What does it mean to receive Christ Jesus the Lord and then walk in him?

Receiving Christ Jesus the Lord is more than agreeing with facts about him. It means welcoming him by faith as who he truly is: God and man, Savior and Lord. Paul then says to “walk” in him, which means to keep living every day in line with that first faith. As a tree sends its roots deep into good soil, believers are to sink their lives into Christ, drawing strength, direction, and hope from him. Walking in him is a steady, ongoing life of trust, obedience, and thankfulness.

What does it mean that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily?

This line teaches that everything that makes God truly God lives in Christ in a real, human body. Jesus is not part God or just a messenger from God. He is fully God and fully man in one person. Because of this, there is nothing of God’s character, power, or grace that is found outside of him. When Paul says believers are complete in Christ, he means they do not need extra spiritual levels, secret knowledge, or added rituals. Knowing Christ is knowing the true and complete revelation of God.

What is the circumcision made without hands in this passage?

The circumcision “made without hands” is not a physical act on the body but a spiritual work that Christ does in the heart. In Old Testament times, circumcision marked people as belonging to God. Here Paul explains that in Christ there is a deeper cutting away: the “body of the sins of the flesh” is put off. This means God changes the inner person, breaking sin’s rule and giving a new nature. It happens when someone is united to Christ by faith, not by any human ceremony or effort.

How does being buried with Christ in baptism explain the believer’s new life?

Paul links baptism with Christ’s death and resurrection. Being buried with him in baptism pictures the old life under sin being laid in the grave with Jesus. Being raised with him shows that, through faith in God’s powerful work in raising Jesus, believers also receive new life. The water does not cause this change by itself. Instead, baptism is a sign that God has already joined the believer to Christ, so that his death counts as their death to sin, and his resurrection is the start of their new, Spirit‑given life.

What is the handwriting of ordinances that was nailed to the cross?

The “handwriting of ordinances” is like a written record of what stood against us. It includes the commandments and ceremonial rules that exposed our guilt and showed we were debtors who could not pay. Paul says Christ took this list that condemned us and nailed it to his cross. This picture means that, by his death, Jesus satisfied what the law demanded and removed its claim against believers. Instead of a record of debt, there is now a record of forgiveness. Those in Christ are no longer under that condemning written code.

What does it mean that Christ spoiled principalities and powers and triumphed over them?

Principalities and powers here point to spiritual rulers and dark forces that stood against God and his people. On the cross, it looked like Christ was shamed and defeated, but Paul says the opposite happened. Christ stripped these powers of their weapons by paying for sin and breaking their right to accuse. He made a public show of them, like a king leading defeated enemies in a victory parade. For believers, this means they do not need to fear hidden spiritual forces, because Christ has already overcome them.

Why does Paul say not to let anyone judge you about food, drink, or holy days?

Certain teachers were telling believers they had to keep special diets, festivals, new moons, and sabbath days to be fully accepted by God. Paul tells the church not to let anyone sit in judgment over them on these points. He explains that such rules were a shadow of what was coming. The reality that casts the shadow is Christ himself. Since he has come and fulfilled what those practices pointed to, believers are not to be bound again by them as if Christ were not enough.

What is voluntary humility and worship of angels, and why is it wrong here?

Voluntary humility here is a showy kind of lowliness that looks modest but actually draws attention to itself. In this passage it is linked with worshiping angels, as if going to angels instead of directly to Christ made a person extra humble or spiritual. Paul warns that this kind of religion comes from a proud, fleshly mind that has lost hold of Christ as the Head. When people chase visions and angel worship, they step away from the only true source of life and growth for the church, which is Christ.

What are the "touch not; taste not; handle not" rules Paul mentions?

These phrases sum up strict human rules about avoiding certain things: do not touch this, do not taste that, do not handle the other. Paul says these commands are based on things that perish as they are used and are only “commandments and doctrines of men.” They may look wise, seem harsh on the body, and appear very religious, but they cannot change the heart or stop sinful desires. Believers who have died with Christ to the world’s basic principles are not to be enslaved again to this kind of rule‑based religion.

How can this passage guide believers who face legalism or human traditions today?

This passage reminds believers to measure every teaching by Christ himself. If a rule, tradition, or spiritual practice adds to Christ or makes people feel they need something beyond him to be complete, it should be questioned. Paul points to life rooted in Christ, not in checklists. Forgiveness, new life, and real growth come from holding fast to Christ as Head, trusting his finished work on the cross, and living in thankful obedience. Human rules may seem strict, but only Christ brings true freedom and lasting change.

Col.2.6

Colossians 2:6

KJV

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

Alive with Christ

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

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,

And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

(Touch not; taste not; handle not;

Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

Cross References

No cross references available for this verse.