“Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,”
Not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God — 'Holding fast' (krateo) the Head (Christ, kephalē) is essential. The body metaphor: the body is 'nourished and knit together' (epichorēgeō, symbibazo) through 'joints and ligaments' (haphe, syndesmos). 'Grows with the growth that is from God' (auxanō auxēsin tou Theou) shows growth is divinely sourced. Detached from Christ-head, the body cannot grow. This is the letter's clearest ecclesiology.
Church Fathers on Colossians 2:18
Having first said darkly, “Take heed lest there shall be any one that makes spoil of you after the tradition of men” Colossians 2:8; and again, further back, “This, I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech” Colossians 2:4; thus preoccupying their soul, and working in it anxious thoughts; next, having inserted those benefits, and increased this effect, he then brings in his reproof last, and says, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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