Colossians 2:18
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.
Do not let anyone
This phrase is a direct exhortation from the Apostle Paul, emphasizing the personal responsibility of believers to guard against external influences. The Greek word for "let" (καταβραβεύω) implies a sense of being judged or ruled against. Paul is urging the Colossians to be vigilant and not allow others to impose false judgments upon them, which could lead them away from the truth of the Gospel.

who delights in false humility
The term "false humility" is translated from the Greek word "ταπεινοφροσύνη," which can mean humility or lowliness of mind. However, in this context, it is a humility that is insincere or self-imposed, often used to gain spiritual prestige. Paul warns against those who take pride in their humility, which is a contradiction in itself, as true humility is not self-seeking.

and the worship of angels
This phrase addresses a specific heretical practice that was infiltrating the Colossian church. The worship of angels was a part of certain mystical and ascetic practices that were contrary to Christian doctrine. The Greek word "θρησκεία" (worship) here indicates a religious observance that is misplaced. Paul is reminding the believers that worship is due to God alone, and any deviation from this is idolatry.

disqualify you
The Greek word "καταβραβεύω" used here suggests the idea of being deprived of a reward or prize. Paul is using athletic imagery to convey the seriousness of being led astray by false teachings. Just as an athlete can be disqualified from a race, believers can be led away from their spiritual reward by adhering to false doctrines.

with speculation about what he has seen
This phrase refers to the claims of mystical visions or revelations that some false teachers were promoting. The Greek word "εμβατεύων" implies entering into or dwelling upon these visions. Paul warns that such speculative experiences are not grounded in the truth of the Gospel and can lead believers away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

such a person is puffed up
The phrase "puffed up" comes from the Greek word "φυσιόω," meaning to be inflated or arrogant. Paul is critiquing the pride and self-importance of those who claim superior spiritual experiences. This arrogance is contrasted with the humility and servitude that should characterize a follower of Christ.

without basis by his unspiritual mind
The term "unspiritual mind" is translated from the Greek "σὰρξ" (flesh), indicating a mindset that is not aligned with the Spirit of God. Paul is highlighting the futility and emptiness of relying on human wisdom and understanding, which is devoid of the Spirit's guidance. This serves as a reminder that true spiritual insight comes from God and is rooted in His Word, not in human speculation or experience.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul the Apostle
The author of the letter to the Colossians, addressing the church in Colossae with guidance and warnings against false teachings.

2. Colossae
An ancient city in Phrygia, Asia Minor, where the church was facing challenges from false teachings and philosophies.

3. False Teachers
Individuals promoting ascetic practices, false humility, and the worship of angels, leading believers away from the truth of the Gospel.
Teaching Points
Guard Against False Humility
True humility is rooted in Christ, not in self-imposed practices or asceticism. Evaluate your motivations and ensure they align with the Gospel.

Reject Angel Worship
Worship is due to God alone. Understand the biblical role of angels and avoid elevating them to a place of worship.

Discern Spiritual Experiences
Be cautious of those who claim special visions or revelations that contradict Scripture. Test all things against the Word of God.

Stay Grounded in Christ
Focus on the sufficiency of Christ and His work on the cross. Do not be swayed by teachings that add to or take away from the Gospel.

Cultivate a Spiritual Mind
Develop a mind that is rooted in the Spirit, not in unspiritual or fleshly thinking. Seek wisdom and understanding through prayer and study of the Scriptures.
Bible Study Questions
1. How can we identify and guard against false humility in our own lives and in the teachings we encounter?

2. What are some modern examples of practices or beliefs that might parallel the worship of angels mentioned in Colossians 2:18?

3. How can we ensure that our spiritual experiences and insights are aligned with biblical truth?

4. In what ways can we cultivate a deeper understanding of the sufficiency of Christ in our daily walk?

5. How do the warnings in Colossians 2:18 relate to the broader theme of spiritual maturity found in Ephesians 4:14?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Galatians 1:6-9
Paul warns against turning to a different gospel, emphasizing the importance of adhering to the true Gospel of Christ.

1 Timothy 4:1-3
Paul speaks about deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, which aligns with the warning against angel worship and false humility.

