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Colossians 2

Paul grounds the believers’ freedom from religious coercion in Christ’s divine fullness, forgiving work, and authority over every power.

Paul writes to believers in Colossae, describing his struggle for them and for those in Laodicea, including people who have never met him. He wants them united in love and secure in their knowledge of Christ. Persuasive teaching threatens that confidence. Paul sets Christ’s divine fullness and victory at the cross against demands involving food, holy days, angel worship, and harsh treatment of the body. He urges them to hold fast to Christ, their Head.

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1For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
2that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
3in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
4Now I say this that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.
5For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him,
7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
8Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ.
9For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,
10and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power.
11In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,
12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.
15Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16Let no one therefore judge you in eating or drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,
17which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.
18Let no one rob you of your prize by self-abasement and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth.
20If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
21“Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch”
22(all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?
23These things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, humility, and severity to the body, but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Colossians 2:7The images of roots and building describe steadfast faith in Christ, sustained by the teaching received and expressed in thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:2Paul’s struggle aims at hearts comforted and joined in love, with assurance grounded in knowing God’s mystery in Christ.
Colossians 2:9Christ’s embodied divine fullness grounds Paul’s claim that believers are made full in him and need no rival spiritual authority.
Where this chapter reaches

Ephesians shares the picture of believers made alive with Christ and joined as a body under him as Head; Romans shares the baptismal language of burial and resurrection with Christ. Hebrews also uses shadow imagery for religious observances whose fulfillment is found in Christ.

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After reading the whole chapter

How does Paul’s account of the cross shape your reading of the commands that follow?

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What distinction does this chapter draw between growth from Christ and rules that appear wise?

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Questions people ask about Colossians 2

Does Colossians 2:8 condemn all philosophy?

Paul describes the teaching he opposes as deceitful, rooted in human tradition and the elemental spirits of the world, and detached from Christ. His warning targets teaching that takes believers captive through those sources. The chapter itself values wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, locating their treasures in Christ.

What does Colossians 2 say about food rules and the Sabbath?

Paul tells believers to let no one judge them over eating, drinking, or the observance of religious days, including Sabbaths. He calls these a shadow and points to Christ as their substance. The passage addresses such judgments; it does not provide a complete account of Christian worship schedules or voluntary observances.

Who were the false teachers in Colossians 2?

Paul does not name the teachers or identify a formal movement. His warnings mention human tradition, food restrictions, religious calendars, angel worship, and severity toward the body. These details show the pressures facing the believers, but the chapter leaves the teachers’ precise identity and the full shape of their teaching uncertain.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).