COLOSSIANS (15) Don’t Be Deceived!

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” (Col 2:8-10)
 
Review
Last Sunday, we talked about what it means for us to believe in Jesus and the kind of life we should pursue in Him. To Paul, there was no difference between believing in Jesus and receiving Him as Lord because to profess Jesus as our Savior requires us to surrender our lives to Him.
 
The salvation Jesus gives us through His death is not just about being saved from the consequences of sin. It means to be set from the authority of sin, death, and Satan which had enslaved us before we believed in Jesus. It means that unless we truly acknowledge Christ as our Lord, we can’t experience true salvation. In other words, salvation is making Jesus the lord of our lives.
 
That’s the bottom line of Paul’s assertion. If we don’t agree with this, we can’t fully understand what he says afterwards.
 
Paul tells the Colossian Christians to continue to live their lives in Jesus. It’s more than just acknowledging the fact that Jesus is always with us.
 
It means that we should continuously try to live lives that please our Lord. It means that we make every effort to reflect Jesus’ character in our daily lives. It means that we become more and more conformed to the image of the Son until those around us can see Christ in us.
 
To live such a life, we should be firmly rooted and built up in Him, which means growing in faith. As I said, planting seeds itself is not the ultimate goal. What God wants to see is that we’re firmly rooted in the foundation of Christ so that we’re nourished by Him, come up through the ground, and become trees that bear good fruit that reflects our foundation—Jesus Christ and His gospel.
 
So, to live a life worthy of the Lord, we must “move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity” (Heb 6:1), rather than lay the foundation again and again.
 
And in order to grow spiritually, we need to be strengthened in our faith, which comes from the knowledge of Christ. That’s why what we do every day to get to know Him and have an intimate relationship with Him is important.
 
The more we devote ourselves to reading God’s word and obeying it, the more we’ll experience His presence in our lives and become more aware of Him. That’s how we should live out our faith in Jesus, our Savior and Lord.
 
Three Warnings
Now, I want us to move on to the next part in Colossians 2. In verses 8 to 23, Paul talks about three main sources of false teachings and how we can fight against them.
 
 He said,
“See to it that no one takes you captive…” (Col 2:8),
“Do not let anyone judge you…” (Col 2:16), and
“Do not let anyone… disqualify you…” (Col 2:18).
 
That was exactly what happened to the church in Colossae and to other churches in the region as well. Some new teachers came to them and started to teach things other than the gospel.
 
They tried to take the Colossian Christians captive by deceiving them, judging them, and disqualifying them with the special knowledge they claimed that only they had. So, what was this knowledge? We don’t know what exactly they taught, but we know what sources they used to develop their so-called knowledge.
 
In verse 8, Paul said,
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Col 2:8)
 
Here, we see three different sources that the false teachers used to develop their teachings—philosophy, human tradition, and spiritual forces of this world. None of them were based on the knowledge of Christ. In fact, they went directly against the gospel of Jesus.
 
1) Philosophy
Let’s talk about philosophy first. I want to make it clear that the kind of philosophy Paul talks about here had nothing to do with the Greek philosophy that existed at that time. The philosophy Paul talks about here is different from the general concept of philosophy we have today.
 
It’s likely that Paul used the word ‘philosophy’ to emphasize the fact that the false teachers’ special knowledge came from their reasoning. They used every kind of knowledge they had, including human tradition and spiritual forces, to come up with new spiritual knowledge or a new secret about God.
 
That’s why Paul calls it “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Col 2:8)
 
Philosophy itself is not bad. In many cases, philosophy and theology go hand in hand. If used properly, they help develop each other. They are similar in that both search for answers about subjects like the origin of the world, the problem of evil, the human mind, and so on.
 
In fact, many of the difficult questions that arise in Christianity  are very philosophical. Throughout the history of Christianity, many Christian thinkers have used philosophy to help answer these questions. The difference was that they put God’s word first rather than their knowledge or reason.
 
I think it is very important to use reasoning when seeking God. Many people think that Christians believe things that make no sense at all, but I think they say that because they haven’t really studied what Christianity actually is.
 
If you seriously study Christianity, the key doctrines about God, this world, and human beings, you’ll be amazed by how Christian faith is firmly based on reasoning and proof.
 
Think about the origin of the world. Compare what science says about the origin of the world to what the Bible says about it. Think about how a book like the Bible could exist. Think about how we, finite beings, can have concepts like universal morality, absolute good, and eternity that we ourselves don’t possess.
 
The more we think about these topics and read what Christian theologians have said about them, the harder it becomes for us not to acknowledge the existence of God.
 
And the more we carefully read and study the word of God, the more we realize that the books of the Bible are written by the One true author: God. It’s amazing to see how prophecies in the Old Testament were fulfilled in the New Testament hundreds of years later, and how the 66 books were written over the course of more than a thousand years, by many authors, in 3 different languages. Despite these books being written under such different circumstances and cultures, they are still all consistent with one another.
 
If we try to find proof of God and His existence, we’ll find that there is more evidence than we think. We ourselves are the proof. The world is the proof. History is the proof. The Bible is the proof. When we think about them more deeply, we’ll see that we can’t truly understand them without acknowleding God’s existence.
 
So, it’s very important to have proper knowledge about God in order to build up our faith. To do so, we’re to use our reasoning. I believe that’s why God gives us reasoning—to think deeply and find Him. In Acts, we see a good example in which Berean Jews used their ability to reason to establish their faith in God.
 
Acts 17:11-12 says, “They received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed…” (Ac 17:11-12)
 
I think the common problem many modern Christians have is that they skip this step. They don’t try to examine the Bible to see if it is really reliable. Their faith isn’t based on the knowledge of Christ because they neglect getting to know Him.
 
