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Be alert so that no one takes you captive1 and carries you away like spoil through philosophy2 and hollow seduction.3 That is, something in accordance with human tradition4 or cosmic elemental principles5 and not in harmony with Christ.6
| 1 | Captive: Or, spoil, carry off, getting hold of. [Hebrews 13:9] |
| 2 | Philosophy: Or, MOF: theosophy; PME: intellectualism; NEB: delusive speculations. Having alluded to Aristotle above, Paul means Greek philosophy in particular. [1 Corinthians 2:13] The Greek is PHILO-SOPHIAS [love + wisdom]. |
| 3 | Hollow seduction: Or, hollow sham, idle fancies, make-believe, empty phantasies, high-sounding nonsense, delusive speculations, empty seduction. [Ephesians 4:14, 15; 5:6] Most inspired epistles warn of the coming of false teachers just as the Nazarene foretold. [Matthew 24:4, 24; compare 2 Thessalonians 2:1ff; 2 Peter 2:1ff; 1 John 4:1ff; and, the letter of Jude] The modern Church in the 3rd Millennium is filled with such persons who continue to “twist the Scriptures.” [2 Peter 3:16] There are thousands on the World Wide Web. |
| 4 | Human tradition: Or, tradition of men. An echo of Matthew 15:9. Such “traditions of men” or man-made doctrine can result in vain worship. [Isaiah 29:13] From the Egyptians, the Greeks developed such doctrines as hell-fire, soul immortality, and the Trinity – none of which are taught in the Bible. |
| 5 | Cosmic elemental principles: Or, KJV: rudiments of the world; RHM: first principles of the world; GDS: material ways of looking at things; NOR: he may set forth some human tradition, or some theory about the nature of the universe. The phrase “elemental spirits” is from the Greek STOICHEIA [Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance #4747] and literally is “elementary things.” This is also an allusion to the Stoic philosophers. [Compare Acts 17:18] The Stoics believed matter and force were the elementary principles of a wholly material world, with out a personal God. They believed the soul was the result of an impersonal deity. They were naturalists who sought happiness as the highest virtue. Ultimately their souls would be reabsorbed by the deity or be destroyed with the Universe. They rejected the idea of a resurrection. One does not have to think long before identifying similar thinking in the modern world – a mixture of Darwin and Sartre and evolutionary existentialist. One also sees modern attempts to mix Hinduism [and Buddhism] in a Taoist philosophy of the Universe. |
| 6 | Not in harmony with Christ: A disciple of Christ, or Friend of the Nazarene, is a learner of Jesus Christ, their master and teacher. There is a serious danger that modern disciples may spend more time on the doctrines of men rather than the teachings of Jesus. If disciple must ask, “Where did I learn this? Did I learn it myself by Bible study? Or, is it something I have automatically assumed because I was raised this way?” |
Dear Friends of the Nazarene,
We choose Colossians 2:8 as the theme verse of chapter two – Philosophical Warnings. Paul explains the purpose behind his own sufferings. [1-5] In part such persecution was so that the Colossians united in love with a full knowledge and understanding of God’s mystery in Christ. He cautions that the congregation be not deluded by “persuasive statements.” He exhorts these Christians to remain “rooted in Christ.” [6, 7]
Christians need to guard against worldly philosophy. [8-12] When he uses the language of “human tradition or cosmic elemental principles” he likely alludes to the Christian-Judaizers who used a combination of Egyptian, Greek and Jewish philosophical notions to mislead the disciples of Christ. Verses 16 and 17 would suggest these were those troublesome men of Acts 15:1, 2 who wanted the Christian Church to remain under slavery to the Law of Moses. All divine wisdom rests in Christ as the Head of all authority. Christians have experienced a “non-human circumcision” and not some Jewish ceremony.
Christians have experienced a form of triumphant living by becoming “dead in your short-comings.” [13-15] God “wiped out” the Law of Moses with its regulations. By his death Christ triumphed over the Jewish religious hierarchy that had ordered his death. Because of Christ’s victory no Christian need be criticized or judged for not eating kosher, or observing some lunar festival or any of the Jewish sabbaths. [16-19] The Law of Moses was but a passing shadow of future things pertaining to Christ. Those who ‘insisted on self-mortification – a possible allusion to circumcision – have parted from Christ.
Christians are dead to “the elementary cosmic principles” taught by the Jewish-Greek philosophers. [20-23] These Judaizers wished to force the Mosaic rules – do not touch, do not taste – on these new Christians. Paul virtually borrows from the Nazarene Master’s own allusion to Isaiah 29:13 regarding “human tradition and doctrines.” [Matthew 15:9] Like Isaiah and Jesus these traditions and doctrines were of Jewish origin and such “self-humiliation and an ascetic treatment of the body” were useless.
Abba our Father bless those on guard against Jewish/Greek philosophy.
[12 July 2002]
Make spoil of you and carry you off as booty through some philosophical speculation, or empty deceit. By appealing, not to the Scriptures, but to human traditions. These traditions probably referred mainly to the matters spoken of in Col 2:18. Paul uses this expression elsewhere of Jewish ordinances (Ga 4:3). Col 2:16 shows what it refers to.
