◄ Colossians 2 Devotional Commentary ►
Colossians 2:2
Much doctrinal truth is reflected within the prayers that Paul prayed for the family of God, and much instruction and wise counsel on how to live the Christian life in a manner that is honouring to the Lord is similarly couched within the content of Paul's intercessions for the saints of God.
Paul laboured hard to preach and teach the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ, and he warned unceasingly of the many false teachers who read more...
Colossians 2:3
Paul had never met the Christians at Colossae and yet he had a personal interest in their spiritual maturity. Paul offered many prayers to the Lord on their behalf and wrote an instructive letter to encourage their hearts, develop their spiritual understanding, guide them in the truth of the gospel of Christ, warn them of the dangers of false teachers, and unite them together in love.
Paul knew that one of the best safeguards read more...
Colossians 2:4
Jesus told us: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." The truth of God is found in His Word and points us to Jesus, Who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; and the truth shall set us free. It was for that reason that Paul and the other apostles who authored the Scriptures, spent little or no time going into the finer details of the many false doctrines that were starting to infiltrate the Church of their day. For the Word of truth read more...
Colossians 2:5
We live in perilous times when false teachings abound, and Paul's message to the Colossian Christians reminded them that Christ is sufficient, even when we find ourselves battling unbiblical doctrine and the God-hating, Christ-rejecting world-view of the day.
No matter what problems we meet and no matter what situations we may have to face, whether it be political, philosophical, religious, legalistic, economical, mystical, or any read more...
Colossians 2:6
We are called to walk worthy of our Lord and to be fruitful in our Christian life, but this can only be achieved as we abide in Him, rest in Him, trust our lives into His safe-keeping, and walk in spirit and truth. It is only as we willingly choose to be submitted to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we can truly walk worthy of our Lord, in spirit and in truth. It is only as we receive from Him can we can walk in Him.
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Colossians 2:7
Having trusted Christ for salvation, we are to walk in spirit and truth. We are to conduct our lives in a manner that is well-pleasing to the Father, and we are to be holy for the Lord our God is holy. We are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and we are to abide in Him and He in us.
We are to establish, strengthen, and build-up our faith in our Lord Jesus, through Whom we have received read more...
Colossians 2:8
Paul does not spend time teaching the errors of false doctrine, rather He sets out very clearly and concisely the truth contained in the gospel of God. Paul does not spend time outlining the various errors that were evident in Judaism, Gnosticism, Pantheism, Polytheism ad nauseam, nor does he expound on the content of the various philosophies, idle fancies, wild imaginations, and convincing arguments that are rooted in human traditions and spring from a fallen read more...
Colossians 2:9
The syncretism and traditions of men do not have Christ as the focal point, and Paul was warning the Colossian believers not to adopt these basic, world philosophies of men or their legalistic laws, because they cloud the true concept of Christ, distort the biblical truth of the Lord Jesus in the mind of the believer, and they rob the Christian of a proper understanding of the wonderful sufficiency and amazing adequacy of Christ in the life of ALL believers.
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Colossians 2:10
Following his severe warning to beware of false teaching traditions and the spiritual dangers enwrapped in the hollow deceptive philosophies of occultic mysticism, Paul reminds us that the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ, and that our union with Him has made us complete, and has brought us into the fullness of God. Through our union with Christ we lack nothing, for He has granted to us all things that pertain to read more...
Colossians 2:11
Circumcision, like the sacrificing of animals, was given by God to Abraham and Israel as a sign between the Lord and His chosen people that they were to be a family that were separated from the world – a race that was sanctified unto the Lord – a peculiar people - an adopted son of God who trusted the Almighty Yahweh and not the world systems.
Though circumcision was initially a physical mark that sealed the covenant promise read more...
Colossians 2:12
It is very important to get a biblical understanding of the word 'baptism' as recorded in the Bible. Some baptisms are wet, such as John's 'baptism of repentance'. Other baptisms are dry, such as the baptism of the Spirit when we are placed into Christ's mystic Body by the Holy Spirit, at salvation.
Paul records that, "by one Spirit," (the baptism of the Holy Spirit) "we were all read more...
