Colossians 2:8-10
Welcome back to our study of Colossians. Last time in verses 1-7 of chapter two, Paul prepared us for battle. We live in a world that is at war with Christ and His people. A strong church must be courageous, loving, discerning, treasuring Christ above all, walking in Christ, rooted and being built up in Him, strongly established in the faith, and overflowing with thanksgiving. Living that way prepares us for battle.
Now we’re ready to face the enemy, the wolves. They are attacking on many fronts – against God Himself, against the Bible and its message, against God’s standard for marriage and biological gender, against the doctrines salvation, against the whole purpose of the church. We are here to exalt Christ and His Word and that means we will have enemies and battles.
Before we get into the text I want to explain the difference between two spiritual battle tactics: apologetics and polemics. Apologetics means being able to give a reason for why you believe what you believe. 1 Peter 3:15 says we are to be ready to give an “apology” for the hope that is in us. That’s not apologizing for our hope; it means to give an answer. For example, can you give five reasons why you believe in the resurrection of Christ? Why do you say that God created the universe in six literal days? What proof do you have that Christ never sinned while He was on earth? Apologetics is giving an answer to questions like these.
Here in Colossians 2 we are entering into the polemical portion of Colossians. Polemics comes from a Greek word that means warring or attacking. Paul now throws it into high gear in attacking Christ’s enemies. He warns us about four assaults against the gospel of Christ: empty philosophy, legalism, mysticism, and asceticism. We could list many more assaults against Christ and the gospel, including all the cults, the Woke movement, the “prosperity gospel.” A while back someone came up with “open theism” which said God doesn’t know the future. These things need to be attacked as false teachings.
In verses 8-10 Paul aims at what he calls philosophy and empty deception. But always, right along with exposing the enemy of the truth, Paul is careful to teach us the sufficiency of Christ. We’ve already seen in Colossians 1 how he exalts the supremacy of Christ.
Colossians 2:8-10, See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
We’ll turn these verses into seven simple commands to keep us on track personally and as a church.
#1 STAY ALERT – v. 8, “See to it.”
There’s a war out there so you need to keep a sharp eye – that’s the Greek word, “blepo.” Over in Philippians 3:2 Paul uses this same word three times: “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision.” Just like we need those white cells in our blood stream to protect the body by staying alert for enemy intruders, we need to know and use Scripture to keep us alert spiritually. We’re in enemy territory. Does your heart and mind raise a red flag when you hear voices contradict God’s truth? Don’t expect false teachers to announce themselves as false teachers. As you read church history, you can see how false teaching sneaks in quietly and subtly. Don’t be naïve to believe every voice that comes down the pike. Always search the Scriptures to see is if it is so. Paul says, “STAY ALERT!”
#2 STAY FREE – v. 8 “See to it that no one takes you captive.”
Remember the Child Catcher in the movie Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang as he sweetly called out, “Lollipops, cream puffs, ice cream, all free today!” Those two children just saw the free sweets and didn’t consider they were about to be taken captive. Sometimes we forget there are folks out there who want to take us captive. The Christian life is a battle and God’s enemies are against us. We are in a spiritual war and we are the devil’s target. He’ll use anything to hijack you and trip you up away from Truth. You young people may face that in high school and you’ll definitely face that when you go to a secular university and hear teaching that attacks or ridicules the very truths of God you believe and love.
The picture here is of enemies taking victims captive as spoils of war. They are intent on kidnapping you from the riches of Christ, from the sufficiency of Christ and His Word. Paul called these guys “savage wolves” in Acts 20:29-31. Christ called them ravenous wolves in Matthew 7:15. These are weighty wolves that can do grievous damage to the body of Christ. They snatch and grab with their fangs, tearing up their prey. There will always be voices, philosophies, and movements looking to draw Christians away from following Christ and the truth of Scriptures. There are wolves in the world, but there are also wolves within seminaries and churches. STAY FREE. The Truth shall set you free. Don’t let these wolves snatch you.
#3 STAY AWARE – v. 8 “See that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception.”
This could be translated, “philosophy, which is empty deception” or “the empty deceptions of human philosophy.” Human philosophy is man’s effort to reason his way to reality without God’s revelation. Paul could be referring to Greek or Jewish or Roman philosophy. Today you have myriads of empty, deceptive philosophies spun out of men’s godless reason that lead people, not to God, but to hell! Notice the phrase “empty deception.” These philosophies don’t lead to Christ; they lead to emptiness. Hedonism, stoicism, secularism, materialism, humanism, pragmatism, relativism, evolutionism and atheism are just a few philosophies of empty deception of our own day.
Remember Stephen Hawking? He died in 2018. When asked about death he said, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers. That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” You’ve heard of the American philosopher John Dewey, co-founder of the ACLU. Here’s his empty deception: “There is no god and no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the props of traditional religion. With dogmas and creed excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried.”
Let me ask you something. Who will you believe? To whom will you trust your eternal soul? Empty deceivers like Hawking? Freud? Dewey? Will you entrust your soul to someone like Karl Marx, a lazy, immoral reprobate? How about to someone like Joseph Smith? or Charles Taze Russell of the JWs? Will you entrust your soul to a liberal professor who assures you all your notions about God and Christianity are outdated? How about to a liberal pastor who smiles condescendingly about your concern that he no longer believes in eternal hell or the inerrancy of the Bible? Who you choose to believe determines into whose hands you commit your soul? This is really the issue and the tragedy. Stay aware so you aren’t taken captive by empty deception.
