In 2:10 Paul says that Christ is the Head of all rule and authority. The rule and authority spoken of here are the angelic powers, in particular the fallen angels who still occupy positions of power. According to the full revelation of the Bible, after God created the universe, He placed it under the control of an archangel and other leading angels. When this archangel rebelled against God and became Satan, many of the leading angels who assisted him in ruling the universe became the evil rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. These are described in Ephesians 6:12 as the rulers, the authorities, the world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies. These angelic powers rule over the nations. For this reason, in the book of Daniel there is mention both of the prince of Greece and of the prince of Persia. (A prince here denotes one of the angelic powers or rulers.) This means that all the nations on earth today are under the rule of authorities in the heavenlies; however, not all of these are evil. But Christ is the Head of all rule and authority.
Since Christ is our perfection and completion, we do not need other rules and authorities as objects of adoration, for He is the Head of all these. Remember that the Colossians had been led astray to the worship of angels. Therefore, Paul told them that since Christ is the Head of all the angels and since we are in Him, there is no need for us to worship angels.
The Colossians were worshipping angels because they fell under the influence of the heretical teaching that God is too exalted to be worshipped directly by lowly human beings. According to this false doctrine, we must humble ourselves and worship the angels as mediators between us and God. Those who worship angels in this way argue that they are still worshipping God, not idols. They claim simply to be worshipping God through the mediation of angels, who are superior to us. This heresy became prevailing in Asia Minor. Therefore, Paul was burdened to point out their error. How wrong the Colossians were in taking the angels as mediators! There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). Since the Colossians were in the very One who is the Head of all angels and since they had been made full in Him, they were not short of anything. They had no need of angels to be mediators. Angels are to serve us and to protect us, but they are not mediators between us and God. All the saints have at least one angel, one angelic bodyguard, assigned to serve them and protect them. This is proved by the Lord’s word in Matthew 18:10 where He charges us not to despise “one of these little ones, for...their angels in the heavens always behold the face of My Father Who is in the heavens.” Furthermore, when Peter was released from prison and was knocking at the door of the gate, those inside the house told the young woman, who kept saying that Peter was knocking, “It is his angel” (Acts 12:15). Although the angels serve us and may protect us, we should not regard them as mediators. Because they are servants, we should not worship them. We are identified with the One who is the Head of all the angels, and in Him we have been made full. If we are clear about this, we shall never be deluded into worshipping angels. Rather, we shall have the proper knowledge that, in a very real sense, because we are one with the Head of the angels, we are higher than they are. Actually, we are partners of the Christ who is the Head over them, and in Him we are complete.
This fact of having been made full in Christ is versus the worship of angels. Because we are one with Christ, we should never worship angels.
In verse 11 Paul says, “In Whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.” Here Paul speaks of a circumcision not made with hands. This certainly is different from that practiced by the Jews, which was carried out with a knife. In addition to that physical circumcision, there is another kind of circumcision, the circumcision in Christ, which is not made with hands. This is spiritual circumcision and refers to the proper baptism, which puts off the body of the flesh by the effectual virtue of the death of Christ. As we shall see, this is versus asceticism.
The circumcision in Christ involves the death of Christ and the power of the Spirit. When Christ was crucified on the cross, His crucifixion was the genuine, practical, and universal circumcision. His crucifixion cut off all the negative things. These negative things include our flesh, our natural man, and the self. However, along with the death of Christ we need the Spirit as the power. If we have Christ’s crucifixion without the Spirit as the power, we shall have no means to apply Christ’s crucifixion to us and to execute its effect upon us. The crucifixion of Christ becomes practical and effective by means of the Spirit. By the Spirit as the power, Christ’s crucifixion is applied to us. Then under the power of the Spirit, we are circumcised in an actual and practical way. This is the circumcision in Christ, a circumcision not made with hands. It is a circumcision not made with hands because it was accomplished by the death of Christ, and it is applied, executed, and carried out by the powerful Spirit. This is the circumcision we have all received.
In Christ, on the one hand, we have been made full, and, on the other hand, we have been circumcised. Because we have been made full in Him, we are short of nothing. Because we have been circumcised in Him, all the negative things have been removed. Regarding the positive things, we are complete. Regarding the negative things, everything has been cleared up, and we have no problems. Therefore, regarding the positive things, we are not short of anything, and regarding the negative things, we are no longer troubled by anything.
However, we need to exercise faith and not look at ourselves. We must turn our eyes away from our feelings and from our apparent situation. According to our apparent situation, we are short of everything positive and are troubled by everything negative. But according to the facts, we are not in ourselves—we are in Christ. Because we are in Him, we have been made full positively, and we have been circumcised to clear away the negative things.