shows what he is concerned about, that is, their consolation. First, he mentions this; and secondly, he states how it can be brought about, instructed in love.

In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

On consideration, your Majesty, of the reason wherefore men have so far gone astray, or that many-alas!-should follow diverse ways of belief concerning the Son of God, the marvel seems to be, not at all that human knowledge has been baffled in dealing with superhuman things, but that it has not submitted to the authority of the Scriptures.

The word servant, then, is used merely as a title, though not in the strict meaning: but for our sakes He assumed the form of a servant and is called a servant among us. For although He is without passion, yet for our sake He was the servant of passion and became the minister of our salvation.

But is our intellect filled by knowing Christ? I say that it is because in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. God has a knowledge of all things, and this knowledge is called a treasure: "It is an unfailing treasure for men; those who get it obtain friendship with God" (Wis 7:14).

And this I say, lest any man should deceive you with fine-sounding arguments.

I hear also those words of his, "And these things I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, or one should enter in to spoil you." And again, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ;" branding not all philosophy, but the Epicurean, which Paul mentions i…

"This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech." Seest thou that he saith, I have therefore said this, that ye may not seek it from men. "Delude you," he saith, "with persuasiveness of speech." For what if any doth speak, and speak persuasively?

Then (v. 4), he teaches and warns them about destructive doctrines. For they were being misled by certain philosophers in matters against the faith, and by heretics who taught that the ceremonies of the law had to be observed. First, he teaches them in opposition to the philosophers; and secondly, in opposition to the Judaizers (v. 11).

For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and seeing your order, and the stability of your faith in Christ.

If we also, in our diverse provinces, (but) present mutually in spirit, observe those very solemnities, whose then celebration our present discourse has been defending, that is the sacramental law.

This love, which is from God and is God, cannot be separated from the being of God, because God and love are one. For since love, itself inseparable from its source, not only possesses human beings who can be separated from one another, but from many hearts and souls makes one heart and one soul, what madness is it to say that love which is accustomed to join separated minds in…

Above, he warned them against falling away from the faith as a result of some deceptive language; here he gives the reason for this advice, which is based on the good things they have and should not destroy, but allow to grow. First, he calls to mind the goods which they have; and secondly, he shows how these should grow within them (v. 6).

As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him:

Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Beware lest any man take you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, after the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not after Christ.

It is the prerogative of the Gnostic, then, to know how to make use of speech, and when, and how, and to whom. And already the apostle, by saying, "After the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ," makes the asseveration that the Hellenic teaching is elementary, and that of Christ perfect, as we have already intimated before.

See to it that no one deceives you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Philosophy here refers to earthly wisdom, by which those who desire to be esteemed wise in the world are often deceived.

Then (v. 8), he warns them not to be deceived by an empty wisdom. First, we see his warning; and secondly, the reason for it (v. 9). In regard to the first, he first teaches them to avoid whatever can deceive them; and secondly, the source of this deception (v. 8b).

For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

They moreover affirm that the Saviour is shown to be derived from all the Aeons, and to be in Himself everything by the following passage: "Every male that openeth the womb." For He, being everything, opened the womb of the enthymesis of the suffering Aeon, when it had been expelled from the Pleroma. This they also style the second Ogdoad, of which we shall speak presently.

Observe how in his accusing of the one he thrusts through the other, by first giving the solution, and then the objection. For such a solution is not suspected, and the hearer accepts it the rather, that the speaker is not making it his aim. For in that case indeed he would make a point of not coming off worsted, but in this, not so.

Then when he says, for in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily, he gives the reason for what he has just stated, saying that whatever is not according to Christ should be rejected. But is Christ so good that all things should be rejected for him?

And you are complete in him, which is the head of all rule and authority:

In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Moreover, we learn from the Scripture itself, that God gave circumcision, not as the completer of righteousness, but as a sign, that the race of Abraham might continue recognisable.

