Colossians 2:7
rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
rooted
The term "rooted" in the Greek is "ῥιζόω" (rhizoō), which conveys the idea of being firmly planted or established. This imagery draws from the agricultural context familiar to the original audience, where a plant's strength and ability to withstand adverse conditions depend on its roots. Spiritually, being "rooted" in Christ suggests a deep, unshakeable foundation in Him, akin to the parable of the sower where seeds that take root in good soil flourish. This calls believers to ensure their faith is deeply anchored in the teachings and person of Jesus, providing stability and nourishment for spiritual growth.

and built up in Him
The phrase "built up" comes from the Greek "ἐποικοδομέω" (epoikodomeō), which means to build upon a foundation. This construction metaphor complements the agricultural one, emphasizing growth and development. In the historical context of the early church, believers were encouraged to build their lives on the foundation of Christ, much like a house is constructed on a solid base. This ongoing process of spiritual edification involves learning, applying, and living out the teachings of Jesus, ensuring that one's life is a testament to His transformative power.

established in the faith
"Established" is translated from the Greek "βεβαιόω" (bebaioō), meaning to make firm or confirm. This term suggests a process of strengthening and solidifying one's beliefs. In the early Christian context, this was crucial as believers faced various challenges and false teachings. Being "established in the faith" implies a maturity and certainty in one's convictions, rooted in the apostolic teachings and the truth of the Gospel. It is a call to hold steadfastly to the core tenets of Christianity, ensuring that one's faith is not swayed by external pressures or internal doubts.

as you were taught
This phrase underscores the importance of sound teaching and tradition in the Christian faith. The Greek word "διδάσκω" (didaskō) refers to the act of teaching or instructing. The early church placed a high value on apostolic teaching, which was passed down through generations. This highlights the role of discipleship and the transmission of doctrine, ensuring that believers remain aligned with the truth. It serves as a reminder of the responsibility to adhere to the teachings received from trusted and authoritative sources within the Christian community.

and overflowing with thankfulness
The word "overflowing" is derived from the Greek "περισσεύω" (perisseuō), meaning to abound or be in excess. This imagery of abundance is paired with "thankfulness," translated from "εὐχαριστία" (eucharistia), which denotes gratitude or thanksgiving. In the context of Colossians, this reflects a heart response to the grace and blessings received through Christ. The historical backdrop of persecution and hardship makes this exhortation even more poignant, as believers are encouraged to maintain a posture of gratitude regardless of circumstances. This overflowing thankfulness is both a natural outcome of a life rooted in Christ and a powerful testimony to the world of the joy and peace found in Him.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul the Apostle
The author of the letter to the Colossians, writing to encourage and instruct the believers in Colossae.

2. Colossae
An ancient city in Asia Minor, where the church addressed in this letter was located.

3. The Colossian Church
The recipients of Paul's letter, a group of early Christians facing challenges from false teachings.

4. Christ Jesus
The central figure in whom believers are to be rooted and built up, as emphasized by Paul.

5. False Teachers
Although not directly mentioned in this verse, they are the backdrop against which Paul writes, warning the Colossians to remain steadfast in their faith.
Teaching Points
Rooted in Christ
Just as a tree's roots provide stability and nourishment, our spiritual roots in Christ give us strength and sustenance. We must ensure our lives are deeply anchored in Him.

Built Up in Faith
Spiritual growth is a continuous process. We are called to build upon the foundation of faith laid by the teachings of Christ and the apostles.

Established in the Faith
Being established means being firm and unwavering. We should strive for a faith that is resilient against the challenges and false teachings of the world.

Overflowing with Thankfulness
Gratitude is a natural response to understanding the depth of what Christ has done for us. Cultivating a heart of thankfulness can transform our perspective and interactions with others.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does it mean to be "rooted" in Christ, and how can you cultivate deeper roots in your daily life?

2. In what ways can you actively participate in being "built up" in your faith community?

3. How can you ensure that your faith remains "established" amidst the challenges and distractions of modern life?

4. Reflect on a time when you felt "overflowing with thankfulness." How can you make gratitude a regular part of your spiritual practice?