And as a result, Christians who believe in the same God based on the same word have come to have very different lifestyles, which shows that we might not believe in the same God, just as the Israelites saw the golden calf as their god even though it was actually an idol.
 
That’s what happens when our faith isn’t based on true knowledge of God that is based on reason. We say we believe in Jesus, but oftentimes, we don’t know who He really is and what it really means to believe in Him. How can we possibly believe in someone we don’t really know?
 
In that sense, there are definitely good philosophies that are useful and beneficial in building up our faith because they allow us to contemplate the existence of God.
 
But the philosophy Paul talks about in Colossians 2 is different. The false teachers used reasoning to create new teachings to deliberately deceive Christians and gain influence in the church. That’s what Paul warned the Colossian Christians about.
 
2) Human Tradition
Paul said that the false teachers’ deceptive philosophy was based on human tradition, which likely meant Jewish tradition.
 
He referred to it using different expressions throughout the chapter:
 
“Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.” (Col 2:16)
 
Paul also talked about “the charge of our legal indebtedness” (Col 2:14), “self-imposed worship, false humility, and harsh treatment of the body” (Col 2:23)
 
It’s likely that the false teachers insisted that one could reach spiritual fullness by keeping the law or through physical hardship, such as fasting.
 
But, as Paul said, “Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom… but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Col 2:23)
 
Even though they may look pious, we should know that they can’t truly change our hearts or make us righteous before God. Only Jesus can do that.
 
3) Elemental Spiritual Forces of This World
The third source the false teachers used was elemental spiritual forces of this world. But it’s not entirely clear what this phrase means.
 
The Greek word that’s translated as “the elemental spiritual forces” is στοιχεῖον (stoicheion). This word can also mean the basic principles of the universe.
 
So, the New American Standard Bible and New King James Version translated the word as “the elementary principles of the world” (NASB) and “the basic principles of the world” (NKJV), while the New Revised Standard Version translated it as “the elemental spirits of the universe” (NRSV).
 
However, even though it’s not clear what exactly stoicheion means here, I prefer to use the NIV and NRSV translation.
 
The false teachers likely preached about spiritual forces or spirits of this world given that Paul also mentions “every power and authority” (Col 2:10), “the powers and authorities” (Col 2:15), and “the worship of angels” (Col 1:18) in the same chapter.
 
In this context, the powers and authorities refer to evil spiritual forces of the world as mentioned in Ephesians 6:12, in which Paul said,
 
“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12)
 
It seems that the false teachers insisted that they had special knowledge about spirits in the heavenly realms that would impact people’s destinies. They tried to deceive Christians with this spiritual knowledge and many were actually deceived.
 
These were the three things the false teachers used to develop their spiritual knowledge. They tried to take the Colossian Christians captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy. They judged them with regard to ceremonial laws and religious festivals. They tried to disqualify them on the grounds of severe self-deprivation or the worship of angels.
 
The problem was, they were persuasive. Their teachings sounded so reliable that many Christians in the church, who weren’t firmly rooted in the foundation of the gospel, believed in what they taught rather than the gospel they had learned from Epaphras. That was the situation in the church in Colossae.
 
Paul heard about this from Epaphras so he decided to write a letter to the church soon after. That’s what the book of Colossians is about. Then, what did Paul suggest to combat the false teachings?
 
There was nothing more to say than the name of Jesus. Paul explained who Jesus is again, hoping that they would find the truth in Him so that they wouldn’t be swayed by false teachings anymore.
 
So, right after warning them not to be deceived by false teachings, Paul began to speak about Jesus.
 
Let’s read Colossians 2:9-10 before we wrap up.
 
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” (Col 2:9-10)
 
We’ll talk about these verses and what it means to be united with Him next Sunday. Today, it’s enough to say that Jesus is the answer to every problem and question we have. So, rather than accepting other teachings, we’re to continue to be devoted to knowing who Jesus is.
 
Even now, we’re surrounded by many different concepts of faith and God—Christian perfectionism, legalism, antinomianism, mysticism, and more. Unless our faith is strongly rooted in Jesus Christ and firmly built upon the foundation of the gospel, we can’t fight against them but will be deceived by them.
 
That’s why it is very important to know the truth about Christ, which will protect our hearts from all kinds of false teachings. That’s what I want every one of us to be devoted to.
 
Unless we make an effort to truly know Christ, we can’t hold on to our faith in Him but will be swayed by worldly things or wrong beliefs.
 
But if we try to be built up in Christ, He will certainly show who He is and give us real faith that’s not easily shaken by other things but reflects who He is in our lives.
 
Let’s pray.
 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding us of the importance of knowing You and Your Son Jesus Christ. We’re surrounded by many things that keep us from fixing our eyes on You. We’re so weak that we’re easily shaken by worldly values and false teachings.
 
So we want to know more about You. We want our faith to be based on nothing but the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please show us Your glory. Please show us who You are and Your will for us so that we can follow You without turning aside to the right or to the left.
 
Please give us the desire to seek You and know You more, and when we find You, please reveal who You are to us. Let us be strengthened in the knowledge of Christ so that we can reflect His goodness and love to those around us.
 
We thank You Lord. We pray in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, Amen.
 
Sharing Questions
1) We talked about three sources other than the gospel of Jesus that the false teachers used to develop their own knowledge. These kinds of different gospels, wrong teachings, and heresies still exist. We also see worldly values being mixed with Christian faith. What are some examples that come to mind? Please share your thoughts on how we can fight against them without being deceived by them.
 
2) Why do you think it is important for us to use reasoning and logic to establish our faith in God? What would happen if we believed in Jesus without having proper knowledge of Him? What can you do to know Him better?