So, walk in Him”. Paul is telling them to walk in the Spirit. Again, just as I stated in previous Colossian’s study, Paul uses walk in Jesus interchangeably with Spirit.
Rooted and built up and established in faith just as you were taught. God rooted them, Paul & Epaphras built them up and is continuing through this letter to strength the Colossae brothers and sisters. Established in Christ because of their faith. Just as they were taught by Epaphras.
Read Colossians 2:8
What does Paul mean by “no one takes you captive by philosophy, empty deceit according to human traditions and elemental spirits of the world”?
Do not be persuaded by human philosophy or useless deceit. There were a lot of different gods and philosophies in the Roman world, especially in Asia Minor where the Colossians were.
Paul is very concerned about these false teachers and their ability to lead the Colossians away.
Paul begins to address here what scholars call the “Colossae heresy”. The belief in worshipping angels. He says “Elemental spirits” to call that out. Naked Bible Commentary on Colossians
Paul all through his different epistles talks about rulers and authorities and he is not talking about earthly rulers, but the spiritual realm. That is where the real war for humanity was going on. Eph 1:21, 3:10, 6:12, 1 Cor 15:24, Rom 8:38, Col 1:16, 2:10, 2:15, Titus 3:1. The King James version will say principalities and powers. Means the same thing.
Read Colossians 2:9-10
Here Paul is disclosing that Christ is in you, even in you Gentiles. The phrase means in your midst as a community or within you as individuals. The indwelling Spirit and the indwelling of Christ are interchangeable for Paul. This should give them confidence that they will share in the fullness of the glory when Jesus returns. That is why Paul says the hope of glory. The Epistles to the Colossians Pg.85
Vs.10 – Christ is the head of all rule and authority. Over angles, demons, other gods. All bow to His will and authority. The Colossians needed to hear it because they were being lied to and told to worship angles.
Read Colossians 2:11
Paul wants them to know they are important to God. The Jews before Christ were the only people that had access to the one true God. Through the Law the Jewish people could know and trust God. But circumcision was a must to be a Jew. Paul is telling these Gentile Colossians that Christ has circumcised them spiritually and they now have access to the one true God. It is better than the law b/c it is not of flesh and was done without the hands of man. God through Christ brought salvation and access for the Gentiles. The ESV says, “Putting off the body of the flesh”. It means the cutting away of sins. The initiating rite of the Old Covenant, circumcision of all males in the Jewish faith signified a cutting away of sin, undergoing a change of heart and being included in the house of faith. Deuteronomy 10:16 and Jeremiah 4:4. Christ has done this once and for all. Being physically circumcised to have fellowship with the one true God was not necessary because Christ fulfilled the Law and through him, we have access to God. Very good commentary on OT circumcision can be found here.
Read Colossians 2:12-13
The word Baptism means to be immersed to dip. If we only think of baptism associated with water, then we will be missing the true messages in the Bible around Christ and become confused as to what Paul means. The word Baptize used metaphorically means “a change of identity or to identify”. 1 Corinthians 10:1-2. This passage talks about the Israelites after the exodus had a new identity in Moses. John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:11 I baptize with water, but the one coming that I am not worthy to tie His sandals will baptize with the Spirit and Fire. We as Christians are baptized with the Holy Spirit through Christ and water is only the symbolic picture of what Christ has done. If we link Old Covenant to Circumcision and New Covenant to water baptism, then we need to ask questions.
What did Old Testament circumcision accomplish?
What didn’t it accomplish?
Circumcision was not performed on women, so what did it mean for women in the Israelite covenant? How does this translate to any equation with baptism?
First, circumcision neither provided nor ensured salvation (we’re hitting this first question: What did circumcision do, and what didn’t it do?), nor did it lessen anyone’s sinful impulse. The Old Testament story is dramatically clear that most circumcised Israelites apostatized, turning to idolatry and prompting the curse of God in the form of the exile. The fact that Israelite men were circumcised meant nothing with respect to their spiritual inclination or destiny. In fact, Paul specifically denies such an equation in Romans 4, where he labors to make the point that Abraham was justified prior to circumcision because he believed.
