COLOSSIANS CHAPTER 2

Pray for guidance and insight before you start. Please read the entire chapter first
before you proceed with your answers. Read again the specified verses to gain more
insights into the lesson.

Day 1 Colossians 2:1-7 Pauls Struggle for the Church

1. (a) What was the ultimate purpose of Pauls struggle in verse 1?

Please refer to Colossians 1:28.

(b) For whom did Paul struggle or worked hard in verse 1?

(c) What can you learn about the city of Laodicea? Please refer to a Bible
handbook, a study Bible or a Bible dictionary/concordance.

2. (a) What was Pauls desire for believers in verses 2 to 3?

Verse 2
Verse 3

(b) Why did Paul encourage them in love to know the mystery of God which is
Christ Himself in verse 4-5?
Verse 4
Verse 5

3. (a) Since the believers received Christ as Jesus and Lord, what should they do
in verses 6-7?
Verse 6
Verse 7

(b) Paul said that the believers should walk in Christ in verse 6. How may
believers walk in Christ or live for Him? Please refer to the following Bible verses.
1. Romans 12:1-2

2. Colossians 3:16

3. Acts 1:8

(c) Paul also said that the believers should be firmly rooted and built up in
Christ and be established in their faith in verse 7. Why should they build themselves
together in their faith in Him alone? Please refer to the following Bible verses.

1. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9
 2. Ephesians 2:20-22

3. Ephesians 3:17-19

APPLICATION

(a) As you walk in your Christian faith, how do you guard against being deceived by
lies that are masquerading as well-crafted arguments that will make you doubt
your faith in Christ?

(b) How may you be rooted, built-up and strengthened in your faith amidst your
daily problems and concerns?

(c) How may you encourage others to walk in Christ like what Paul did to the
Colossians and Laodiceans?

Day 2 Colossians 2:8-10 Christ the Incarnate

1. (a) What did Paul remind the believers not to be captive in verse 8?

(b) Using the Bible dictionary/concordance, how do you define captive?

(c) To whom the believers should be captive or enslaved to?

(d) Why should believers be captive only in Christ in verses 9-10?

Verse 9
Verse 10

2. (a) Paul states that in Christ, all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form in
verse 9, that us, Christ in fully human and fully divine. What is the significance of
Christ being both God and human? Please refer to Matthew 1:20-23.

(b) What is the importance of Christs humanity, or of Christ being completely

human? Please refer to the following Bible verses. John 1:14 and Hebrews 2:14-15

3. (a) Paul states that believers have been made complete in Christ in verse 10.
How is this possible? Please refer to Ephesians 3:19.

(b) Paul also stated that Christ is the head over all rule and authority in verse
10. What does all authority encompass? Please refer to Ephesians 1:20-21.
4. APPLICATION

(a) Examine your life. What have you been captive of or enslaved to regarding your
beliefs before you put your faith in Christ?

(b) As a believer, are you content with your life now that Christ is in you?
If yes, how may you share with others the completeness that Christ has given you?
If no, pray and thank Christ for His death on the cross for your sins, and ask Him to
take control of your life.

Day 3 Colossians 2:11-17 The Love of Christ and the Liberty in Him

1. (a) Paul said that he believers were circumcised in Christ, and through faith,
were cut-off or freed from the power of their sinful nature in verse 11. How was this
possible as explained by Paul in verses 12-15?
Verse 12
Verse 13
Verse 14
Verse 15

2. (a) Because of what Christ has done for us, what did Paul say about the
observance of deity laws, festivals and rituals in verse 16?

(b) Why should no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in
respect to festivals, holidays and rituals in verse 17?

What does the Bible say about dietary laws in eating or drinking in the
following verses?
Romans 14:3
Romans 14:17

(c) Why are ceremonial laws or traditions of the Old Testament referred to as
shadows of what is to come? Please refer to Hebrews 10:1-2.

3. APPLICATION

(a) Because of Christs love, He saved us from the penalty of sin which is spiritual
death and nailed all our transgressions on the cross. How do we respond to His
love?

(b) Because Christ has set us free from our sinful nature and gave us power over
dear, how may we help others still bound to traditions, religious festivals,
ceremonial dietary laws, so like us, they may also have liberty in Christ?
Day 4 Colossians 2:18-19 Christ, the Head of the Body (Church)

1. (a) Paul warned the believers not to be defrauded by anyone who claim to be
superior with an inflated fleshly mind by insisting on the following practices in verse
18, namely
1.
2.
3.

(b) What is self-abasement or Asceticism? Please use a Bible dictionary or a

Bible reference.

(c) Why is ones spirit not purified by self-abasement or punishment of the

body in verse 20?

2. (a) Mysticism teaches that God can be known through the worship of angels
and seeing of vision in verse 18. Why is this proposition not applicable to Christians
in verse 19?

(b) What are angels? Please use a Bible dictionary/concordance for a Bible
reference.

When did God create angels? Please refer to Job 38:1-7.

Why should angels not be worshipped? Please refer to Exodus 20:3-4 and
Revelations 22:8-9.

May angels intercede for and in behalf of man to God? Please refer to John
14:6.

3. Paul said that since Christ is the believers prize in verse 18, why should they hold
fast to Him as the head of the church in verse 19? Please refer also to John 15:5.

4. APPLICATION

(a) While growing up, what similar practices and beliefs mentioned by Paul in verse
18 did you learn or were made aware of?
(b) If you have not yet overcome these practices and beliefs, pray that the Holy
Spirit will guide you to hold fast to Christ, as your only prize for salvation. If you
have overcome these practices and beliefs through Christ, how may you help others
nail these practices and beliefs on the cross?

Day 5 Colossians 2:20-23 Christ, the Way to the Father

1. (a) Why did Paul admonish the Colossians in verses 20-21?

(b) What did these decrees refer to in verse 22?

(c) What were the basis of these decrees in?

(d) What were the outward manifestations of these decreed in verse 23?

2. (a) How did Paul consider these things and matters in verse 23

(b) Paul said that the believer has died with Christ to the elementary principles of
the world in verse 20. How is this possible? Please refer to Galatians 5:24.

What makes this possible? Please refer to Galatians 5:16-18.

3. APPLICATION

(a) As you compare your life now and that of last year, what changes for the better
have you seen in your thoughts and attitude?

(b) The Holy Spirit in you guides you not to do the things that you please but leads
you to do the things that pleases God. Has the Holy Spirit filled your heart
completely in responding to your day to day concerns? If yes, how may you witness
to others so that the Holy Spirit may also help them live for God? If no, pray that
your heart may be filled with the Holy Spirit moment by moment so you may do the
things that pleases God.

Day 6 Reflection, Meditation and Application

How may we identify false religions or teachings based on what Paul has written in
Colossians 2? The following questions may be asked about any religious group to
help us guard against man-made religions. (Taken from the notes on Colossians
2:22-23 NASB-NLT) Use the following questions to test religious groups that you
have in your mind.

1. Does it stress man-made rules and taboos rather than Gods grace?
2. Does it foster a critical spirit toward others, or does it exercise discipline
discretely or lovingly?
3. Does it stress formulas, secret knowledge, honoring those who keep the rules,
rather than elevating Christ?
4. Does it elevate self-righteousness, honoring those who keep the rules, rather
than elevating Christ?
5. Does it neglect Christs universal church, claiming to be an elite group?
6. Does it teach humiliation of the body as a means of spiritual growth rather than
focus on the growth of that whole person?
7. Does it disregard the family rather than hold it in a high regard as the Bible does?