Colossians 2:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

That is, it receives what it needs to live and grow spiritually. When does it have this? When it is joined to Him and well fitted together in itself.

Only then does the Holy Spirit supply the body with what it needs for growth. If the body has no communion with the Head and with itself, there is neither the supply of the Spirit nor the increase of God.

That is, there is no best life according to God.

As the soul is in the body and the body belongs to the soul, so also the invisible powers dwell in visible things. But above all this is the Head, from whom benefit passes through the whole body, because it is directed from the Head.

The holy Apostles, because they were close to our Redeemer, were joined to Him as the chest is to the head. The martyrs who followed them were joined to them as the muscles are to the chest.

When pastors and teachers were joined to these by good works, they grew to them as hands to the muscles. But this whole body of our Redeemer daily receives help from heaven through joints and bonds.

For when chosen souls are brought to Him there, they are added to His members. Concerning this it is well said: “being supplied and knit together, it grows with the increase of God.”

Almighty God, our Redeemer, has nothing in Himself that can be perfected. Yet even now He daily receives increase through His members.

Therefore it is also written: “until we all attain to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13).

Worldly things and fleshly conditions cannot save you, and for you they do not exist as means of salvation, since “you died to the elements of the world.”

Therefore do not rely on observing rules of abstinence, “Do not touch, do not taste,” as though this by itself could save you and unite you with heaven.

We Orthodox Christians, when we keep fasts, do not ascribe to them the saving power that is found only in Christ’s merits.

We use fasting as a means to be conformed to Christ, to be crucified with Him, and to portray Him in our life.

The worth of fasting depends entirely on the feelings with which it is joined and on the beliefs it expresses. If it is joined to hypocrisy, pride, or denial of the necessity of Christ’s merits, as here, then it is plainly sinful and subject to condemnation.

But if it expresses the desire to live one life with Christ, “always carrying in the body the death of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor 4:10), then such fasting deserves high praise.

They taught that this came through worship of angels, into communion with whom one had to know how to enter by various mysterious means, including exhaustion and torment of the flesh, a voluntary humility.

In this, like the Gnostics, they placed the highest knowledge. They proudly regarded Christians as an ignorant crowd, though they covered themselves with outward humility.

This outward humility was expressed in the unattractiveness of their bodies, quiet speech, lowered eyes, and the like.

The seeds of false teaching concerning angel-worship, sown in Phrygia, took root and later produced many tares. Thus the fathers of the local Council of Laodicea, in 365, found it necessary to forbid Phrygian angel-worship by a special canon, the thirty-fifth.

They called it secret idolatry. “Was this not something resembling the gatherings of our spiritists, with certain methods and actions like those they use? In every way the spirit is the same there and here” (Bishop Theophan).

Thus St. John Chrysostom reports that “some said that we must be brought to God not through Christ, but through Angels, because being brought through Christ is more than is needed for us.”

“Proceeding from this thought, they also derived a special worship of Angels, and persuaded the more simple-hearted to turn to them as though to our saviors” (Theophylact).

“In what this worship of Angels consisted,” says Bishop Theophan, “is evident from history. The Fathers of the local Council of Laodicea in Phrygia, in 365, forbade it in canon 35.

The canon reads thus: Christians must not forsake the Church of God, depart, invoke Angels, and make assemblies. This is rejected. Therefore, if anyone is found practicing such secret idolatry, let him be anathema.”

Our recent interpreter sees the Apostle’s indication of idolatrous worship in this. In the Wisdom of Solomon, the word “worship” is used four times in the sense of idolatry (see 9:16; 14:16; 18:27).

Explaining further how the heretics could have both imaginary worship and crude arrogance, he says: “Their supposed humility was changed into arrogance and pride by their fleshly mind.

By joining these contradictory words, the Apostle wished to indicate the distorted direction of the false teachers’ thinking.

Guided by fleshly principles, they were unable to rise to the height of the Christian teaching concerning Jesus Christ as Mediator in the salvation of man and his reconciliation with God.

This is not surprising, for the mystery of salvation through the Incarnation of the Son of God was, until the time of its accomplishment, a mystery even to the Angels.

Trying to penetrate the supernatural realm of spiritual being, the world of angelic powers, the Colossian false teachers reached toward what was beyond their strength.

Thus, from their imaginary height they were hurled down into the abyss of empty, mindless speculations” (N. Mukhin).

“Perhaps these deceivers appeared humble even outwardly. They may have been poorly clothed, poorly fed, living in poverty, uncombed, unwashed, speaking quietly and timidly, with downcast eyes.

All this and the like may be supposed of them, knowing that severity toward the body stood among their convictions (v. 23).

Such an appearance truly deceives. It fastens attention on the words of those who appear in it, because something higher is assumed in such people” (Bishop Theophan).

The Savior Himself said of false teachers that they come in sheep’s clothing, while inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

Blessed Theophylact, explaining the Apostle’s teaching on Christ as the Head of the Church, says: “From Christ the whole body of the Church has both simple being and the good of being.”

To this Bishop Theophan adds: “The system of nourishment in the human body corresponds in the Church to all the means by which believers receive knowledge of divinely revealed truths and the outpouring of divine grace.

These are chiefly the preaching of the word of God and the divine mysteries. Through them is supplied that by which alone the Church can be nourished and grow with the increase of God, namely grace and truth.

The system of muscles corresponds to the visible structure of the Church. Under the Apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers stand all Christians, each with a special gift for the Church’s benefit.

All are bound by mutual subordination, love, and concern for the common spiritual good.”

At the same time, as they themselves continued to study more fully and broadly the mysteries of the invisible world which they taught to simple people, the false teachers fell into great pride.

