Ideas Brought Against the Simplicity of Christ
The apostle Paul suffered much in order to proclaim Christ to various groups during his missionary journeys (Col 1:24; 2:1; 2 Tim 2:10). His stated passion was to present the primacy and supremacy of Jesus Christ (Col 1:13–22), and to present every man complete in Christ (Col 1:28). In order to accomplish the latter objective, he must perform the former. Addressing the resistance to his Gospel work occupies a significant portion of Paul’s writing. Colossians 2 offers us a view to some of the activities of those working against the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us consider a litany of ideas, presented by Paul, and in opposition to the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
First, men were offering persuasive arguments attempting to delude the new Colossian believers (Col 2:4). Christians go from ignorance of Christ before conversion, to faith in Christ at conversion, but often to wrong theology after conversion. Satan is spinning lies at every turn for unbelievers (Jn 8:44), but also for believers (Mt 24:24; Mk 13:22). Christianity is a journey of learning Christ, who is the truth (Jn 14:6). We need the Spirit of truth to be our Teacher (Jn 14:17; 16:13), but the process is marked with struggle between our old self and the Spirit-led new self (Rom 7–8).
Setting our mind and affections on Christ (Rom 8:5–7; Col 3:2) and growing in the knowledge of Him (2 Pet 3:18) is our sanctification by the Spirit (2 Thess 2:13). The more we see Christ on the pages of the Bible, the more conformed we become to His image (Rom 8:29). This is the Holy Spirit’s work, and we must submit ourselves to Him, for learning the unveiled mystery of the wisdom of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord (1 Cor 1:24). The first point is that there are men working against the saints.
Second, Paul extends his warning to show where the persuasive arguments lead: captivity. Christians move from slavery to sin before conversion (Rom 6:6), to experience freedom in Christ at conversion (Jn 8:32; Eph 6:6), only to be held captive by false teaching after conversion (2 Pet 2). Christians should hold every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor 10:5) to destroy every speculation brought against the knowledge of God. This means everything should be tested against what Paul calls, “true knowledge (Col 2:2; 3:10).” We should not believe anything beyond Jesus Christ, revealed in the Scriptures (Jn 5:39–47; 2 Tim 3:16).
The creativity of heretics is amazing. Paul cites philosophy as one subject operating against Christ. The wisdom of men was prominent in Greek culture, but it was also big business. People would actually pay money to go and hear speakers at conferences. This is why Paul refused to be a peddler of the Word of God (2 Cor 2:17). He never charged anyone to hear him preach the Gospel. Traveling philosophers were thinkers and rhetoricians. Rhetorical speech was as crucial to a speaker’s success as his philosophy. Paul was mocked at Mars Hill in Athens because of the foolishness of his message and his lack of public speaking prowess (Acts 17).
Third, empty deception is also listed by Paul (Col 2:8). Presenting a false version of Jesus Christ is popular, today. Christian cults are very active around the world. Their persuasive arguments are empty because they have robbed Christ of something in order to present their philosophies.
Jesus is lessened to mere humanity by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He is made to be Satan’s brother by the Mormons. He is suppressed by Liberals and the Seventh Day Adventists in favor of other agendas they tell us are important. He is not fully capable of saving His people, according to the Arminians. He is required to save everyone by the Universalists. His personage is melded into the Father and the Spirit by the Modalists (T.D. Jakes, et al).
Jesus Christ is required to make people rich by the prosperity gospel preachers, and clearly by their own standards, He often fails to perform what they tell people He will do. Jesus was just a prophet in the traditions of Islam. The Protestant Reformers resisted the Roman Catholic Church for its innumerable additions to the faith.
These and many other philosophies of men all offer persuasive arguments to delude and deceive believers and unbelievers. These traditions of men (Col 2:8) develop into entire systems of thought and practice. Some have become powerful forces in the world. Paul made the argument to the Colossians, and surely, he would argue to us that all of these are empty. They all miss Christ Jesus, our Lord, either in part or in whole.
Fourth, elementary principles of the world (Col 2:8) was Paul’s common denominator for every idea working against Christ. Philosophy is man-made. Men observe the world they live in, and they craft ideas in their imagination about the way the world works (Eccl 1:13).
A man observes an action and a reaction. When the reaction comes back in some retributive way, he calls it, “karma.” This is an elementary observation and principle. A man observes good and evil, light and darkness, and he calls it, “Yin-Yang.” This is elementary. Christ is void from these elementary principles, so they are empty. For Christians, Christ is all and in all (Col 3:11). He is our life (Col 3:4), as the very wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24), which sustains us (Heb 1:3).
Fifth, philosophies are not the only ones making persuasive arguments, according to Paul. Religion, even Paul’s former religion (Judaism), is operational in opposition to Jesus Christ. The typology we learn from the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures produced an ongoing problem in the early church. Judaizers wanted to preach Christ with a Mosaic twist. In essence, they wanted new Christians to come into compliance to the Law of Moses, by adhering to rites, rituals, and observances. Laws regarding food and calendar dates were pushed upon new believers (Col 2:16–17). The whole book of Galatians is an argument against the legalism of the Judaizers.
