Colossians 2:19

Colossians 2:19. And not holding fast the Head (Christ); comp. Ephesians 1:22, etc. Not to hold Christ as Head is to let go of Him altogether. This is virtually the cause of the conduct described in Colossians 2:18.

From whom, referring to Christ personally, as in Ephesians 4:16. ‘Which' would point to Christ in this relation as Head.

All the body; including every member of it, not ‘the whole body,' since the false teachers did not deny the unity of the Church, but slighted the fact that each member for himself must hold fast to the Head.

Through the joints and bands. ‘Joints,' as in Ephesians 4:16, refers to the nerves and all those points of contact through which the common life passes; ‘bands,' to all the ligatures which bind the parts of the body.

Being supplied and compacted. The first participle (comp. ‘the joint of the supply'), derived from the leading of a chorus, suggests a generous supply; the second, occurring in the parallel passage, suggests solidity; both point to a continued process. It is not necessary to connect ‘joints' with the first participle, and ‘bands' with the second, although the former are chiefly means of supply, and the latter of solidity. In Ephesians the close connection of the parts is emphasized, here the vital connection with the Head.

Increased with the increase of God; effected by Him. ‘God being the first cause of life to the whole, and carrying on this growth in subordination to and union with the Head, Jesus Christ' (Afford). ‘The discoveries of modern physiology have invested the Apostle's language with far greater distinctness and force than it can have worn to his own contemporaries' (Lightfoot). The experience of eighteen Christian centuries have abundantly illustrated the pertinence and truthfulness of the figure, when thus enlarged, as applied to the members of the Church, Vital union with Christ for each is the essential matter; to be without this is to die; having it growth is not only possible, but certain.