Colossians 2:8-10 –
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Introduction
What’s the worst idea you’ve ever heard? My early-mid teenage years were pretty much defined by bad ideas. Sticking a bobby pin into a plug and then the plug into an outlet was one of the more innocent and innocuous ones. On the other end of both spectrums was some really, really bad ideas I had while driving a car.
On a more global scale, humanism, materialism, and all the various aspects of secularism are among the worst ideas mankind has ever conceived. The extent of the devastation caused by them (both temporally and eternally) cannot be measured.
Our passage for this morning is largely about bad ideas and their consequences. But Paul’s point is not to merely wallow in how bad the Colossians’ world was, but to help them see the stark contrast between those things and the best idea of all time and its consequences. And that so that they might continue to walk in Jesus.
Stated another way, whereas our passage for last week, 2:6-7, gets to the heart of the solution to the Colossians’ problems (remember the simple truths of the gospel and then seek to become increasingly rooted, built up, established, and abounding in thanksgiving), our passage for this morning, 2:8-10, gets to the heart of the problems themselves (they were at risk of being taken captive by bad ideas and led astray from Christ).
The big idea of this sermon is that all ideas have consequences. What we believe determines how we act. False beliefs take us captive. True beliefs, which are always rooted in Jesus, set us free. The main takeaway is to see that no one takes us captive with false beliefs and to seek the freedom that is found only in the Truth of Christ.
The Ideas
Once again, Paul’s letter to the Colossians is one part warning concerning the imminent danger they faced, and one part encouragement concerning God’s protection and deliverance that was theirs in Christ.
In that is a critical reminder that the news of salvation in Jesus is only good when it’s shared in contrast with the bad news of death through sin. When we share the gospel with the world, it is as important that we tell them what they must be saved from as it is to tell them what they are saved through and to. A gospel without the sovereign holiness of God and the death-producing sin of mankind, is no gospel. We must warn before we woo.
But Paul is not mainly speaking of evangelistic efforts or to non-Christians here. He is mainly speaking to a group of people who profess faith in Jesus, but are in danger of being led astray from the truths of the gospel by false teachers and their bad ideas. And within that, he writes to them of the bad ideas, their consequences, and the manner in which the Colossians ought to respond.
In a bit of reverse order (from Paul’s in v.8), let’s consider the bad ideas first. Paul explicitly names four: (1) philosophy and (2) empty deceit, according to (3) human tradition, according to the (4) elemental spirits of the world. These are more categories containing bad ideas, than bad ideas themselves, but they serve as important place holders for what’s to come in the letter.
Philosophy
The first bad-idea category is “philosophy”. It’s important to note that the term itself isn’t negative. It simply means “love of wisdom”. There is good philosophy, of course; philosophy rooted in genuine wisdom. But there is also bad philosophy; philosophy rooted in the godless ideas of the world.
There is, perhaps, no clearer example of the contrast between these two kinds of “wisdom” that what we find in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Throughout the end of chapter one and into the beginning of chapter two, he writes of “destroying the wisdom of the wise,” God making “foolish the wisdom of the world,” and the inability to “know God through wisdom”. But he also writes of “Christ crucified” as the “the wisdom of God” and his burden to “impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God,” which is the power of God to save.
In other words, and once again, in the Bible, the word “philosophy” is used in both positive and negative senses. In that way, the issue isn’t that the Colossians were at risk of “loving wisdom”. The issue that Paul wants to Colossians to consider is the nature and content of the “wisdom” being presented to them.
Empty Deceit
That leads to the second “idea” named by Paul, which is actually just a clarification of the first idea. It answers for us the nature and content question of the philosophy Paul wrote about in v.8. What kind of philosophy was being presented to the Colossian Christians? “Empty deceit” philosophy; the first kind of philosophy I highlighted from 1 Corinthians 1-2; the philosophy of the world, the kind God destroys, the kind God makes foolish, the kind through which God cannot be known, the kind that promises much, but delivers little.
Grace, have you ever considered how much empty deceit there is out there? Have you ever considered how often you are bombarded with it? Have you ever really tried to slow down and examine your own thinking to find elements of it?
It’s probably easy for most of us to name the empty deceits “out there”. The world is so confused when it comes to issues of sex and gender, wisdom and folly, good and evil, life and death, love and hate, marriage and family, government and religion, ethics and morals, God’s nature and commands, and a whole host of other things.
The world around us promises that we can work through those things however we want and find true satisfaction in whatever we come up with, but for the most part, we know that’s empty deceit, right?
While I don’t think the Church is as good on those things as we think we are, we are, for the most part, better at recognizing them for what they are than those outside of the Church.
