The False Teaching
THE FALSE TEACHING
COLOSSIANS 2:16-19
We need to watch out for contemporary substitutes that may tempt us away from genuine renewal in Christ.
The sole source for reconstructing the false teaching found at Colossae is Paul’s letter. Certain aspects of the error may be readily identified. From Judaism came an insistence on circumcision (2:11), legal ordinances (2:14), food and drink regulations, and observances of the festival calendar (2:16). The rigorous asceticism which found expression in the regulations of 2:21 may or may not be Jewish in origin. The designation “philosophy” (2:8) and the use of catchwords like “knowledge” (gnosis), “wisdom” and “mystery” suggest a syncretistic religious outlook. There were important colonies of Jews both at Laodicea and Hierapolis. That they had been penetrated by religious syncretism is suggested by inscriptions and rabbinic statements calling into question the character of Phrygian Judaism.
The key to understanding the precise nature of what was being taught at Colossae lies in the interpretation of Paul’s difficult reference to “self-abasement” (humility), “the worship of angels” and “visions” (2:18). In early Christian literature the term “humility” could have special reference to fasting; this is appropriate to 2:16-23 where there is reference to food and drink. Understood in a comprehensive sense, the word refers to all the elements of rigorous self-discipline implied in 2:16-23. Visionary exaltation, encouraged by fasting and severity to the body, was widely known in the Greek world. Fasting and the heavenly journey by which the seer is given entrance into the sphere of the angels is a common theme in Jewish apocryphal literature and in certain Gnostic texts. What was seen upon entrance into heaven was the worship performed by the angels. Without exception, the works which speak of visionary entrance into the heavenly sphere describe the highest office of angels and humans as the adoration of God. Accordingly, 2:18 speaks of fasting and rigorous self-discipline in order to experience a vision of the heavenly sphere. “The worship of angels” does not mean the veneration of angelic creatures by people but rather the worship directed toward God by the angels. This vision of the heavenly liturgy and its accompanying glory was designated “a shadow of what is to come” (2:17). By rigorous asceticism, the false teachers contended, people could receive in their lifetime a vision of the angelic service into which they would enter—a vision others would see only after death. It was this prospect which appeared so attractive.
At the heart of the Colossian error was ignorance of the redemption Christ had achieved. It was felt that the Christian could enter into the inheritance of the saints only by a grim struggle. As Christ put off the body (1:22; 2:11), the Colossians sought to subdue their bodies with severity. As Christ assumed his place far above all rule and authority (1:16-18; 2:10), they sought to enter the heavenly sphere. In short, they lacked assurance that in and with Christ they themselves had experienced a full deliverance and were being renewed in knowledge after the image of God (see 1:13; 2:10-12; 3:1,10). Instead, they had to earn the divine vision through ascetic discipline. The error did not spring from a false view of the person of Christ but from a false view of the present salvation provided through him. But it led to a truncated existence, cutting an individual off from the life-giving presence of Christ (2:19).