⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

The work of God’s spirit smears/pastes us with ‘faith’ that we may be taken captive by the knowledge that depends only on Christ, nothing added or subtracted.

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 

Christ alone is sufficient to make known God’s thoughts and actions toward us and the whole creation

¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 

That Christ did his job perfectly and therefore what God intended for us in the first place have been done. No help or addition is needed.

¹¹ In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 

By flesh we said it was about our tendency of not liking God and wanting to have nothing to do with God. As far as God’s thought for us is concerned we want it to be something fancier than the cross. Something we can do. Noble, respectable, conscientious… at least something like the circumcision law, which for Israel have turned into a performance they can do and be proud of. But Paul here implies that such circumcision was a pointer to the cross. The cross was the true circumcision performed by God’s hand on his Son our Christ. To foreshadow this Abraham was called to do circumcision on him and all his male members of household.  

¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

We died therefore when Christ put such flesh to death – our desire of turning anything there is into an object of worship, even corrupting God’s good intention into abomination (disgust). And we are raised into a new being who have this instrument called faith that can see and accept Christ as God’s only tool and method without manipulating it.    

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 

Thus trying to circumcise ourselves we effectively uncircumcised ourselves. The more we tried to be holy ourselves it could only go further away from God or his holiness.

¹⁴ having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 

Such debt (of turning God into a piece of idol to suit our way of thing and acting) is not payable by any means. It is like ten thousand talents that servant owed to his master in Jesus’ parable. The amount represents something that is not payable and probably increases in interest adding the threat and pressure upon us.  

¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Against all the worldly schemes of how to pay back, which seem to offer help but only add to out burden, God laughs from heaven and victories over them by giving up his life and reclaiming it! It is made know to us now but still awe and wonder.

Lord, under the surface of my normal and ordinary life lies such huge undertaking of you moving the whole universe to preserve me from the forces that deceive me and threaten me. You by your Spirit applied faith upon me that I may (begin to) know this and revere you. It is too great for me to contemplate fully but let me remain in it, as you have already put me in it. Let me keep marvelling at the depth of your thoughts and the power of your acts.