And having disarmed
The phrase "having disarmed" comes from the Greek word "ἀπεκδύομαι" (apekdyomai), which means to strip off or divest. In a military context, it refers to the act of removing weapons from an enemy, rendering them powerless. This imagery is powerful, suggesting that Christ has removed the spiritual weapons and authority of the demonic forces. Historically, this reflects the Roman practice of parading defeated foes, stripped of their armor, to demonstrate their complete subjugation. Spiritually, it signifies that through Christ's work, believers are no longer under the dominion of these spiritual adversaries.

the powers and authorities
The "powers and authorities" refer to spiritual entities, often interpreted as demonic forces or fallen angels, that exert influence over the world. The Greek terms "ἀρχάς" (archas) and "ἐξουσίας" (exousias) denote ranks of spiritual beings, suggesting a structured hierarchy of evil. In the context of the early church, these terms would resonate with believers who understood the pervasive influence of such forces in their daily lives. Theologically, this highlights the cosmic scope of Christ's victory, not just over sin and death, but over all spiritual opposition.

He made a public spectacle of them
The phrase "made a public spectacle" translates from the Greek "δειγματίζω" (deigmatizo), meaning to expose or make an example of. This term evokes the image of a Roman triumph, where a victorious general would parade captives through the streets as a demonstration of their defeat. In a spiritual sense, Christ's victory over these powers is not hidden but openly displayed, emphasizing the completeness and visibility of His triumph. This public display assures believers of the ultimate defeat of evil and the supremacy of Christ.

triumphing over them
"Triumphing over them" comes from the Greek "θριαμβεύω" (thriambeuo), which refers to leading a triumphal procession. This term is rich with cultural significance, as Roman triumphs were grand celebrations of military victories. By using this imagery, Paul conveys that Christ's victory is not just a private or spiritual reality but a cosmic event with eternal implications. It reassures believers that Christ's victory is total and irrevocable, providing a foundation for their faith and hope.

by the cross
The phrase "by the cross" is central to the Christian faith, highlighting the instrument of Christ's victory. The cross, a symbol of shame and execution in Roman times, is transformed into a symbol of triumph and redemption. Theologically, this underscores the paradox of the Gospel: through apparent defeat and suffering, Christ achieves the ultimate victory over sin, death, and spiritual powers. This transformation of the cross from a tool of death to a symbol of life and victory is foundational to Christian doctrine, emphasizing the power of God to bring life from death and victory from defeat.

(15) Having spoiled principalities and powers . . .--This verse is one of great difficulty. Not, indeed, in the main idea. The cross, as usual, is identified with the triumph over the powers of evil which it won. The very phrase "made a show," is cognate to the words "put Him to open shame" applied to the Crucifixion (Hebrews 6:6). The apparent triumph of the "power of darkness" over Him was His real and glorious triumph over them. The general idea is familiar to us, telling, as in the noble old hymn Vexilla Regis--

"How of the Cross He made a throne

On which He reigns, a glorious king."

His forgiveness of the penitent thief was the first act of His all-saving royalty. Accordingly, taking (as in 2Corinthians 2:14-16) his metaphor from a Roman triumph, St. Paul represents Him as passing in triumphal majesty up the sacred way to the eternal gates, with all the powers of evil bound as captives behind His chariot before the eyes of men and angels. It is to be noted that to this clause, so characteristic of the constant dwelling on the sole glory of Christ in this Epistle, there is nothing to correspond in the parallel passage of the Epistle to the Ephesians, which dwells simply on Christ as "our peace," and as the head of the Church.

The difficulty lies in the word here translated "having spoiled." Now this translation (as old as St. Jerome's Vulgate), makes all simple and easy; but the original word certainly means "having stripped Himself"--as in Colossians 3:9, "having put off (stripped off from ourselves) the old man." It is a word used by St. Paul alone in the New Testament, and by him only in these two passages, the latter of which makes the sense perfectly clear. Being forced, then, to adopt this translation, we see that the words admit of two renderings. (1) First, "having stripped from Himself the principalities and powers," that is, having stripped off that condition of the earthly life which gave them a grasp or occasion against Him. But this, though adopted by many old Greek commentators (Chrysostom among the rest), seems singularly harsh in expression and far-fetched in idea, needing too much explanation to make it in any sense clear. (2) Next, "having unclothed Himself, He made a show of principalities and powers." On the whole this rendering, although not free from difficulty, on account of the apparent want of connection of the phrase "having stripped Himself" with the context, seems the easiest. For we note that a cognate word, strictly analogous, is used thus (without an object following) in 2Corinthians 5:4, "Not that we desire to unclothe ourselves, but to clothe ourselves over our earthly vesture." The context shows that the meaning there is "to put off the flesh." This is suggested still more naturally in the passage before us by the preceding phrase, "in the putting off of the body of the flesh"--a phrase there used of the flesh as evil, but found in Colossians 1:22 of the natural body of Christ. Accordingly many Latin fathers (among others Augustine) rendered "stripping Himself of the flesh," and there is some trace of this as a reading or a gloss in the Greek of this passage. Perhaps, however, St. Paul purposely omitted the object after the verb, in order to show that it was by "stripping Himself of all" that He conquered by becoming a show in absolute humiliation, He made the powers of evil a show in His triumph. . . .

