Who or what are the joints and ligaments in Colossians 2:19?

[lacatholic]

Colossians 2:19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

I am a practicing Catholic who attends a Evangelical university and who regularly studies sacred scripture. One of the benefits to studying scripture is when I find a gem in the Bible that helps me defend Catholicism to my Evangelical friends. I have been studying the book of Colossians for some time and the other day this verse made me stop and think.

It made me wonder why Paul felt the need to include “nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments” in the sentence. The sentence does not lose its essence if you remove this segment, but being the Word of God, we must consider that it is there for a reason.

Since Christ is the Head being referred to here and the Church is the Body (v1:18), what or who are the joints and ligaments?

As a catholic I would say the joints and ligaments are the Pope, the Magisterium, Cardinals, Bishops and other offices that make up the structure of the Church. These are the structures that “nourish and knit together” the Church/Body.

I would love to have some feedback on this opinion.

 

[COPLAND_3]

St. Thomas Aquinas says…

The other way is by a connection, as being joined by nerves. And so Paul refers to joints and ligaments. So also in the Church, its members are joined by faith and understanding: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:5). But this is incomplete without the ligaments of charity and the sacraments. Thus Paul says, nourished through ligaments, because it is through charity that one person supplies another.

St. John Chrysostom says…

Mark that from whom, meaning the Son. Through the joints and bands, he says, being supplied, and knit together, increases with the increase of God; he means, that which is according to God, that of the best life.