Therefore, the Lord permitted mortality to steal in [as an atonement], that guilt might cease. But so that the end set by nature might not also be in death, there was granted a resurrection from the dead, that the guilt might fail through death but the nature be continued through resurrection.

Above, Paul warned the faithful against the deceptions of the worldly philosophers; here he instructs and warns them against those heretics who wanted to drag them into the observances of the law. First, he instructs them to avoid such persons; secondly, he rejects the false enticements they used (v. 18).

Buried with him in baptism, in which also you have been raised with him through faith in the working of God, who has raised him from the dead.

The apostle indeed teaches, in his Epistle to the Colossians, that we were once dead, alienated, and enemies to the Lord in our minds, whilst we were living in wicked works; that we were then buried with Christ in baptism, and also raised again with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.

What he called circumcision, he now calls a grave, presenting in comparison something greater than circumcision. For what was circumcised was not simply cast off, but perished and decayed. Thus, the one who is baptized is buried together with Christ, by the threefold immersion depicting the three-day burial of the Lord, and dying as the old and sinful man.

Secondly, he shows that we have received this circumcision in baptism, and so baptism is a spiritual circumcision. And first, he shows that in baptism we have a symbol of Christ's death, secondly, that in baptism we receive a likeness to his resurrection (v. 12b).

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Thanks to this simplicity of truth, so opposed to the subtlety and vain deceit of philosophy, we cannot possibly have any relish for such perverse opinions. Then, if God "quickens us together with Christ, forgiving us our trespasses," we cannot suppose that sins are forgiven by Him against whom, as having been all along unknown, they could not have been committed.

Christ, he says, having received bodily death, was made alive by the Father, and he says this not because Christ the Lord was Himself too weak to make Himself alive, but in order to refer everything to the One source.

Then (v. 13), he shows the nature of this likeness. First, he states the likeness; and secondly, how we are freed from our sins (v. 14). The text is not difficult. I said that you have been circumcised, because you have been buried, in baptism, with Christ. And he compared baptism to the burial and death of Christ.

Canceling the record of debt that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Therefore, by remitting sins, He did indeed heal man, while He also manifested Himself who He was. For if no one can forgive sins but God alone, while the Lord remitted them and healed men, it is plain that He was Himself the Word of God made the Son of man, receiving from the Father the power of remission of sins; since He was man, and since He was God, in order that since as…

But Christ, who was sold, is held by the assumption of the condition, not by the price of guilt, because He Himself did not commit sin. Therefore, He contracted our debt, not His own money; He took away the handwriting, removed the lender, stripped off the debtor: He alone paid what was owed by all. It was not lawful for us to escape from servitude.

He says, having canceled the bond which stood against us. This bond or written decree can be understood in two ways. In one way it is the Old Law: "By abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two" (Eph 2:15).

And having disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

For if a man will but look up to heaven, he sees its Order, or if he cannot raise his face to heaven, but only to man, he sees His power, beyond comparison with that of men, shewn by His works, and learns that He alone among men is God the Word.

And where he could do anything, there in every respect he was conquered; and wherein he received outwardly the power of slaying the Lord in the flesh, therein his inward power, by which he held ourselves, was slain. For it was brought to pass that the bonds of many sins in many deaths were loosed, through the one death of One which no sin had preceded.

Then (v. 15), he shows how Christ freed us from the slavery of sin. For if a creditor holds a man captive on account of a debt that he owes, it is not enough merely to pay the debt; the person himself must also be freed. This is what Christ did. So Paul says, he despoiled the principalities and powers.

Let no man therefore judge you in food, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days:

The apostles ordained, that "we should not judge any one in respect to meat or drink, or in regard to a feast day, or the new moons, or the sabbaths." Whence then these contentions? whence these schisms?

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or a new moon, or a sabbath day." Seest thou how he depreciates them? If ye have obtained such things, he saith, why make yourselves accountable for these petty matters?

Above, Paul showed that the law was fulfilled in Christ because of the circumcision he received, for this is an acknowledgment of the law. Here, he concludes that they are not obliged to observe the ceremonial commands of the law. There were four kinds of ceremonial matters: sacrifices, sacred things, sacraments, and observances.