Ephesians 4:14
Paul encourages believers to mature in faith to avoid being swayed by every wind of doctrine, similar to the warning in Colossians 2:18.

Hebrews 1:14
Discusses the role of angels as ministering spirits, contrasting with the inappropriate worship of angels mentioned in Colossians.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15
Paul describes false apostles and deceitful workers, paralleling the false teachers in Colossae.
A Warning to BelieversCharles Haddon Spurgeon Colossians 2:18
Christian IndependenceU.R. Thomas Colossians 2:16-19
Two Dangers to be AvoidedE.S. Prout Colossians 2:16-19
Legalism ExposedR.M. Edgar Colossians 2:16-23
Three ErrorsR. Finlayson Colossians 2:16-23
A Warning Against Angel WorshipT. Croskery. Colossians 2:18, 19
Angel WorshipBp. Davenant.Colossians 2:18-19
False ConfidencesChristian AgeColossians 2:18-19
How Self-Will May be LostColossians 2:18-19
Humility Before GodHoveden.Colossians 2:18-19
Speculative and Practical ErrorDean Vaughan.Colossians 2:18-19
The Angels and the HeadA. Maclaren, D. D.Colossians 2:18-19
The Head and the BodyBp. Davenant.Colossians 2:18-19
The Seductive Peril of a False PhilosophyG. Barlow.Colossians 2:18-19
The Union Between Head and BodyBp. Lightfoot.Colossians 2:18-19
People
Colossians, Paul
Places
Colossae, Laodicea
Topics
FALSE, Delights, Detail, Disqualify, Dwelling, Fleshly, Goes, Humility, Idle, Mind, Notions, Prize, Puffed, Puffs, Rob, Unspiritual, Vainly, Voluntary, Worship, Worshipping
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Colossians 2:18

     1615   Scripture, sufficiency
     4114   angels, and praise
     5038   mind, the human
     5334   health
     5830   delight
     5864   futility
     8140   prize
     8476   self-discipline
     8623   worship, of God
     8831   syncretism

Colossians 2:12-23

     7328   ceremonies

Colossians 2:16-18

     5821   criticism, among believers
     8824   self-righteousness, nature of

Colossians 2:16-19

     7025   church, unity

Colossians 2:16-23

     5441   philosophy

Library
Notes on the Fourth Century
Page 238. Med. 1. In the wording of this meditation, and of several other passages in the Fourth Century, it seems as though Traherne is speaking not of himself, but of, a friend and teacher of his. He did this, no doubt, in order that he might not lay himself open to the charge of over-egotism. Yet that he is throughout relating his own experiences is proved by the fact that this Meditation, as first written, contains passages which the author afterwards marked for omission. In its original form
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

July 18. "Ye are Complete in Him" (Col. Ii. 10).
"Ye are complete in Him" (Col. ii. 10). In Him we are now complete. The perfect pattern of the life of holy service for which He has redeemed and called us, is now in Him in heaven, even as the architect's model is planned and prepared and completed in his office. But now it must be wrought into us and transferred to our earthly life, and this is the Holy Spirit's work. He takes the gifts and graces of Christ and brings them into our life, as we need and receive them day by day, just as the sections
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

January 15. "As Ye have Received Christ Jesus So Walk in Him" (Col. Ii. 6).
"As ye have received Christ Jesus so walk in Him" (Col. ii. 6). It is much easier to keep the fire burning than to rekindle it after it has gone out. Let us abide in Him. Let us not have to remove the cinders and ashes from our hearthstones every day and kindle a new flame; but let us keep it burning and never let it expire. Among the ancient Greeks the sacred fire was never allowed to go out; so, in a higher sense, let us keep the heavenly flame aglow upon the altar of the heart. It takes very much
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

