Atlas Biblica

    Colossians · 23 verses

    Colossians 2

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    A debt is nailed to a cross, and the powers that stood behind it are marched out as a public spectacle. The cross, here, is doing rather more than one job.

    A struggle carried at a distancevv. 1–7

    The speaker is absent in body but insists on being present in spirit, struggling for the people at Laodicea and for others who have never met him face to face. The desired result is a congregation knitted together in love, rich in understanding, and not easily captured by smooth rhetoric. Christ is presented as the place where wisdom and knowledge are hidden; the recipients are to remain rooted in him, built up in him, and overflowing with thankfulness.

    The cross makes a spectaclevv. 8–15

    The warning begins with philosophy and empty deception, then moves into a striking account of Christ's fullness. The recipients have been buried and raised with him, made alive after being dead in trespasses, while a debt recorded in hostile decrees is cancelled and nailed to the cross. Then the powers and authorities themselves are disarmed and publicly displayed. Apparent defeat has acquired an unexpectedly theatrical second act.

    The regulations lose their bodyvv. 16–23

    Food, drink, a feast, a New Moon, and a Sabbath appear in one highly particular procession, but judgment over them is refused: they are shadows, while the body belongs to Christ. The person devoted to false humility and angel worship is oddly described as puffed up, and the rules “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” are exposed as human commands. They look wise, with worship, humility, and severity toward the body, yet the chapter gives them no power against the indulgence of the flesh.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Col 2:1For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face,

    2. Col 2:2that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,

    3. Col 2:3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

    4. Col 2:4I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric.

    5. Col 2:5For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ.

    6. Col 2:6Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him,

    7. Col 2:7rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

    8. Col 2:8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.

    9. Col 2:9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.

    10. Col 2:10And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

    11. Col 2:11In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands.

    12. Col 2:12And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.

    13. Col 2:13When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,

    14. Col 2:14having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

    15. Col 2:15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

    16. Col 2:16Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.

    17. Col 2:17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.

    18. Col 2:18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.

    19. Col 2:19He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.

    20. Col 2:20If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:

    21. Col 2:21“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?

    22. Col 2:22These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.

    23. Col 2:23Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 510 passages were voted onto 23 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 7Ephesians 3:17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,
    • 81 Timothy 6:20O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid irreverent, empty chatter and the opposing arguments of so-called “knowledge,”
    • 15Hebrews 2:14Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,
    • 6Colossians 1:10so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
    • 61 John 2:6Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.
    • 8Ephesians 5:6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
    • 9Colossians 1:19For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
    • 9John 10:30I and the Father are one.”
    • 9John 1:14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    • 7Jeremiah 17:8He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.
    • 15Ephesians 4:8This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.”
    • 14Ephesians 2:14–16For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility
    • 14Isaiah 44:22I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
    • 61 Thessalonians 4:1Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more.
    • 8Matthew 7:15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
    • 6Ephesians 5:1–2Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,

    Onward

    Keep reading

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