Believers who understand the perfections of Christ and have a well settled judgment of the great truths of the Gospel, will be preserved from all the ensnaring insinuations of those who would corrupt the Gospel principles. All true Christians have a salvation complete in Him and need not pin their faith on the opinions of philosophers nor bear the yoke of ceremonial law. Christ alone is the hope of glory and in Him we are complete.
Colossians 2
1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict 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 whom 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 rudiments 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.
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, 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 beguile 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 rudiments 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 neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Colossians 2 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:1 – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:2 – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:3-4 – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:5-7 – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:8 – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:9-12 – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:13 – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:14 – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:15-23 – J. Vernon McGee
Colossians 2:1-12 – Established in Their Faith
If you know Christ, you can lay your hand on the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They are matters of daily experience. The Apostle’s aim in this chapter is to put his converts on their guard against those who might divert them from their simple faith in Jesus, and their sufficiency in Him. The keynotes are Beware and Lest any man.
The first act of the Christian life is to receive Christ, and every moment afterward we must continue receiving Him. The act must become an attitude. Breathe in the love and power of Jesus. Take deep breaths. Then we shall be rooted in Him in secret, and built up in Him in our outward walk and behavior. If we have Christ, we have all God’s fullness, and this is easily accessible. Like Jacob’s ladder, He links us with God. What need have we for celestial beings, like those invented by the Gnostics, or for the rite of circumcision, as insisted on by the Jews? We have everything in Jesus. He has fulfilled the Law in all respects on our behalf. Let us put the waters of entire surrender and consecration between our past, our sins, and the world, and rise into His life, the life of resurrection glory and power. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Colossians 2:6—As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.
When we were first brought to Jesus, we received Him into our hearts by faith. Throwing open the door, we bade Him be welcome; and He came in never to depart again. Though he was viewless as the wind, and silent as light, He came. And there was a perfume as of myrrh, aloes, and cassia; like that which fills the ivory palaces of eternity.
Now the apostle says that all our after Christian life is to be lived on the same principle. The holy life is not an attainment, but an attitude. Holiness is not an acquirement of which we may make a boast, but an openness of soul towards the Lord Jesus, as of a window unshuttered and uncurtained to the light. The believer is never independent of Jesus; but at every moment he is receiving out of his fulness, and grace upon grace. He does not receive his qualities and attributes as things apart from the Lord Jesus; but receiving Him, he obtains them. The holy man is he who has learned the art of receiving Jesus; the holier, who has a greater capacity, through humility and faith; the holiest, he who can receive most of the life of the Son of God.
Our daily life is here compared to a walk. We cannot choose it. There is no alternative but to take what God has marked out for you; though you may choose your atmosphere, or, to use a modern word, your environment. Every step may be taken in Christ; rooted in Him as a tree in rich soil; builded up as a house on a rock; inhaling his very breath as the life of life. And whatever the need may be which the exigencies of the path suggest, there is always an abundant supply in the Lord Jesus, in whom all treasures are hid. He teaches us that we may know; He indwells that we may be. —Our Daily Homily
Colossians 2:13-23 – Avoiding Errors
The reiteration of the prepositions in and with emphasizes our close identification with our Savior. Such we are in the purpose of God, and so we should be in daily experience. In union with Him we have once and forever put away the sins of the flesh, have lain in His grave, have passed to the heavenside of death, and are living under the blue sky of acceptance with God. Our Master’s victory is potentially ours. He won it, but we may share its fruits. Yet faith must apprehend and affirm these blessings. The land of Canaan is ours by right, but every inch has to be claimed by faith. “Faith is an affirmation and act that bids eternal truth be fact.”
We must not allow our religious life to become a piece of outward ritual, Colossians 2:16-17; nor permit the supposed mediation of angels to obscure the supreme majesty of our Lord, Colossians 2:18-19. We who have died with Christ must not be always regulating ourselves by the don’ts of the Law. Let us enter Christ’s more intimate fellowship and live on the positive side. Ours should be the freedom of a full life, and the ampler vision of the mountains. Nothing else really avails against the indulgence of the flesh. —Through the Bible Day by Day