Colossians 2:19

Colossians 2:19

17 ^awhich are a shadow of things to come, but the¹ substance is of Christ.

18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has¹ not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

19 and not holding fast to ^athe Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, ^bgrows with the increase that is from God.

20 Therefore, if you ^adied with Christ from the basic principles of the world, ^bwhy, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—

21 ^a“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”

22 which all concern things which perish with the using—^aaccording to the commandments and doctrines of men?

23 ^aThese things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and¹ neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Commentaries:

Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)

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Not holding fast the Head (ou kratwn thn kefalhn). Note negative ou, not mh, actual case of deserting Christ as the Head. The Gnostics dethroned Christ from his primacy (Colossians 1:18) and placed him below a long line of aeons or angels. They did it with words of praise for Christ as those do now who teach Christ as only the noblest of men. The headship of Christ is the keynote of this Epistle to the Colossians and the heart of Paul's Christology.

From whom (ec ou). Masculine ablative rather than ec hv (kefalhv) because Christ is the Head. He develops the figure of the body of which Christ is Head (Colossians 1:18, Colossians 1:24).

Being supplied (epixorhgoumenon). Present passive participle (continuous action) of epixorhgew, for which interesting verb see already II Corinthians 9:10; Galatians 3:5 and further II Peter 1:5.

Knit together (sunbibazomenon). Present passive participle also (continuous action) of sunbibazw, for which see Colossians 2:2.

Through the joints (dia twn afwn). Late word afh (from aptw, to fasten together), connections (junctura and nexus in the Vulgate).

And bonds (kai sundesmwn). Old word from sundew, to bind together. Aristotle and Galen use it of the human body. Both words picture well the wonderful unity in the body by cells, muscles, arteries, veins, nerves, skin, glands, etc. It is a marvellous machine working together under the direction of the head.

Increaseth with the increase of God (aucei thn auchsin tou qeou). Cognate accusative (auchsin) with the old verb aucei.

**Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Colossians 2:19:**

Acts 8:23
Acts 19:33
2 Corinthians 9:10
Ephesians 4:16
Colossians 1:18
Colossians 1:20
Colossians 2:2
Colossians 3:14
Hebrews 4:14
1 Peter 2:2
2 Peter 1:5

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