June 2. "As Ye have Therefore Received Christ Jesus the Lord So Walk Ye in Him" (Col. Ii. 6).
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in Him" (Col. ii. 6). Here is the very core of spiritual life. It is not a subjective state so much as a life in the heart. Christ for us is the ground of our salvation and the source of our justification; Christ in us of our sanctification. When this becomes real, "Ye are dead"; your own condition, states and resources are no longer counted upon any more than a dead man's, but "your life is hid with Christ in God." It is not even always
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Christian Progress
'As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and builded up in Him.'--COL. ii. 6, 7 (R.V.). It is characteristic of Paul that he should here use three figures incongruous with each other to express the same idea, the figures of walking, being rooted, and built up. They, however, have in common that they all suggest an initial act by which we are brought into connection with Christ, and a subsequent process flowing from and following on it. Receiving Christ, being rooted
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Fear which Terminates in the Second Death.
"The fearful--shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." The terms on which only we can be Christ's disciples are laid before us in the Scriptures, and we are counselled to consider them before we engage to be his. Though Christ was born to be a king, his kingdom is not of this world. He doth not persuade men with the prospect of great things here; but on the contrary warns his followers, that "in this world they shall have tribulation;"
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

Christ Triumphant
I shall this morning, by God's help, address you upon the two portions of the text. First, I shall endeavour to describe Christ as spoiling his enemies on the cross; and having done that I shall lead your imagination and your faith further on to see the Saviour in triumphal procession upon his cross, leading his enemies captive, and making a shew of them openly before the eyes of the astonished universe. I.First, our faith is invited this morning to behold CHRIST MAKING A SPOIL OF PRINCIPALITIES
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

A Warning to Believers
"Let no man beguile you of your reward."--Colossians 2:18. THERE is an allusion here to the prize which was offered to the runners in the Olympic games, and at the outset it is well for us to remark how very frequently the Apostle Paul conducts us by his metaphors to the racecourse. Over and over again he is telling us so to run that we may obtain, bidding us to strive, and at other times to agonize, and speaking of wrestling and contending. Ought not this to make us feel what an intense thing the
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

Conflict and Comfort.
"For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ."--COL. ii. 1, 2. Although he was in prison the Apostle was constantly at work for his Master, and not least of all at the work of prayer. If ever the words
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

Bands of Love; Or, Union to Christ. "I Drew them with Cords of a Man, with Bands of Love: and I was to them as they that Take Off the Yoke on their Jaws, and I Laid Meat unto Them. " --Hosea xi. 4.
BANDS OF LOVE; OR, UNION TO CHRIST. SYSTEMATIC theologians have usually regarded union to Christ under three aspects, natural, mystical and federal, and it may be that these three terms are comprehensive enough to embrace the whole subject, but as our aim is simplicity, let us be pardoned if we appear diffuse when we follow a less concise method. 1. The saints were from the beginning joined to Christ by bands of everlasting love. Before He took on Him their nature, or brought them into a conscious
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

The Disciple, -- Master, Some People Say that the Comfort and Joy that Believers Experience...
The Disciple,--Master, some people say that the comfort and joy that believers experience are simply the outcome of their own thoughts and ideas. Is this true? The Master,--1. That comfort and abiding peace which believers have within themselves is due to My presence in their hearts, and to the life-giving influence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. As for those who say that this spiritual joy is the result only of the thoughts of the heart, they are like a foolish man who was blind from his birth,
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

The Faithful Steward
"GOD IS LOVE." Perfectly blessed in Himself, he desired that other intelligences should participate in his own holy felicity. This was his primary motive in creating moral beings. They were made in his own image--framed to resemble him in their intellectual and moral capacities, and to imitate him in the spirit of their deportment. Whatever good they enjoyed, like him, they were to desire that others might enjoy it with them; and thus all were to be bound together by mutual sympathy,--linked
Sereno D. Clark—The Faithful Steward

The Subordination of the Spirit to the Father and to the Son.
From the fact that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, it does not follow that the Holy Spirit is in every sense equal to the Father. While the Scriptures teach that in Jesus Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead in a bodily form (Col. ii. 9) and that He was so truly and fully Divine that He could say, "I and the Father are one" (John x. 30) and "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John xiv. 9), they also teach with equal clearness that Jesus Christ was not equal to the Father in
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

