Chapter 2

2:1: Paul was struggling for them, with them in Spirit (v.5) so that they would be complete and full in Christ. Paul was also personally unknown to the church at Colossae. They had not seen him in the flesh or met with him personally.

2:2: He was struggling also so that they would be encouraged and held together in love, in the full assurance of Christ.

2:3: There is no true knowledge or wisdom apart from God. That is not to say that we cannot find partial truths everywhere, but rather to say that there is no true, steadfast, unchanging truth found in the world. All the world has to offer us is the elementary principles. One could say the "substance" of truth belongs to Christ. One of the recurring themes in this Epistle is that the false teachers were proclaiming vain carnal wisdom as this great mighty thing whereas Paul says instead that all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ.

2:4: Paul was partially writing to the church at Colossae to steer them away from the false teachers of wisdom who were essentially teaching asceticism and the harming of the flesh. The philosophy and "wisdom" they were spreading was not true spiritual wisdom but rather carnal, puffed up, wisdom. (Colossians 2:18)

2:5: The unity and oneness of Christ's body is not a physical attribute but a spiritual attribute. We can be one in spirit and one honoring the Lord without ever meeting in the flesh. We are not perfected by the flesh but perfected by the Spirit.

2:6-7: "Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him," We cannot walk in Christ without a firmly established foundation of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11). This walk (in Christ) cannot be walked without receiving and obeying Christ Jesus as Lord.

2:8: "philosophy…" In the Greek, this word means "lovers of wisdom". In this context, it refers to the search of wisdom outside of the word and is called unprofitable and compared to empty deception. The difference between philosophical wisdom and biblical wisdom is that apart from God, there is no real wisdom, just the blabbering words of men.

2:9 : There is no part of Christ where there is no Deity. He was not merely God-like or "partially" God but in the fullest sense, He was and is God. There could have been false teachers stating that Christ was only partially God which Paul here refutes.

2:10: "filled in Him" is literally translated "filled full". He is all that we need. We have our fulfillment and fullness in Christ. We are filled by Him and with Him.

2:11: Baptism sets us apart. Circumcision was to set apart Israel to God. This Baptism is not the root of our setting apart but is the outward sign in which our new walk in Christ (2:6) is shown.

2:12: "the working of God…" "working" here is the greek word "energeia". It is confined to divine activity and refers to God's "power in action". It is the "working" in which God moves people from point to point in His divine plan.

2:13: Only God can choose us and make us alive with Him. We have been dead in our transgression and cannot freely choose God it is by God's gift of divine election and grace that we are chosen, not by anything we have or could have done. We were raised to Him and made alive with Him by our faith in Him.

2:14: There is no forgiveness without faith and repentance. There is no faith and repentance without the Father calling us and making us alive to Him (John 6:44, Col 2:13).

2:15: Christ's ministry disarmed all of the powers of darkness and Christ triumphed victoriously over them.

2:16: We are not to be judged (this word can also mean condemned in the greek) based off our outward observance of legalistic tradition.

2:17: The substance belongs to Christ. All of the Jewish traditions point to one person, Christ. The fulfillment of all of these traditions are found in Christ. Again, we are not perfected by the flesh but by the Spirit.

2:19: All of our Spiritual nutrients come from Christ. There is zero spiritual growth apart from Christ and He is the foundation that allows us to all be held together tightly knit.

2:20-21: This is not speaking to Old Testament law but rather the teachings of man, primarily asceticism which is harmful neglect of the body and is unprofitable against fleshly indulgence (1:23).