independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended
Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)
The agon for the unseen churches 2:1–5
vv. 1–3 — the struggle and its goal: hearts knit into the mystery
1
For I want you to knowindependent — the disclosure formula — the γάρ hooks back to the toil of 1:29
how great a struggle I have on behalf of you and those in Laodicea,content — indirect exclamation — ἡλίκον: the sheer size of the agon
and all who have not seen my face in the flesh,relative — on τῶν — the class widened: every congregation Paul has never met
2
that their hearts may be encouraged,purpose — what the agon is for — hearts strengthened before the persuaders arrive
knit together in loveparticipial — constructio ad sensum — nominative for the persons behind αἱ καρδίαι
and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding,purpose — first goal of the knitting — assurance that comes as wealth
unto a knowledge of God's mystery, namely Christ,purpose — second goal — Χριστοῦ in apposition to τοῦ μυστηρίου: the mystery is Christ (the short hard reading kept)
3
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.relative — on Χριστοῦ — ἀπόκρυφοι predicative: hidden in him, so sought nowhere else
vv. 4–5 — why he says it: absent in flesh, present in spirit
4
I say thisindependent — τοῦτο — vv. 1–3: the agon disclosed with an aim
so that no one may delude you with persuasive speech.purpose — the first sighting of the opponents — πιθανολογία: plausible patter
5
For though I am absent in body,conditional — εἰ καί concessive — the fact conceded, leaning on the apodosis below
yet I am with you in spirit,independent — ἀλλά marking the apodosis — presence the philosophy cannot see
rejoicing and beholding your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.participial — manner — τάξις and στερέωμα, ranks unbroken and front firm: military praise
As you received him, walk 2:6–7
6
As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord,comparative — leans forward on περιπατεῖτε — παρελάβετε: tradition-language; what was handed over is the norm of the walk
so walk in him,independent — the chapter's central imperative — the received Christ as terrain
7
rootedparticipial — perfect — rooted once for all; the metaphor turns from soil…
and being built up in himparticipial — …to building — present: the construction ongoing
and established in the faith,participial — the third of the four — confirmed, made firm (cf. στερέωμα, v. 5)
just as you were taught,comparative — the Epaphras catechesis (1:7) the measure of the establishing
overflowing in it with thanksgiving.participial — the fourth, asyndetic — the walk's overflow is thanksgiving
The warning and the fullness 2:8–15
vv. 8–10 — the warning: philosophy against the fullness
8
See to itindependent — the watchman's imperative — eyes open
that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit,content — μή with future indicative — a real, present danger; συλαγωγέω: carry off as plunder
according to human tradition,phrase modifier — the first norm — a merely human παράδοσις against the παρελάβετε of v. 6
according to the elemental spirits of the world,phrase modifier — the second norm — στοιχεῖα: elemental spirits or principles (cf. Gal 4:3)
and not according to Christ;phrase modifier — the disqualifying clause — whatever is not κατὰ Χριστόν is plunder
9
because in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,cause — the ground of the warning — θεότης: deity itself; σωματικῶς: in bodily form (1:19 sharpened)
10
and you have been filled in him,cause — coordinate finite in the ὅτι clause — his fullness, your filling: nothing left for the philosophy to add
who is the head of every rule and authority,relative — on ἐν αὐτῷ — the head over the very powers the philosophy fears
vv. 11–12 — circumcision without hands: buried and raised with him
11
in whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands,relative — on ἐν αὐτῷ — the answer to the knife: ἀχειροποίητος, God's doing (cf. Eph 2:11)
in the stripping off of the body of the flesh,phrase modifier — read of Christ's death — his fleshly body stripped off at the cross (anticipating ἀπεκδυσάμενος, v. 15), not merely the believer's old nature
in the circumcision of Christ,phrase modifier — the circumcision Christ underwent — his death — not one he performs; in it you were cut
12
having been buried with him in baptism,participial — the circumcision unpacked as burial — the σύν-compounds begin (cf. Rom 6:4)
in which you were also raised with himrelative — ἐν ᾧ read of the baptism, not of Christ — burial and rising in the same water
through faith in the working of God,phrase modifier — objective genitive — faith that trusts God's working, not the rite working of itself
who raised him from the dead;participial — attributive — the working already proven at Christ's tomb
vv. 13–15 — made alive: the debt erased, the powers paraded
13
And you —independent — the object suspended until συνεζωοποίησεν (cf. Eph 2:1, 5)
being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,participial — the double death — Gentile trespasses and Gentile foreskin
he made you alive together with him,independent — the main verb — God the subject; the suspended ὑμᾶς resumed
having forgiven us all our trespasses,participial — first of the cascade — ὑμᾶς widens to ἡμῖν: Paul under the same amnesty
14
having erased the certificate of debt against us with its decrees,participial — τοῖς δόγμασιν with the χειρόγραφον — the bond consisting in decrees (cf. Eph 2:15), not the instrument of erasure
which stood opposed to us;relative — the bond not neutral — ὑπεναντίον: set over against us
and he has taken it away,independent — the cascade breaks into a finite perfect — taken out of the middle, and it stays gone
