Colossians 2:19

holding Holding fast (R.V.). The word is used Acts 3:11 of the healed cripple's graspof the Apostles who had healed him. The erring teacher is said "not to hold" the Head, not only as a man but as a teacher.

the head "Regarded as a title, so that a Person is at once suggested" (Lightfoot). Angel-worship, and all its ways, was ipso factoa slackening of the soul's contact with Christ.

On this sacred word "Head" see Colossians 1:18 and notes; and cp. the close and full parallel, Ephesians 4:15-16.

from which Better, out of Whom. The relative pronoun is masculine, while the Greek word for "head" is feminine.

" Out of" :so in Ephesians 4:16. The thought conveyed is at once of vital connexion and derivation.

all the body Verbatim as Ephesians 4:16. The emphasis is on the "all." No part, no member, must be for a moment out of directlife-contact with the Head.

by joints and bands Better, through the (its) joints and ligatures. The phrase is closely akin to that of Ephesians 4:16, where "compacting" and "joints" are mentioned. Here as there (see our notes) the thought is of the direct coherence of every part of the Body with the Head. The other cognate thought, of the cohesion of the parts and limbs with each other, is not present, at least not prominent. The Christian has here to be warned that nothing must make him lose or loosen his own direct communion with Christ his Head. The physical imagery must not be pressed. In our body, doubtless, the central forces of the organism affect the remoter structures through the nearer. But the mystical Body is such that, while it is a true organism as a whole, yet all the while individually "the Head of every man" (in Christ) "is Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:3; cp. ibid. 1 Corinthians 6:17). And this was what the Colossian errors tended to obscure.

having nourishment ministered Better, simply, being supplied (R.V.). The cognate noun to the (one) Greek word here, a present participle, appears Ephesians 4:16; "every joint of the supply." The thing "supplied" is all the Virtue of the Head; grace in all its forms.

knit together Another present participle, indicating a continuing and developing process. The Greek is identical with that rendered "compacted," Ephesians 4:16. The constant "supply" of the life and power of the Head tends to a constant closer and firmer internal cohesion of the body, in its spiritual development.

increasethwith the increase of God Lit., groweth the growth of God. The growth contemplated may mean in part the numerical growth, the attraction of new converts to the manifestly living and holy community. But the more immediate reference is to development from within; the individual's and the community's "growth in the grace and knowledge" (2 Peter 3:18) of the Head.

" The increase of God" :His, because He is its Origin, and Secret, and as it were Atmosphere. The brief pregnant phrase conveys this truth with a peculiar grandeur and force.

Lightfoot suggests that we have here also an implied caution against the Jewish errors. "Thus the finite is truly united with the Infinite"; not through intermediate orders of being, but in Christ. In an interesting note he goes on to explain the perfect fitness of St Paul's imagery of the Head and Body, in the light of modern physiological discoveries. "The volition communicated from the brain to the limbs, the sensations of the extremities telegraphed back to the brain, the absolute mutual sympathy between the head and the members, the instantaneous paralysis ensuing on the interruption of continuity, all these add to the completeness and life of the image." He then gives instances of ancient scientific speculation on the seat and distribution of vital power in the human body; and concludes: "Bearing in mind all this diversity of opinion among ancient physiologists, we cannot fail to be struck in the text not only with the correctness of the image but also with the propriety of the terms; and we are forcibly reminded that among the Apostle's most intimate companions at this time was one whom he calls -the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14)." Such subsidiary assistance, if used by the Apostle, would leave untouched the authority of inspiration in the resulting language.