Colossians 2:1-5

¹I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. ²My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. ⁵For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

Paul, in v24-29 of chapter 1, described in general his suffering for the Church, his commission from God to preach the gospel, the message of his ministry, and his method, purpose, and power, or motivation. In v1-5 of chapter 2, Paul continues speaking of his ministry, but with a slightly different focus. He shows how his ministry is important to the Colossians and Laodiceans (4:16), though he hasn’t even met many of them (v1). He still speaks of his struggle (v1), which is not solely prayer as some commentators suggest, but is more related to his purpose (v2), of which he also speaks again. His purpose is a struggle, to make disciples of Christ through the verbal communication of the gospel, so that those who receive it will be made perfect, encouraged in heart, united in love, having the riches of complete understanding, full in the knowledge of Christ (v2), in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (v3). And Paul gives his reason for wanting to bring this reality that the fullness of wisdom is in Christ to everyone (v4): so that no one will be deceived by fine-sounding arguments. The false teachers denied that v2-3 could become reality for believers in Christ alone; they heralded additional rites and spiritual practices. Paul wants them again to know that Christ is sufficient. And he compliments them for thus far standing firm in their faith in Christ (v5). Let’s break it down a little further.

Paul specifically in v2 wants the believers in this region of the Roman Empire to be encouraged in heart (deep to the core) and united in love. The steady and stable, maturing Christian has a strengthened heart. And the maturing Christian also has a deep love for other believers. “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” The knowledge of Christ produces these things; and these things help to increase our knowledge of Christ. Additionally in v2, Paul says that encouragement and union in faith and love are essential for having the full riches of complete understanding, which is having a full knowledge (experiential perception) of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2:2). A Puritan once said, “Knowledge in the head is like money in the bank, but knowledge in the heart is like money ready for use.” Knowledge in the heart is what Paul desires for us, so we can put it to use.

Although the word “assurance” is missing from v2 in the NIV, it is present in the Greek and certainly in Paul’s intent. It’s the same word from Hebrews 6:11, 10:22. The KJV says, “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.” Paul wants us as believers to be firmly convicted in our relationship with Christ; he wants our faith in Christ to be sure and settled, not halfhearted or uncertain. Settled conviction is what enabled the martyrs to die a death in faithfulness to Jesus Christ. When Polycarp, an 86-year-old man, stood before the Roman proconsul, the man said to him, “I will let you live; I will not put you into the fire, if you will but deny Christ.” Polycarp said, “For eighty and six years I have served Him and He has never denied me yet. How can I deny Him?” That is a man with settled conviction. He knows Christ. He knows that Christ knows him and he is not willing to trade Christ for anything else or to add anything to Christ. This assurance has been called “the suburbs of heaven.”

Paul wants spiritual encouragement, mutual love, deep assurance, and true knowledge of Christ for the Colossians. Knowledge and application are joined together here. Living the Christian life cannot be separated from knowledge of Christ (the full gospel, neglecting no doctrine), and an authentic knowledge of Christianity (not merely intellectual) is certain to bring about living the Christian life. As a circular letter, this epistle was to passed on specifically to Laodicea and perhaps to other neighboring churches. Likewise, Paul wrote a letter to Laodicea that was expected to be passed on to Colosse; alas, we have no record of that epistle.

At the end of v2 and into v3, Paul uses “mystery” again, and he also says that treasures are “hidden” in Christ. This language is playing on the false teachers heresy. Ascetic rituals and mystical spiritual experiences were taught to unlock some deeper spiritual life with God, but Paul says, “No. Christ alone contains and unlocks the only treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Calvin says, “We are perfect in wisdom if we truly know Christ, so that it is madness to wish to know anything besides Him. For since the Father has manifested himself wholly in Him, that man wishes to be wise apart from God, who is not contented with Christ alone.” In John 17:3, Jesus is praying to the Father, and He says that He has shown the Father to His disciples (1 John 2:23). Then He says, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” In Christ alone is the treasure of knowing God – eternal life.

So Paul uses the language of the false teachers to refute their claims (v4), and to warn his audience of their intellectually appealing tactics, just as Jude did in his short letter. It’s really a great example of an evangelism tool. Seated next to a lady on an airplane a few years back, she started a conversation that quickly turned to spiritual things. She was a “new-ager,” thinking of “God” as some “light-force.” And so I engaged her using her language. Indeed the Scripture says that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. Now I made efforts to correct her faulty understanding of the “Light-God,” but I made no measurable progress that day. Perhaps it was a seed planted or watered, and as the Bible says, “God must give the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

Finally, in v5, Paul compliments their “good order” and “firm faith in Christ.” This is a strong encouragement to perseverance, something we spoke of previously in chapter 1. However, we come across something else of interest here. Paul speaks of being absent in the body, but present in spirit. What is that all about? Paul is saying that although he is not with them, his intimacy with them as a brother in Christ and his authority over them as God’s appointed instrument to teach them makes it as if he is there. His heart is with them; he cares for them deeply. And furthermore, his mind’s eye has seen their unity and faithfulness and delighted in them.