Which are a shadow of things to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

"Which are a shadow of the things to come"; he means, of the New Covenant; "but the body" is "Christ's." Some persons here punctuate thus "but the body" is "of Christ," i.e. the truth is come in with Christ: others thus; "The Body of Christ let no man adjudge away from you," that is, thwart you of it.

Those Sacraments of the first time, as Hugh says, were like a shadow of the truth, those of the middle time like a figure or image, and those of the last time, namely of grace, like the body, because they contain within themselves the truth and healing grace which they present, and they confer in present reality what they promise.

For these are only a shadow of what is to come, that is, of Christ. And when the truth comes, the shadow should cease, but the substance belongs to Christ. When someone sees a shadow, he expects the body or substantial reality to follow.

Let no man disqualify you in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly arrogant by his fleshly mind,

True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which "the natural man receiveth not," the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man "taste," he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, who go into matters of which they have no perception.

"Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshiping of the Angels, dwelling in the things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." When he had filled them with anger through saying, "adjudge away from you," then he begins; "being a voluntary," he saith, "in humility and worshiping of Angels, intruding into things he hath not seen, vain…

Then (v. 18), he speaks against those who were trying to seduce and deceive them. First, he warns them not to be misled; secondly, he argues against those already misled (v. 20). As to the first, he cautions them about being misled; secondly, he shows how they might be deceived, insisting on self-abasement; and thirdly, the shortcomings of those who would mislead them (18b).

And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and ligaments being supported, and knit together, increases with the increase of God.

But if any one believes in [only] one God, who also made all things by the Word, as Moses likewise says, "God said, Let there be light: and there was light;" and as we read in the Gospel, "All things were made by Him; and without Him was nothing made;" and the Apostle Paul [says] in like manner, "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, who is above all, a…

The purpose and view of the epistle is here, as Paul mentions, to respond to the emphasis on angels urged by some. Christ is the head of all, just as the soul is the head of the body. Christ is head of all the cosmic elements. It makes no sense to be in submission to anything else. .

With regard to their faith he says that they were not holding fast to the Head, that is, Christ, by faith. Such people are deceived, because without Christ they are in the dark: "If any one does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing" (1 Tim 6:3).

Therefore if you have died with Christ from the elementary principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances,

Therefore there is nothing meritorious about abstinence from marriage unless it arises from love to God. At any rate the blessed Paul says of those who revile marriage: "In the last times some shall depart from the faith, turning to spirits of error and doctrines inspired by daemons, forbidding to marry and commanding abstinence from food." And again he says: "Let no one disqua…

These prohibitions about eating and drinking that you hear from the Greeks are based on their mistaken conviction that you should not partake of anything living. But all this has been given for consumption and nourishment. So, don't pay attention to what has been given in accordance with their teaching. .

Then (v. 20), he rebukes those who have already been deceived. First, he bases the reason for his rebuke on the condition of those who have been deceived; and secondly, on the matters about which they were misled (v. 22). Their condition was one of freedom, because just as they were dead to sin, so also they were dead to the law. Thus they were not obliged to keep it.

(Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch;

Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

For Moses had evidently received the law from God. When, therefore, he speaks of their "following the commandments and doctrines of men," he refers to the conduct of those persons who "held not the Head," even Him in whom all things are gathered together; for they are all recalled to Christ, and concentrated in Him as their initiating principle -even the meats and drinks which…

He also brings up another observation of theirs regarding food, one that is predominantly Jewish, just as the one regarding days was brought up as Hellenic.

Then (v. 22), he describes these legal observances, saying that they are harmful, vain, and burdensome; thus Paul says, which all perish as they are used, because after the passion of Christ they were deadly to all those who placed their hope in them; but after grace had been spread among the people, such things were deadly to all, absolutely.

Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in self-made religion, and humility, and harsh treatment of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.

Colossians2