However, there’s plenty of empty deceit inside the Church as well. As Jerry Bridges has pointed out, we often function according the empty and deceiving philosophy that treats ungodliness, anxiety, discontentment, unthankfulness, pride, selfishness, lack of self-control, impatience, irritability, anger, judgmentalism, envy, and gossip as “respectable sins.”
In similar fashion, over the years, we’ve regularly been grieved as elders at how common it is for otherwise godly families to follow the empty and deceiving philosophies that kids’ sports/extracurricular activities ought to dominate family life, that skirting the edges of community with God’s people is an OK way to live, that worshiping as the gathered church on the Lord’s day is anything other than the pinnacle of the week in God’s design, that coming in and out of covenant membership in a local church is treated as a small thing, that husbands so easily abdicate and wives so easily complain, that non-evangelism is normal, and that God’s Word is minimized as the ultimate standard for significant aspects of our lives.
Grace, if you are to receive Paul’s words as God intends, you will prayerfully examine every aspect of the ideas and philosophies that drive your life, seeking and destroying those that are ultimately composed of empty deceit; that is, those that promise joy or comfort or acceptance, but can only deliver the opposite.
In just a bit, we’ll see what’s at stake for those who live according to these kinds of ideas, but first, let’s look at the final two “ideas” and the fact that they describe the source of the empty-deceit philosophies being put before the Colossians. They are human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world.
Human Tradition
Human tradition means exactly what you probably think it means. It is the thing that Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day for.
6 And [Jesus] said to [the Pharisees and scribes], “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” (Mark 7:7-9).
Jesus said this in relation to the Pharisees critique of His disciples’ failure to wash their hands and dishes according to human tradition. He also said this as a condemnation against the Pharisees’ tradition of refusing to care for their parents according to God’s command.
The point isn’t the exact form the traditions took though or even human tradition itself. The point is that their traditions came exclusively from the thoughts of people (rather than from God) and were often were in direct contradiction to the thoughts of God (as revealed in His Word).
In other words, in the same way that philosophy isn’t the real problem, neither is human tradition. Philosophy is only bad when it loves fake wisdom, just as human tradition is only bad when it overrides or contradicts God’s Word.
In that way, having family worship after dinner is a “human tradition,” but it is rooted deeply in God’s Word and is generally an attempt to faithfully put God’s Word into practice. The same can be said of monthly communion or celebrating Jesus’ birthday on December 25th or projecting the main sermon text on the screen. They are human traditions in that none of those things are explicitly commanded by God. But they are good in that they are an attempt to honor God by doing what He said.
Again, there are good, God-honoring philosophies (as well soon see) and human traditions. But those weren’t what was being thrust before the Colossians.
Elemental Spirits of the World
Finally, then, the fourth idea and second source of the empty deceit philosophy named by Paul, is the “elemental spirits [or, perhaps principles] of the world.”
A lot! has been written and little agreed upon concerning the precise meaning of this phrase for Paul. What is clear, however, is three things.
First, that their origin is something other than the wisdom of God.
Second, that among the philosophies rooted in human tradition and the elemental spirits/principles of the world are the things listed in 2:16-23, “questions of food and drink…a festival, new moon, or Sabbath…asceticism… worship of angels…visions…regulations…and severity to the body.”
And third, that they are things that “have an appearance of wisdom…but are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”
The philosophies, consisting of empty deceit, and flowing out of human tradition and elemental spirits of the word, being put before the Colossians are the “plausible arguments” Paul wrote of in 2:4.
These arguments were acceptable to many people outside the church and, tragically, even inside the church. They weren’t, for the most part, explicitly evil. They even seemed wise and plausible. They were not arguments for atheism or child sacrifice or drinking animal blood or pagan worship.
They were arguments and philosophies—ideas—that were ultimately misguided/false, but sounded like they might not be. They were ultimately empty, but sounded like they might be substantial. They were ultimately dishonoring to God, but sounded like they might be godly. In other words, it was not necessarily easy to see that they were wrong, much less wicked.
If those are the “ideas,” what are the consequences for believing those ideas?
The Consequences
In the opening lines of this passage, Paul warns the Colossians of being taken captive by these kinds of bad ideas. When we hear that, it’s probably easy to think his warning primarily in terms of being duped or coned or tricked.
In kindergarten, I remember a friend telling me the bad idea that if you added up a whole bunch of zeros (like a lot), it would eventually add up to something more than zero (albeit a really small number). I really do remember almost believing him, almost being duped.
Not that long ago, I did get tricked by a fake website while trying to buy an ice cream machine for Gerri. We got our money back from our credit card company, but only after going through all the hassle of getting new cards.
Is that what Paul meant by being taken captive? Are those the kinds of consequences he was concerned with?
That really is how most people seem to think of ideas—as if the worst thing they can do is inconvenience you a bit. But the radical truth is that the very first evil act, as well as every evil act since, as well as all of the most evil acts ever performed were the product of ideas.
