In Christ, we have so many gifts. Here we discover we have been established in the faith. Do you feel established? Built up in the faith? Keep working at it. Keep growing your faith.
Let’s pray: Lord Jesus, lead me through this chapter as I study it to prepare it for my readers and Lord, thank You for what help You’ve already given me. It’s all You, Lord. Help. For Your glory, I pray. Amen.
Colossians 2 – Amplified Bible
You Are Built Up in Christ
Please read Colossians 2:1-3
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those [believers] at [a]Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen me face to face. 2[For my hope is] that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in [unselfish] [b]love, so that they may have all the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding [the joy of salvation], resulting in a true [and more intimate] knowledge of the [c]mystery of God, that is, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [regarding the word and purposes of God]. 4 I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive [but thoroughly deceptive] arguments.
How do you think you would feel if you had the full assurance of understanding the joy of salvation? It is that that results in a true, more intimate knowledge of Christ. Because in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge about the word and purposes of God.
What a blessing it is that verse 4 is there. Let no one deceive you with persuasive but thoroughly deceptive arguments. Help us, Lord.
Stable Faith
5 For even though I am absent [from you] in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, [d]delighted to see your good discipline [as you stand shoulder to shoulder and form a solid front] and to see the stability of your faith in Christ [your steadfast reliance on Him and your unwavering confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].
That’s most certainly established faith. And no, this is not just a military setting. This is about forming a solid front against evil of all kinds. Even deceptive but persuasive words. Standing shoulder to shoulder with unwavering confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness.
Established in the Faith
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in [union with] Him [reflecting His character in the things you do and say—living lives that lead others away from sin], 7 having been deeply rooted [in Him] and now being continually built up in Him and [becoming increasingly more] established [e]in your faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing in it with gratitude.
Be deeply routed and built up in Him, like a tree, like a huge building. Being deeply routed helps with your secure footing allowing you to stand firm. All while overflowing with gratitude. What a good God we have. Encouraging, and training as He tells us how to walk in union with Christ.
Remain Established
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception [pseudo-intellectual babble], according to the tradition [and musings] of mere men, following the [f]elementary principles of this world, rather than following [the truth—the teachings of] Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity (the Godhead) dwells in bodily form [completely expressing the divine essence of God]. 10 And in Him you have been made complete [achieving spiritual stature through Christ], and He is the head over all rule and authority [of every angelic and earthly power].
In Him you have been made complete, which is to have achieved spiritual stature. Because He is the head over all rule and authority.
New Life in Christ
11 In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but by the [spiritual] circumcision of Christ in the stripping off of the body of the flesh [the sinful carnal nature], 12 having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God, [as displayed] when He raised Christ from the dead.
It’s a New Life, your old life is dead, toss it out. New life requires a new way to live it out. Scripture teaches it. This chapter teaches a little, many more teach more. Keep studying.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (worldliness, manner of life), God made you alive together with Christ, having [freely] forgiven us all our sins, 14 having canceled out the [g]certificate of debt consisting of [h]legal demands [which were in force] against us and which were hostile to us. And this certificate He has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through [i]the cross.
It takes faith to see what is there when it’s hidden from sight. So grateful for Scripture to reveal this. Christ won. He’s already the King over all Kings and Lord over all Lords, and it’s His Kingdom we live in as an insurgent Kingdom as none of us can really see it where we live right now. But it is true. You in faith, are part of His Kingdom, so it’s like you shine a light in your corner and I shine one in mine and all of us all over the world are in this Kingdom.
Shadows of What is Coming
16 Therefore let no one judge you in regard to food and drink or in regard to [the observance of] a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17 Such things are only a shadow of what is to come and they have only symbolic value; but the substance [the reality of what is foreshadowed] belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one defraud you of your prize [your freedom in Christ and your salvation] by insisting on mock humility and the worship of angels, going into detail about visions [he claims] he has seen [to justify his authority], puffed up [in conceit] by his unspiritual mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head [of the body, Jesus Christ], from whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth [that can come only] from God.
Christ is the substance of what is to come. He is the reality. Hold fast to Him.
Honor God in All You Do with your Established Faith
20 If you have died with Christ to the [j]elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were still living in the world, do you submit to rules and regulations, such as, 21 “Do not handle [this], do not taste [that], do not [even] touch!”? 22(these things all perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men. 23 These practices indeed have the appearance [that popularly passes as that] of wisdom in self-made religion and mock humility and severe treatment of the body (asceticism), but are of no value against sinful indulgence [because they do not honor God].
If you have died with Christ, then all you do should be honoring God. Help us, Lord. In all our days to honor You.
Footnotes
[a] Colossians 2:1 -for those [believers] at [a]Laodicea- Along with Colossae, Laodicea was located in the valley of the Lycus River and is one of the seven churches mentioned in Rev 1-3.
[b] Colossians 2:2 -knit together in [unselfish] [b]love- See note 1:4.
[c] Colossians 2:2 -knowledge of the [c]mystery of God- See note 1:26.
[d] Colossians 2:5 -I am with you in spirit, [d]delighted to see your good discipline- Lit rejoicing and seeing.
[e] Colossians 2:7 -established [e]in your faith- Or by.
[f] Colossians 2:8 -following the [f]elementary principles of this world- Perhaps a reference to ancient philosophies based on the belief that only the material world is real.
[g] Colossians 2:14 -canceled out the [g]certificate of debt- This term refers to a debtor’s handwritten note acknowledging the debt.
[h] Colossians 2:14 -consisting of [h]legal demands- I.e. the requirements found in the Mosaic Law which were violated. The debt is the punishment due for the violator’s sins. Gentiles were never directly liable to the Law, but as Paul explains in Rom 2:12-16, God holds them responsible for violating the principles of the Law that they acknowledge of their own volition.
[i] Colossians 2:15 -through [i]the cross- Lit it or Him.
[j] Colossians 2:20 -the [j]elementary principles of the world- See note v 8.