Paul's conflict: agōn, the word for an athletic contest, struggle, anguish, is for churches he has not personally visited. He cares for them as deeply as those he has met. The goal of his labor on their behalf is that their hearts might be comforted and knit together in love, the internal community-cohesion that comes from shared certainty about the mystery.
The riches of full assurance of understanding, the plērophoria that characterizes the person who knows what they have in Christ, leads to the acknowledgment of the mystery. And the mystery is located: in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Pantes hoi thēsauroi, all the treasures, every one. Apokruphoi, hidden in him.
The false teachers in Colossae were offering additional wisdom and knowledge beyond Christ. Paul's answer is direct: everything there is to know, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is hidden in the one they already have. If Christ is in you (1:27), and in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, then the one who is indwelling you is the location of everything worth knowing. Thread 6 is the governing reality: the hiddenness of the treasures in Christ is the same hiddenness as the life of the believer hidden with Christ in God (3:3).
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The word hid is the same root as the hidden mystery of chapter 1 and the hidden life of chapter 3; the pattern of hiddenness in Christ is the governing motif of the whole letter.
ἐν ᾧ εἰσιν πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι (en hō eisin pantes hoi thēsauroi tēs sophias kai gnōseōs apokruphoi): in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: thēsauroi (treasures, the word behind the English thesaurus; the full store of wealth); apokruphoi (hidden, stored away, same root as the hidden mystery of 1:26; the treasures are not absent but hidden; they are in him and accessible to those who are in him; this is the answer to every claim of superior spiritual knowledge outside of Christ)
threads t6 · see Proverbs 2:3-6 · Colossians 1:27 · Colossians 3:3
Paul's conflict: agōn, the word for an athletic contest, struggle, anguish, is for churches he has not personally visited. He cares for them as deeply as those he has met. The goal of his labor on their behalf is that their hearts might be comforted and knit together in love, the internal community-cohesion that comes from shared certainty about the mystery.
The riches of full assurance of understanding, the plērophoria that characterizes the person who knows what they have in Christ, leads to the acknowledgment of the mystery. And the mystery is located: in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Pantes hoi thēsauroi, all the treasures, every one. Apokruphoi, hidden in him.
The false teachers in Colossae were offering additional wisdom and knowledge beyond Christ. Paul's answer is direct: everything there is to know, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is hidden in the one they already have. If Christ is in you (1:27), and in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, then the one who is indwelling you is the location of everything worth knowing. Thread 6 is the governing reality: the hiddenness of the treasures in Christ is the same hiddenness as the life of the believer hidden with Christ in God (3:3).
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The word hid is the same root as the hidden mystery of chapter 1 and the hidden life of chapter 3; the pattern of hiddenness in Christ is the governing motif of the whole letter.
ἐν ᾧ εἰσιν πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι (en hō eisin pantes hoi thēsauroi tēs sophias kai gnōseōs apokruphoi): in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: thēsauroi (treasures, the word behind the English thesaurus; the full store of wealth); apokruphoi (hidden, stored away, same root as the hidden mystery of 1:26; the treasures are not absent but hidden; they are in him and accessible to those who are in him; this is the answer to every claim of superior spiritual knowledge outside of Christ)
threads t6 · see Proverbs 2:3-6 · Colossians 1:27 · Colossians 3:3
Paul's conflict: agōn, the word for an athletic contest, struggle, anguish, is for churches he has not personally visited. He cares for them as deeply as those he has met. The goal of his labor on their behalf is that their hearts might be comforted and knit together in love, the internal community-cohesion that comes from shared certainty about the mystery.
The riches of full assurance of understanding, the plērophoria that characterizes the person who knows what they have in Christ, leads to the acknowledgment of the mystery. And the mystery is located: in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Pantes hoi thēsauroi, all the treasures, every one. Apokruphoi, hidden in him.
The false teachers in Colossae were offering additional wisdom and knowledge beyond Christ. Paul's answer is direct: everything there is to know, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is hidden in the one they already have. If Christ is in you (1:27), and in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, then the one who is indwelling you is the location of everything worth knowing. Thread 6 is the governing reality: the hiddenness of the treasures in Christ is the same hiddenness as the life of the believer hidden with Christ in God (3:3).
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The word hid is the same root as the hidden mystery of chapter 1 and the hidden life of chapter 3; the pattern of hiddenness in Christ is the governing motif of the whole letter.
ἐν ᾧ εἰσιν πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι (en hō eisin pantes hoi thēsauroi tēs sophias kai gnōseōs apokruphoi): in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: thēsauroi (treasures, the word behind the English thesaurus; the full store of wealth); apokruphoi (hidden, stored away, same root as the hidden mystery of 1:26; the treasures are not absent but hidden; they are in him and accessible to those who are in him; this is the answer to every claim of superior spiritual knowledge outside of Christ)
threads t6 · see Proverbs 2:3-6 · Colossians 1:27 · Colossians 3:3
Paul's conflict: agōn, the word for an athletic contest, struggle, anguish, is for churches he has not personally visited. He cares for them as deeply as those he has met. The goal of his labor on their behalf is that their hearts might be comforted and knit together in love, the internal community-cohesion that comes from shared certainty about the mystery.
The riches of full assurance of understanding, the plērophoria that characterizes the person who knows what they have in Christ, leads to the acknowledgment of the mystery. And the mystery is located: in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Pantes hoi thēsauroi, all the treasures, every one. Apokruphoi, hidden in him.