5. How do the teachings in Colossians 2:7 connect with the imagery of being a "tree planted by streams of water" in Psalm 1:3, and how can this imagery inspire your walk with Christ?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Ephesians 3:17
Paul uses similar language about being "rooted and grounded in love," emphasizing the importance of a firm foundation in Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:9-11
Paul speaks of believers as God's building, with Christ as the foundation, paralleling the imagery of being "built up."

Philippians 1:9-11
The theme of abounding in love and knowledge, which complements the idea of overflowing with thankfulness.

Psalm 1:3
The imagery of a tree planted by streams of water, which is akin to being "rooted" in Christ.

Hebrews 13:15
Encourages believers to continually offer a sacrifice of praise, aligning with the call to overflow with thankfulness.
Introduction to the Polemical Part of the EpistleR. Finlayson Colossians 2:1-7
The Trinity as the Source of Christian Love and ConsolationR.M. Edgar Colossians 2:1-7
Blessed Christian PossibilitiesU.R. Thomas Colossians 2:4-7
Congratulations and CounselsE.S. Prout Colossians 2:4-7
As and SoC. H. Spurgeon.Colossians 2:6-7
Christ is the Believer's FoundationT. Guthrie.Colossians 2:6-7
Christian Activity the Safeguard of the ChurchBishop Magee.Colossians 2:6-7
Faith is Receiving ChristC. H. Spurgeon.Colossians 2:6-7
Growth in ChristW.F. Adneney Colossians 2:6, 7
Progress is GradualDr. Goulburn.Colossians 2:6-7
Receiving Christ and Walking in HimJ. Vaughan, M. A.Colossians 2:6-7
Retrospection the Basis of ProgressJ. Burton.Colossians 2:6-7
Suggestive Features of the Christian LifeG. Barlow.Colossians 2:6-7
The Christian LifeJ. Gill.Colossians 2:6-7
The Christly CharacterD. Thomas, D. D.Colossians 2:6-7
The Life and Walk of FaithC. H. Spurgeon.Colossians 2:6-7
The Principle of a Consistent Christian WalkT. Croskery. Colossians 2:6, 7
The Threefold GrowthA. J. Gordon, D. D.Colossians 2:6-7
People
Colossians, Paul
Places
Colossae, Laodicea
Topics
Abounding, Always, Assured, Based, Builded, Building, Built, Confirmed, Continually, Established, Faith, Firmly, Giving, Gratitude, Increasingly, Instructed, Overflowing, Planted, Praise, Rooted, Roots, Stablished, Strengthened, Strong, Taught, Teaching, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, Therein, Yourselves
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Colossians 2:7

     5240   building
     5549   speech, positive
     5763   attitudes, positive to God
     5856   extravagance
     8435   giving, of oneself

Colossians 2:5-7

     5953   stability

Colossians 2:6-7

     4504   roots
     5904   maturity, spiritual
     7757   preaching, effects
     8413   edification

Library
Notes on the Fourth Century
Page 238. Med. 1. In the wording of this meditation, and of several other passages in the Fourth Century, it seems as though Traherne is speaking not of himself, but of, a friend and teacher of his. He did this, no doubt, in order that he might not lay himself open to the charge of over-egotism. Yet that he is throughout relating his own experiences is proved by the fact that this Meditation, as first written, contains passages which the author afterwards marked for omission. In its original form
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

July 18. "Ye are Complete in Him" (Col. Ii. 10).
"Ye are complete in Him" (Col. ii. 10). In Him we are now complete. The perfect pattern of the life of holy service for which He has redeemed and called us, is now in Him in heaven, even as the architect's model is planned and prepared and completed in his office. But now it must be wrought into us and transferred to our earthly life, and this is the Holy Spirit's work. He takes the gifts and graces of Christ and brings them into our life, as we need and receive them day by day, just as the sections
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

January 15. "As Ye have Received Christ Jesus So Walk in Him" (Col. Ii. 6).
"As ye have received Christ Jesus so walk in Him" (Col. ii. 6). It is much easier to keep the fire burning than to rekindle it after it has gone out. Let us abide in Him. Let us not have to remove the cinders and ashes from our hearthstones every day and kindle a new flame; but let us keep it burning and never let it expire. Among the ancient Greeks the sacred fire was never allowed to go out; so, in a higher sense, let us keep the heavenly flame aglow upon the altar of the heart. It takes very much
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

