Colossians Chapter 2 Breakdown

1 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Paul is referencing a great struggle he is having for both Colosse and Laodicea. Both of these cities are in what we know as modern day Turkey. Just an interesting fact. He wants those who have never seen him, but have heard him to be encouraged and to join together in love. He also wants them to be assured in the understanding of the word, and to know the mystery of YHWH. Remember, the Northern Kingdom of the House of Israel was scattered into the surrounding countries. They were taken captive into Assyria, which made up a large portion of modern day Turkey. I bring this up do to the idea that Paul is specifically speaking to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.

Paul is saying this because there is a real possibility of people coming to the Colossians and teaching deceptively.

5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

Even though Paul is not physically present in Colosse, he is with them in the spirit. He rejoices when he hears of their good deeds and their commitment to the faith.

6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Now that you have Yeshua, walk with Him, do as He did. Be rooted in Him and built up in Him establishing the faith.

8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

Paul again warns them of those who may come in and teach deceitful philosophies. These will be according to the traditions of men, and will not align with the Word of YHWH. Traditions of men have crept their way into the initial intent of what Yeshua, and Paul taught. The principals of the world are contrary to that of the principals of YHWH’s Word.

Psalm 119:118

You reject all those who stray from Your statutes, For their deceit is falsehood.

Jeremiah 8:5

Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return.

Jeremiah 23:25-27

I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,  who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5

“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.

I gave all these scriptures to show that the man teaching deceit is the man teaching against the Torah, the Law of YHWH.

9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

In Yeshua lives all the fullness of the Godhead and believers are made complete when they are living in Him.

11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

In Yeshua you become circumcised which is done without hands. Paul is referring to the circumcision of the heart. We can find in several placed in the Torah that specifically states this is what needs to happen.

Deuteronomy 10:16

Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.

Deuteronomy 30:6

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Jeremiah 4:4

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings.”

Paul then goes on to say, stop sinning. We know that sin is the breaking of YHWH’s law, and therefore, we must keep His law in order to not sin.

1 John 3:4

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness, which is, living without the law of YHWH. By doing this, you are showing your love for the Father. You will be raised up because Yeshua was raised up after death.

13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

You are now dead to your trespasses, meaning you have died to your sin, as in you are no longer living in sin. You have died also to the uncircumcision of your flesh. You are now alive with Yeshua and have been forgiven your sin, but that does not mean you can continue in sin. Yeshua wiped out the requirements that were against us, which was contrary to us. Many preachers teach this is referring to the law of YHWH. But, the law of YHWH is beneficial to us. The only thing that was not beneficial to us is the portion which brought on the penalty of the law. That is, when believers chose not to follow YHWH’s law, they had curses fall upon them. Yeshua’s death ended those curses, not the law itself.

Hebrews 10:26-27

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

As the author of Hebrews states outright, willful sin after receiving Christ and the knowledge of truth, leaves a man no longer able to be justified by the death of Yeshua. Therefore, knowing how sin is defined, according to 1 John, we must be keeping the Law of YHWH in order to not sin. We know there is sin because we are told we can still sin after we receive the knowledge of truth. We know what sin is. It saddens me to think many teachers claim keeping the law of YHWH itself is sin, even though Paul specifically states this to be false.

Romans 7:7

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

Keeping the law is not sinful, but it is the way we show our love to the Father, and it is also a way we can show ourselves to be worthy of Grace. That does not mean we are doing it to be saved, it does not mean we can boast about being saved because we keep the law, no. But it is a way to show we have faith in the word of YHWH and we are acting out that faith in our daily lives.

15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Yeshua has disarmed all the powers against us, and made an example out of them by overcoming them.

16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Now, Paul makes the statement that is used so often in churches today to make the claim Christianity no longer has to abide by the Law of YHWH or the feast days found within that law. Paul says, let no one judge you in food or drink. Let’s stop there and think about this. Paul is speaking to a group of people who have just began to follow the Law in which Paul taught them. Paul was a student of Gamliel, and was the most passionate student at that. In order to even be a student of this man the requirement was to have memorized the entire Torah. This means, Paul knew the Old Testament better than just about any man on the earth at that time. There is no way we can sit here and claim Paul throws out everything he knows about YHWH and teach something completely different. Now, these newly converted believers were eating what the Torah called clean and not eating the animals that were considered unclean. It makes much more sense that the people they live with, such as friends and family, were judging them for being different than the rest of the city. I can say through my own experiences, since I have stopped eating meats considered unclean, I have heard judgments about it. Next, Paul goes into these people being judged because of the festivals, months, and Sabbaths they are keeping. Again, these men do not live in Israel with the Jews. They live in a pagan city with other pagan men. When they began keeping YHWH’s feast day, YHWH’s calendar, and YHWH’s Sabbaths, these pagan citizens were judging them about it. These people were not continuing in their own pagan ways and being judged by the Jews for doing so. Paul then says the dietary laws, the feasts days, and the Sabbaths they are celebrating are shadows of things to come, they are the substance of Christ. Therefore, we cannot say these things are not vital to our understanding of what we should be doing.

18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

There will be men who come to you and try to teach you false doctrine. Do not let this happen. Paul then says men will even be worshipers of angels, or messengers. These men are interfering with things they have not seen. They are full of vanity, and hopelessly full of their own demise due to their walking contrary to YHWH’s word. They may even claim to be believers which is implied when Paul says they are not holding fast to the Head, with is Yeshua. We know that the carnal mind, which is the mind not set on YHWH can only walk contrary to the Law of YHWH.

Romans 8:7

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

It is the spiritual mind that is subject to the law of YHWH. We deduce this from Paul’s statement that the carnal mind cannot be subject to the law of YHWH. That only leaves the spiritual mind. If this is the case we have to understand the law of YHWH is important for us today.

20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?

The basic principles of the world, remember, are the traditions of men. You are now dead to these traditions of men. You have no reason to subject yourself to these principles and traditions. These are all doctrines of men.

23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

These traditions of men, and principles of the world do appear to have wisdom, but are of no value against the desires of the flesh.