The false teachers in Colossae were offering additional wisdom and knowledge beyond Christ. Paul's answer is direct: everything there is to know, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is hidden in the one they already have. If Christ is in you (1:27), and in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, then the one who is indwelling you is the location of everything worth knowing. Thread 6 is the governing reality: the hiddenness of the treasures in Christ is the same hiddenness as the life of the believer hidden with Christ in God (3:3).
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The word hid is the same root as the hidden mystery of chapter 1 and the hidden life of chapter 3; the pattern of hiddenness in Christ is the governing motif of the whole letter.
ἐν ᾧ εἰσιν πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι (en hō eisin pantes hoi thēsauroi tēs sophias kai gnōseōs apokruphoi): in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: thēsauroi (treasures, the word behind the English thesaurus; the full store of wealth); apokruphoi (hidden, stored away, same root as the hidden mystery of 1:26; the treasures are not absent but hidden; they are in him and accessible to those who are in him; this is the answer to every claim of superior spiritual knowledge outside of Christ)
threads t6 · see Proverbs 2:3-6 · Colossians 1:27 · Colossians 3:3
Paul's conflict: agōn, the word for an athletic contest, struggle, anguish, is for churches he has not personally visited. He cares for them as deeply as those he has met. The goal of his labor on their behalf is that their hearts might be comforted and knit together in love, the internal community-cohesion that comes from shared certainty about the mystery.
The riches of full assurance of understanding, the plērophoria that characterizes the person who knows what they have in Christ, leads to the acknowledgment of the mystery. And the mystery is located: in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Pantes hoi thēsauroi, all the treasures, every one. Apokruphoi, hidden in him.
The false teachers in Colossae were offering additional wisdom and knowledge beyond Christ. Paul's answer is direct: everything there is to know, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is hidden in the one they already have. If Christ is in you (1:27), and in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, then the one who is indwelling you is the location of everything worth knowing. Thread 6 is the governing reality: the hiddenness of the treasures in Christ is the same hiddenness as the life of the believer hidden with Christ in God (3:3).
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The word hid is the same root as the hidden mystery of chapter 1 and the hidden life of chapter 3; the pattern of hiddenness in Christ is the governing motif of the whole letter.
ἐν ᾧ εἰσιν πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι (en hō eisin pantes hoi thēsauroi tēs sophias kai gnōseōs apokruphoi): in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: thēsauroi (treasures, the word behind the English thesaurus; the full store of wealth); apokruphoi (hidden, stored away, same root as the hidden mystery of 1:26; the treasures are not absent but hidden; they are in him and accessible to those who are in him; this is the answer to every claim of superior spiritual knowledge outside of Christ)
threads t6 · see Proverbs 2:3-6 · Colossians 1:27 · Colossians 3:3
As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. The same faith-act that initiated the relationship is the principle that sustains it. Walk as you began: in him, rooted and built up and established in the faith. Thread 4 is in the walking: the Christian life is a genuine ongoing human orientation in the one already received.
The warning against the false teaching is named specifically: philosophy and empty deceit after human tradition, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ. The elemental spirits, stoicheia, may refer to the basic principles of the world, the ABC's of human religion, or possibly the angelic/demonic powers the Colossian teachers were promoting as necessary for full spiritual attainment. Whatever the specific content, the test is: is this after Christ? If not, it is empty.
The reason it is empty is stated in the most compressed doctrinal sentence in the letter: in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Pan to plērōma tēs theotētos: not some of the fullness, not most of the fullness. All of it. In bodily form: permanently resident in the incarnate, risen, glorified Son. Every claim to spiritual fullness that goes outside of Christ goes outside of where the fullness actually is.
And you have been filled in him, peplērōmenoi. Perfect passive. The filling is complete and remains in effect. The one in whom all fullness dwells has filled those who are in him. The Colossians do not need supplementary wisdom, angelic intermediaries, or ascetic disciplines to be spiritually complete. They are complete. In him. Thread 6 is the ground of the completeness: in-Christ union means the one who is full makes those in him full.
In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him; the Christological declaration of fullness and the anthropological declaration of completeness are the two-sided answer to every system that claims Christ is insufficient.
ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς (hoti en autō katoikei pan to plērōma tēs theotētos sōmatikōs): in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily: en autō (in him, the location); katoikei (dwells permanently, present tense, ongoing permanent residence); pan to plērōma (all the fullness, pan, every last bit of it; no partial fullness); tēs theotētos (of the Godhead/deity, theotēs, the quality of being God, divine nature itself; the strongest possible word for deity); sōmatikōs (bodily, in bodily form; the incarnation did not diminish the fullness but housed it in flesh) · καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι (kai este en autō peplērōmenoi): and ye are complete in him: peplērōmenoi (perfect passive participle of plēroō, to fill; you have been filled and remain filled; the same plērōma root as the fullness that dwells in Christ; those who are in the one in whom all fullness dwells have been filled to completion in him)
threads t4 · t6 · see John 1:16 · Ephesians 3:19 · Colossians 1:19
As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. The same faith-act that initiated the relationship is the principle that sustains it. Walk as you began: in him, rooted and built up and established in the faith. Thread 4 is in the walking: the Christian life is a genuine ongoing human orientation in the one already received.
The warning against the false teaching is named specifically: philosophy and empty deceit after human tradition, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ. The elemental spirits, stoicheia, may refer to the basic principles of the world, the ABC's of human religion, or possibly the angelic/demonic powers the Colossian teachers were promoting as necessary for full spiritual attainment. Whatever the specific content, the test is: is this after Christ? If not, it is empty.
The reason it is empty is stated in the most compressed doctrinal sentence in the letter: in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Pan to plērōma tēs theotētos: not some of the fullness, not most of the fullness. All of it. In bodily form: permanently resident in the incarnate, risen, glorified Son. Every claim to spiritual fullness that goes outside of Christ goes outside of where the fullness actually is.
