Chapter 2:13-23

Commentary On The Epistle To The Colossians

By the Rev. Horace M. Patton

Colossians 2:13-23

2 13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. 16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, A New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. 20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21”Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2:13-23 NIV)

Verse 13:

Paul again reminds the Colossians (and hence us) of their spiritual condition before they received Christ. We, as they, were dead in our sins and uncircumcised in our sinful nature. Our nature was evil. We disobeyed, rebelled, and ignored God. Yet, God did a miraculous, wonderful, amazing thing—He made us spiritually alive with Christ.

He forgave us all our sins. It was our sins that made us dead to God; the forgiving of our sins makes us spiritually alive. Through forgiveness of sin we can have a personal relationship with our Creator, such as Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden before they disobeyed God.

Verse 14:

The written code was a business term, meaning a certificate of indebtedness in the debtor’s handwriting. This code, the Mosaic law (which Paul’s phrase symbolizes), put us in debt to God with sin. This debt Jesus Christ has canceled by nailing it to the cross. He made the full payment.

Verse 15:

At Calvary Jesus faced Satan and defeated him. He destroyed the power of sin, sickness and death. He conquered them for us.

Disarmed...public spectacle: The picture Paul makes here is of conquered soldiers stripped of their clothes as well as their weapons to symbolize their total defeat. See Ephes. 1:18-23, Phil. 2:8-11 and 1 John 3:8b for further reference to Christ’s triumph over the devil and his cohorts.

Verse 16:

What you eat or drink probably refers to the Jewish dietary laws. The festivals mentioned are Jewish holy days celebrated annually, monthly (New Moon), and weekly (the Sabbath). These rituals distinguished the Jews from their pagan neighbors.

Verse 17:

Old Testament laws, holidays, and feasts pointed toward Christ. Paul calls them a shadow of the reality that was to come. The reality was Christ Himself.

Verse 18:

Paul warned the Colossians of teachers who had several major faults:

1) They were proud of their humility. This false humility brought attention and praise to themselves rather than to God.

2) The false teachers were claiming that God could be approached only through various levels of angels. This is unscriptural; the Bible teaches that angels are God’s servants, and it forbids worshiping them (Exodus 20:3,4; Rev 22:8,9).

3) They claimed to have had visions which Paul indicates came from unspiritual puffed-up minds.

The expression unspiritual mind means that these people had a self-made religion. These false teachers were trying to deny the significance of the body by saying that it was evil, but their desire for attention from others showed that, in reality, they were obsessed with the physical realm.

Verse 19:

The basic problem with the false teachers was that they were not connected to Christ, the Head of the body of believers. If they had been joined to Him, they could not have taught false doctrine or lived immorally. Anyone who teaches about God without being connected to Him by faith should not be trusted.

Verse 20-21:

...the basic principles of this world: This term means false, worldly, religious, elementary teachings. Paul was counteracting the Colossian heresy, which, in part, taught that for salvation one needed to combine faith in Christ with secret knowledge and with man-made regulations concerning such physical and external practices as circumcision, eating and drinking, and observance of religious festivals. Do not handle! ...taste! ...touch! These prohibitions seem to carry Old Testament ceremonial laws to the extreme.

Verse 22-23:

To the Colossians, the discipline demanded by the false teachers seemed good, and legalism still attracts many people today. Following a long list of religious rules requires strong self-discipline and can make a person appear moral, but religious rules cannot change a person’s heart. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.

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