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.

In the spirit ... By not capitalizing spirit, the translators indicate that the "Holy Spirit" is not referred to here. Again, this verse is the language of a man who knows the people whom he is addressing. I am absent in the flesh ... Is it necessary to write this to people one does not even know?

Order ... stedfastness ... Here are two more of the unusual words of Paul used in Colossians; and most scholars declare them to be military words. Barclay, for example, said, "These two words present a vivid picture, for they are both military words."[14] If such is the truth, then it is easy to suppose that Paul's close association with the military in Rome during his imprisonment might have led to his use of these terms here. "Order ..." means soldier discipline; and a church should stand against all enemies with the solidity of a military phalanx. However, a word of caution is proper concerning the military background of the words Paul chose in this verse. "Meyer and Abbot deny the military reference altogether."[15] Abbot admitted that the words can be used in a military sense, provided that the context indicates it; but here, he said, "The context suggests nothing of the kind."[16]

The ideas of order, or discipline and stedfastness, however, are vital to all spiritual development. Paul's statement here that he was "beholding" such qualities among the Colossians appears to be a reference to the good report of them which Paul had received from Epaphras (Colossians 1:7).

Your faith in Christ ... Again, it is evident in context that Paul has no reference here to the merely subjective act of "believing," in the manner of current usage of the term "faith." It is the sphere in which that faith is working which lends importance to it, that being "in Christ," as attested in the next verse, as well as being implicit in this one.

[14] William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975), p. 131.

[15] A. S. Peake, op. cit., p. 520.

[16] Ibid.