And you have been filled in him, peplērōmenoi. Perfect passive. The filling is complete and remains in effect. The one in whom all fullness dwells has filled those who are in him. The Colossians do not need supplementary wisdom, angelic intermediaries, or ascetic disciplines to be spiritually complete. They are complete. In him. Thread 6 is the ground of the completeness: in-Christ union means the one who is full makes those in him full.
In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him; the Christological declaration of fullness and the anthropological declaration of completeness are the two-sided answer to every system that claims Christ is insufficient.
ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς (hoti en autō katoikei pan to plērōma tēs theotētos sōmatikōs): in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily: en autō (in him, the location); katoikei (dwells permanently, present tense, ongoing permanent residence); pan to plērōma (all the fullness, pan, every last bit of it; no partial fullness); tēs theotētos (of the Godhead/deity, theotēs, the quality of being God, divine nature itself; the strongest possible word for deity); sōmatikōs (bodily, in bodily form; the incarnation did not diminish the fullness but housed it in flesh) · καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι (kai este en autō peplērōmenoi): and ye are complete in him: peplērōmenoi (perfect passive participle of plēroō, to fill; you have been filled and remain filled; the same plērōma root as the fullness that dwells in Christ; those who are in the one in whom all fullness dwells have been filled to completion in him)
threads t4 · t6 · see John 1:16 · Ephesians 3:19 · Colossians 1:19
As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. The same faith-act that initiated the relationship is the principle that sustains it. Walk as you began: in him, rooted and built up and established in the faith. Thread 4 is in the walking: the Christian life is a genuine ongoing human orientation in the one already received.
The warning against the false teaching is named specifically: philosophy and empty deceit after human tradition, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ. The elemental spirits, stoicheia, may refer to the basic principles of the world, the ABC's of human religion, or possibly the angelic/demonic powers the Colossian teachers were promoting as necessary for full spiritual attainment. Whatever the specific content, the test is: is this after Christ? If not, it is empty.
The reason it is empty is stated in the most compressed doctrinal sentence in the letter: in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Pan to plērōma tēs theotētos: not some of the fullness, not most of the fullness. All of it. In bodily form: permanently resident in the incarnate, risen, glorified Son. Every claim to spiritual fullness that goes outside of Christ goes outside of where the fullness actually is.
And you have been filled in him, peplērōmenoi. Perfect passive. The filling is complete and remains in effect. The one in whom all fullness dwells has filled those who are in him. The Colossians do not need supplementary wisdom, angelic intermediaries, or ascetic disciplines to be spiritually complete. They are complete. In him. Thread 6 is the ground of the completeness: in-Christ union means the one who is full makes those in him full.
In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him; the Christological declaration of fullness and the anthropological declaration of completeness are the two-sided answer to every system that claims Christ is insufficient.
ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς (hoti en autō katoikei pan to plērōma tēs theotētos sōmatikōs): in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily: en autō (in him, the location); katoikei (dwells permanently, present tense, ongoing permanent residence); pan to plērōma (all the fullness, pan, every last bit of it; no partial fullness); tēs theotētos (of the Godhead/deity, theotēs, the quality of being God, divine nature itself; the strongest possible word for deity); sōmatikōs (bodily, in bodily form; the incarnation did not diminish the fullness but housed it in flesh) · καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι (kai este en autō peplērōmenoi): and ye are complete in him: peplērōmenoi (perfect passive participle of plēroō, to fill; you have been filled and remain filled; the same plērōma root as the fullness that dwells in Christ; those who are in the one in whom all fullness dwells have been filled to completion in him)
threads t4 · t6 · see John 1:16 · Ephesians 3:19 · Colossians 1:19
As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. The same faith-act that initiated the relationship is the principle that sustains it. Walk as you began: in him, rooted and built up and established in the faith. Thread 4 is in the walking: the Christian life is a genuine ongoing human orientation in the one already received.
The warning against the false teaching is named specifically: philosophy and empty deceit after human tradition, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ. The elemental spirits, stoicheia, may refer to the basic principles of the world, the ABC's of human religion, or possibly the angelic/demonic powers the Colossian teachers were promoting as necessary for full spiritual attainment. Whatever the specific content, the test is: is this after Christ? If not, it is empty.
The reason it is empty is stated in the most compressed doctrinal sentence in the letter: in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Pan to plērōma tēs theotētos: not some of the fullness, not most of the fullness. All of it. In bodily form: permanently resident in the incarnate, risen, glorified Son. Every claim to spiritual fullness that goes outside of Christ goes outside of where the fullness actually is.
And you have been filled in him, peplērōmenoi. Perfect passive. The filling is complete and remains in effect. The one in whom all fullness dwells has filled those who are in him. The Colossians do not need supplementary wisdom, angelic intermediaries, or ascetic disciplines to be spiritually complete. They are complete. In him. Thread 6 is the ground of the completeness: in-Christ union means the one who is full makes those in him full.
In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him; the Christological declaration of fullness and the anthropological declaration of completeness are the two-sided answer to every system that claims Christ is insufficient.
ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς (hoti en autō katoikei pan to plērōma tēs theotētos sōmatikōs): in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily: en autō (in him, the location); katoikei (dwells permanently, present tense, ongoing permanent residence); pan to plērōma (all the fullness, pan, every last bit of it; no partial fullness); tēs theotētos (of the Godhead/deity, theotēs, the quality of being God, divine nature itself; the strongest possible word for deity); sōmatikōs (bodily, in bodily form; the incarnation did not diminish the fullness but housed it in flesh) · καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι (kai este en autō peplērōmenoi): and ye are complete in him: peplērōmenoi (perfect passive participle of plēroō, to fill; you have been filled and remain filled; the same plērōma root as the fullness that dwells in Christ; those who are in the one in whom all fullness dwells have been filled to completion in him)
threads t4 · t6 · see John 1:16 · Ephesians 3:19 · Colossians 1:19
As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. The same faith-act that initiated the relationship is the principle that sustains it. Walk as you began: in him, rooted and built up and established in the faith. Thread 4 is in the walking: the Christian life is a genuine ongoing human orientation in the one already received.
The warning against the false teaching is named specifically: philosophy and empty deceit after human tradition, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ. The elemental spirits, stoicheia, may refer to the basic principles of the world, the ABC's of human religion, or possibly the angelic/demonic powers the Colossian teachers were promoting as necessary for full spiritual attainment. Whatever the specific content, the test is: is this after Christ? If not, it is empty.
The reason it is empty is stated in the most compressed doctrinal sentence in the letter: in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Pan to plērōma tēs theotētos: not some of the fullness, not most of the fullness. All of it. In bodily form: permanently resident in the incarnate, risen, glorified Son. Every claim to spiritual fullness that goes outside of Christ goes outside of where the fullness actually is.
And you have been filled in him, peplērōmenoi. Perfect passive. The filling is complete and remains in effect. The one in whom all fullness dwells has filled those who are in him. The Colossians do not need supplementary wisdom, angelic intermediaries, or ascetic disciplines to be spiritually complete. They are complete. In him. Thread 6 is the ground of the completeness: in-Christ union means the one who is full makes those in him full.
In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him; the Christological declaration of fullness and the anthropological declaration of completeness are the two-sided answer to every system that claims Christ is insufficient.
ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς (hoti en autō katoikei pan to plērōma tēs theotētos sōmatikōs): in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily: en autō (in him, the location); katoikei (dwells permanently, present tense, ongoing permanent residence); pan to plērōma (all the fullness, pan, every last bit of it; no partial fullness); tēs theotētos (of the Godhead/deity, theotēs, the quality of being God, divine nature itself; the strongest possible word for deity); sōmatikōs (bodily, in bodily form; the incarnation did not diminish the fullness but housed it in flesh) · καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι (kai este en autō peplērōmenoi): and ye are complete in him: peplērōmenoi (perfect passive participle of plēroō, to fill; you have been filled and remain filled; the same plērōma root as the fullness that dwells in Christ; those who are in the one in whom all fullness dwells have been filled to completion in him)
threads t4 · t6 · see John 1:16 · Ephesians 3:19 · Colossians 1:19
The circumcision made without hands, the spiritual circumcision of the heart that Deuteronomy 30:6 and Romans 2:29 described, has been accomplished in Christ. The putting off of the body of flesh is not the physical rite but the cross-work it always pointed to: the old self put off, the new life risen in him.
Buried with him in baptism, raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. The identification with Christ's death and resurrection is the ground of the new life. What happened to Christ: death, burial, resurrection, the believer enters into by faith. Thread 6 is the union: the with-him of burial and the with-him of resurrection describe the comprehensive solidarity of the in-Christ life.
The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, the cheirographon, the certificate of debt, has been erased. Blotted out. Nailed to the cross. The debt-document that the law created against us by defining our obligations and recording our failure to meet them was taken away at the cross. And Christ disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public example of them: the very powers the Colossian false teachers were encouraging worship of are the ones Christ put on public display in his triumph.
Let no one judge you in food or drink or festivals or new moons or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Skia, shadow. Sōma, body/substance. Thread 5 is the dispensational reality: the entire Mosaic ceremonial system was always the shadow cast by the substance that was coming. The substance has arrived. The shadow's work is finished. Insisting on the shadow as necessary after the substance has arrived is not faithfulness to the OT. It is failure to understand what the OT was always pointing toward.
Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. The entire Mosaic ceremonial system was the shadow; Christ is the substance to which the shadow pointed; the shadow's work is complete.
ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόγμασιν (exaleipsas to kath' hēmōn cheirographon tois dogmasin): blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us: cheirographon (handwritten document, certificate of debt, a bond acknowledging debt written in the debtor's own hand; the word was used for a certificate of indebtedness; the law created a document of obligation we could not pay); exaleipsas (blotting out, wiping away, from exaleiphō, to wash out, to erase; the debt-document is not merely paid but deleted) · ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (ha estin skia tōn mellontōn to de sōma tou Christou): which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ: skia (shadow, the image cast by a three-dimensional object; a shadow is a real projection of a real thing, but it is not the thing; the Mosaic ceremonies were the shadow; Christ is the sōma); sōma (body, substance, the three-dimensional reality that casts the shadow; once the substance arrives, the shadow's work is done)
threads t4 · t5 · t6 · see Deuteronomy 30:6 · Romans 2:29 · Hebrews 8:5
The circumcision made without hands, the spiritual circumcision of the heart that Deuteronomy 30:6 and Romans 2:29 described, has been accomplished in Christ. The putting off of the body of flesh is not the physical rite but the cross-work it always pointed to: the old self put off, the new life risen in him.
Buried with him in baptism, raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. The identification with Christ's death and resurrection is the ground of the new life. What happened to Christ: death, burial, resurrection, the believer enters into by faith. Thread 6 is the union: the with-him of burial and the with-him of resurrection describe the comprehensive solidarity of the in-Christ life.
The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, the cheirographon, the certificate of debt, has been erased. Blotted out. Nailed to the cross. The debt-document that the law created against us by defining our obligations and recording our failure to meet them was taken away at the cross. And Christ disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public example of them: the very powers the Colossian false teachers were encouraging worship of are the ones Christ put on public display in his triumph.