Second, circumcision was not practiced on women. This may seem obvious, but female genital circumcision was (and still is) practiced among some cultures and religions in the Middle East. The fact that circumcision was only practiced on men in Israel should inform us that the cutting rite itself did nothing with respect to one’s ultimate spiritual destiny. Otherwise, women would not have been excluded. In other words, if this is the path to heaven, you’re deliberately excluding women. Circumcision did mean something to Israelite women, though—the same thing that it meant for men… For both male and female Israelites, the sign of circumcision was a physical, visible reminder that their race, their very lives, and the lives of their children—began as a supernatural act of God on behalf of Abraham and Sarah. Circumcision was a constant reminder of God’s grace to that original couple and to their posterity. Undergoing circumcision did not bestow salvation. It was a reminder of the supernatural grace of God—in this case, directed at a people whom God had chosen in love to give them the revelation of who he was and how to be rightly related to him.
Additionally, for males, circumcision granted the recipient admission into the community of Israel—the community that had the exclusive truth of the true God. This truth included God’s covenant relationship with Israel and their need to have circumcised hearts (in other words, to believe in God’s promises and worship him alone). In ancient patriarchal Israel, women were members of the community through marriage to a circumcised man or by being born to Israelite parents. Intermarriage with foreign men (in other words, those not circumcised and thus not part of God’s covenant community) was forbidden. This was a prohibition that maintained the purity of the membership, and that purity was directly related to the spiritual significance of circumcision.
Every Israelite member of the exclusive community had to believe in the covenant promises and worship only Yahweh, trusting that relationship to result in an afterlife with their God. Circumcision merely meant access to these truths. Now let’s apply this to baptism. It’s easy to see how the meaning and significance of circumcision connects to baptism, whether one’s position includes baptism of infants or not. Baptism of an infant makes that infant a member in the believing community—a local church. Hopefully, that church will teach the oracles of God—the way of salvation—so that the child will hear the gospel at one point and believe. The hope would be the same for an adult recipient. When Abraham and his entire household (even his servants) were circumcised, the account does not tell us who believed in Abraham’s God and who didn’t. The assumption was that as the members of his household observed God’s blessing on Abraham and Abraham’s faithfulness, then they, too, would believe in what was going on. Membership in the family of God would both foster and sustain faith. These were God’s goals for the Old Testament people of God—the nation of Israel. The same is true of the people of God today known as the Church. The sign and rite have changed, but the theological point is the same.
Paul here is making the point that Faith in Christ is what saves not baptism, just as circumcision did not save. It was faith back during the Old Covenant and today in the New Covenant. Look back at vs 10. Believers have been filled in Him which saves us from death. Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ.
Read Colossians 2:13-14
The uncircumcision of your flesh. Here Paul is calling out that you were not part of the community of God. You were a Gentile, physically uncircumcised, but Paul goes on to say, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven US all our trespasses (sins). Why didn’t Paul say having forgiven you all your trespasses? He called out their physical uncircumcision. Forgiven us all our trespasses. Circumcision did not save. Christ does as we will see in 14 and 15.
Vs.14 – Canceling the record of debt that stood against us. What is the debt God had against us? The Law. Gentiles were under the condemnation for not following the Law just as the Jewish people. Galatians 3:10.
This was set aside. Nailed to the cross with Christ. He fulfilled it all.
Read Colossians 2:15
He (Jesus) disarmed the “rulers and authorities” that were the divine beings ruling over the Gentile nations. The nations were going to be reclaimed in A.D. 70 when Jesus returned to destroy Jerusalem and judge the living and the dead.
Divine beings can be seen here Psalms 82 and Deuteronomy 32. Also, great commentary on this divine counsel and beings can be read in
Crack A Bible 