Colossians 2:18

Let no man rob you of your prize by. voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he hath seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

'LET NO MAN' -'the present tense, as in vers. 4,8,16,20, implies. continued attempt.' (P.P. Comm. p. 92)

'ROB YOU OF YOUR PRIZE' -'beguile you' (KJV); 'to cheat you' (Knox). 2603. katabrabeuo kat-ab-rab-yoo'-o; from 2596 and 1018 (in its original sense); to award the price against, i.e. (figuratively) to defraud (of salvation): -beguile of reward.

-'from..against..to act as. judge or umpire. Hence to decide against one, or to declare him unworthy of the prize..The attitude of the false teachers would involve their sitting in judgement as to the future reward of those who refused their doctrine of angelic mediation.' (Vincent p. 495)

-'Let no ritualist tell you, "Since you, Colossians, are not following my rules and regulations, you are not in the race or contest at all. You are unfit, unworthy.' (Hendriksen p. 125)

-In addition, the Colossians would be robbed of their prize if they allowed themselves to be convinced that they needed to go back to the Law of Moses (Galatians 5:1). To give up the real for the ritual, and to abandon true spiritual freedom for an religion of obsolete externals (Hebrews 8:13); would be. major rip off.

GOD'S INSIGHT INTO THESE FALSE TEACHERS:

'BY. VOLUNTARY HUMILITY' -'false humility' (Knox).

Points to Note:

1. The humility under consideration is. false or fake humility. It is when men and women begin to take pride in their humility. As Eadie says, 'as when, for show. the beggar's feet are washed; and the friar in his coarse rags walks barefooted and begs.' (p. 179) When people begin to glory in their self-sacrifices (Luke 18:9); and make sure others know how much they are giving up for God (Matthew 6:1).

2. 'Some people love to make. parade of exceptional piety.' (Bruce p. 117)

3. Christians need to take special note of this expression. Often false teachers and false doctrine comes clothed in extreme self-sacrifice. People try to intimidate us into thinking that we aren't right with God, because, we aren't making the sacrifices that they are. The Jehovah Witnesses are famous for trying to make people feel small, because other groups don't go door to door. Question: Where do the Scriptures teach that knocking on doors is the only or most effective form of Evangelism? Beware when someone approaches you with the attitude, 'We must be right, because we are making more sacrifices for God than any other group.' Always stand back and ask the question, 'Are they making the sacrifices, which God demands, or are they making the sacrifices which they have invented?' (1 Samuel 2:22)

4. False humility is still. problem among God's people. Unfortunately often people will say, 'I know that so and so is in sin or teaching error, but. can't condemn them, because. have my own faults.' Brethren, that is. false humility. God expects Christians, even imperfect Christians, to rebuke those in sin (Matthew 18:15). There is nothing humble, pious or spiritual about allowing your brother to walk straight into the jaws of hell, without warning him.

'AND WORSHIPPING OF THE ANGELS' -

Points to Note:

1.. think writers are on the right track when they suggest that the previously mentioned false humility is connected with and is. motivating factor behind the angel worship mentioned in this passage.

2. Barclay writes, 'the Gnostics and Jews would have justified it (angel worship) by saying that God is so great and high and holy that we can never have direct access to him and must be content to pray to the angels.' (p. 146)

3. 'It was expressed in "worshipping..angels" as the representatives of God, and was thus alleged to be less presumptuous than the direct worship of God, as though he were too high to be worshipped by men. Yet to refuse God's appointed way of approach through Christ was really presumptuous pride.' (Erdman p. 81)

4. The False Teachers may have said something like, 'We are too humble to dare presume that lowly men like ourselves could ever worship God. Rather, we acknowledge our weaknesses, our short-comings, and are content to merely worship God's representatives instead.'

5. Again, the same false humility exists today. People say they are too "humble" to teach the concept of the true church, or that baptism is the line between lost and saved, or that essential biblical doctrines can be settled. All of us need to watch out for this, especially in our own lives, because spiritual cowardice can often hide behind an air of humility. We need to ask ourselves, 'Am. really being humble or am. just afraid to stand up for the truth?'

6. Some writers suggest that the expression "worshipping of the angels", may also have reference to the false claim that some supposed spiritual "high" or worship experience found among angelic beings can be gained by Christians.

7. The Jehovah Witnesses who regard Jesus as an angel, are thus forced to conclude that the apostles contradicted themselves. For the apostles condemned the worship of angels (Revelation 22:8). And yet they called upon Christians to worship Jesus (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:17).