Let no one judge you in food or drink or festivals or new moons or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Skia, shadow. Sōma, body/substance. Thread 5 is the dispensational reality: the entire Mosaic ceremonial system was always the shadow cast by the substance that was coming. The substance has arrived. The shadow's work is finished. Insisting on the shadow as necessary after the substance has arrived is not faithfulness to the OT. It is failure to understand what the OT was always pointing toward.
Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. The entire Mosaic ceremonial system was the shadow; Christ is the substance to which the shadow pointed; the shadow's work is complete.
ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόγμασιν (exaleipsas to kath' hēmōn cheirographon tois dogmasin): blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us: cheirographon (handwritten document, certificate of debt, a bond acknowledging debt written in the debtor's own hand; the word was used for a certificate of indebtedness; the law created a document of obligation we could not pay); exaleipsas (blotting out, wiping away, from exaleiphō, to wash out, to erase; the debt-document is not merely paid but deleted) · ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (ha estin skia tōn mellontōn to de sōma tou Christou): which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ: skia (shadow, the image cast by a three-dimensional object; a shadow is a real projection of a real thing, but it is not the thing; the Mosaic ceremonies were the shadow; Christ is the sōma); sōma (body, substance, the three-dimensional reality that casts the shadow; once the substance arrives, the shadow's work is done)
threads t4 · t5 · t6 · see Deuteronomy 30:6 · Romans 2:29 · Hebrews 8:5
The circumcision made without hands, the spiritual circumcision of the heart that Deuteronomy 30:6 and Romans 2:29 described, has been accomplished in Christ. The putting off of the body of flesh is not the physical rite but the cross-work it always pointed to: the old self put off, the new life risen in him.
Buried with him in baptism, raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. The identification with Christ's death and resurrection is the ground of the new life. What happened to Christ: death, burial, resurrection, the believer enters into by faith. Thread 6 is the union: the with-him of burial and the with-him of resurrection describe the comprehensive solidarity of the in-Christ life.
The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, the cheirographon, the certificate of debt, has been erased. Blotted out. Nailed to the cross. The debt-document that the law created against us by defining our obligations and recording our failure to meet them was taken away at the cross. And Christ disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public example of them: the very powers the Colossian false teachers were encouraging worship of are the ones Christ put on public display in his triumph.
Let no one judge you in food or drink or festivals or new moons or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Skia, shadow. Sōma, body/substance. Thread 5 is the dispensational reality: the entire Mosaic ceremonial system was always the shadow cast by the substance that was coming. The substance has arrived. The shadow's work is finished. Insisting on the shadow as necessary after the substance has arrived is not faithfulness to the OT. It is failure to understand what the OT was always pointing toward.
Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. The entire Mosaic ceremonial system was the shadow; Christ is the substance to which the shadow pointed; the shadow's work is complete.
ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόγμασιν (exaleipsas to kath' hēmōn cheirographon tois dogmasin): blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us: cheirographon (handwritten document, certificate of debt, a bond acknowledging debt written in the debtor's own hand; the word was used for a certificate of indebtedness; the law created a document of obligation we could not pay); exaleipsas (blotting out, wiping away, from exaleiphō, to wash out, to erase; the debt-document is not merely paid but deleted) · ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (ha estin skia tōn mellontōn to de sōma tou Christou): which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ: skia (shadow, the image cast by a three-dimensional object; a shadow is a real projection of a real thing, but it is not the thing; the Mosaic ceremonies were the shadow; Christ is the sōma); sōma (body, substance, the three-dimensional reality that casts the shadow; once the substance arrives, the shadow's work is done)
threads t4 · t5 · t6 · see Deuteronomy 30:6 · Romans 2:29 · Hebrews 8:5
The circumcision made without hands, the spiritual circumcision of the heart that Deuteronomy 30:6 and Romans 2:29 described, has been accomplished in Christ. The putting off of the body of flesh is not the physical rite but the cross-work it always pointed to: the old self put off, the new life risen in him.
Buried with him in baptism, raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. The identification with Christ's death and resurrection is the ground of the new life. What happened to Christ: death, burial, resurrection, the believer enters into by faith. Thread 6 is the union: the with-him of burial and the with-him of resurrection describe the comprehensive solidarity of the in-Christ life.
The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, the cheirographon, the certificate of debt, has been erased. Blotted out. Nailed to the cross. The debt-document that the law created against us by defining our obligations and recording our failure to meet them was taken away at the cross. And Christ disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public example of them: the very powers the Colossian false teachers were encouraging worship of are the ones Christ put on public display in his triumph.
Let no one judge you in food or drink or festivals or new moons or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Skia, shadow. Sōma, body/substance. Thread 5 is the dispensational reality: the entire Mosaic ceremonial system was always the shadow cast by the substance that was coming. The substance has arrived. The shadow's work is finished. Insisting on the shadow as necessary after the substance has arrived is not faithfulness to the OT. It is failure to understand what the OT was always pointing toward.
Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. The entire Mosaic ceremonial system was the shadow; Christ is the substance to which the shadow pointed; the shadow's work is complete.
ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόγμασιν (exaleipsas to kath' hēmōn cheirographon tois dogmasin): blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us: cheirographon (handwritten document, certificate of debt, a bond acknowledging debt written in the debtor's own hand; the word was used for a certificate of indebtedness; the law created a document of obligation we could not pay); exaleipsas (blotting out, wiping away, from exaleiphō, to wash out, to erase; the debt-document is not merely paid but deleted) · ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (ha estin skia tōn mellontōn to de sōma tou Christou): which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ: skia (shadow, the image cast by a three-dimensional object; a shadow is a real projection of a real thing, but it is not the thing; the Mosaic ceremonies were the shadow; Christ is the sōma); sōma (body, substance, the three-dimensional reality that casts the shadow; once the substance arrives, the shadow's work is done)
threads t4 · t5 · t6 · see Deuteronomy 30:6 · Romans 2:29 · Hebrews 8:5
The circumcision made without hands, the spiritual circumcision of the heart that Deuteronomy 30:6 and Romans 2:29 described, has been accomplished in Christ. The putting off of the body of flesh is not the physical rite but the cross-work it always pointed to: the old self put off, the new life risen in him.
Buried with him in baptism, raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. The identification with Christ's death and resurrection is the ground of the new life. What happened to Christ: death, burial, resurrection, the believer enters into by faith. Thread 6 is the union: the with-him of burial and the with-him of resurrection describe the comprehensive solidarity of the in-Christ life.
The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, the cheirographon, the certificate of debt, has been erased. Blotted out. Nailed to the cross. The debt-document that the law created against us by defining our obligations and recording our failure to meet them was taken away at the cross. And Christ disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public example of them: the very powers the Colossian false teachers were encouraging worship of are the ones Christ put on public display in his triumph.
Let no one judge you in food or drink or festivals or new moons or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Skia, shadow. Sōma, body/substance. Thread 5 is the dispensational reality: the entire Mosaic ceremonial system was always the shadow cast by the substance that was coming. The substance has arrived. The shadow's work is finished. Insisting on the shadow as necessary after the substance has arrived is not faithfulness to the OT. It is failure to understand what the OT was always pointing toward.
Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. The entire Mosaic ceremonial system was the shadow; Christ is the substance to which the shadow pointed; the shadow's work is complete.
ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόγμασιν (exaleipsas to kath' hēmōn cheirographon tois dogmasin): blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us: cheirographon (handwritten document, certificate of debt, a bond acknowledging debt written in the debtor's own hand; the word was used for a certificate of indebtedness; the law created a document of obligation we could not pay); exaleipsas (blotting out, wiping away, from exaleiphō, to wash out, to erase; the debt-document is not merely paid but deleted) · ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (ha estin skia tōn mellontōn to de sōma tou Christou): which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ: skia (shadow, the image cast by a three-dimensional object; a shadow is a real projection of a real thing, but it is not the thing; the Mosaic ceremonies were the shadow; Christ is the sōma); sōma (body, substance, the three-dimensional reality that casts the shadow; once the substance arrives, the shadow's work is done)
threads t4 · t5 · t6 · see Deuteronomy 30:6 · Romans 2:29 · Hebrews 8:5
The circumcision made without hands, the spiritual circumcision of the heart that Deuteronomy 30:6 and Romans 2:29 described, has been accomplished in Christ. The putting off of the body of flesh is not the physical rite but the cross-work it always pointed to: the old self put off, the new life risen in him.
Buried with him in baptism, raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. The identification with Christ's death and resurrection is the ground of the new life. What happened to Christ: death, burial, resurrection, the believer enters into by faith. Thread 6 is the union: the with-him of burial and the with-him of resurrection describe the comprehensive solidarity of the in-Christ life.
The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, the cheirographon, the certificate of debt, has been erased. Blotted out. Nailed to the cross. The debt-document that the law created against us by defining our obligations and recording our failure to meet them was taken away at the cross. And Christ disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public example of them: the very powers the Colossian false teachers were encouraging worship of are the ones Christ put on public display in his triumph.
Let no one judge you in food or drink or festivals or new moons or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Skia, shadow. Sōma, body/substance. Thread 5 is the dispensational reality: the entire Mosaic ceremonial system was always the shadow cast by the substance that was coming. The substance has arrived. The shadow's work is finished. Insisting on the shadow as necessary after the substance has arrived is not faithfulness to the OT. It is failure to understand what the OT was always pointing toward.
Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. The entire Mosaic ceremonial system was the shadow; Christ is the substance to which the shadow pointed; the shadow's work is complete.
ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόγμασιν (exaleipsas to kath' hēmōn cheirographon tois dogmasin): blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us: cheirographon (handwritten document, certificate of debt, a bond acknowledging debt written in the debtor's own hand; the word was used for a certificate of indebtedness; the law created a document of obligation we could not pay); exaleipsas (blotting out, wiping away, from exaleiphō, to wash out, to erase; the debt-document is not merely paid but deleted) · ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (ha estin skia tōn mellontōn to de sōma tou Christou): which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ: skia (shadow, the image cast by a three-dimensional object; a shadow is a real projection of a real thing, but it is not the thing; the Mosaic ceremonies were the shadow; Christ is the sōma); sōma (body, substance, the three-dimensional reality that casts the shadow; once the substance arrives, the shadow's work is done)
threads t4 · t5 · t6 · see Deuteronomy 30:6 · Romans 2:29 · Hebrews 8:5
The circumcision made without hands, the spiritual circumcision of the heart that Deuteronomy 30:6 and Romans 2:29 described, has been accomplished in Christ. The putting off of the body of flesh is not the physical rite but the cross-work it always pointed to: the old self put off, the new life risen in him.
Buried with him in baptism, raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. The identification with Christ's death and resurrection is the ground of the new life. What happened to Christ: death, burial, resurrection, the believer enters into by faith. Thread 6 is the union: the with-him of burial and the with-him of resurrection describe the comprehensive solidarity of the in-Christ life.
