The Meaning of Colossians 2:3 Explained

Colossians 2:3

KJV: In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

YLT: in whom are all the treasures of the wisdom and the knowledge hid,

Darby: in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.

ASV: in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

In  whom  are  hid  all  the treasures  of wisdom  and  knowledge. 

What does Colossians 2:3 Mean?

Context Summary

Colossians 2:1-12 - Established In Their Faith
If you know Christ, you can lay your hand on the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They are matters of daily experience. The Apostle's aim in this chapter is to put his converts on their guard against those who might divert them from their simple faith in Jesus, and their sufficiency in Him. The keynotes are Take heed and Let no one.
The first act of the Christian life is to receive Christ, and every moment afterward we must continue receiving Him. The act must become an attitude. Breathe in the love and power of Jesus. Take deep breaths. Then we shall be rooted in Him in secret, and built up in Him in our outward walk and behavior. If we have Christ, we have all God's fullness, and this is easily accessible. Like Jacob's ladder, He links us with God. What need have we for celestial beings, like those invented by the Gnostics, or for the rite of circumcision, as insisted on by the Jews? We have everything in Jesus. He has fulfilled the Law in all respects on our behalf. Let us put the waters of entire surrender and consecration between our past, our sins, and the world, and rise into His life, the life of resurrection glory and power. [source]

Chapter Summary: Colossians 2

1  Paul still exhorts them to be constant in Christ;
8  to beware of philosophy, and vain traditions;
18  worshipping of angels;
20  and legal ceremonies, which are ended in Christ

Greek Commentary for Colossians 2:3

In whom [εν ωι]
This locative form can refer to μυστηριου — mustēriou or to Χριστου — Christou It really makes no difference in sense since Christ is the mystery of God. [source]
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [παντες οι τησαυροι της σοπιας και γνωσεως]
See note on Matthew 2:11 and note on Matthew 6:19 for this old word, our thesaurus, for coffer, storehouse, treasure. Paul confronts these pretentious intellectuals (Gnostics) with the bold claim that Christ sums up all wisdom and knowledge. These treasures are hidden (αποκρυποι — apokruphoi old adjective from αποκρυπτω — apokruptō to hide away, Mark 4:22) whether the Gnostics have discovered them or not. They are there (in Christ) as every believer knows by fresh and repeated discovery. [source]
Hid [ἀπόκρυφοι]
Only here, Mark 4:22; Luke 8:17. Compare 1 Corinthians 2:7. Not to be joined with are, as A.V. Its position at the end of the sentence, and so far from are, shows that it is added as an emphatic secondary predicate. Hence, as Rev., in whom are all the treasures, etc., hidden. For a similar construction, see Colossians 3:1, “where Christ is on the right hand of God seated (there).” James 1:17, “Every perfect gift is from above, coming down.” Grammatically, hidden may be taken as an attribute of treasures; “in whom the hidden treasures are contained;” but the other is preferable. The words which immediately follow in Colossians 2:4, suggest the possibility that hidden may convey an allusion to the Apocrypha or secret writings of the Essenes, whose doctrines entered into the Colossian heresy. Such writings, which, later, were peculiar also to the Gnostics, contained the authoritative secret wisdom, the esoteric teaching for the learned few. If such is Paul's allusion, the word suggests a contrast with the treasures of christian wisdom which are accessible to all in Christ. [source]
Wisdom and knowledge []
See on Romans 11:33. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Colossians 2:3

Romans 11:33 Wisdom - knowledge [σοφίας - γνώσεως]
Used together only here, 1 Corinthians 12:8; Colossians 2:3. There is much difference of opinion as to the precise distinction. It is agreed on all hands that wisdom is the nobler attribute, being bound up with moral character as knowledge is not. Hence wisdom is ascribed in scripture only to God or to good men, unless it is used ironically. See 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6; Luke 10:21. Cicero calls wisdom “the chief of all virtues.” The earlier distinction, as Augustine, is unsatisfactory: that wisdom is concerned with eternal things, and knowledge with things of sense; for γνῶσις knowledgeis described as having for its object God (2 Corinthians 10:5); the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6); Christ Jesus (Philemon 3:8). As applied to human acquaintance with divine things, γνῶσις knowledgeis the lower, σοφία wisdomthe higher stage. Knowledge may issue in self-conceit. It is wisdom that builds up the man (1 Corinthians 8:1). As attributes of God, the distinction appears to be between general and special: the wisdom of God ruling everything in the best way for the best end; the knowledge of God, His wisdom as it contemplates the relations of things, and adopts means and methods. The wisdom forms the plan; the knowledge knows the ways of carrying it out. [source]
Ephesians 1:17 The Spirit of wisdom and revelation []
Spirit has not the article, but the reference is to the Holy Spirit. Compare Matthew 12:28; Luke 1:15, Luke 1:35, Luke 1:41; Romans 1:4; 1 Peter 1:2. Wisdom and revelation are special forms of the Spirit's operation. He imparts general illumination (wisdom) and special revelations of divine mysteries. The combination of two words with an advance in thought from the general to the special is characteristic of Paul. Compare grace and apostleship, Romans 1:5; gifts and calling, Romans 11:29; wisdom and prudence, Ephesians 1:8, wisdom and knowledge, Colossians 2:3. [source]
Ephesians 1:9 The mystery of his will [το μυστηριον του τεληματος αυτου]
Once hidden, now revealed as in Colossians 1:26 which see. See also Colossians 2:3. [source]
Colossians 3:1 Sitteth [ἐστιν καθήμενος]
According to the A.V. the literal rendering would be is sitting. Is, however, must be taken separately; where Christ is, seated. Seated is a secondary predicate, as hidden in Colossians 2:3. Compare Ephesians 2:4-6; Revelation 3:21. [source]
Colossians 1:28 In all wisdom [ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ]
In every form of wisdom. Thus opposed to the idea of esoteric and exoteric wisdom represented by the false teachers; higher knowledge for the few philosophic minds, and blind faith for the masses. In christian teaching the highest wisdom is freely open to all. Compare Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:3. [source]
Colossians 3:1 The things that are above [τα ανω]
“The upward things” (cf. Philemon 3:14), the treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:20). Paul gives this ideal and goal in place of merely ascetic rules. Seated on the right hand of God (εν δεχιαι του τεου κατημενος — en dexiāi tou theou kathēmenos). Not periphrastic verb, but additional statement. Christ is up there and at God‘s right hand. Cf. Colossians 2:3. [source]
Colossians 3:1 Seated on the right hand of God [εν δεχιαι του τεου κατημενος]
Not periphrastic verb, but additional statement. Christ is up there and at God‘s right hand. Cf. Colossians 2:3. [source]

What do the individual words in Colossians 2:3 mean?

in whom are all the treasures - of wisdom and of knowledge hidden
ἐν εἰσιν πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι

  whom 
Parse: Personal / Relative Pronoun, Dative Masculine Singular
Root: ὅς 
Sense: who, which, what, that.
θησαυροὶ  treasures 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: θησαυρός  
Sense: the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up.
τῆς  - 
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
σοφίας  of  wisdom 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: σοφία  
Sense: wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters.
γνώσεως  of  knowledge 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: γνῶσις  
Sense: knowledge signifies in general intelligence, understanding.
ἀπόκρυφοι  hidden 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀπόκρυφος  
Sense: hidden, secret.