The Person Sanctified.
"The putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh."--Col. ii. 11. Sanctification embraces the whole man, body and soul, with all the parts, members, and functions that belong to each respectively. It embraces his person and, all of his person. This is why sanctification progresses from the hour of regeneration all through life, and can be completed only in and through death. St. Paul prays for the church of Thessalonica: "The God of peace sanctify you wholly, and may your whole spirit and soul
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria
Assur-nazir-pal (885-860) and Shalmaneser III. (860-825)--The kingdom of Urartu and its conquering princes: Menuas and Argistis. Assyria was the first to reappear on the scene of action. Less hampered by an ancient past than Egypt and Chaldaea, she was the sooner able to recover her strength after any disastrous crisis, and to assume again the offensive along the whole of her frontier line. Image Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief at Koyunjik of the time of Sennacherib. The initial cut,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 7

St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzum; Council of Constantinople,
PART I (AD 373-381) Although St. Athanasius was now dead, God did not fail to raise up champions for the true faith. Three of the most famous of these were natives of Cappadocia--namely, Basil, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and his friend Gregory of Nazianzum. But although Gregory of Nyssa was a very good and learned man, and did great service to the truth by his writings, there was nothing remarkable in the story of his life; so I shall only tell you about the other two. Basil and Gregory of Nazianzum
J. C. Roberston—Sketches of Church History, from AD 33 to the Reformation

His Eyes are Like a Dove's by the Rivers of Waters, Washed with Milk, and Sitting Beside Overflowing Streams.
She goes on holding up to admiration the perfection of her Bridegroom; His abundance and His wonderful qualities are the joy of the Spouse, in the midst of her misery. His eyes, says she, are so pure, so chaste and so simple, His knowledge so purified from everything material, that they are like dove's; not like doves of any common beauty, but doves washed in the milk of divine grace, which, having been given to Him without measure, has filled Him with all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Christians must not Forsake the Church of God, and Go Away and Invoke Angels And...
Christians must not forsake the Church of God, and go away and invoke angels and gather assemblies, which things are forbidden. If, therefore, any one shall be found engaged in this covert idolatry, let him be anathema; for he has forsaken our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and has gone over to idolatry. Notes. Ancient Epitome of Canon XXXV. Whoso calls assemblies in opposition to those of the Church and names angels, is near to idolatry and let him be anathema. Van Espen. Whatever the worship
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

The Poison and the Antidote
'And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compare the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7. Therefore
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

More Particularly, in what Respect Christ is Called the Truth.
But for further explaining of this matter, we would see more particularly, in what respects it is, that he is called the truth; and this will make way to our use-making of him. So, First, He is the Truth, in opposition to the shadows and types of him, under the law. Hence, as "the law," the whole Levitical and typical dispensation, "came by Moses, so grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," John i. 17. They were all shadows of him, and he is the substance and body of them all, Col. ii. 17; and this
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Faith
'The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.' Gal 2:20. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us. Christ is the glory, and faith in Christ the comfort, of the gospel. What are the kinds of faith? Fourfold: (1.) An historical or dogmatic faith, which is believing the truths revealed in the Word, because of divine authority. (2.) There is a temporary faith, which lasts for a time, and then vanishes. Yet has he no root in himself,
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

In the Work of the Redemption of Man, not Only the Mercy, but Also the Justice, of God is Displayed.
In the work of the Redemption of man, not only the mercy, but also the justice, of God is displayed. 15. Man therefore was lawfully delivered up, but mercifully set free. Yet mercy was shown in such a way that a kind of justice was not lacking even in his liberation, since, as was most fitting for man's recovery, it was part of the mercy of the liberator to employ justice rather than power against man's enemy. For what could man, the slave of sin, fast bound by the devil, do of himself to recover
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

He Made the Pillars Thereof of Silver, the Couch of Gold, the Ascent Thereto of Purple; and the Midst Thereof He Strewed with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem.
The pillars of the holy Humanity of Jesus Christ are of silver; His soul with its powers and His body with its senses being of a finished purity well set forth by the most refined and brilliant silver. His couch, which is the Divinity itself, in which Christ subsists in the person of the Word, is clearly expressed by the couch of this mysterious chariot being made all of gold, which is often put in the Scriptures for God. The ascent thereto is adorned with purple, whereby it is signified, that although
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

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