The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, the cheirographon, the certificate of debt, has been erased. Blotted out. Nailed to the cross. The debt-document that the law created against us by defining our obligations and recording our failure to meet them was taken away at the cross. And Christ disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public example of them: the very powers the Colossian false teachers were encouraging worship of are the ones Christ put on public display in his triumph.
Let no one judge you in food or drink or festivals or new moons or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Skia, shadow. Sōma, body/substance. Thread 5 is the dispensational reality: the entire Mosaic ceremonial system was always the shadow cast by the substance that was coming. The substance has arrived. The shadow's work is finished. Insisting on the shadow as necessary after the substance has arrived is not faithfulness to the OT. It is failure to understand what the OT was always pointing toward.
Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. The entire Mosaic ceremonial system was the shadow; Christ is the substance to which the shadow pointed; the shadow's work is complete.
ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόγμασιν (exaleipsas to kath' hēmōn cheirographon tois dogmasin): blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us: cheirographon (handwritten document, certificate of debt, a bond acknowledging debt written in the debtor's own hand; the word was used for a certificate of indebtedness; the law created a document of obligation we could not pay); exaleipsas (blotting out, wiping away, from exaleiphō, to wash out, to erase; the debt-document is not merely paid but deleted) · ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (ha estin skia tōn mellontōn to de sōma tou Christou): which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ: skia (shadow, the image cast by a three-dimensional object; a shadow is a real projection of a real thing, but it is not the thing; the Mosaic ceremonies were the shadow; Christ is the sōma); sōma (body, substance, the three-dimensional reality that casts the shadow; once the substance arrives, the shadow's work is done)
threads t4 · t5 · t6 · see Deuteronomy 30:6 · Romans 2:29 · Hebrews 8:5
The specific errors are named: voluntary humility and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up by the fleshly mind. The combination is recognizable in any generation: elaborate spiritual hierarchy claims, experiences beyond Scripture used as proof of superior attainment, ascetic practices that look humble but serve pride.
The diagnostic phrase is ou kratōn tēn kephalēn, not holding the Head. Whatever the external appearance of the system, the person promoting it has let go of Christ. And from the Head, the one in whom all fullness dwells, the one in whom all things hold together. The entire body receives its nourishment, held together by joints and ligaments, growing with the growth that God gives.
If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, and you did, that is the reality of baptism into his death in verse 12, why are you submitting to regulations as if you still lived according to the world? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch: all these things perish with use and are according to human commandments and teachings. Thread 4 is in the submitting: these regulations require genuine human compliance and are appealing to the genuine human desire for spiritual attainment. But they have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism while being of no value in stopping fleshly indulgence. The diagnosis is brutal: the elaborate system produces nothing it promises.
Not holding the Head: the diagnosis of the Colossian false teaching in four words; every spiritual system that adds requirements to Christ is a system that has lost its grip on the Head from whom all growth comes.
οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν (ou kratōn tēn kephalēn): not holding the Head: kratōn (holding, gripping, present active participle of krateō, to seize, hold firmly, maintain grip on); the participle describes the person who has let go of the Head; the person promoting additional requirements has, in Paul's assessment, lost their grip on Christ himself; from the Head, the whole body receives nourishment and grows with God's growth
threads t4 · t6 · see Galatians 4:9-10 · 1 Timothy 4:3-5 · Hebrews 13:9
The specific errors are named: voluntary humility and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up by the fleshly mind. The combination is recognizable in any generation: elaborate spiritual hierarchy claims, experiences beyond Scripture used as proof of superior attainment, ascetic practices that look humble but serve pride.
The diagnostic phrase is ou kratōn tēn kephalēn, not holding the Head. Whatever the external appearance of the system, the person promoting it has let go of Christ. And from the Head, the one in whom all fullness dwells, the one in whom all things hold together. The entire body receives its nourishment, held together by joints and ligaments, growing with the growth that God gives.
If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, and you did, that is the reality of baptism into his death in verse 12, why are you submitting to regulations as if you still lived according to the world? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch: all these things perish with use and are according to human commandments and teachings. Thread 4 is in the submitting: these regulations require genuine human compliance and are appealing to the genuine human desire for spiritual attainment. But they have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism while being of no value in stopping fleshly indulgence. The diagnosis is brutal: the elaborate system produces nothing it promises.
Not holding the Head: the diagnosis of the Colossian false teaching in four words; every spiritual system that adds requirements to Christ is a system that has lost its grip on the Head from whom all growth comes.
οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν (ou kratōn tēn kephalēn): not holding the Head: kratōn (holding, gripping, present active participle of krateō, to seize, hold firmly, maintain grip on); the participle describes the person who has let go of the Head; the person promoting additional requirements has, in Paul's assessment, lost their grip on Christ himself; from the Head, the whole body receives nourishment and grows with God's growth
threads t4 · t6 · see Galatians 4:9-10 · 1 Timothy 4:3-5 · Hebrews 13:9
The specific errors are named: voluntary humility and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up by the fleshly mind. The combination is recognizable in any generation: elaborate spiritual hierarchy claims, experiences beyond Scripture used as proof of superior attainment, ascetic practices that look humble but serve pride.
The diagnostic phrase is ou kratōn tēn kephalēn, not holding the Head. Whatever the external appearance of the system, the person promoting it has let go of Christ. And from the Head, the one in whom all fullness dwells, the one in whom all things hold together. The entire body receives its nourishment, held together by joints and ligaments, growing with the growth that God gives.
If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, and you did, that is the reality of baptism into his death in verse 12, why are you submitting to regulations as if you still lived according to the world? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch: all these things perish with use and are according to human commandments and teachings. Thread 4 is in the submitting: these regulations require genuine human compliance and are appealing to the genuine human desire for spiritual attainment. But they have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism while being of no value in stopping fleshly indulgence. The diagnosis is brutal: the elaborate system produces nothing it promises.