The Fall in the Garden was the result of an idea (that it would be good to be like God in knowing good and evil).
The holocaust was the result of an idea. Nuclear weapons were the result of an idea. The Twin Towers was the result of an idea. Every unjust war is the result of an idea. And so is your mistreatment of your spouse, kids, siblings, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and non-Christian neighbor. All we do is the product of an idea we have (even if we’re unable to articulate it as we are acting).
In other words, as has been said by many, ideas have consequences.
In “How Then Shall We Live,” Francis Schaeffer famously said it like this, “There is a flow to history and culture. This flow is rooted and has its wellspring in the thoughts of people. People are unique in the inner life of the mind — what they are in their thought-world determines how they act. This is true of their value systems and it is true of their creativity. It is true of their corporate actions, such as political decisions, and it is true of their personal lives. The results of their thought-world flow through their fingers or from their tongues into the external world.”
Or as another cultural commentator said in more succinct terms, “Belief controls life” (Dallas Willard, Divine Conspiracy).
Of course, some ideas have good consequences and some bad, even as some ideas have big consequences and some small. But all ideas have consequences. Everything we believe shapes our lives in some way. That conviction is at the heart of this passage.
Again, then, what are the consequences of the bad ideas being presented to the Colossians? Or, more specifically, what does it mean to be taken captive by the bad ideas?
The word translated “captive” is a strong word that goes far beyond merely being tricked.
“It vividly expresses the danger that the readers may be ‘carried off as plunder’ by an alien and fundamentally anti-Christian form of teaching.” (Moo, PNTC, 185). In other words, Paul is concerned with far more than the possibility of his readers being inconvenient in some small way. He’s concerned with them being imprisoned and enslaved by the ideas.
Grace, it’s hard to word this with enough clarity and force to capture the seriousness in Paul’s warning. It’s hard to word this in a way that doesn’t sound melodramatic. It’s hard to say this in a way that doesn’t just feel like an unbearable pressure.
So, before we move on to the alternative (to being captured), let me say two things.
First, the divine, sinless nature, perfect righteousness, substitutionary death, and definitive resurrection of the man Jesus Christ are our only and certain hope. And it is ours, not by eradicating all the wrong ideas in our minds, but by acknowledging that we can’t on our own. We are united to His saving work, not by having only good ideas, but by trusting that He alone does. That’s the good news Jesus came to accomplish and effect for all who will receive Him.
Second, none of that cancels out the seriousness of the danger of being taken captive to empty and deceptive philosophies that are rooted in human tradition and elemental principles. Ideas have consequences and at best, these kinds of bad ideas inevitably (they can’t not) lead to the consequences of increasing disorderedness, difficulty, and discouragement…at best. At worst, if they lead us entirely away from the gospel, it means that we were never truly trusting in Jesus in the first place, that we were unbelieving believers, and that we remain under sin’s condemnation; and there is, of course, nothing worse than that.
The consequences of bad ideas are as steep as they get, even as the grace of God is entirely sufficient to grant repentance, rescue, and restoration. We honor God when we walk continually in the tension of those two truths.
The Alternative
There are few things more serious than being captivated by unbiblical philosophies. What, then, is the alternative? If Paul’s readers (the Colossians then and us today) were to heed Paul’s warning, where would that leave them? If they were to reject the captivity-threatening ideas of the world, what were they to do?
Paul names two aspects of the alternative—one defensive and one offensive.
See to it that No One Takes You Captive with Bad Ideas
The first, the defensive aspect of the alternative, is found right at the beginning, “See to it that no one takes you captive”.
As simple as it sounds, we are to defend against the bad ideas that come to us (or form within us). We are to set up watchmen and guards. Doing so, defending against bad ideas, empty and deceptive philosophies, means at least:
- Being in continual prayer. Ask God specifically to help you recognize bad ideas before they can take root and to root them out after they have. You/we will successfully reject or repent of bad ideas only with the supernatural help of the Spirit of God. It is right to express that conviction through constant prayer.
- Give yourself to being a functioning member of this church, which is God’s primary means of protecting you.
Put yourself under the shepherding care of the elders. God designed you to function within a local church, shepherded by elders, who’s job description includes protecting you from bad ideas. That’s why one of the qualifications for eldership is the ability “to rebuke those who contradict [sound doctrine—bad ideas]” (Titus 1:9). As Hebrews says, make it our joy to keep watch over your soul, for that is to your great advantage. Be honest. Be present. Come to DG consistently. Talk to us about the things running through your head and heart, especially as they first come to you.
Sit under the preaching and teaching of the Word. Week after week after week. As I mentioned recently, it is not often that a single sermon or Berea lesson will dramatically change your life. However, God’s normal design is to gradually and powerfully change your life through a constant diet of sound doctrine. Recognizing and defending against bad ideas is much easier when your steady diet is good ideas.
