Chapter 2
For I want you to know how greatly I strive for you, …
Paul again expresses his concern for the congregation.
…and for those at La-odice′a, …
The nearby city.
…and for all who have not seen my face, …
Paul didn’t know the congregation at Laodicea or Colossae.
…2 that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love, …
Paul desires that these communities grow in charity and intimacy
…to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, of Christ, 3 in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Paul focuses on the primacy of Christ.
4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with beguiling speech.
Paul is re-affirm the Christian truth so that they’ll know recognize heresy.
5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
I’m with your in spirit.
They will make Paul happy if they remain good order and keep faith in Christ.
Fullness of Life in Christ
6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Continue as they began.
Firmly rooted.
Growing in the Faith.
8 See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, …
Paul warns them of being led astray.
Gnosticism had a strong philosophical basis.
It’s important to emphasize that it speaks of human tradition, not all tradition (2 Thes 2:15).
…according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.
Gnosticism. Astrology. Christ one of many.
9 For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fulness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Probably one of the greatest Christological statements.
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Paul draws a parallel between circumcision and baptism.
13 And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.
Primacy of Christ.
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Judaizing? Gnosticism?
18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
Worship of angels was one of the heresies.
Unhealthy self-abasement also appears to be one of the heresies.
.. 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Paul again calls them back to hold onto Christ. He again hopes that they are “knit together”. This time he speaks of it in context of Christ.
Warnings against False Teachers
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?
Again Gnosticism.
Why do you submit to regulations, 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh.
Probably phrases of the heretics. Judaizing? Gnosticism?