‘Watch carefully lest there shall be anyone who carries you off captive through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power.'
Positively they must ensure their roots in Christ are firm, and that they are built up in Him and established in the faith taught by Apostolic men. But they are also to watch carefully against being deceived by human wisdom, which is not really wisdom at all (compare 1 Corinthians 1:17 to 1 Corinthians 2:2). Their concentration must be on Christ alone, not on inferior beings, however seemingly exalted, for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form and our fullness is in Him, the One Who is over all.
This warning applies to any who would come between us and Christ, whether Mary, the saints, the angels, or any spirit beings. Christ is superior to all and we are in direct contact with Him. We need no other as intermediaries, and to allow them to be seen as intermediaries is to come between us and Christ and to destroy what is most holy.
(Mary must be given due honour as the God-bearer', the one chosen by God for that purpose, the one through whom, with all her failings, God brought His Son into the world. But as an intermediary between God and us, or Jesus Christ and us, she has no place, and she would have been horrified at even the thought of it. There is not a word in Scripture to support the idea. The words at the cross were personal, for Mary's benefit, not theological (John 19:26-27).
‘Watch carefully.' The Christian is not just to accept anything that seems ‘helpful'. He is to be constantly on his guard. Anything that takes his eyes off Christ is to be shunned, for in Him they have everything. The use of the indicative rather than the subjunctive stresses the very real danger. The need is not just a possibility but a certainty. It is an alert.
‘Lest any man carry you off captive through his philosophy or vain deceit.' The picture is vivid. Later he will stress that it is the enemies of Christ who have been carried off captive (Colossians 2:15). Thus the Colossians must beware of the same fate from a different source. Those who seek to do it are their enemies, however wise they may seem. ‘Philosophy' (love of wisdom) means any view of God or the world or human life generally. ‘Vain deceit' puts it in context. Anything contrary to, or that purports to add to, the Gospel is vain deceit.
‘After the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.' The world of that day was faced with a vast array of teachings and philosophies with respect to divine things. Paul turns them away from all of them to Christ. Full truth is found in Him alone. All else must be discarded. The warning is just as necessary today. Primitive religions are taking new forms in naturism and new world philosophies. But the only answer, the only truth about such things, is found in Christ, and what He is, and what He is revealed to be in the Scriptures.
‘Tradition' (paradosin). Compare 1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 2 Thessalonians 3:6 for its use in a Christian sense. They are to beware of any traditions not firmly based in the Apostolic tradition presented to the early church in the first century. The latter are traditions received from God, all others (including later Christian traditions) are the traditions of men.
‘The elements (or elementary teaching) of the world'. Many sought to teach what they regarded as basic and foundation truths relating to intermediary supernatural beings. But they were opposed to the true world view which spoke of God in Christ as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe without intermediaries. Any reaching out to other supernatural beings or intermediaries, whether through mediums or religious means is wrong.
‘In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.' The word for ‘dwells' represents permanent dwelling, as opposed to temporary residence, demonstrating the permanence of the divine fullness in Christ. This is no passing thing but permanent enjoyment of the fullness of deity. The word for fullness (pleroma) refers to completeness and totality (see on Colossians 1:19). He partakes completely in the totality of the fullness of what God is.
‘The Godhead' (theotes). Used by Paul only here. It refers to Godhead in the most exclusive sense of truly and fully divine. We can compare ‘theiotes' used in Romans 1:20 which refers to a more general sense of divine power revealed. Creation reveals the footprint of God, the hand of God in creating, but Christ reveals Him in all the fullness of His being. In creation we perceive His hand, in Christ we see His face in all its glory (2 Corinthians 4:4 with Colossians 3:18).
‘Bodily' may mean in one complete ‘body', not divided up among intermediaries. Alternately it may mean in human bodily form, stressing the fullness of the Godhead as involved in the incarnation. ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).' Both are true.
‘And you are made complete (full) in Him.' He is all that we need to be made complete. Christ is everything. To think of going to lesser powers when we can personally know the all-powerful would be foolish in the extreme, for it is God's purpose that we know Him and be made complete in Him, that is, be endued with all that it is possible for redeemed mankind to enjoy. ‘For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace' (John 1:16).
‘Who is the head of all principality and power.' He is the One Who is ‘far above all' (Ephesians 1:21), to Whom all are subject. There is no power or rule in heaven or earth over which He is not the Head, and over which He does not have the full mastery and complete authority. Having Him what want we more?