They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Colossians 2:19
Paul's concern was that the Colossians grow in Christ, to continue in him as they started in him. The apostle compares the false teachers to a part of a body that has lost connection with the head.
Several years ago my aunt died of a rare disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Basically, it destroys the brain, bit by bit. When certain parts of the brain are lost, then the brain can no longer tell the body what to do. So, people with the disease usually lose their memory and then bodily functions. Eventually, people die because the brain can't tell the heart to beat.
The false teachers seeking to invade the early church were trying to mislead believers away from Christ and into pre-Gnostic philosophies or legalistic Judaism. Either way was leading people away from Christ, the head. If you disconnect from the head, as a part of the body, you will die. We must stay connected to Christ, in other words, continue in him, rooted and built up in the faith as the word of God teaches. Stay connected, stay in Christ.
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