June 2. "As Ye have Therefore Received Christ Jesus the Lord So Walk Ye in Him" (Col. Ii. 6).
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in Him" (Col. ii. 6). Here is the very core of spiritual life. It is not a subjective state so much as a life in the heart. Christ for us is the ground of our salvation and the source of our justification; Christ in us of our sanctification. When this becomes real, "Ye are dead"; your own condition, states and resources are no longer counted upon any more than a dead man's, but "your life is hid with Christ in God." It is not even always
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Christian Progress
'As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and builded up in Him.'--COL. ii. 6, 7 (R.V.). It is characteristic of Paul that he should here use three figures incongruous with each other to express the same idea, the figures of walking, being rooted, and built up. They, however, have in common that they all suggest an initial act by which we are brought into connection with Christ, and a subsequent process flowing from and following on it. Receiving Christ, being rooted
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Fear which Terminates in the Second Death.
"The fearful--shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." The terms on which only we can be Christ's disciples are laid before us in the Scriptures, and we are counselled to consider them before we engage to be his. Though Christ was born to be a king, his kingdom is not of this world. He doth not persuade men with the prospect of great things here; but on the contrary warns his followers, that "in this world they shall have tribulation;"
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

Christ Triumphant
I shall this morning, by God's help, address you upon the two portions of the text. First, I shall endeavour to describe Christ as spoiling his enemies on the cross; and having done that I shall lead your imagination and your faith further on to see the Saviour in triumphal procession upon his cross, leading his enemies captive, and making a shew of them openly before the eyes of the astonished universe. I.First, our faith is invited this morning to behold CHRIST MAKING A SPOIL OF PRINCIPALITIES
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

A Warning to Believers
"Let no man beguile you of your reward."--Colossians 2:18. THERE is an allusion here to the prize which was offered to the runners in the Olympic games, and at the outset it is well for us to remark how very frequently the Apostle Paul conducts us by his metaphors to the racecourse. Over and over again he is telling us so to run that we may obtain, bidding us to strive, and at other times to agonize, and speaking of wrestling and contending. Ought not this to make us feel what an intense thing the
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

Conflict and Comfort.
"For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ."--COL. ii. 1, 2. Although he was in prison the Apostle was constantly at work for his Master, and not least of all at the work of prayer. If ever the words
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

Bands of Love; Or, Union to Christ. "I Drew them with Cords of a Man, with Bands of Love: and I was to them as they that Take Off the Yoke on their Jaws, and I Laid Meat unto Them. " --Hosea xi. 4.
BANDS OF LOVE; OR, UNION TO CHRIST. SYSTEMATIC theologians have usually regarded union to Christ under three aspects, natural, mystical and federal, and it may be that these three terms are comprehensive enough to embrace the whole subject, but as our aim is simplicity, let us be pardoned if we appear diffuse when we follow a less concise method. 1. The saints were from the beginning joined to Christ by bands of everlasting love. Before He took on Him their nature, or brought them into a conscious
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

The Disciple, -- Master, Some People Say that the Comfort and Joy that Believers Experience...
The Disciple,--Master, some people say that the comfort and joy that believers experience are simply the outcome of their own thoughts and ideas. Is this true? The Master,--1. That comfort and abiding peace which believers have within themselves is due to My presence in their hearts, and to the life-giving influence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. As for those who say that this spiritual joy is the result only of the thoughts of the heart, they are like a foolish man who was blind from his birth,
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

The Faithful Steward
"GOD IS LOVE." Perfectly blessed in Himself, he desired that other intelligences should participate in his own holy felicity. This was his primary motive in creating moral beings. They were made in his own image--framed to resemble him in their intellectual and moral capacities, and to imitate him in the spirit of their deportment. Whatever good they enjoyed, like him, they were to desire that others might enjoy it with them; and thus all were to be bound together by mutual sympathy,--linked
Sereno D. Clark—The Faithful Steward

The Subordination of the Spirit to the Father and to the Son.
From the fact that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, it does not follow that the Holy Spirit is in every sense equal to the Father. While the Scriptures teach that in Jesus Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead in a bodily form (Col. ii. 9) and that He was so truly and fully Divine that He could say, "I and the Father are one" (John x. 30) and "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John xiv. 9), they also teach with equal clearness that Jesus Christ was not equal to the Father in
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

