Colossians 2:5
For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
WEB
For though I be 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.
KJV
What Colossians 2:5 means
Paul tells the believers in Colossae that even though he can't be there in person, his heart is with them, and he is glad to hear how steady and well ordered their faith in Christ is.
Paul is writing from prison to a small church in Colossae, a town in what is now western Turkey. He never started that church and had never visited it. A man named Epaphras, one of their own, had brought them the good news about Jesus, and now he has come to Paul with news about how the believers there are doing.
Most of that news is good, but there is a worry too. Some teachers have been pressing the Colossians with impressive sounding ideas: special rules about food and holy days, secret spiritual experiences, and the suggestion that Jesus alone isn't quite enough. So in the verses just before this one, Paul says he is working hard for people who have never seen his face, and he warns them not to let anyone talk them out of what they have with "persuasive arguments."
That is where this verse comes in. Paul knows a warning from a stranger could sound cold, so he pauses to tell them he is with them in spirit, even though his body is far away in chains. He is cheering them on, and he says he is glad to see their "good order" and "the firmness" of their faith in Christ.
Those two words carry a picture. In the original Greek, the word for "order" was used for soldiers standing in their ranks, and the word for "firmness" can describe a solid line or a fortified wall that holds its ground. So Paul is describing a church that is standing together, in place, and not breaking formation under pressure.
Then he goes straight on in the next verses: since you received Christ Jesus as Lord, keep walking in him, and don't let anyone carry you off with empty philosophy. Verse 5 is the encouragement that sits between the warning and the instruction, the moment where Paul lets them know he sees how well they are holding together and wants them to keep standing exactly where they are.