They were guided by their fleshly, earthly mind, though this pride had not the slightest foundation, eike. This worship of angels caused still greater harm because it led to the denial of the incomparable dignity of Jesus Christ.

He is the Head, on whom the life of the whole body depends, that is, the Church. Without Him no member of the body can do anything useful.

Only under Him can the whole body grow as is pleasing to God, with the increase of God.

One can hold this Head by faith in the Lord, by conviction in the truth concerning Him, by love, devotion, and hope of salvation in Him. In general, one holds Him by living, conscious, and reasonable communion with Him, placing one’s salvation in Him alone.

Those who turned aside to the Angels lost all this. Through this they fell away from Christ the Lord, and then from God the Father. They stand outside the order that builds life, which the Savior Himself defined thus: “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (Jn 14:20).

“From whom the whole body.” “Again the Apostle called Christ the Master the Head, and the structure of the Church the body. He has spoken wholly in a figurative sense” (Blessed Theodoret).

To understand the meaning of the allegory, one must first clarify the allegory itself. What is done with the body? It grows with the increase of God. How? “Supplied and joined together by joints and bands.” By itself? No. All this proceeds from the head.

The words “supplied and joined together by joints and bands” are difficult. Therefore it is also difficult to understand what they signify. The general thought of the allegory is this. The body of the Church, under the action of its Head, grows within itself with the increase of God.

That is, by living with divine life, it multiplies, strengthens, and confirms this life. The words “supplied and joined together by joints and bands” indicate the manner in which this is done.

What could this mean? To understand it, one must determine what these words could mean in relation to our body. Let us arrange the words thus: supplied by joints, joined together by bands. It is clear that they must be related in this way.

“Joined together by bands,” δια συνδεσμων συμβιβαζομενον, is not so difficult to understand. Συνδεσμοι are ligaments, by which the various parts of the body are joined. Συμβιβαζειν means to fit one thing to another, to bring one thing into harmony with another.

Thus the various parts of the body, fitted and harmonized, are bound by ligaments and are held in this composite form. This directly indicates the system of bones and muscles that determines the structure of the body.

But the words “supplied by joints,” δια των αφων επιχορηγουμενον, are obscure. 'Αφη has more than one meaning. It means touch, contact, the act of taking, and a joint. Which meaning is to be taken here depends on επιχορηγουμενον.

'Eπιχορηγειν has one meaning: to furnish, supply, or add to what has already been supplied or given. 'Eπιχορηγουμενον means “being supplied.” Of the meanings of αφη, only the act of taking or reception can fit this.

The sense will be this: the body takes and assimilates what is supplied to it, and thereby lives and grows. This points to the system of nourishment.

But both these systems would remain inactive if they were not stimulated by the nerves. The nerves proceed from the head and spread through the whole body. By stimulating the organs of nourishment and the muscles, they cause them to act according to their purpose.

Thus they sustain the life of the body. If we accept this interpretation as sufficient, we shall no longer have difficulty in understanding its allegorical meaning.

In the Church of God, the visible structure of the Church corresponds to the system of bones and muscles, which determines the body’s structure. Under the Apostles and Prophets, pastors and teachers of the Church, all Christians stand, each with a particular gift for the Church’s benefit.

All are bound by mutual subordination, love, and concern for the common spiritual good. “What the joints are in the body, the Apostles, Prophets, and teachers are in the structure of the Church,” says Blessed Theodoret.

The system of nourishment in the Church corresponds to all the means by which believers receive knowledge of divinely revealed truths and the outpouring of divine grace. These are chiefly the preaching of the word of God and the divine mysteries.

Through them is supplied that by which alone the Church can be nourished and grow with the increase of God, namely grace and truth.

The nerves that proceed from the head, penetrate the whole body, and stimulate it are Christ the Lord Himself. He sustains the structure of the Church’s body and penetrates it with life-giving power.

Blessed Theodoret writes: “As in the body the brain is the root of the nerves, and through the nerves the body receives sensation, so the body of the Church receives from Christ the Master both the fountains of teaching and the instruments of salvation.”

The whole allegory may be rendered thus. These wise men do not hold the Head, that is, Christ the Lord, from whom the whole body of the Church comes.

This body is supplied with and receives the nourishing spiritual elements, grace and truth. It is held in its structure, closely united by the spirit of peace and love. It grows with divine life, gaining ever more members and leading all to higher perfection in life according to God.

To the words of Blessed Theodoret cited above, let us add what others have said on this passage. Oecumenius writes: “Christ is the Head both of Angels and of men, as Creator and Fashioner of all things.

From Him, that is, from Christ, comes the whole body of the Church. Having said ‘body,’ the Apostle also applies what belongs to the body. The whole body of the Church, he says, is supplied with every grace through receptions from Christ.

It is harmonized and joined together through joints and bonds. That is, it is brought to peace both within itself and in relation to Christ. It grows with growth according to God. What is this growth according to God? Growth not in body, but in life according to God.”

These are the words of Blessed Theophylact: “The Head of the Church is the Son of God, Christ the Lord, and the Church is His body. From Him the body of the Church has both simple being and well-being.

Whoever falls away from Him perishes. As the sensitive spirit is transmitted from the brain through the nerves into the whole body, and from the head come every sensation and every movement, so the whole body of the Church is supplied from Christ.

That is, it receives that by which it lives and grows spiritually. When does it have this? When it is joined, well harmonized, with Him, and within itself.

Only then does the Holy Spirit supply the body with that by which it grows. Therefore, if the body is not joined by a living bond both with the Head and with itself, there is neither the Spirit’s supply nor the increase of God.

That is, there is no best life according to God.”