Not holding the Head: the diagnosis of the Colossian false teaching in four words; every spiritual system that adds requirements to Christ is a system that has lost its grip on the Head from whom all growth comes.
οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν (ou kratōn tēn kephalēn): not holding the Head: kratōn (holding, gripping, present active participle of krateō, to seize, hold firmly, maintain grip on); the participle describes the person who has let go of the Head; the person promoting additional requirements has, in Paul's assessment, lost their grip on Christ himself; from the Head, the whole body receives nourishment and grows with God's growth
threads t4 · t6 · see Galatians 4:9-10 · 1 Timothy 4:3-5 · Hebrews 13:9
The specific errors are named: voluntary humility and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up by the fleshly mind. The combination is recognizable in any generation: elaborate spiritual hierarchy claims, experiences beyond Scripture used as proof of superior attainment, ascetic practices that look humble but serve pride.
The diagnostic phrase is ou kratōn tēn kephalēn, not holding the Head. Whatever the external appearance of the system, the person promoting it has let go of Christ. And from the Head, the one in whom all fullness dwells, the one in whom all things hold together. The entire body receives its nourishment, held together by joints and ligaments, growing with the growth that God gives.
If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, and you did, that is the reality of baptism into his death in verse 12, why are you submitting to regulations as if you still lived according to the world? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch: all these things perish with use and are according to human commandments and teachings. Thread 4 is in the submitting: these regulations require genuine human compliance and are appealing to the genuine human desire for spiritual attainment. But they have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism while being of no value in stopping fleshly indulgence. The diagnosis is brutal: the elaborate system produces nothing it promises.
Not holding the Head: the diagnosis of the Colossian false teaching in four words; every spiritual system that adds requirements to Christ is a system that has lost its grip on the Head from whom all growth comes.
οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν (ou kratōn tēn kephalēn): not holding the Head: kratōn (holding, gripping, present active participle of krateō, to seize, hold firmly, maintain grip on); the participle describes the person who has let go of the Head; the person promoting additional requirements has, in Paul's assessment, lost their grip on Christ himself; from the Head, the whole body receives nourishment and grows with God's growth
threads t4 · t6 · see Galatians 4:9-10 · 1 Timothy 4:3-5 · Hebrews 13:9
The specific errors are named: voluntary humility and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up by the fleshly mind. The combination is recognizable in any generation: elaborate spiritual hierarchy claims, experiences beyond Scripture used as proof of superior attainment, ascetic practices that look humble but serve pride.
The diagnostic phrase is ou kratōn tēn kephalēn, not holding the Head. Whatever the external appearance of the system, the person promoting it has let go of Christ. And from the Head, the one in whom all fullness dwells, the one in whom all things hold together. The entire body receives its nourishment, held together by joints and ligaments, growing with the growth that God gives.
If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, and you did, that is the reality of baptism into his death in verse 12, why are you submitting to regulations as if you still lived according to the world? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch: all these things perish with use and are according to human commandments and teachings. Thread 4 is in the submitting: these regulations require genuine human compliance and are appealing to the genuine human desire for spiritual attainment. But they have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism while being of no value in stopping fleshly indulgence. The diagnosis is brutal: the elaborate system produces nothing it promises.
Not holding the Head: the diagnosis of the Colossian false teaching in four words; every spiritual system that adds requirements to Christ is a system that has lost its grip on the Head from whom all growth comes.
οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν (ou kratōn tēn kephalēn): not holding the Head: kratōn (holding, gripping, present active participle of krateō, to seize, hold firmly, maintain grip on); the participle describes the person who has let go of the Head; the person promoting additional requirements has, in Paul's assessment, lost their grip on Christ himself; from the Head, the whole body receives nourishment and grows with God's growth
threads t4 · t6 · see Galatians 4:9-10 · 1 Timothy 4:3-5 · Hebrews 13:9
The specific errors are named: voluntary humility and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up by the fleshly mind. The combination is recognizable in any generation: elaborate spiritual hierarchy claims, experiences beyond Scripture used as proof of superior attainment, ascetic practices that look humble but serve pride.
The diagnostic phrase is ou kratōn tēn kephalēn, not holding the Head. Whatever the external appearance of the system, the person promoting it has let go of Christ. And from the Head, the one in whom all fullness dwells, the one in whom all things hold together. The entire body receives its nourishment, held together by joints and ligaments, growing with the growth that God gives.
If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, and you did, that is the reality of baptism into his death in verse 12, why are you submitting to regulations as if you still lived according to the world? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch: all these things perish with use and are according to human commandments and teachings. Thread 4 is in the submitting: these regulations require genuine human compliance and are appealing to the genuine human desire for spiritual attainment. But they have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism while being of no value in stopping fleshly indulgence. The diagnosis is brutal: the elaborate system produces nothing it promises.
Not holding the Head: the diagnosis of the Colossian false teaching in four words; every spiritual system that adds requirements to Christ is a system that has lost its grip on the Head from whom all growth comes.
οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν (ou kratōn tēn kephalēn): not holding the Head: kratōn (holding, gripping, present active participle of krateō, to seize, hold firmly, maintain grip on); the participle describes the person who has let go of the Head; the person promoting additional requirements has, in Paul's assessment, lost their grip on Christ himself; from the Head, the whole body receives nourishment and grows with God's growth
threads t4 · t6 · see Galatians 4:9-10 · 1 Timothy 4:3-5 · Hebrews 13:9