Col. 2:8-15 - Christ is Triumphant

Christ triumphant, all comes through Him

Warning: Don’t be Deceived by Philosophy

Vs. 8 - See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

"See to it" - The Second Warning in this chapter. Another BOLO (Be On Look Out) from Paul. Here is repeated one of the main recurring themes of the letter to the Colossians... Do not being led away from Christ by non-believers, or those who seem to be friends, who are trying to deceive.

"no one takes you captive" - literally to be taken away as booty (as the spoils of war). I think in this modern age of war 'spoils of war' is not part of the vernacular - at least for the U.S. Army, Navy, etc.
I have noticed in reading history, or historical novels, that when ships were captured, the captain and crew received money or rewards based on the value of the cargo, etc., in the captured vessel. This was also a means of getting new crew members for a ship. (This practice was part of the reason we fought the war of 1812 with Britain. They did not respect our ships and were raiding them and taking men off to populate the British ships.) This was especially true for pirates, but also seemed to apply to countries' shipping. So - don't let anyone seize you in this spiritual battle, and take you away from the truth.

"philosophy" - literally sophistry: a clever and deceptive manner or debating or arguing. This particular word is not used elsewhere in the NT. See also - Col. 2:23 (appearance of wisdom in self-made religion); 1 Tim. 6:20 (knowledge). The idea is not to be led away from Christ by the thoughts and wisdom of man - see 1 Cor. 1:17-30, Mk. 7:8.

"empty deception" - deceitfulness, delusion, trickery in speech and action. Paul then further defined philosophy as from man and the world, not Christ. Faith in God, and Jesus Christ is not philosophy (love of 'wisdom' - study of wisdom). Faith is more than study of a paradigm, more than a study of a way of life, or understanding life. It is a relationship with the God of the universe.

Vs. 9 - For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

- See Col. 1:19; Phil. 2:6,7. Here are the options: Man's philosophy or Christ Jesus. Jesus is the antidote for living by philosophy. Jesus became wholly man, but at the same time was wholly God - inexplicable. Just believe it. Verses 9-12 are an amplification of verse 2:8b; rather, an amplification of the last word - "Christ".

Vs. 10 - and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

- Paul begins a list in verse 9 of the reasons we should not be led away from Christ. They are:

1. He is God, wholly - v. 9
2. We have been made complete - v. 10
3. He is the head of everything - vs. 10
4. Our old life has been removed by His death - vs. 11
5. Our new life was bestowed by His resurrection - vs. 12
6. He has cancelled our debt to God - vs. 13.
7. The vanquished foe - Satan - will be publicly paraded in his defeat - vs. 15.

"made complete" - We have been made perfect, with nothing left to do by us. He did it all.

"He is head" - See Col. 1:16,17; John 1:1-3; See also,the last chapters of Revelation. God, in and through Jesus, the head of all things, will make this known when the time comes. See also Heb. 1:2,3.

Vs. 11 - and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

“circumcision made without hands”- Obviously not talking about a standard run-of-the-mill circumcision (is that possible?). The bodily circumcision as seen in the O.T. was a God-given seal indicating membership of the covenant people. It is analogous to water baptism in that it was not the circumcision that turned a man into a Jew, but was the outward physical show that the believer had committed to the cause.
Even the Old Testament insisted on the attitude of the heart as the key - See Jer. 4:4 - Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment, you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the LORD ...; Jer. 9:25-26 - ... I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. Deut. 10:16.
For a better explanation see the Tyndale commentary on Colossians. The removal of the flesh didn't cleanse - it was a symbolic cleansing of human nature. Paul is talking here about Christ's work. Our nature is changed, not symbolically, but actually removal of the body of flesh - Paul talks about this quite often, see: Rom. 6:6, 7:24; Gal. 5:24, 2:20, 6:14; Col. 3:5; 1 Cor. 15:50, 53, 54; John 3:5,6.

Vs. 12 - having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

- Seeing as how I do not believe baptism itself is regenerative, nor essential for salvation, this verse has been one for thinking. The question has been raised: Do we fit the scriptures to our faith, or do we fit our faith to the scriptures? The issues of baptismal regeneration and once-saved-always-saved are the type of concepts that can easily fall into this category of heavily discussed doctrines. By this I mean there are supporting scriptures for each side of these issues, and they have been debated by greater minds than mine. That being said, it is also important that seemingly contradictory scriptures should be reconciled. God does not change His mind. God does not confuse us. He does not plant scripture just to give us mental gymnastic word games. It may be that we do not see clearly, and must come to a point that we trust God. Where we end up on these doctrinal issues may be on opposite sides. Partly it is due to the biases which we bring to our spiritual journey.

"raised up with Him through faith in the working of God. " Faith in God is the key. I'm sure the question is raised - are we not raised because of baptism? Not unless it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I believe Paul uses a parallelism here with the circumcision mentioned in verse 11. Note: the 'circumcision' was done by Christ; the raising up done by God. The circumcision done by man did not actually "save" the person, it was a symbolic shedding of the human nature (see Rom. 2:25-29). It indicated inclusion into the Jewish spiritual family. And there is the parallelism. Baptism does not actually save, but is a symbolic shedding of the old nature and accepting the new one from God. Baptism, like circumcision, indicates inclusion into the the family of God. It is the attitude of the heart that saves - faith in God.

Vs. 13 - When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

- Paul is writing to Gentiles. Not only were they lost (unsaved) because they did not obey the 'Law' (uncircumcision), but because of their sins. Dead twice over, or so to speak. And despite the Gentiles being in desperate straights, God was able to overcome and give them eternal life. Notice Paul changes the address (person) - "you were lost... you were made alive... God has forgiven us". The change in personal pronoun from you to us indicates Paul included himself in the cadre of those needing to be saved! They were lost twice over, but saved once is more than enough. God has done it for all, having forgiven all. Not just some sins, but all. Praise God. I was dead, but now I live - in Christ. (See also: Gal. 2:20, 21).

Vs. 14 - having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

- The 'certificate of debt' - our transgressions recorded and held to testify against us. And these are never in our favor - thereby hostile. (See: John 3:36) Some may think this verse refers to Christ's abolishment of the Law. It may. But the Gentiles were not exactly subject to the Law, not being descendants of Jacob. (See the Good News for Modern Man (GNMM), or Revised Standard Version translations for relevant wording). See also: Eph. 2:15, Heb. 7:18. Also each of us must face Him (God, the Father) either in our sins or in Christ. If in our sins, see Ps. 130:3,4; Rev. 20:11-15. If in Christ, we have life. Christ did not so much abolish the law as supersede it, make it unnecessary.
The certificate of debt was ended at the cross, that ending was ratified at the resurrection. (See Heb. 9:14, 22; 1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:4; 1 Cor. 15:3). Christ was nailed to the cross, with our sins.

Vs. 15 - When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

- Satan defeated! See Heb. 2:24; 1 John 3:8; 1 Cor. 15:23, 24. See also the GNMM version. Not only did Christ (God) defeat Satan and his plans, but He made a public spectacle of Satan's failure. It would have been enough for Jesus to have died for our sins. The resurrection was proof that sin was defeated. And Christ appearing to confirm the resurrection, is a public display making it difficult if not impossible for Satan and others to deny Christ's triumph. This is similar to our public declaration of our faith in Christ.
In ancient battles, the victors led the captives through the streets of the city as a display of the vanquished foe. That is the picture here. Jesus in this greatest of spiritual battle, displaying the defeated foe. This was the last of the list of reasons we should not stray from the truth.