" 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."
Colossians 2:9-15
Continuing his polemical thrust against this false teaching, Paul now explains why the philosophy of the false teachers is not 'according to Christ' and why the believer should live 'in Christ'. What we have in these verses is Paul's 'antidote to error', his antidote to the poison of a false, humanistic, devil-inspired philosophy. Against a philosophy which claimed to offer new spiritual freedom and new spiritual fullness, Paul declares the truth and reality of fullness already possessed by the believer, in Christ, and only in Christ. Against a philosophy which was seductive and misleading, a tool in the hands of the principalities and powers in their war against Christ and those who are his, Paul directs the Colossians, and us, to Christ, and to his work of redemption. Taking up (vv 9-10) what he has already said in his Christ hymn in chapter 1 (1:19), Paul urges the Colossian believers to 'think what Spirit dwells within them'. 'Ponder anew the wonder of what Christ has done for you. Gaze afresh at the treasure which is already yours in Christ. How can you possibly need anything more or better? Christ is all in all'. Once we understand our position of privilege in Christ it is inconceivable that we will want to look anywhere else for spiritual satisfaction; it is inconceivable that we will be kidnapped by hollow and deceptive philosophy. So in vv 9-15, Paul gives the church at Colossae and the Church universal, an immensely valuable, and a marvellously concentrated summary of what it means to be 'in Christ'. Notice just how much Paul focuses on the centrality of Christ, The Foundation. The commentators liken Paul's repetition of 'in Him' and 'with Him' to a scarlet thread running through this whole section. This is one of Paul's most compact and comprehensive passages detailing the breadth and scope of Christ's saving work. The rich depths of it are just staggering. Paul's exposition of redemption is marvellous and wonderful and we will need to spend some time drinking in the grandeur and the glory of it.