“Let no one who delights in false humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. He has not held fast to the head from whom the whole body, supported and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.”
(Colossians 2.18-20)
In rebuking another part of the heresy in Colossae Paul turns his attention to people who [delight] in false humility and the worship of angels, and those who [go] on at great lengths about what [they have] supposedly seen. In one blow he refutes those who call for a religiously ascetic life, i.e. refraining from all kinds of earthly enjoyment, and those who claim to have seen visions and things so spiritual that the rest of us haven’t. Interestingly, despite these two false teachings being pretty different, the counsel is the same:
“He has not held fast to the head…”
The response to those teaching that false humility is the way forward for the Colossians is that they need to grow with a growth that is from God by holding fast to Jesus. The response to those who claim a super spirituality created in their own minds is the same. The antidote to both, as David Guzik writes, is simply more of Jesus.
One problem with the harsh and joyless religious life and the life characterised by a spiritually-elite attitude is that they have no mass appeal. They don’t appeal to everybody. Jesus, however, supports and knits together the whole body. Everybody finds what they are looking for in the person and work of Jesus. False teaching grows nobody but in Jesus we all find a growth that is from God.
Today’s takeaway is simple and clear: more Jesus and less claimed-Christian teaching that takes us away from Him. That has to be our yardstick when presented with teaching and preaching: does this take me closer to Jesus and help me know Him more, or not? Think, then, about the Christian teaching you regularly read, watch, and listen to. Does it help you to know Jesus more? Does it take you closer to Him?
James Travis 