nailing it to the cross;participial — means — the bond posted dead where the debt was paid
15
having disarmed the rulers and the authorities,participial — leans forward on ἐδειγμάτισεν — middle read as God stripping the powers off (disarmament), the verb echoing the ἀπέκδυσις of v. 11
he made a public spectacle of them,independent — the exposure — δειγματίζω: shamed in open show
triumphing over them in him.participial — the Roman triumph — the powers led captive; ἐν αὐτῷ read 'in him (Christ),' though 'on it (the cross)' stays live
Let no one judge you — the regulations 2:16–23
vv. 16–17 — shadow and body
16
Therefore let no one judge youindependent — the first inference from vv. 13–15 — the paraded powers get no verdict on you
in matters of food and drinkphrase modifier — the diet — eating and drinking as courtroom exhibits
or with regard to a festival or a new moon or sabbaths;phrase modifier — the calendar — yearly, monthly, weekly, in descending order
17
which things are a shadow of what was to come,relative — on the whole list (anchored at σαββάτων) — observances as σκιά, real but derivative
but the body belongs to Christ.independent — verbless counterpart — the substance that casts the shadow is Christ's
vv. 18–19 — the visionary umpire against the Head
18
Let no one disqualify you,independent — καταβραβεύω — an umpire ruling you out of the prize
delighting in false humility and the worship of angels,participial — θέλων ἐν — Septuagintal idiom, 'taking pleasure in'; θρησκεία τῶν ἀγγέλων read as worship offered to angels (objective genitive)
dwelling on the things he has seen,relative — headless relative folded into ἐμβατεύων — 'entering on what he has seen': visionary-initiation language
puffed up without cause by the mind of his flesh,participial — the diagnosis — a fleshly mind inflating itself on its own visions
19
and not holding fast to the Head,participial — the root failure — the grip on Christ let go
from whom the whole body, supplied and held together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God.relative — masculine ἐξ οὗ past the feminine κεφαλή — Christ himself; συμβιβαζόμενον echoes the knitting of v. 2
vv. 20–23 — dead with Christ: why the rules?
20
If you died with Christ to the elemental principles of the world,conditional — protasis assumed true — the death of v. 12 with ἀπό: out from under the στοιχεῖα; leans on the question below
why, as though living in the world, do you submit to regulations:independent — the indignant apodosis — δογματίζεσθε: re-signing the canceled δόγματα of v. 14
21
"Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch"?content — the rules quoted verbatim — descending bathos: not even a touch
22
(referring to things that all perish with use) —relative — on the things the taboos forbid — all headed εἰς φθοράν in the very using: the rules guard perishables
according to the commands and teachings of men?phrase modifier — with δογματίζεσθε — Isa 29:13 (cf. Mark 7:7): precepts of men, the παράδοσις of v. 8 again
23
These things indeed have a reputation of wisdomrelative — ἅτινα qualitative — rules of just this kind; λόγος σοφίας: a reputation only, the μέν never answered by its δέ
in self-made religion and false humility and severity to the body,phrase modifier — the sphere of the reputation — ἐθελοθρησκία: religion of one's own willing, coined off the θέλων of v. 18
but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.phrase modifier — the famous crux — τιμή read as 'value,' πρός as 'against': the ascetic rules cannot check the flesh they starve
Analysis. The chapter's purple main verbs are few and freighted, and the layout lets each carry its train. Θέλω opens on the agon for churches Paul has never seen, and the amber ἵνα of v. 2 sinks through knitting, riches, and knowledge to the mystery that is simply Χριστοῦ — the coral relative of v. 3 hanging the treasuries on that one name. The walk section is the chapter in miniature: one imperative, περιπατεῖτε, with the comparative Ὡς clause leaning on it from above and four teal participles ranged beneath it at a single depth — rooted, built, established, overflowing. The warning at v. 8 stacks three grey κατά norms under the plunderer, and the ὅτι of v. 9 grounds the whole alarm in the fullness; from πεπληρωμένοι the ἐν-ᾧ chain descends through handless circumcision, burial, and rising, until v. 13 replays Eph 2:1–5 in one breath — καὶ ὑμᾶς suspended dashed over συνεζωοποίησεν — and the great participle cascade (forgiven, erased, nailed, stripped, paraded) breaks twice into finite verbs, ἦρκεν and ἐδειγμάτισεν, where the certainty is loudest. The regulations section sets two third-person prohibitions and one indignant question flush left, with the quoted taboos of v. 21 as blue content beneath δογματίζεσθε. Cruxes the layout takes a side on: Χριστοῦ in v. 2 is apposition to τοῦ μυστηρίου — the mystery is Christ; ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (v. 11) is read of Christ's death — the stripping off of his body of flesh at the cross, anticipating ἀπεκδυσάμενος in v. 15 — so ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ names the circumcision Christ underwent, his death, not a circumcision he performs; the ἐν ᾧ of v. 12b is the baptism, not Christ; τοῖς δόγμασιν goes with the χειρόγραφον (the bond consisting in decrees), not with the erasing; ἀπεκδυσάμενος (v. 15) is God stripping the powers off — disarmament, not divestiture of flesh — leaning forward on ἐδειγμάτισεν, with ἐν αὐτῷ rendered 'in him'; κατὰ τὰ ἐντάλματα (v. 22) resumes δογματίζεσθε (Isa 29:13); and v. 23's οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινι πρὸς πλησμονήν is read 'of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.'