Colossians 2:10 Commentary and Bible Study

He has everything and you are complete in him. In him you have been made full, says the original. What can anybody require more than that? You were incomplete, Paul implies, before conversion, very incomplete. The soul was asleep, it did not function, we had no power in us, no life, no understanding of God, we were wanderers and sinners. We are sinners now but we were so much more then, rebels against God entirely. The most brilliant person in the world who is not a Christian is woefully incomplete mentally because there is no knowledge of God, there is no context in which to see the world as it really is.But now you are complete, you have no need of any supplementation such as these false teachers pretend to offer you; you are complete as you are. You are entirely saved in Christ, not saved for a month or a year or 20 years. Once you know him and your sins are forgiven and you are born again, you are saved entirely for all eternity. We have souls that are alive, we have lively consciences, we have the power that God gives us, we have understanding, and we have unrestricted communion with Christ. Yes, we are growing up – a spiritual infant, very small, very weak, but hopefully all fingers and toes, all bodily parts present. Yes, we still sin and we are stumbling our way to heaven, but we trust in him and he is purifying us and will one day transform us fully. By contrast, says Paul, these false teachers are like beggars. He says that back in Galatians where he uses similar language to here. He speaks of beggarly elements that they are into. Here he calls it ‘rudiments of the world,’ this kind of religion that is all about what you do in small ways and what you don’t do, rather than about your heart and a relationship with God.