RSV ~ Colossians 2 Notes
Col 2:1 | ISB Notes
Laodicea: A neighboring city in the same region. Because Paul wrote both to the Colossians and to the Laodiceans, he directs them to exchange his letters with one another after reading them (4:16).
not seen my face: Paul was personally unknown to his readers.
Col 2:3 | ISB Notes
treasures of wisdom: Jesus embodies the fullness of divine Wisdom in himself (1 Cor 1:24, 30). Paul makes this statement to prepare readers for the following warning about dangerous teachings that deviate from Christian truth (2:4, 823). See note on 1:15-20.
Col 2:8-23 | ISB Notes
Paul confronts the teaching of Jewish troublemakers in Colossae. His comments suggest (1) they denied the full deity of Christ, and (2) they promoted the rituals of the Mosaic Law as indispensable requirements for living in covenant with God. Paul corrects these misunderstandings for his readers by asserting the divinity of Christ (2:9) and stressing that Gentile believers are already “complete” in Christ apart from the ceremonial works of the Old Covenant (circumcision, dietary laws, Sabbath observance, Temple festivals, etc.).
Col 2:8 | ISB Notes
philosophy: Although this term can refer to speculative theories about God, man, and the universe, it was also used by Hellenistic Jewish writers such as Josephus and Philo to refer to the Jewish way of life. This is probably Paul’s meaning here. It is true, nevertheless, that every philosophy is vain that disregards or denounces what God has revealed as good, true, and beautiful through Jesus Christ.
human tradition: Religious customs produced and promoted by men, not God. Perhaps Paul is following the example of Jesus by cautioning readers of human traditions passed on by Pharisees and synagogue elders (Mk 7:1-8). For Paul, only divinely instituted traditions that stem from Jesus and the apostles demand obedience from the Church (1 Cor 11:2; 2 Thess 2:15).
Col 2:9 | ISB Notes
deity dwells bodily: A powerful assertion of the full humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ (1:19; Jn 1:14). The mystery of the God-made-man was a stumbling block for many in Israel, who were skeptical that Yahweh’s presence could reside in a man and who were scandalized that the Messiah should suffer the curse of crucifixion (1 Cor 1:23; Gal 3:13) (CCC 242, 515).
Col 2:11 | ISB Notes
circumcision of Christ: The circumcision of the 6 heart (Rom 2:28-29). The procedure is performed in Baptism, the sacrament of spiritual rebirth (2:12).
• The Israelites were marked with the covenant sign of circumcision, but their rebellion over the centuries proved that their hearts remained uncircumcised (Jer 9:25-26). Moses realized that this would continue until Yahweh circumcised the hearts of his people himself (Deut 30:6). Paul interprets this vision of Moses in sacramental terms, insisting that Christ accomplishes in Baptism what circumcision only signified in ancient Israel. It is the moment when God cuts away from our hearts the fleshly desires that keep us from loving and obeying him as we should.
• Paul lays a biblical foundation for infant Baptism, inasmuch as circumcision was administered to newborn babies eight days after birth (Gen 17:9-14). Tradition bears this out, as St. Cyprian recounts that a council held in North Africa in the third century declared that Christians need not delay the Baptism of infants until the eighth day.
Behind this assertion lies the assumption that the early Christians saw in Baptism what the Israelites saw in circumcision: the sacrament of initiation into God’s covenant people, open to adults and infants alike.
Col 2:13 | ISB Notes
uncircumcision of your flesh: Indicates that most or all of the Colossians are Gentiles (Eph 2:11).
Col 2:14 | ISB Notes
the bond: A list of charges filed against the sinful human family. Christ destroyed this legal certificate on the Cross, when he canceled our debt of guilt and won pardon for our crimes. Paul is probably thinking of the Mosaic Law, which, as the written expression of God’s precepts, pronounces divine curses upon sin (Deut 27:15-26). In this scheme, Jesus mounted the Cross to bear the curses of the Old Covenant so that the blessings of the New could flow forth to the world (Gal 3:1314). As a further benefit, Christ frees us from the ceremonial observances of the Old Covenant, which merely signified our need for salvation in the first place (Eph 2:14-16).
Col 2:15 | ISB Notes
principalities and powers: Legions of demonic spirits (Eph 6:12). Christ conquered these Satanic powers decisively and dramatically on the Cross. Paul depicts this in terms of a victory march, recalling how Roman generals dragged prisoners of war through city streets to be disgraced and ridiculed after a successful military campaign.
See word study: Leads Us in Triumph at 2 Cor 2:14.
Col 2:16 | ISB Notes
food … drink … festival … new moon … sabbath: Jewish ceremonial practices that are often grouped together in the Bible (Is 1:13-14; Hos 2:11; Judg 8:6; 1 Mac 10:34). The first two concern kosher dietary restrictions, and the last three refer to liturgical feast days celebrated yearly (festivals), monthly (new moons), and weekly (Sabbaths). These ritual practices of the Old Covenant were mere “shadows” of the greater “substance” to come with Christ and the sacraments of the New Covenant (Col 2:17).
Col 2:18 | ISB Notes
worship of angels: This expression can be understood in different ways. (1) Many take it to mean “worship directed to angels” (objective genitive). If, in fact, a cult of the angels was popular at Colossae, it must have been a pagan element in the otherwise Jewish piety of the Colossian opponents, for Judaism censures the worship of any creature in place of God the Creator. (2) Others take it to mean “worship performed by angels” (subjective genitive). Interest in the worship of the angels is indeed present in Jewish mystical and apocalyptic writings of the period, and perhaps the Colossian Jews, like the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls, viewed their synagogue worship as a participation in the angelic liturgy of heaven. History also knows of Jewish mystics who claimed to ascend into heaven, receive visions and revelations, and worship the Lord alongside the angels.
Col 2:19 | ISB Notes
Head … whole body: An image of Christ’s union with the Church. The expansion of Christ’s kingdom is here compared to the growth of a human body (CCC 794). See note on Col 1:18.
Col 2:21 | ISB Notes
Do not handle … taste … touch: A sarcastic strike at the Jewish agitators in Colossae, for whom physical contact with corpses, lepers, and unclean foods was an act of ritual defilement (Lev 11; 13:45-46; Num 19:11-22). Paul implies that since the purity codes of the Old Covenant have now been set aside, it would be a worse act of defilement for Christians to readopt the very practices that Christ died to nullify (Mk 7:14-23; Eph 2:15). Jesus launched a similar critique on the Pharisees in Lk 11:37-44.
Col 2:22 | ISB Notes
human precepts and doctrines: An allusion to the Greek version of Is 29:13.
• Isaiah rails against the leaders of Jerusalem for their pretentious worship: they are paying lip service to God but failing to devote their hearts and lives to him. According to the prophet’s diagnosis, this is the result of giving more attention to human traditions than to the Torah. Jesus hurls this same oracle against his Pharisees in Mt 15:7-9.
Col 2:23 | ISB Notes
rigor of devotion: Refers to ascetical practices such as fasting and abstaining from certain kinds of foods. These bodily disciplines are not wrong in themselves, so long as the body is subdued but not despised. Without grace, however, asceticism cannot restrain the selfish urges of our fallen nature. This is possible only through the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:13; 1 Cor 9:27; Gal 5:16). In Jewish mystical tradition, asceticism was a necessary form of preparation to receive visions and embark on heavenly journeys. See note on Col 2:18.