The Person Sanctified.
"The putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh."--Col. ii. 11. Sanctification embraces the whole man, body and soul, with all the parts, members, and functions that belong to each respectively. It embraces his person and, all of his person. This is why sanctification progresses from the hour of regeneration all through life, and can be completed only in and through death. St. Paul prays for the church of Thessalonica: "The God of peace sanctify you wholly, and may your whole spirit and soul
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria
Assur-nazir-pal (885-860) and Shalmaneser III. (860-825)--The kingdom of Urartu and its conquering princes: Menuas and Argistis. Assyria was the first to reappear on the scene of action. Less hampered by an ancient past than Egypt and Chaldaea, she was the sooner able to recover her strength after any disastrous crisis, and to assume again the offensive along the whole of her frontier line. Image Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief at Koyunjik of the time of Sennacherib. The initial cut,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 7

St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzum; Council of Constantinople,
PART I (AD 373-381) Although St. Athanasius was now dead, God did not fail to raise up champions for the true faith. Three of the most famous of these were natives of Cappadocia--namely, Basil, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and his friend Gregory of Nazianzum. But although Gregory of Nyssa was a very good and learned man, and did great service to the truth by his writings, there was nothing remarkable in the story of his life; so I shall only tell you about the other two. Basil and Gregory of Nazianzum
J. C. Roberston—Sketches of Church History, from AD 33 to the Reformation

His Eyes are Like a Dove's by the Rivers of Waters, Washed with Milk, and Sitting Beside Overflowing Streams.
She goes on holding up to admiration the perfection of her Bridegroom; His abundance and His wonderful qualities are the joy of the Spouse, in the midst of her misery. His eyes, says she, are so pure, so chaste and so simple, His knowledge so purified from everything material, that they are like dove's; not like doves of any common beauty, but doves washed in the milk of divine grace, which, having been given to Him without measure, has filled Him with all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Christians must not Forsake the Church of God, and Go Away and Invoke Angels And...
Christians must not forsake the Church of God, and go away and invoke angels and gather assemblies, which things are forbidden. If, therefore, any one shall be found engaged in this covert idolatry, let him be anathema; for he has forsaken our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and has gone over to idolatry. Notes. Ancient Epitome of Canon XXXV. Whoso calls assemblies in opposition to those of the Church and names angels, is near to idolatry and let him be anathema. Van Espen. Whatever the worship
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

The Poison and the Antidote
'And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compare the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7. Therefore
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

More Particularly, in what Respect Christ is Called the Truth.
But for further explaining of this matter, we would see more particularly, in what respects it is, that he is called the truth; and this will make way to our use-making of him. So, First, He is the Truth, in opposition to the shadows and types of him, under the law. Hence, as "the law," the whole Levitical and typical dispensation, "came by Moses, so grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," John i. 17. They were all shadows of him, and he is the substance and body of them all, Col. ii. 17; and this
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Faith
'The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.' Gal 2:20. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us. Christ is the glory, and faith in Christ the comfort, of the gospel. What are the kinds of faith? Fourfold: (1.) An historical or dogmatic faith, which is believing the truths revealed in the Word, because of divine authority. (2.) There is a temporary faith, which lasts for a time, and then vanishes. Yet has he no root in himself,
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

In the Work of the Redemption of Man, not Only the Mercy, but Also the Justice, of God is Displayed.
In the work of the Redemption of man, not only the mercy, but also the justice, of God is displayed. 15. Man therefore was lawfully delivered up, but mercifully set free. Yet mercy was shown in such a way that a kind of justice was not lacking even in his liberation, since, as was most fitting for man's recovery, it was part of the mercy of the liberator to employ justice rather than power against man's enemy. For what could man, the slave of sin, fast bound by the devil, do of himself to recover
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

He Made the Pillars Thereof of Silver, the Couch of Gold, the Ascent Thereto of Purple; and the Midst Thereof He Strewed with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem.
The pillars of the holy Humanity of Jesus Christ are of silver; His soul with its powers and His body with its senses being of a finished purity well set forth by the most refined and brilliant silver. His couch, which is the Divinity itself, in which Christ subsists in the person of the Word, is clearly expressed by the couch of this mysterious chariot being made all of gold, which is often put in the Scriptures for God. The ascent thereto is adorned with purple, whereby it is signified, that although
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

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