#4 STAY FOCUSED – v.8, “according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”
Notice “according.” According to traditions; according to the elementary principles. Elementary principles refer to the basics of reality, like the A, B, Cs. Elementary principles of the world probably refers to astrology and the stars. Ancient people were slaves to the movements of the stars. People like Alexander the Great believed their whole lives were fixed by the stars. Remember our own “This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius!” That didn’t come from the Bible. The further away we get from the Bible, the closer we come to ancient paganism.
But not “according to Christ.” Where are these philosophies or systems of pagan reasoning coming from? What is their origin? They are not based on Christ. In fact, they have nothing to do with Christ. “Where did you get that idea, sir?” Answer, “From human traditions.” Men have thought them up. These are ways of thinking and believing handed down over the generations. “If it was good enough for Grandpa, it’s good enough for me.” Oprah Winfrey pontificated a human tradition a while back: “Speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.” Wait, “your truth?” What about God’s truth?
Just because millions of people believe something that someone started years and generations ago doesn’t make it true. No matter how long ago it was said or who believed it doesn’t make it so. This is true in the church, too. Just because the early church believed something doesn’t make it so. Once the apostles left this earth, all kinds of human traditions began to clutter up the church, such as the seven sacraments. This is why the Reformation was a polemical movement back to the Bible. Truth is defined by one thing and one thing only: the Word of God.
Traditions of men are teachings that have their source in the human heart. Here’s what Jesus said about the traditions of men.
- Matthew 15:3 Why do you transgress God’s Word for the sake of your tradition?
- Matthew 15:6 You invalidate the Word of God for the sake of your tradition.
- Mark 7:8 Neglecting the command of God, you hold to your tradition.
- Mark 7:9 You nicely set aside the commandment of God to keep your tradition.
So Paul is contrasting man’s false philosophies to Christ.
- One’s from man, the other from God.
- One leads to despair, the other to life and hope.
- One is false, the other true.
- One depends on depraved human reasoning, the other on God’s revelation.
- One glorifies man in pride, the other glorifies God in humility.
- One is humanistic, the other is theistic.
- One says man is an evolving animal without sin or guilt; the other says man is created in God’s image but is born a sinner in need of redemption.
- One says life is all chance, the other says God sovereignly rules all things.
- One says life is ultimately meaningless, the other says life is headed to God and eternity.
Are you in any way being hijacked or taken captive from God’s truth right now in your life? Is anyone influencing you toward any teaching contrary to the Scriptures? Are you in any way hiding out behind religious traditions and avoiding God’s truth in your heart?
#5 STAY AMAZED – v. 9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”
Part of our church mission statement is “Exalting Christ and His Word.” Here’s why you must never be taken captive by any human empty philosophy – because of Jesus Christ and exactly who He is. John MacArthur notes, “This is one of the most blessed passages in all of Scripture” presenting “the glorious majesty of Christ’s Person and His complete sufficiency.” This is just amazing. In this man, in this unique human being, ALL of GOD ALMIGHTY DWELLS! He is man, but He is God! That’s why Paul makes such a big deal about Him. Colossians 1:18, “So that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.” Colossians 2:3, “In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Stay amazed that Jesus Christ is unique. He is full, undiminished deity, God Almighty, in a human body. He is absolutely and eternally different from any human philosopher. Human philosophers are mere men, proud and sinful with deceitful hearts. Compare men like Marx, Darwin, Hawking, Nietzsche, or any philosophers of our day with this Man Christ Jesus! How foolish to allow mere men’s seductive, empty philosophies draw you away from this unique Christ where the fullness of God dwells.
With Paul we stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. Be amazed that in Jesus Christ deity itself is permanently dwelling, the God-Man, the Theanthropic Person, in hypostatic union – the miracle of all miracles, mystery of all mysteries. Two natures, yet one Person. No wonder Paul fires his polemical guns at all these fakes and frauds and heresies and false religions that try to subvert or diminish Christ. How foolish to go looking for answers to life in the dumpsters of this world when in Christ you can feed on the royal banquet of heaven.
#6 STAY SATISFIED — v. 10, “and in Him you have been made complete.”
Paul doesn’t stop in verse 9. He is filled full, and you and I have been filled full and are complete in Him. God has nothing more to give you than His Son, heaven’s treasure. No human philosophy could possibly add anything to Christ. Trying to add anything–Jesus plus philosophy or legalism or mysticism or asceticism – trying to add anything perverts and destroys the gospel and our faith in Christ. When you received Him as your Lord and Savior, His fullness becomes yours forever. You were a guilty sinner, but now you are engrafted into Him. His life flows through you. His power is in you. His truth rules you. He is the head, the sovereign ruler over everything. Don’t let any corrupt human being ever take you captive by his twisted false notions.
#7 STAY SUBMITTED – v 10, “and He is the head over all rule and authority.”
Look where Paul brings us: “Exalting Christ and His Word.” He elevates Christ above every conceivable being or power. Christ is the ultimate and universal authority.
This is Paul’s whole point as he fires away at these false notions that attack the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. Anything that takes away from Christ, that diminishes Christ, that casts the slightest shadow on Christ, is your enemy. STAY SUBMITTED to Christ.
Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you submitted your heart to Him? Have you entrusted your soul to Him for this life and for eternity? If you haven’t, do it now.