Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Colossians 2:19

"and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increasing with the increase of God." — Colossians 2:19 (ASV)

The false teacher lacked vital contact with Jesus Christ. This is profoundly serious because it is from Christ as Head that “the whole body [the church], supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows.” Each believer is thought of here as forming a vital connection with Christ the Head. Thus joined to him, they all become the joints and ligaments by which the church is supplied with energy and life. The heretical teacher, without this contact with Christ, has cut himself off from the source of spiritual vitality for God’s people and cannot possibly contribute to their growth.