This morning I have been doing some research on the Church
in Colossae, and the heresy that was bubbling up there, which Paul was
addressing in Col 2:6-23. It is often helpful to understand the specifics
of what Paul was battling to better understand his thinking and comments.
I found two good sources covering the Colossian Heresy -
1) A shorter description at https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/asbury-bible-commentary/False-Teaching-at-Colosse
2) A longer exhaustive covering at - https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/ntesources/ntarticles/bsac-nt/bruce-colossianheresy-pt3-bs.htm
Both are helpful in understanding Paul. I pulled the
following excerpt from the Gordon.edu text:
"Some people today, as then, love to make a parade of
exceptional piety. They claim to have found the way to a higher plane of
spiritual experience, as though they had been initiated into sacred mysteries
which give them an almost infinite advantage over the uninitiated. Others are
all too prone to be impressed by such people. But Paul warns them against being
misled by such lofty claims. Those who make them, for all their lofty
pretensions, for all their boasting of the special insight which they have
received into divine reality, are simply inflated by unspiritual pride and are
out of touch with Him who is the true Head and Fount of life and knowledge.
If people practice various forms of abstinence and find
their spiritual health improved thereby, that is their own responsibility. But
if they make their abstinence a matter of boasting, and if they try to impose
it on others, they are wrong. As for those who draw public attention to their
abstinence so as to gain some measure of veneration, they must learn that there
is no necessary connection between such impressive asceticism and the true
humility of Christ. By contrast with the spiritual service which the gospel
enjoins in conformity with the will of God, which is "good and acceptable
and perfect" (Rom. 12:2), this would-be religion is a "self-made
cult," as Deissmann rendered it,(34) or a "faked religion," as H.
N. Bate put it.(35)
34 Adolf Deissmann, Paul: A Study in Social and Religious
History, trans. W. E. Wilson (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1926), p. 118. He
contrasts it with the logikh> latrei
35 H. N. Bate, A Guide to the Epistles of St. Paul (London:
Longmans & Green, 1926), p. 143.
Excerpt from: Bibliotheca Sacra 141 (Jan. 1984)
195-208. Copyright © 1984 by Dallas Theological Seminary. Cited with
permission.
Colossian Problems: Part 3: The Colossian
Heresy, By F. F. Bruce
What I find interesting is that some of these same things
are still present today. In fact in a previous study of the early church
heresies, I was amazed to see how much of what was refuted back in the first
three centuries of the Church is still in play today. It seems that we
are still dealing with the same issues with spiritual elitism and pride, and
possibly the same spiritual forces encouraging the same heretical thought.
We must be very careful in our Christian walk to recognize the subtle
influences of thought and teaching that starts us down a path like the
Colossians.
So let us heed the warning of Paul and listen to his wise
words - Colossians 2:2-4,6-8 NIV:
[2] "My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart
and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete
understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
[3] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [4] I tell
you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments."
[6] "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as
Lord, continue to live your lives in him, [7] rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with
thankfulness. [8] 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."
Amen & Amen!
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