Keep defrauding you of your prize (2603) (katabrabeuo from katá = against + brabeuo = be a judge or umpire and thus award the prize in a public game) literally refers to an umpire who decides against one, declaring him unworthy of the prize and so defrauding him of the prize of victory. To decide against, to declare unworthy of the prize. Figuratively, as used in this verse, katabrabeuo refers to the depriving one of his or her spiritual reward. The judge at athletic games was the brabeus and the prize was the brabeion. The Greek word as noted above describes a referee who excludes from competition any athlete who fails to follow the rules. The contestant did not cease to be a citizen of the land, but he forfeited the honor of winning the prize. Katabrabeuo is translated "beguile" in several versions which stresses the use of charm and persuasion in deceiving. The verb is in the present imperative which when combined with a negative, calls for the hearer to stop an action already in progress. In other words... Stop letting people act as your umpire to disqualify you or beguile you of your prize Webster says that to "defraud" means to deprive of something by deception and stresses depriving one of their rights and usually connotes deliberate perversion of the truth [defrauded of her inheritance by an unscrupulous lawyer]. Paul is referring to a "disqualification" just as when a judge disqualifies those who run out of their designated lane in a race, etc. In the same way those believers who turn from faithfully following Christ will be “robbed” of their rewards from Him at the Judgment Seat (cp 2Co 5:10, 1Cor 3:10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 2Jn 1:8). These believers will not lose their salvation, but they will lose their rewards. Paul is warning against the false teachers who come in among the flock like savage wolves, bringing a persuasive, perverse message (Acts 20:29, 30, 31) composed of false doctrines that would rob believers of their spiritual blessings, not only in this present life but in the life to come. Specifically the Colossian saints were to be on guard for any teacher who came into their midst and began to teach that they were not saved because they were not delighting in false humility and in the worship of angels. Paul's description helps us recognize what we should be alert for and avoid being beguiled by -- those who show "false humility", always talking about angels, grand visions. These people are not humble but in contrast are puffed up and filled with hot air in their unregenerate minds. Wuest Vincent says: "The attitude of the false teachers would involve their sitting in judgment as to the future reward of those who refused their doctrine of angelic mediation. Paul speaks from the standpoint of their claim." We could go a step farther and say that these false teachers would actually deprive those Christians who would be led astray by them, of their reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ by reason of the fact that their Christian experience would be affected, and in a bad way. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos) Lightfoot writes: The Christian's career is the contest of the stadium...Christ is the umpire, the Dispenser of rewards (Rev 22:12, see note 2 Timothy 4:8): life eternal is the bay wreath, the victor's prize. The Colossians were in a fair way to win this prize; they had entered the lists duly; they were running bravely: but the false teachers , thrusting themselves in the way, attempted to trip them up or otherwise impede them in the race, and thus to rob them of their just reward. Vine adds that... A translation which is closer to the proper meaning of the word, as given above, is “let no man decide for or against you” (without any notion of a prize). This is in close agreement with the preceding exhortation, “let no man judge you,” and the meaning is “do not give yourselves up to the judgment and decision of any man” Eadie explains that... The apostle warns them to listen to none of these instructors, for their design was to rob them of that prize, which, as the result of their spiritual victory, Christianity set before them. If they yielded to any of the practices referred to in this verse, then they followed the solicitation of one who would rob them of that “prize of their high calling” for which they had been pressing forward. It is thus a term of far deeper import than the preceding krineto (krino = let no one act as your judge - Col 2:16-note), For there is in it (katabrabeuo) not merely the giving of a wrong judgment, but a judgment which involves in it the loss of all that the gospel promises to the winner, a life of glory on high (A Commentary on the Greek Text) BY DELIGHTING IN SELF-ABASEMENT: thelon (PAPMSN) en tapeinophrosune: Delighting (2309) (thelo) refers to a desire that comes from one’s emotions and represents an active decision of the will. Thus thelo implies volition and purpose. The idea is that they are making a conscious choice. It is a conscious willing and denotes a more active resolution urging on to action. Note the present tense indicates this was their continual practice (and this should make them easy to recognize). Eadie says... We give thelo its common meaning. Let no man beguile you—wishing to do it by his humility...The preposition en ("in" self-abasement) denotes the means of deception, or the sphere in which the deceiver moves. The humility referred to, as may be seen from the last verse of the chapter, is a spurious humility (see Col 2:23-note). Fanatical pride is often associated with this humility, as when, for show, the beggar's feet are washed; and the friar in his coarse rags walks barefooted and begs. And men become proud of their humility—glory in the feeling of "self-annihilation". The spirit of the false teacher, with all its professed lowliness, would not bend to the Divine revelation, but nursed its fallacies with a haughty tenacity, and preached them with an impious daring, for he was “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” (A Commentary on the Greek Text)