Colossians 2:2, commentary and pictures

Paul's burden in this verse is for the believers at Colosse and Laodicea and for all who had not seen his face, that they be comforted, united, and established in full assurance. His desire is that their hearts be strengthened and knit together in love, unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. That mystery centers on Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in whom believers are complete as He is head of all principality and power. Being thus united in love and grown into assured understanding of God in Christ guards believers against being beguiled with enticing words and spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit after men and the world and not after Christ. That knitting of hearts is the Lord's command and strength for His work, reached by learning of Christ, submitting the mind to the Holy Spirit, and cultivating tender, humble, unselfish love that binds believers to Christ and to one another in obedience.

Paul's Burden and Meaning

Paul's striving of anxious care reached beyond those he knew to the believers at Colosse and Laodicea and to all who had never seen his face, longing that their hearts be comforted, knit together in love, and brought into all riches of full assurance of understanding in acknowledging the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. His burden was that they be strengthened and united in love, growing into that rich, full assurance that comes from understanding and acknowledging the mystery of God, the Father, and Christ. That acknowledgment is centered on Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and believers are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power.

The verse sets forth the bond between receiver and giver, for those who receive must not be estranged from one another but have hearts knit together in love. They are to possess in themselves the full riches of assured understanding, so that they can understand and testify of the mystery of godliness concerning the Father and Christ. The Father and Christ are their efficiency and the source of all wisdom and knowledge, so wisdom is to be sought from Christ in faith rather than from those who have never learned in His school. The Scriptures are therefore not dark, mysterious, and incomprehensible, but are the book to be studied, and their study is intensely interesting and gives higher education.

What is desired here is God's full desire for believers, leaving nothing fuller to wish for. It calls them to lay hold with God's help upon a higher faith and a higher power, to put away long-cherished foolishness, to grow up to the full stature of men and women in Christ, and to be strong in His strength. The Laodicean church stood in need of this very message, and would have been brought out of darkness by receiving the word of God sent to them as God's word in truth rather than by doubting the message and the messenger. The verse belongs among the passages for self-examination and for learning how Christ is to be present in the heart, with the mystery of the Father and Christ open to ever deeper instruction.

Together with its setting in Colossians 2:1-10, it is to be read carefully and prayerfully for an education for eternity. That education means growing in knowledge and growing in grace, ever advancing with persistent effort to perfect character and to reach completeness in Christ. It leaves no place for remaining with a dwarfed, weakly, babyish religious experience.

Safeguard Against False Teaching

Paul's prayer for comforted hearts knit together in love unto all riches of full assurance of understanding is a safeguard against being beguiled with enticing words and spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men and the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. That danger is like the teaching of the Jewish teachers, whose minds were filled with maxims and suppositions, who made the Word mean what God never designed and enforced their oddities upon the people. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and believers are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. Being united in love gives comfort and brings full assurance and true knowledge of God in Christ, and this rooted understanding keeps believers from being beguiled and spoiled after human tradition.

Being united in love and growing into assured understanding of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, strengthens believers against being misled by strange doctrines and persuasive words. That understanding centers on Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and Christ is the safe guide who keeps believers from being drawn away from the gospel. It equips them to resist persuasive false teaching and to remain established in the faith they have received. Believers with this assurance receive Christ Jesus the Lord and walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as taught, abounding with thanksgiving.

They follow Christ alone, safely discarding all ideas not included in His teaching, standing on the platform of eternal truth. They do not follow impulse as the Holy Spirit, but are sound in the faith and able to give a reason for their hope. Knowledge of the mystery has plain conditions: continuing in the faith grounded and settled and not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Continuing in the faith calls for much searching of the Scriptures, and no one can be settled in the faith without educating and training every faculty of the mind. To continue means having determined purpose to use every God-given power in becoming an experienced and competent builder with God, building up souls of those in the faith and striving to reach those who have not yet come to a knowledge of the truth.

