Charles Ellicott Commentary Colossians 2:5

"For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ." — Colossians 2:5 (ASV)

Absent in the flesh.—Compare 1 Corinthians 5:3, I as absent in body and present in spirit.

Your order, and the stedfastness.—The word “order” is used in 1 Corinthians 14:40; the word “stedfastness,” or solidity, is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, though the verb from which it is derived is found in Acts 3:7; Acts 3:16; Acts 16:5, and the original adjective, from which the verb is derived, in 1 Peter 5:9, stedfast in the faith.

From the days of the ancient Greek interpreters onward, it has been noted that both words have military associations: one describes discipline generally, and the other the firm, compact solidity of the phalanx. It has also been suggested that their use may have been suggested by St. Paul’s captivity under military guard.

If both words refer to their “faith,” the Apostle obviously characterizes it as having right “order” (or, harmony) in its various parts, and a strong “solidity” against all trials.