Colossians 2:13
The death and Resurrection of Christ was a complete and final victory over sin, for Christ not only died FOR our sins so that we might be reconciled to God and saved from the consequences of sin (which is eternal separation from God), but He also died UNTO sin so that His life would become our life, and the strangle-hold that sin held over us would be broken forever.
Jesus died for our sins: to take the punishment that we deserve. read more...
Colossians 2:14
The requirement of God's Law was total perfection. It was the finger of God Who wrote the ten commandments on the two stone tablets, and it was the hand of Moses that recorded God's Law in its entirety. The Law may have been given to Israel, but that Law condemns every human soul, for ALL have sinned and all fall short of His glory.
The Law was written by the hand of God on tablets of stone, and that handwriting condemned every read more...
Colossians 2:15
The crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ freed us from the righteous demands of the law by nailing them to the Cross, permanently erasing the un-payable certificate of debt that we owe so that all who believe in Him are no longer under law but under grace.
Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf, not so that we could live lawless lives, but to enable us to obey the Lord in spirit and truth and live godly in Christ Jesus out of love read more...
Colossians 2:16
Paul often lays the foundation and fundamentals of faith early in his writings. He then identifies anything that has caused his readers to stray from the truth, or has diverted their attention away from Christ. Finally, he explains how these truths should be applied to our individual, everyday lives.
Here, Paul has come to the conclusion that we should, "let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an read more...
Colossians 2:17
A shadow is an intangible image of something that is real. It is a dark area or hazy shape, produced when something or someone comes between rays of light and an object. A shadow of a tree is not the actual tree, but simply a flat, colourless representation of the real thing which has a textured trunk, inner sap, and exterior bark. A tree is so much more than its shadow. A tree has twiggy branches, deep roots, and colourful leaves - and it produces buds, blossom, read more...
Colossians 2:18
There are many subtle ways that the enemy of our soul is able to defraud us of the heavenly prize that awaits the children of God. There are those that seek to captivate our minds through men-inspired philosophies and other empty deceptions, all of which emanate from the proud traditions of man and which are according to the elementary principles of this fallen world's system, rather than from Christ.
It is in Christ Jesus that read more...
Colossians 2:19
This verse of Scripture is part of a passage that denounces a range of heretical teachings and lays out the criteria for living a high and holy life in Christ Jesus. It seeks to prevent these believers from becoming captive to false teachings or duped by deceptive philosophies, while encouraging them to develop an inner, spiritual, and sacrificial life in Him.
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Colossians 2:20
Every member of the human race is connected to Adam by birth. All are imputed with a sin nature, and the wages of sin is death. As members of the first fallen creation, we are all irrevocably identified with Adam and the eternal consequences of his rebellious fall.
However, through spiritual rebirth, we are immutably connected to Christ and imputed with His perfect righteousness. Our sins have been forgiven by faith, and our read more...
Colossians 2:21
The enemy of our soul seeks to ship-wreck the life and testimony of believers by whatever means he can, and Paul's counter-measure to satanic influences, worldly philosophers, deceptive arguments, and false doctrines, is to know and practice the truth. We are called to be aware of the multiplicity of unbiblical teachings and demonic doctrines awash in Christendom today, but the best way to discern a lie is to know the truth. The best way to read more...
Colossians 2:22
There are many appealing philosophies, human commands, Jewish procedures, and aesthetic practices, that can deceive a believer into wrong thinking and cause them to adopt unbiblical ways, particularly with regard to food and drink, customs like circumcision, a fascination with angels, visions and feelings, the requirement to adopt sabbath-day rules, or the mandatory participation in feast days.
However, Paul warns us that these read more...
Colossians 2:23
Paul is eager to make a clear distinction between the sufficiency we have in Christ, and the empty futility of worldly philosophies and deception of human wisdom. He wants to instil in our heart the perils of legalism, mysticism, asceticism, and every other kind of man-made rite, religious ritual, or self-imposed mortification of the flesh.
He is keen to expound the supremacy of Christ over the restrictive nature of human read more...