08 Christ Over Legalism – Part 2

In the earlier portions of Colossians chapter 2, Paul took pains to show how the Old Covenant was only a “shadow” of the “substance” of which was to come, and that is Jesus.

After establishing that foundation, he then began to direct his attention at what could be looked at as an “overriding” danger to the church, the problem of legalism. 

As the chapter progresses, Paul then began to address various forms of legalism, showing how distracting and dangerous they are to the believer.

1 Dangers of False Humility

Colossians 2:18a

One problem which faced the early church, came from those who might be classified as “mystics”. These individuals desired to appear as extremely spiritual, because of their claims to have had heavenly visions and encounters with the Lord.

The word translated as “cheat” in verse 18, can be literally rendered “beguile” showing these individuals act in an enchanting and deceptive manner. They were in effect, seducing the church because of their false claims. Sadly, this is an ever-growing problem in the modern church.

• The mystics and other false teachers during the first century, seduced one church or group at a time.
• Heresies in the modern church era can manifest widely in a very short period of time.

Despite the fact that there are many heresies and heretics, Scripture shows that believers have a personal responsibility to be on guard against them:

2 Corinthians 2:11

Much in the way that literal sheep must remain close to the shepherd to ensure their health and safety, believers must stay close to Jesus and His Word.

Continuing the analogy, the shepherd would be considered as the sheep’s “reward” since he would provide all which they required. In the same way, Jesus is the believer’s reward:

Revelation 22:12

2 The Dangers of Mysticism

Colossians 2:18b-19

The first-century mystics had been teaching that they had received heavenly visions and instructions, primarily from angels.

Under the Old Covenant, while the Lord used prophets to reveal His plans to the nation of Israel, there were strict guidelines, in that prophesies had to be 100 percent accurate, otherwise the prophet was to be considered as a false prophet.

Sadly, many of the false prophets today, have effectively built-in excuses for when their prophesies fail:

• Many of them qualify their failed prophesies, by stating that “prophets are people too, and therefore aren’t perfect, and possibly might have misheard aspects of the prophetic word from God.”
• Others say the problem is with the hearer, and that the prophesies are dependent upon how they are received by the hearers

The first century mystics went from supposedly simply receiving words from angels, to worshipping the angelic messengers.

And like the modern heretics, they “qualified” their actions by asserting false humility. In an effort to show their great piety and humility, they claimed that they were unworthy to worship Jesus Himself, therefore they worshipped these lesser beings.

In verse 19, Paul shows how those who worship anyone other than Christ, are no longer holding fast to the Head – Christ. Therefore, their false humility showed how they had departed from the faith.

Paul had mentioned as much earlier in the chapter when he discussed the need to be rooted and built up in Christ:

Colossians 2:7

Believers must remain rooted in Christ, to ensure they are “nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments… with the increase that is from God”.

3 Rebuking the Core

The core of legalism is about “doing” and “not doing” various things, which supposedly enhance one’s fellowship with the Lord. To that end, Paul issued a rebuke to those who had begun to add various things to their relationship with Christ:

Colossians 2:20-23

Those in Christ have “died to the basic (most elementary) principles of the world”. Therefore, whenever we begin to add man-made principles to what God has already established, we have effectually devolved our relationship with Christ into a moral religion of sorts, with various rules and regulations.

That practice, doesn’t differ very much from that which is seen in cults and recognized aberrant sects.

Paul goes on to show, that those who are living legalistically, are not living in a relationship with Christ, but rather by man-made rules and regulations.

That’s not to say that Christianity doesn’t have clear moral standards, however, those standards are established by God and found in His Word, and then reinforced by the Holy Spirit who lives within every believer.

In verses 21 and 22, Paul gives the admonishment that commands such as “do not touch, taste, or handle” are nothing but the commandments of men, and therefore are of no benefit to the believer.

Jesus spoke to that issue, when he spoke of how the rabbis of His day had added various “burdens” upon the people, without doing anything to relieve those burdens:

Matthew 23:4

In the text, Paul discussed how those things which man adds, “perish with using” thus showing how those things are worthless.

Verse 23 is in essence a summary, as Paul states these things “have an appearance of wisdom”. That speaks of the things which man has added, are all about how they will appear and therefore will be appreciated by man.

While man attracted to the outward, those things do not move God in the least, as He looks upon our hearts.