Colossians
Chapter 2
Although I am far from you, my spirit is with you, and I rejoice in remembering how disciplined you are and how strong in the faith of Christ.
Christian Life
Be rooted and built up in him; let faith be your principle, as you were taught, and let your thanksgiving overflow.
I am referring to baptism. When you received it, you were buried with Christ; and you also rose with him because you believed in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
He canceled the record of our debts, those regulations that accused us. He removed all of that and nailed it to the cross.
Through the cross, he defeated the rulers and authorities, humbling them in front of the entire world and making a public spectacle of them as prisoners.
These things were only shadows of what was to come, but the reality is the person of Christ
Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on humbling practices and worship of angels. They are only meant to satisfy self-indulgence,
instead of holding firmly to the head, Christ. It is He who nourishes and unites the whole body through a complex system of nerves and ligaments, making it grow according to God’s plan.
New Life with Christ
If you have truly died with Christ and are free from the principles of the world, why do you now allow yourselves to be taught as if you still belonged to it?
“Do not eat this, do not taste that, do not touch that….”
These are human rules and teachings based on perishable things that wear out and vanish.
These doctrines may seem to be deep because they focus on religious observance, humility, and neglecting the body. They are useless as soon as the flesh rebels.
Commentaries
Paul’s Ministry.
This salvation offered to all and already experienced by the Colossians, formerly pagans and now reconciled by the blood of Christ, is the great “mystery hidden for ages and generations and now revealed to his holy ones” (1:26). God had formally promised a Messiah to the Jews, and they expected him for themselves. But in God’s plan, the Messiah was also destined for the pagans, that is, for all men and women in the world, regardless of religion, race, or nation. Paul has received this secret, and it is his task to announce and proclaim it. That is why he teaches, admonishes, works, and struggles with the energy and effectiveness that come from the power of the Word of God that he proclaims. The revelation he bears is not mere information but the richness—shared and given—of participation in the glory of God.
This missionary work is primarily characterized by suffering, fitting for an apostle who follows in the footsteps of the Crucified One. Paul describes this suffering for the Gospel with one of his brilliant and paradoxical phrases, in which he expresses his joy at being able to complete “what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church” (1:24). He does not mean to say that Christ’s saving actions—the death and resurrection—were insufficient, thus requiring our suffering, but rather that, considering the close communion between Christ and the Christian, he sees his own suffering as a continuation of his Lord’s saving suffering.
Christian Life.
Paul addresses the challenge of syncretistic ideologies that infiltrated the community. He urges his listeners, first and foremost, to live according to the teachings of their faith. Then, with a strong warning, he cautions them against false speculations and the deceptions of human traditions (8). Christ is above all else, “the head of all cosmic power and authority” (10). He is the incarnate divine, and “in him you share in this fullness” (10). Regarding the “forces of evil” that wield power through human sin, Paul envisions them in the grand scene of Christ’s triumphant march—like the victory procession of Roman emperors—with his retinue of conquered prisoners (15; cf. 2 Cor 2:14; 1 Pt 3:22). Finally, he strongly criticizes those who practice mortification and esoteric rituals that deceive the mind—temporarily satisfying it but ultimately filling it with emptiness. This vain mental swelling contrasts with the growth of the body—the Christian community—which, through Christ as its head (cf. Eph 4:15ff), receives sustenance and cohesion (19).
New Life in Christ.
Paul explains what forms “the sustenance and cohesion” that originates from Christ, the head of the Church. If Christians have died with Christ through baptism, they will rise with him into a new reality that must be lived here and now (3:4). Being already dead and risen with Christ should turn believers into people firmly grounded in society, ready to change it through their commitment and witness. In other words, their task is to make “present” in this world the “future of the new humanity” that God has planned for us in Christ. This is possible because the Lord, who died and rose again, has already overcome the limits of space and time, and he is the same one waiting for us in glory, “seated at the right hand of God” (3:1). That’s why he urges the Colossians to “seek the things that are above” (3:1), not to escape from the tasks “down here,” but so that what they long for and pursue can become a reality through truly Christian actions.