8. Robertson notes, 'They may have argued for angel worship on the plea that God is high and far removed and so took angels as mediators as some men do today with angels and saints in place of Christ.' (p. 497)

'DWELLING IN THE THINGS WHICH HE HATH SEEN' -'taking his stand on visions he has seen' (NASV)

'DWELLING' -1687. embateuo em-bat-yoo'-o; from 1722 and. presumed derivative of the base of 939; equivalent to 1684; to intrude on (figuratively): -intrude into.

-'They pretend to have found the way to. higher plane of spiritual experience.' (Bruce p. 117) 'In this last sense the word is probably used (to seek, to track out, to consider)...of the false teachers who professed to see heavenly truth in visions, and to investigate and discuss philosophically the revelation (supposedly) they had received.' (Vincent p. 496)

'VAINLY PUFFED UP' -1500. eike i-kay'; probably from 1502 (through the idea of failure); idly, i.e. without reason (or effect): -without. cause, (in) vain(-ly).

Points to Note:

1. The word "vainly" (without reason or cause), immediately informs us that these "visions" never really happened. These false teachers had actually seen nothing.

2. Which contains. number of tremendous insights for our own times: (a) People do lie about seeing visions, encounters with God, being contacted by UFO's, being miraculously healed, etc...(b) People can convince themselves that they have really seen something, when they didn't see anything (Jeremiah 2:16). (c) God doesn't expect Christians to immediately believe any claim. He commands us to examine everything by the Scriptures (Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1). (d) It isn't spiritual or wise to immediately believe even the most sincerely sounding stories of encounters with God or what have you. (e) God doesn't speak to everyone directly. (f) God doesn't reveal different truth to different people. And God doesn't miraculously guide each individual into their own distinct understanding of His truth.

3. The word "puffed up" reveals that such claims of supposed visions were not the product of divine inspiration, but of human arrogance and pride. 'The Gnostic prided himself upon special visions of secret things which were not open to the eyes of ordinary men and women...there is always danger when. man begins to think that he has attained. height of holiness which enables him to see what common men--as he calls them--cannot see.' (Erdman p. 145)

4. Carefully note: Claiming to have seen. vision or the claim to some supposed encounter with God, is often. subtle form of arrogance. It is often the wedge that people use to liberate themselves from the Word of God and to cover their own unbelief. Many people that. have met, who claim that God has said something to them or reassured them in some mysterious way (i.e.. felt the hand of God on my shoulder,. felt as if God was saying to me, Mark. am with you, etc..), are the very same people who aren't very impressed with what. verse in the Bible actually says. You see, many people have convinced themselves, that their supposed experience proves that they are somehow "above" the Bible, somehow on. different level, somehow in. closer relationship with God, than any Bible passage, or church could possibly bring them. They almost seem to have the attitude, 'Preacher, don't talk to me about God,. already know Him better than you do.'

'BY HIS FLESHLY MIND' -'inflated without cause by his fleshly mind' (NASV); 'The teachers boasted that they were guided by the higher reason. Paul describes their higher reason as carnal.' (Vincent p. 496). by an unspiritual imagination. (Phi).

Points to Note:

1. God doesn't stop. Not only are these false teachers liars and arrogant. But far from being spiritually minded, they are immature, carnal, worldly and unspiritual in their thinking (1 Corinthians 3:1).

2. 'Hence the apostle's sarcasm, "Exalted are they? say rather, inflated: lifted high by Divine reason? nay, but swollen high by the reason of their flesh.' (P.P. Comm. p. 93)

3. And Hendriksen gives an observation, that should be included in the observation hall of fame: 'It is important in this connection to observe that for the mind to be "fleshly" or "of the flesh" it is not necessary that it be "fixed on purely physical things". On the contrary, it is "of the flesh" if it bases its hope for salvation on anything apart from Christ..It is "the mind of the flesh" all the same.' (p. 128) What an insight!

Brethren, listen up. The above false teachers claimed to be Christians, they claimed to be "spiritual", they claimed to serve God, and serve Him better and more faithfully than most, and Paul says, that they are "fleshly minded"!!!! Their whole day was spent in the pursuit of "heavenly things" and they were carnal! Applications must be made: (a) People who claim direct revelation from God, even though the Bible teaches us that the Bible is complete (Judges 1:3), are carnally minded people. (b) Religious people who want some "spiritual" experience other than what the Bible promises, are earthly minded people. (c) You can roll on the floor, shout Praise God to the ends of the earth, cry and weep at some rally, etc...and still be carnal in your thinking. (d) In addition, we cannot say that everyone involved in false religion is. liar and deceiver, and yet brethren, neither can we say that everyone in the denominational world is sincere either! (e) Many people who want visions, miraculous healings, or some experience, have little desire to do God's will. Their motivation is selfish and their aim is self-glorification (i.e. see how great and humble. am--God did this for me).