Commentary - Colossians 2:1-5

Bird's-eye view

The apostle Paul, though imprisoned, is not idle. He is a spiritual warrior, and his primary theater of operations here is on his knees and in his apostolic instruction. He is engaged in a great struggle for the churches in the Lycus valley, churches he has never personally visited. This struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers that manifest themselves in bad ideas. The Colossian heresy was a form of "Christ-plus" thinking, a syncretistic blend of mystical Judaism, pagan philosophy, and angel worship. Paul's response is not to offer a better blend, but to declare the absolute, unadulterated, all-encompassing sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. This passage is a pastoral exhortation, a doctrinal declaration, and a battle cry all rolled into one. The goal is to move the saints from a shaky position into the fortified castle of full assurance, which is found in Christ alone.

Outline

The Text

The Apostolic Struggle (v. 1)

1 For I want you to understand how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not seen my face in the flesh,

Paul begins by pulling back the curtain on his interior life. He wants these believers to know, to understand, the depth of his care for them. The word for struggle here is agōn, from which we get our word agony. This is not a mild concern or a passing thought. This is wrestling. This is the spiritual equivalent of an athlete straining every muscle for the prize. Paul is in prison, but his real labor is in prayer and apostolic concern for these churches. Notice also that his struggle extends to those he has never met, those at Laodicea and others who have not seen his face. This is a profound rebuke to our modern, celebrity-driven, face-to-face conception of ministry. Paul's love is not a function of personal acquaintance but of their shared union in the body of Christ. His apostolic office makes him a debtor to them all, and he pays that debt through this agonizing labor.

The Goal: Rich Assurance (vv. 2-3)

2 so that their hearts may be encouraged, having been held together in love, even unto all the wealth of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Here is the purpose of his struggle. It is not for nothing. First, the goal is encouraged hearts. This is not a shallow pep talk. This is deep, settled comfort and strengthening. And how does this encouragement come? By being held together in love. The Greek word is sumbibazō, meaning to be knit together, compacted. Christian stability is a corporate project. Lone ranger Christians are unstable Christians. Love is the sinew that binds the body together, and without it, everything falls apart.

This loving unity then leads to the next stage: all the wealth of the full assurance of understanding. Assurance is not a feeling we work up; it is a treasure we are given. It is a wealth, not a pittance. And it is tied directly to understanding. The Holy Spirit does not grant assurance to lazy minds. We are to understand the gospel, to grasp its contours, to see its logic. This leads to the ultimate goal, which is the full knowledge of God's mystery. And what is this great mystery, this secret that the ages have longed to see? It is not a complicated formula or a secret handshake. The mystery of God is, Christ Himself. All the purposes of God, all the shadows of the Old Testament, all the hopes of Israel, converge and find their meaning in a person. Jesus Christ is the answer to the riddle of the universe.

And then, in verse 3, Paul drops the bomb on all the Gnostic pretenders and philosophical peddlers. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Not some of the treasures. Not a good portion of them. All of them. The word hidden does not mean they are inaccessible. It means this is their location. If you want to find the treasure, you must go to Christ. He is the treasure chest. Any system of thought, any philosophy, any religion that offers you "Christ-plus" something else is a fraud. Christ plus secret knowledge, Christ plus ascetic practices, Christ plus worldly wisdom. All of it is a con, because if you have Christ, you have all the treasures. Why would a man who owns a gold mine go sifting through the city dump for shiny bottle caps?

The Protective Warning (v. 4)

4 I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.

Here is the sharp, practical point. Sound doctrine is a shield. Paul has just laid out the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Christ for a very specific reason: to protect the flock from wolves. The danger is not overt, snarling attacks, but delusion through persuasive argument. The Greek is pithanologia, which means plausible-sounding speech, smooth talk. Heretics are almost always winsome. Their arguments sound reasonable, appealing, and enlightened. They flatter the intellect and promise a higher way. Paul's antidote is not a competing smooth argument, but the solid, granite reality of Christ. When you know that all the treasure is in Christ, the salesman offering you spiritual trinkets on the side loses all his appeal.

The Ordered Faith (v. 5)

5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the stability of your faith in Christ.

Paul may be physically absent, but through the communion of the saints in the Holy Spirit, he is present with them. His apostolic oversight is not constrained by prison walls. And what does he see in the Spirit? He sees two things that cause him to rejoice. First, their good order (taxis), and second, the stability (stereōma) of their faith. Both of these are military terms. Taxis refers to disciplined ranks, an army drawn up for battle. Stereōma refers to a solid front, a bulwark, a steadfastness that cannot be easily broken. The church is not a random collection of individuals pursuing their private spiritual journeys. It is an army, under orders, holding a line against the enemy. And notice the foundation of this stability: it is their faith in Christ. Everything comes back to Him. A disciplined church is a church disciplined by the truth of Christ. A stable church is a church whose foundation is Christ alone.

Application

The Colossian heresy is not dead; it just changes its wardrobe every generation. The temptation to supplement the simple gospel of Christ with something more is perennial. In our day, it might be Christ plus political activism, or Christ plus therapeutic techniques, or Christ plus a particular social theory. The message of Paul to the Colossians is God's message to us. We must be utterly convinced of the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ.

Our assurance does not come from the intensity of our feelings but from the wealth of our understanding of who Christ is and what He has done. This requires us to be people of the Book, people who love sound doctrine. And this doctrinal stability is not an individual project. We are to be knit together in love, standing shoulder to shoulder like a disciplined army. When the smooth-talkers come with their persuasive arguments, we will not be deluded, because we will have already found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in one place, and in one person, our Lord Jesus Christ.