<p>2:19 <i>And not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God</i>- The Lord Jesus, as the Head, <em>ministers</em> nourishment to the body (Col. 2:19). But how? The same word is used in the parallel Eph. 4:16: every joint of the body <em>supplies</em> (s.w.) the rest of the body with nourishment. The Lord&rsquo;s work of ministering to us is articulated through us His servants. This is why faith can die in individuals and ecclesias, simply because brethren and sisters are not ministering strength to others. We should seriously consider our words, spoken and written, our motivation, whether or not we challenge a brother or sister over something, the direction of our conversations... for we can obstruct the grace and nourishment of Christ by our raising of that which pulls down rather than builds up. Likewise Col. 2:19 says that God gives increase to the body; but Eph. 4:16 uses the same Greek in saying how the body makes increase of itself in love. It occurs again in Eph. 2:21: &ldquo;all the building fitly framed together <em>groweth</em> unto an holy temple&rdquo;. This is all so weighty in its implication. Our duty is not merely to retain a correct understanding of certain propositional truths, and ourselves live a reasonable life. The welfare of all others in the body has been delegated to us. Their salvation and perhaps their eternal rejection lays in our hands, to some extent. See on Eph. 4:16.</p>