Paul argued, “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize…(Col 2:18a)” Christ had fulfilled the Law (Mt 5:17), and His grace was now sufficient for Christians to live their lives by mere faith in the Son of God, who loved them and game Himself for them, as a sacrifice for their sins, on Calvary’s tree (Gal 2:20). The prize is a free life: from sin, the Law, and the fear of death. It is empowered by the Holy Spirit, who extends grace upon grace and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Obedience to the law of Christ is a work of the Holy Spirit (Ezek 36:27), through sanctification (2 Thess 2:13). He works it (Phil 2:13).
Sixth, there was no need for self-abasement (Col 2:18). Religion causes some people to narcissistically debase themselves. With a form of martyr complex, this type of religionist is forever going around in sackcloth and ashes. Everything is woe. It often includes a type of pseudo-humility. It is right for Christians to be honest and forthright in God’s assessment of the human condition and the plight of the unsaved; however, we do not preach ourselves, but we preach Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 2:2). The genuine spirit of the Spirit-filled Christian is the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22–23). The attributes on this list are uplifting and positive. They are not manufactured in a Pollyanna sort of way but kept in balance with the facts of sin and a fallen world. We suffer in this world (Jn 16:33; Rom 8:18; Col 1:24), but we suffer with joy in our hearts (Jas 1:3), as people at peace with God (Rom 5:1).
Seventh, Christians should always avoid the worship of angels (Col 2:18). Angels are often the objects of the craftsman. Artists love depicting angels in particular. The imagination is captivated by angels. Spiritual people revel in conversations about angels. People on the fringe of Christianity often speak of children or dead people as angels.
Angels, like so-called saints, are overly venerated, by demonic design, to remove one’s focus from Jesus Christ. There is so much ancillary subject matter for Christians to discuss, but we should preach Christ and Him crucified. One can imagine the Colossians receiving Paul’s letter, taking heed to his warning about these matters, and immediately entering a discussion and debate over what Paul had written about false teaching and false teachers. His point was to avoid these things and set one’s mind on Christ above (Col 3:2).
Eighth, Christians should avoid making claims about having dreams and visions, which the teller tends to expand and exploit to the amazement of his listeners (Col 2:18). The fleshly mind is set on the things of the world (Rom 8:5–8). Some worldly people are intrigued by spiritual things and hope to somehow gain from them.
Worldly King Saul went to visit the witch of Endor, and the amount of demonic activity in Jesus’ earthly ministry is noteworthy. Mediums have their own television shows, today. There is simply no new thing under the sun (Eccl 1:9). We should be warned about people having dreams and visions and promoting some agenda in the church, on the basis of these encounters with the supernatural realm. Christ is typically missing in these reports.
Paul did not deny any of these things listed here. They were all happening in his day, and they are happening in our day. He closed his argument in Colossians 2 with these words, “These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom…(Col 2:23)” This is why so many people are so easily engaged in the modern-day versions and creative perversions of self-made religion. Nobody wants to be the fool, and the spiritual marketplace is so broad, no one would mistake you for a fool, if you latched on to some spiritual wisdom from a death star, Disney movie, or dimension far, far, away.
The religious distortions of the simple Gospel message, during the early church, mostly required a higher knowledge (Gnosticism). The wisdom of the cult is to persuade someone she is missing out on something. “If you follow me and my version of church, then you will have a deeper life,” is the siren song of the pseudo-prophet. The doctrine of Christ is infinite, but it is made plain and simple to us by the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures given to us by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:20–21).
Pure and simple devotion is normative for orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Unfortunately, this is not glittery enough for most Christians, so they try to jazz up Jesus in their worship services, saying, “We hope our customers will come back, and if we have the best show in town, they just might.”
We have seen how perversions of the Gospel can take people to extreme opposite ends. One extreme leads people to morbidity, and to the severe treatment of one’s body and soul (Col 2:23). The other extreme leads to a loose, licentious, almost ethereal experience. In between these extremes are any number of slight distortions available to one’s head or heart. Whether our spiritual preferences lead us to hot, lukewarm, or cryophilic tendencies in our Christian walk, we must heed Paul’s warning to the Colossians, and we must warn Christians, today.
God’s remedy remains for us, an ever-present help in times of temptation to lesser things. He is Jesus Christ, whom we preach. We know Him from the Scriptures, and only from the Scriptures. Paul did not come to the churches with anything else. When he wrote his letters, it was to refute these other things, and to encourage the Christians to return to the simplicity of Christ.
We are complete in Christ (Col 2:10). He is on our minds and in our hearts. He is our joy and our peace. We fear Him and keep His commandments, only by the will and power of the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us. We shine brightly in the midst of all these shadowy lesser subjects, when we cling to the Cross of Calvary, and as we tell others of the One who loved us and who died there for us.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
February 9, 2021
