Day 312: Colossians 2:4-7

I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit (vv. 4–5).

During Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, he was under what we would call house arrest. Acts 28:30, remember, tells us that “he stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him” (hcsb). The openness of Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome enabled him to receive ample information about the churches. One of the letters he wrote during this two-year period became the book of Colossians. Though as far as we know, Paul never visited the Asian city of Colosse, he obviously received word about the false teaching there and wrote his epistle as both a warning and an encouragement. You would benefit most by reading all four chapters of Colossians. If you choose one chapter, the primary purpose for Paul’s epistle appears in Colossians 2.

Paul made one primary purpose for the letter clear in verse 4: “so that no one will deceive you” (hcsb). Have you, or someone you know, ever been taken captive through some deceptive philosophy? Our world is replete with those who seek to control others through false and deceptive beliefs.

Try to capture Paul’s frame of mind as he wrote the Christians in Colosse. He described himself as being in a great “struggle” (v. 1). The Greek word is agon, from which we derive the English word “agony.” Agon means “strife, contention, contest for victory or mastery such as was used in the Greek games of running, boxing, wrestling, and so forth.” By using the word agon, Paul implied that he was figuratively boxing or wrestling with Satan for the minds and hearts of the Colossians and Laodiceans. No sooner had the people of Colosse and Laodicea received the Word of God than Satan began infiltrating them with deceptive doctrines. Satan used at least four “isms.” Let’s briefly consider each one.

1. Gnosticism. The word gnosis means “knowledge.” Followers of the gnostic belief system believed that knowledge, rather than faith, led to salvation. We risk something of the same problem if we focus on knowledge instead of Christ. We need to study the Bible to know and glorify Jesus rather than to impress others with our knowledge. I once heard a friend utter a prayer I have not forgotten. She said, “Lord, we know You desire followers who have hearts like a cathedral rather than minds like a concordance.”

Since the gnostics prioritized intellect and reason, they tried to force God into humanly understandable form. They could not accept both the deity and the humanity of Christ, so they tried to reduce Him to the status of an angel. Paul responded to gnosticism clearly in verse 9: “For in Him [in Christ] the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily” (hcsb).

2. Legalism. Paul addressed the fruitlessness of keeping endless laws that condemn rather than liberate the believer to pursue godliness. We humans constantly attempt to replace a love relationship with legalistic requirements such as:

• seeking to be more spiritual than others by keeping man-made, extrabiblical rules

• believing that God requires harsh treatment of the body

• elevating one Christian above another

• refusing to accept those who have committed certain sins

• attempting to restrain sin by lists of dos and don’ts

No matter how ingeniously humans pursue legalism, it will never work. Only a love relationship with Christ can change the human heart and bring about genuine piety.

3. Mysticism. This is the belief that we can obtain direct knowledge of God from our internal thoughts, feelings, or experiences. It conflicts with biblical faith because Jesus Christ is the source of our knowledge about God. In verses 18 and 19, Paul addressed a mystical belief that has recently infiltrated our own society—the worship of angels. Angels certainly have important positions in God’s creation, but Paul helps us find the balance. Angels were created to praise God and act as messengers and ministering servants. We worship angels when we disconnect them from their original purpose, focusing on them alone outside of their place in God’s created order.

4. Asceticism. In verses 20 through 23, Paul addressed the practice of denying the body and treating it harshly in an attempt to achieve holiness. Followers of asceticism do not stop at the wise denial of dangerous, perverse, or unhealthy practices. Ascetics deny the body unnecessarily. In Paul’s day, as in ours, some people branded, burned, starved, or cut themselves in an attempt to force the body into submission. Most of us have discovered that unnecessary denial arouses more desires.

We still battle many of the same destructive philosophies faced by the early believers. Though the list of “isms” may change, Satan is still up to the same old tricks. He seeks always to infiltrate the church with his false teaching.