Verse 15. - Having stripped off the principalities and the dominions (Colossians 1:16; Colossians 2:10; Acts 7:38, 53; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 1:5, 7, 14; Hebrews 2:2, 5; Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalm 68:17). Απεκδυσάμενος has been rendered, from the time of the Latin Vulgate, "having spoiled" (exspolians), a rendering which is "not less a violation of St. Paul's usage (Colossians 3:9) than of grammatical rule" (Lightfoot; so Alford, Ellicott, Wordsworth, Hofmann, Revisers). It is precisely the same participle that we find in Colossians 3:9, and the writer has just used the noun ἀπέκδυσις (ver. 11) in a corresponding sense (see note in loc. on the force of the double compound). He employs compounds of δύω in the middle voice seventeen times elsewhere, and always in the sense of "putting off [or, 'on'] from one's self;" and there is no sure instance in Greek of the middle verb bearing any other meaning. Yet such critics as Meyer, Eadie, Klopper, cling to the rendering of the Vulgate and our Authorized Version; and not without reason, as we shall see. The Revised margin follows the earlier Latin Fathers and some ancient versions, supplying "his body" as object of the participle, understanding "Christ" as subject. But the context does not, as in 2 Corinthians 5:3, suggest this ellipsis, and it is arbitrary to make the participle itself mean "having disembodied himself." Nor has the writer introduced any new subject since ver. 12, where" God" appears as agent of each of the acts of salvation set forth in vers. 12-15. Moreover, "the principalities and the dominions" of this verse must surely be those of ver. 10 and of Colossians 1:16 (compare the "angels" of ver. 18). We understand St. Patti, therefore, to say "that God [revealing himself in Christ; 'in him,' 15 b] put off and put away those angelic powers through whom he had previously shown himself to men." The Old Testament associates the angels with the creation of the world and the action of the powers of nature (Job 38:7; Psalm cir. 4), and with its great theophanies generally (Psalm 68:7; Deuteronomy 33:2; 2 Kings 6:17, etc.); and its hints in this direction were emphasized and extended by the Greek translators of the LXX. Acts 7:38, 53 (St. Stephen); Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2, ascribe to them a special agency in the giving of the Law. Hebrews 1. and it. show how large a place the doctrine of the mediation of angels filled in Jewish thought at this time, and how it tended to limit the mediatorship of Christ. The mystic developments of Judaism among the Essenes and the Ebionites (Christian Essenes), and in the Cabbala, are full of this belief. And it is a cornerstone of the philosophic mysticism of Alexandria. In Philo the angels are the "Divine powers," "words," "images of God," forming the court and entourage of the invisible King, by whose means he created and maintains the material world, and holds converse with the souls of men (see quotation, ver. 10). This doctrine, we may suppose, was a chief article of the Colossian heresy. Theodoret's note on ver. 18 is apposite here: "They who defended the Law taught men to worship angels, saying that the Law was given by them. This mischief continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia." The apostle returns to the point from which he started in ver. 10. He has just declared that God has cancelled and removed the Law as an instrument of condemnation; and now adds that he has at the same time thrown off and laid aside the veil of angelic mediation under which, in the administration of that Law, he had withdrawn himself. Both these acts take place "in Christ." Both are necessary to that "access to the Father" which, in the apostle's view, is the special prerogative of Christian faith (Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12; Romans 5:2), and which the Colossian error doubly barred, by its ascetic ceremonialism and by its angelic mediation. (See, on this passage, Alford; also Peirce's 'Paraphrase and Notes,' 2nd edit., 1729; Robertson Smith, on 'Christ and the Angels,' Expositor, second series, vol. 1:138, etc.; A. Sabatier's 'L'Apotre Paul,' p. 220, 2nd edit., 1881.) We are compelled, with all deference to its high authority, to reject the view of the Greek Fathers, to which Ellicott, Lightfoot, and Wordsworth have returned, according to which "Christ in his atoning death [in it; 'the cross,' ver. 15 b] stripped off from himself the Satanic powers." For it requires us to bring in, without grammatical warrant, "somewhere" (Lightfoot), "Christ" as subject; it puts upon" the principalities and the dominions" a sense foreign to the context, and that cannot be justified by Ephesians 6:12, where the connection is wholly different and the hostile sense of the terms is most explicitly defined; and it presents an idea harsh and unfitting in itself, the incongruity of which such illustrations as those of the Nessus robe and Joseph's garment only make more apparent. It is one thing to say that the powers of evil surrounded Christ and quite another thing to say that he wore them as we have worn "the body of the flesh" (ver. 11; Colossians 3:9). He made a show (of them) openly, having led them in triumph in him; or, it (Ephesians 1:21, 22; Philippians 2:10; 1 Peter 3:22; Hebrews 1:5, 6; John 1:52; Matthew 25:31; Matthew 26:53; Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:9). In this, as in the last verse, we have a finite verb between two participles, one introductory ("having stripped off"), the other explanatory, Δειγματίζω, to