He warns them against the impostures of the philosophers and the Jewish teachers, that would withdraw them from Christ.

¹ For I want you to know the kind of solicitude that I have for you, and for those who are at Laodicea, as well as for those who have not seen my face in the flesh.

² May their hearts be consoled and instructed in charity, with all the riches of a plenitude of understanding, with knowledge of the mystery of God the Father and of Christ Jesus.

³ For in him are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴ Now I say this, so that no one may deceive you with grandiose words.

⁵ For though I may be absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit. And I rejoice as I gaze upon your order and its foundation, which is in Christ, your faith.¹

1. 2:5In the phrase ‘firmamentum ejus,’ the word ‘ejus’ refers to ‘ordinem,’ so that the phrasing is ‘your order and its foundation…’(Conte)

⁶ Therefore, just as you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, walk in him.

⁷ Be rooted and continually built up in Christ. And be confirmed in the faith, just as you have also learned it, increasing in him with acts of thanksgiving.

⁸ See to it that no one deceives you through philosophy and empty falsehoods, as found in the traditions of men, in accord with the influences of the world, and not in accord with Christ.

⁹ For in him, all the fullness of the Divine Nature dwells bodily.

¹⁰ And in him, you have been filled; for he is the head of all principality and power.

¹¹ In him also, you have been circumcised with a circumcision not made by hand, not by the despoiling of the body of flesh, but by the circumcision of Christ.

¹² You have been buried with him in baptism. In him also, you have risen again through faith, by the work of God, who raised him up from the dead.

¹³ And when you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he enlivened you, together with him, forgiving you of all transgressions,

¹⁴ and wiping away the handwriting of the decree which was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken this away from your midst, affixing it to the Cross.

¹⁵ And so, despoiling principalities and powers, he has led them away confidently and openly, triumphing over them in himself.

¹⁶ Therefore, let no one judge you as concerns food or drink, or a particular feast day, or feast days of new moons, or of Sabbaths.¹

1. 2:16In meat, etc: He means with regard to the Jewish observations of the distinction of clean and unclean meats; and of their festivals, new moons, and sabbaths, as being no longer obligatory.(Challoner)

¹⁷ For these are a shadow of the future, but the body is of Christ.

¹⁸ Let no one seduce you, preferring base things and a religion of Angels, walking according to what he has not seen, being vainly inflated by the sensations of his flesh,¹

1. 2:18Willing, etc: That is, by a self willed, self invented, superstitious worship, falsely pretending humility, but really proceeding from pride. Such was the worship, that many of the philosophers (against whom St. Paul speaks, ver. 8) paid to angels or demons, by sacrificing to them, as carriers of intelligence betwixt God and men; pretending humility in so doing, as if God was too great to be addressed by men; and setting aside the mediatorship of Jesus Christ, who is the head both of angels and men. Such also was the worship paid by the ancient heretics, disciples of Simon and Menander, to the angels, whom they believed to be makers and lords of this lower world. This is certain, that they whom the apostle here condemns, did not hold the head, (ver. 19,) that is, Jesus Christ, and his mediatorship; and therefore what he writes here no way touches the Catholic doctrine and practice, of desiring our good angels to pray to God for us, through Jesus Christ. St. Jerome [Epist. ad Algas.] understands by the religion or service of angels, the Jewish teachers, who sought to subject the new Christians to the observance of the Mosaic law.(Challoner)

¹⁹ and not holding up the head, with which the whole body, by its underlying joints and ligaments, is joined together and grows with an increase that is of God.

²⁰ So then, if you have died with Christ to the influences of this world, why do you still make decisions as if you were living in the world?

²¹ Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle these things,¹

1. 2:21Touch not, etc: The meaning is, that Christians should not subject themselves, either to the ordinances of the old law, forbidding touching or tasting things unclean; or to the superstitious invention of heretics, imposing such restraints, under pretence of wisdom, humility, or mortification.(Challoner)

²² which all lead to destruction by their very use, in accord with the precepts and doctrines of men.

²³ Such ideas have at least an intention to attain to wisdom, but through superstition and debasement, not sparing the body, and they are without any honor in satiating the flesh.