Deceptive Philosophies

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." (Colossians 2:8)

First, according to Apostle Paul, these empty, deceptive philosophies "depend on human tradition." They arise out of the thinking of men, find a foothold in society, and then are passed along from generation to generation so as to appear popular and widely supported. Hardly anyone dares question them because everybody believes them.


Second problem with false doctrine, is, in Paul's words, "not according to Christ." Evil teaching always focuses on demoting Jesus, refusing to recognize the full revelation of his Being as it is set out in the Scriptures. Every cult attacks the Person or the work of Jesus---or both. They claim that he was nothing but a very good man, a model man, perhaps, although he lacked the insights into life and reality that are ours through modern knowledge. Thus, they put him down and demote him. Or, going to the opposite extreme, they regard Jesus as a supernatural being, one among several Divine Masters who come periodically into human affairs to teach us wonderful truths that we would never know otherwise, and which, if followed, will release within us great divine powers. (This is the teaching of the New Age movement that we are being exposed to today.) But these cults never view Jesus as God himself, willing to die in our place.


"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have this fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." (Colossians 2:9-10)

Everywhere in Scripture you will find this approach: We are to be "...looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." We must focus again upon who he is, then the mind and heart are both protected against the assault of an evil teaching. Here the apostle reminds the Colossians that they already have everything they need if they have Jesus. They have God for "in Christ dwells all the fullness of Deity in bodily form." All of God is present when Jesus is there. This does not mean that Jesus is both the Father and the Son. Scripture never teaches that. But "the fullness of God," the whole Godhead, comes into your life when you receive Jesus. What more do you need? That is Paul's question. What more can these false teachers add to that? What new experience, what other additional divine person can you receive than what you have already received when you have Jesus? It may be that we need to discover more of what it means to have Christ in our heart; that is a lifelong process. We shall always be growing in appreciation of what it means to have him, but the point is (and it is a very important one): you do not need anything more than you already have. You merely need to understand more of what you have received. 

Some cults teach that Jesus has mere divine qualities in Colossians 2:9, Rather, it is saying that the absolute “fullness of Deity” dwells in Christ in bodily form.  Scholars are unanimous on this point.  For example:

•	New Testament scholar Joseph B. Lightfoot says the phrase “fullness of deity” means “the totality of divine powers and attributes.” [J.B. Lightfoot, St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 181.]
•	Greek scholar J.H. Thayer says the Greek word in Colossians 2:9 refers to “deity, that is, the state of being God, Godhead.” [J.H. Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1963), p. 288.]
•	Greek scholar Richard C. Trench says that “St. Paul is declaring that in the Son there dwells all the fullness of absolute Godhead….He was, and is, absolute and perfect God.”  [R.C. Trench; cited in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992), p. 1401.]
•	Greek scholar John A. Bengel states that the Greek word refers “not merely [to] the Divine attributes, but [to] the Divine nature itself.” [John A. Bengel; New Testament Word Studies, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1978), p. 460.]
•	Bible scholar H.C.G. Moule states that the Greek word “is as strong as possible; Deity, not only Divinity.” [H.C.G. Moule, Studies in Colossians &amp; Philemon (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1977), p. 102.]
•	Theologian Robert Reymond says the Greek word refers to “the being of the very essence of deity.”  [Robert Reymond, Jesus, Divine Messiah; The New Testament Witness (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1990), p. 250.]
•	In keeping with all this, Theologian Benjamin B. Warfield concludes that “the very deity of God, that which makes God God, in all its completeness, has its permanent home in our Lord, and that in a ‘bodily fashion,’ that is, it is in Him clothed with a body.”  [Benjamin B. Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1950), p. 46.]



