Colossians 2:20

20. εἰ. No οὗν. For the forcible brusqueness cf. Colossians 2:8 and contrast Colossians 3:1.

ἀπεθάνετε. As already stated in Colossians 2:11-13.

Cf. Romans 6:8-11 where the argument closely resembles our Colossians 2:20 to Colossians 3:4; also 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 2:19.

σὺν Χριστῷ. In Colossians 3:3, σὺν τῷ χριστῷ. See on Colossians 1:7.

σὺν, for Christ was, in a sense, under τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμον until His death, being under law, Galatians 4:4; cf. Galatians 3:13.

ἀπὸ. Here only with ἀποθνήσκειν. It marks more complete severance than the dative (Romans 6:2). Cf. 2 Corinthians 11:3; Romans 7:6.

τῶν στοιχείων τοῦ κόσμον, see Colossians 2:8, note. The rudimentary teaching of the world, summed up in law with its rules and ordinances.

τί (Romans 3:7; Galatians 5:11), ὡς (1 Corinthians 5:3), ζῶντες, i.e. as if not dead to the world but still finding energy and pleasure in it. St Paul could hardly write ὄντες, even though he said ὅτε γὰρ ἦμεν ἐν τῇ σαρκί, Romans 7:5. For the thought cf. also Galatians 6:14. Your “life” is “in God,” Colossians 3:3. For ζῆν ἐν = “finding your interests and pleasures in,” cf. Colossians 3:7.

ἐν κόσμῳ. The absence of the article perhaps accentuates the contrast to σὺν Χριστῷ, and in any case emphasizes the character of the κόσμος as compared with anything spiritual.

δογματίζεσθε. Here only in N.T., but with doubtless some reference to τοῖς δόγμασι, Colossians 2:14. It occurs occasionally in the Apocrypha, twice of religious enactments: 2Ma 10:8, Judas Maccabaeus and those with him ἐδογμάτισαν … παντὶ τῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἔθνει κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἄγειν τὰς δεκάτας ἡμέρας; cf. 2Ma 15:36.

Whether it is in the passive or in the middle (R.V.) here is very uncertain, but the former is perhaps preferable as indicating the strength of the power exerted upon them. In this Epistle not the Colossians, as such, but the false teachers are blamed (especially Colossians 2:18-19). Efforts were being made to place the Colossians under the bondage of ritual ordinances. “Paul’s question reveals how inconsistent with their relation to Christ and His death is such bondage. To try to maintain it, is to try to keep in prison one whom death has made free” (Beet). The Vulg. translates it as transitive, “decernitis,” for which there appears to be no parallel, and to which the context is altogether opposed.