This comfort, unity, and assurance are found by learning of Christ and submitting the intellect to the molding of the Holy Spirit to receive wisdom from above. By that wisdom believers discern that God's commandments demand obedience, receive the righteousness of Christ and reconciliation to God through His blood, and become one with the Father through Jesus Christ. So made complete in Him in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, they press toward perfection of Christian character instead of being spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit and led from the solid rock onto sliding sand. Following on to know the Lord in this way broadens views so they are not bound about by self. Believers should pray for enlarged understanding to grasp both that Jesus Christ is their substitute and surety and that they belong to Christ as His purchased possession, and therefore to glorify God in body and spirit which are God's.

Unity Lived in Practice

Being knit together in love is a command of Scripture, and to disregard it breaks God's law as truly as breaking the fourth commandment. That union of comforted hearts is essential to success in the Lord's work. Love for Christ and for the truth is what knits hearts together in unity and love, and this unity leads to obedience to God's commandments.

That unity and strength come from Christ, who is the source of both, and are reached by seeking for unity and by cultivating love and conformity to Christ in all things. Where Christian unity is not sought, hearts are not knit together in love. Christian unity grows through tender regard, sympathy, humility, and unselfish love for one another, binding believers together in Christ and strengthening them for their work, while selfishness and pride hinder it and cultivated, sanctified love preserves Christian tenderness and respect for the dignity God has given people.

Hearts are knit together by high and holy ties, with all discord removed. This knitting is God's work carried on among His people as they set their hearts in order for the coming of the Lord and move forward in union and love. God gives comforted hearts united in love and all riches of full assurance of understanding as a treasure house of encouragement through rich, full, abundant and assuring promises to be received prayerfully and carefully. It means turning wholly to Christ instead of turning from Christ to humanity for help, appreciating Jesus so that the salvation of God is seen, and knowing what Christ is to believers and what believers may be to Him as His helping hand. Hearts filled with gratitude let the treasure of love and thanksgiving flow forth to refresh others, with little grievances unnoticed and larger difficulties met in the spirit of Christ, and with prayer to God for patience, perseverance and forbearance, so that when the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard for tried, tempted souls.

The Word is full of consolation and presents great possibilities and advantages to be appreciated, and through faith in Christ believers may reach the highest standard of Christian perfection. Spiritual understanding joins believers to Christ and to one another in love, with Paul's desire being that they be encouraged and united in love with the full assurance that comes from understanding and acknowledging God's mystery. The gospel influences those who receive it to attain Christian obedience, inspiring them with hope and giving that faith which works by love and purifies the soul, making the receiver Christlike in character, so that Christ as Redeemer and Creator and owner is glorified by individual service as His helping hand on earth.

The riches of the full assurance of understanding are reached through reconciling man to God through Jesus Christ by striving to do good and be good and by devoting every capability to Christ's service in cooperation with Him, and to refuse so to obey and serve is to rob God. True Christianity is not half-and-half service of God and mammon but full conversion to God, giving an understanding of spiritual things that unites with Christ and with one another in love, and this decided change with no undecided work is the work of the Holy Spirit upon character. Being knit together in love calls Christians to stand united, of one mind, and to love one another as Christ loved them, especially in the face of coming persecution. This unity is expressed as love for Christ and for perishing souls joining children and teachers in love and fellowship in all their work, as workers united through prayer and searching the Scriptures, and as ministers and workers with hearts joined as one in precious unity. It is experienced in small meetings where there is ample time for conversation on religious topics, for prayer together, for rejoicing in the love of God, and for learning the needs of brethren and sisters so as to pray more intelligently for them, a full knitting of hearts in bonds of love and Christian fellowship that cannot be so fully experienced at large camp meetings or other large gatherings.

True service under this truth makes believers self-denying and self-sacrificing, keeping individual holiness and consecration in view so that through sanctification of the truth they abound in works of benevolence for the uplifting of others.