In our passage, Paul exposes a certain group of false teachers in Colossae as fakers. Their teachings are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. For the elect, we know, because the Bible tells us, that the OLD man will finally and eternally be defeated, either when we die, or when Jesus returns. But for those who profess Jesus as Lord, as we live in this life, it often feels like there is a battle for our soul. So far in this book of Colossians the focus has been on feeding the soul with Christ. Our spiritual well-being depends completely upon walking in Christ. We either walk by faith or we walk by sight. We either walk by the Word of God, or we walk according to the word of man. Paul gave a stern warning in verse 8: "Beware, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ." This was the threat worming its way into the Colossae church. This was the essence of the poison being dripped into their water supply. False teachers, with all sincerity, were bringing philosophy and empty deceit into the church. Paul knew that if this poisonous teaching was not purged from the church, it would bring about the death of the church. Bad theology leads to bad practice. |