make a show or example, occurs in the New Testament besides only in Matthew 1:17, where it is compounded with παρα (Revised Text), giving it a sinister meaning of not belonging to the simple verb. With the angelic "principalities," etc., for object, the verb denotes, not a shameful exposure, but "an exhibition of them in their true character and position," such as forbids them to be regarded superstitiously (ver. 18). God exhibited the angels as the subordinates and servants of his Son (ver. 10: camp. Luke 1:26; Luke 2:10, 13; Mark 1:13; Luke 22:43; Matthew 28:2, etc.). "Openly" ( ἐν παρρησίᾳ: literally, in freedom of speech, a favourite word of St. Paul s) implies the absence of reserve or restraint, rather than mere publicity (comp. Ephesians 6:19; Philippians 1:20). Θριαμβεύσας ("having triumphed;" 2 Corinthians 2:14 only other instance of the verb in the New Testament; its use in classical Greek confined to Latinist writers, referring, historically, to the Roman triumph) presents a formidable difficulty in the way of the interpretation of the verse followed so far. For the common acceptation of the word "triumph" compels us to think of the "principalities," etc., as hostile (Satanic); and this, again, as Meyer strongly contends, dictates the rendering "having spoiled" for ἀπεκδυσάμενος. So we are brought into collision with two fixed points of our former exegesis. If we are bound lexically to abide by the reference to the Roman military triumph, then the angelic principalities must be supposed to have stood in a quasi-hostile position to "the kingdom of God and of Christ," in so far as men had exaggerated their powers and exalted them at Christ's expense, and to have been now robbed of this false pre-eminence. The writer however, ventures to question whether, on philological grounds, a better, native Greek sense cannot be found for this verb. The noun thriambos ("triumph"), on which it is based, is used, indeed, in the Latin sense as early as Polybius, a writer on Roman history (). But it is extant in a much earlier classical fragment as synonymous with dithyrambos, denoting "a festal song;" and again in Plutarch, contemporary with St. Paul, it is a name of the Greek god Dionysus, in whose honour such songs were sung, and whose worship was of a choral, processional character. This kinder triumph was, one may imagine, familiar to the eyes of St. Paul and of his readers, while the spectacle of the Roman triumph was distant and foreign (at least when he wrote 2 Corinthians). We suggest that the apostle's image is taken, beth here and in 2 Corinthians 2:14, from the festal procession of the Greek divinity, who leads his worshippers along as witnesses of his power and celebrants of his glory. Such a figure fittingly describes the relation and the attitude of the angels to the Divine presence in Christ. Let this suggestion, however, be regarded as precarious or fanciful, the general exposition of the verse is not thereby invalidated. (For further elucidation, see the Expositor, first series, vol. 10. pp. 403-421; 11. p. 78. On "triumph," in 2 Corinthians, see Mr. Waite's Additional note in 'Speaker's Commentary.') The Revisers omit the marginal "in himself" of the Authorized Version, which correctly, as we think, refers the final ἐν αὐτῷ to Christ (ver. 10), though incorrectly implying "Christ" as subject of the verse. It was not only "in the cross" that God unveiled himself, dispensing with angelic theophanies, but in the entire person and work of his Son (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4; John 1:14, 18; John 14:9). "Which veil" (for here we may apply the words of 2 Corinthians 3:14) "is done away in Christ." So the whole passage (vers. 10-15) ends, as it begins, "in him:" "We are complete in him" - in our conversion from sin to holiness set forth in baptism, and our resurrection from death to life experienced in forgiveness (vers. 11-13); and in the removal at once of the legal bar which forbade our access to God (ver. 14), and of the veil of inferior and partial mediation which obscured his manifestation to us (ver. 15).

Parallel Commentaries ...


[And] having disarmed
ἀπεκδυσάμενος (apekdysamenos)
Verb - Aorist Participle Middle - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 554: To strip, divest, renounce. Middle voice from apo and ekduo; to divest wholly oneself, or despoil.

the
τὰς (tas)
Article - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

rulers
ἀρχὰς (archas)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 746: From archomai; a commencement, or chief.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

authorities,
ἐξουσίας (exousias)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1849: From exesti; privilege, i.e. force, capacity, competency, freedom, or mastery, delegated influence.

He made a public spectacle [of them],
ἐδειγμάτισεν (edeigmatisen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1165: To hold up as an example, make a show of, expose. From deigma; to exhibit.

triumphing
θριαμβεύσας (thriambeusas)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2358: (properly: I lead one as my prisoner in a triumphal procession, hence) I lead around, make a show (spectacle) of, cause to triumph.

over them
αὐτοὺς (autous)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

by
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

[the cross].
αὐτῷ (autō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.


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NT Letters: Colossians 2:15 Having stripped the principalities and the powers (Coloss. Col Co)