Colossians 2:2-3 2in order that their hearts may be encouraged since they have been united together in love, for all the riches of full assurance of deeper insight into the knowledge of God’s mystery, who is Christ, 3in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
The rest of verse 2 continues the reason for Paul’s struggle in ministry in behalf of the Colossians. The gospel promises full assurance of one’s status with God because it provides the wisdom and knowledge about the way to eternal life. Full assurance is a compound word in Greek (plērophorias) that means “bring to fullness.” It can mean coming to a full awareness to the point of being convinced about something. In this case, the awareness is of deeper insight with the goal of having greater knowledge of God’s mystery. The words here are significant. Deeper insight (syneseōs) describes understanding the content that goes beyond the surface but gets to the ramifications of a subject. The word for knowledge (epignōsin) has the nuance of relational or personal knowledge. It is a more intense awareness and experience of a subject. Paul describes this deeper insight and knowledge as all the riches. There is no limit to how much we can come to know about Christ. This is the one topic of our lives worth giving our full energy and attention. This type of assurance comes from a clear conscience and the commitment of faith.
Christ is grammatically in apposition to mystery, meaning that they are referring to the same thing. This is the clearest and broadest statement in all of Paul’s letters of what God’s mystery is. The message of love, grace, and salvation that was hidden for the ages and of which the prophets only had a glimpse has been fully revealed in Jesus Christ. He is this message. He represents all that God has intended for humanity since before the creation of the universe. The significant factor for the Colossians and all people is the hope that we can experience this mystery as “Christ in us” (1:27).
Verse 3 emphasizes again the deep awareness that comes in knowing Christ. The Colossians may have been influenced by false forms of knowledge. An incipient (beginning) of the later heresy Gnosticism may have been circulating in the area. Gnosticism shared many elements with Plantonism, a major worldview of the time period. When this was mixed with the new message of Jesus Christ, it led to a distorted understanding of the gospel. This was the danger of allowing culture and the current thinking to influence the gospel message, causing it to be compromised. The truth about Christ contains all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. These are hidden to those who do not believe. To those who come to believe, the mystery of the gospel is revealed in ever deepening ways. This is not a matter of human effort, although it will take the best thinking we have. It is a matter of revelation from God who gives deep insight, wisdom, and knowledge to those who come in humble faith.
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