Colossians 2:8

II. THE PROPOSED “PHILOSOPHY” CONSIDERED, Colossians 2:8-23.

1. Its characteristics, Colossians 2:8.

8. Beware… Take heed Pointing to some well-known person who urged upon them his philosophy, as he termed it, as a substitute for Christ, which the apostle pronounces an empty cheat. To spoil means to carry off as plunder. Thus would the false teacher, if possible, carry them off, body and soul. The caution is not against all philosophy, nor is the Greek philosophy referred to, but a peculiar Colossian system which combined Oriental spiritualistic speculations (Colossians 2:18) with Jewish ritualism, (Colossians 2:16,) and set itself in opposition to the gospel. From the apostle’s point of view, its characteristics were, first, positively, it was given by tradition of men, and so was of human origin; it was made up of rudiments of the world; elementary religious ideas gathered from various non-Christian sources; and, second, negatively, it was not according to Christ, as all true philosophy is. Philosophy is a search for the truth. Within the domain of revelation it heartily accepts its authority, and is always in harmony with the truth revealed by Christ.