Allow yourself to be known by and commit to knowing the other members of Grace. God’s design is that we would keep watch over one another’s souls as well. It is not meant to be an unusual thing to learn of a bad idea creeping into our thinking by someone in our family or DG. - A third primary means of defending against bad ideas is to read, study, meditate on, memorize, and pray through God’s Word on your own; in your daily devotional practices. The aim, as we’re about to turn to now, is to defend against bad ideas by filling your head and heart with good ones.
See to it that You Are Captivated by Good Ideas
That leads to the second, the offensive, aspect of the alternative to being taken captive by bad ideas. It is rooted in an acknowledgement of the simple and universal fact that we can’t not have ideas. No one is idealess. Likewise, and again, we can’t not live out of our ideas.
Stated positively, we all have ideas and we all live out of them. The only questions are what are our ideas and what are their consequences.
At the end of the day, there really are only two idea-options for mankind. We either have the ideas of the world or of Christ. There are countless worldly ideas, but they all amount to the same godless, false, empty, deadly thoughts.
Consequently, defending against and getting rid of bad ideas is a start, but it is not the finish.
Again, then, what were the Colossians to do after heeding Paul’s warning and rejecting the ideas of empty and deceptive philosophy which were rooted in human tradition and elemental spirits of the world? Having avoided their captivity, what were they to do with their freedom?
They were to have better ideas; ideas that are good, beautiful, and true. Paul names three such ideas. All are rooted in Jesus, all are echoes of Paul’s continual message to the Colossians, and all are the subject of the next few sermons (so I’m only going to briefly name them this morning).
What are the alternative ideas? The alternative is the philosophy of Christ. It is full and true. It is according to the eternal wisdom of God. It is according to the Word by, through, and for which all things were made and are now being sustained. It is found in vs. 9-10.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
- In Him dwells the whole fullness of deity (bodily). Paul’s repeated emphasis on the fullness of Jesus is almost certainly an intentional literary device intended to provide a contrast with the empty deceit of human philosophy. There is fullness in Jesus and emptiness everywhere else. And his emphasis on the body of Jesus is almost certainly in contrast to the bad idea of asceticism we’ll come to later in chapter 2.
- He Is the head of all rule and authority. The bad ideas were coming from people and forces who were created by, for, and through Jesus (1:16), who had already been disarmed by Jesus (2:15), and who Jesus has been raised far above in power and glory and wisdom (Ephesians 1:19-23). When we recognize those things about Jesus, why would we ever look to anything or anyone but Jesus?!
- You have been filled in Him. Again, Paul’s language of fullness extends from Jesus to all who are trusting in Him. The contrast of the emptiness of all other philosophies and the fullness that is in Jesus, is also in us. We too have been filled in Jesus. We need not remain in or return to the emptiness that was ours apart from Jesus.
Those are at the heart of the alternative ideas that Paul commends to us. The alternative to the false, deadly ideas of the world is the truth that Jesus Christ is above all and in all! It is the truth that Jesus is supreme, preeminent, sovereign, wise, and good. He is God. He is Head. He offers Himself to all who will trust in Him.
Conclusion
I want to conclude with a something Paul doesn’t explicitly name in these few verses. I want to conclude with the consequences of these ideas for all who believe.
Quickly, there are two consequences. First, as we’ve seen, the consequences are faith, hope, and love. They are hope in heaven. They are good fruit. They are the grace of God. They are fullness of knowledge and wisdom. They are good works. They are being strengthened with God’s power. They are the inheritance of the saints. They are being delivered from the domain of darkness and transferal into the kingdom of the beloved Son. They are redemption and the forgiveness of sins. They are reconciliation, holiness, blamelessness, and being made above reproach. They are the rights of God’s glory in Jesus. They are spiritual maturity. They are encouragement and all the riches of full assurance and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And as we are about to see, they the consequences of these ideas are the circumcision of Christ, union with his death and resurrection, eternal life in Christ, forgiveness of sins, and the canceling of our debt against God! How about those consequences?! Imprisoned by bad ideas into death or brought to glory by the good ideas of Jesus?!
But there is a second consequence as well; one that I think is absolutely remarkable. Grace, would you marvel with me at the fact that Paul was warning his readers to avoid being taken captive to bad ideas, by being captivated by good ideas, so they might be taken captive by bad people. Paul was a captive to Christ and the enemies of Christ. He was in prison!
You will be a captive, Grace Church. The only question that matters, Paul admonished the Colossians and admonishes us, is what we want to be captivated by—Christ or the world.
For Paul, this was no question at all. It is the easiest, most obvious choice around.
That choice is every one of ours today. Which ideas and consequences will you choose?