Colossians Part 7 | The Danger of a False Gospel

We’re working our way through the book of Colossians in this series of posts. In this lesson, we’re going to look at Paul’s warning to them about the danger of being taken captive by a false gospel.

At the bottom, you’ll find a complete list of the other posts in this study on Colossians.

Colossians 2.8

A Little Review

By way of review, we have learned that the church at Colossae was founded by a man named Epaphras. Epaphras had traveled to Rome to visit Paul and share his concerns about the presence of false teachers in his beloved church. The book of Colossians was Paul’s response. In it, he gives a beautiful explanation of the preeminence of Christ, shares amazing gospel truths, and explains how those truths should be lived out in the life of the believer.

If you missed the previous posts, here are the links:

Introduction to Colossians

The Preeminent Christ & Why It’s Important | Colossians Part 2

What Does Christ’s Preeminence Mean to Me? | Colossians Part 3

A Summary of the Christian Life | Colossians Part 4

The Unfolding Plan of God, Crimes of Passion & Our Hope of Glory | Colossians Part 5

Rooted & Established in Christ | Colossians Part 6

In this lesson, we’re just going to look at one verse, chapter 2, verse 8.

Live Out Your Faith

In the last post in this series, we ended with verses 6-7 where Paul called the Colossians back to the basics of their Christian faith:

⁶Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

After he had reminded them of the truth of the gospel and the preeminence of their glorious Savior, he said, “therefore … walk in him.” Live it out in your daily life. And that’s Paul’s exhortation to all believers down through the centuries, including us.

But he doesn’t stop there. He follows it with a warning and as we’ll see in future posts, more gospel truths.

The Danger of a False Gospel

Verses 8:

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

“See to it that no one takes you captive …”

We’ve all seen movies where someone close to the main character has been kidnapped, taken captive, by some evil person or someone hoping to gain an advantage over him. He spends the rest of the movie trying to rescue the victim. And he goes to great lengths to do so.

In earlier posts in this series, we’ve seen how deeply Paul and ultimately God Himself is concerned about the people at Colossae. He sees the danger they are in because of the false teachers who desire to take them captive. And he’s warning them, don’t allow yourselves to be kidnapped, if you will, by a false gospel.

The King James Version uses the word spoil. What is it that could take them captive or spoil them? He specifically mentions two things, philosophy and empty deceit. He further describes those things as coming from human tradition and the spirits of the world rather than Christ.

In verse 4 of this chapter, he warned them to let no one “delude you with plausible arguments.” Or quoting the KJV again, “lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.”

It sounds a lot like what happened to Eve in the garden (Gen. 3.1-6). The enemy beguiled her (2 Cor. 11.3). He has always been a deceiver (Jn. 8.44). But he can make those lies sound so enticing, so attractive, even reasonable.

Take Precautions

I’m not particularly afraid of being kidnapped but I do believe in being wise. So, if I’m out alone at night, I’m extra careful to lock the doors of my car in the parking lot. The same goes for our home. We lock our doors and try not to be an easy target for criminals.

But we need to be even more cautious when it comes to protecting ourselves spiritually.

What will protect us from being taken captive by worldly philosophies and human traditions? It’s the truth. It begins with the truths of the gospel, not just as they relate to our initial conversion, but what the gospel means to our Christian life every day. I hope you’ll go back and read the earlier posts in this series if you want to understand more because they are vitally important.

But we’re not to stop with the truth God used to open our hearts to the gospel initially. We are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. A disciple is a learner. The great commission (Matt. 28.19-20) calls us to disciple others. But we must first be disciples ourselves.

And because God is infinite, we will never know everything about Him. Learning about God and growing in our ability to apply the Scriptures to our own lives is a lifelong endeavor. And it’s especially important in protecting ourselves against false teachings and the lies of the devil that can hold us captive to fear, worry, doubt, and hopelessness (2 Cor. 10.3-5).

The Truth about False Teachers

What makes false teachers successful? In some cases, they may have important sounding credentials. Sometimes, it’s their ability to present their case. In other words, they are good orators. And often, it’s the appeal of the message itself.

But being a good talker or being able to debate an issue doesn’t mean you are right. Just watch a few court proceedings.

And when it comes to credentials, they are only as good as their source. If they are not grounded in the truths of Scripture, it’s all a house of cards. Romans 1 reminds us:

²¹For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools.

Even if they seem to present a case based on Scripture, each of us is responsible to study the Word for ourselves and make sure that it’s not taken out of context or in some other way misrepresented. That leads to my third point, the appeal of the message itself.

Appealing Messages

Big ministries abound with messages that are man-centered rather than God-centered. As Paul told the Corinthians:

²For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. ³But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough (2 Cor. 11).

Many have not only put up with another gospel but embraced it.

And why not? Who doesn’t want to believe that if we just come to Jesus, He’ll make us prosperous, keep us healthy, and give us success in all that we do? But the problem is that it’s a false gospel. And when life doesn’t turn out that way, many walk away from God altogether.

The Amazing Truth

But the amazing truth is that the true gospel is so much better. While God does not promise us everything will go smoothly in our lives, He promises to walk through everything with us (Heb. 13.5) and cause us to become more like Christ in the process (Rom. 8.28-29. He promises that He’s ultimately in control of our lives and that He won’t allow anything that He won’t, also, give us the grace to handle (2 Cor. 10.13; Heb. 4.14-16). And as we respond His way, He gives us peace and joy rather than mere earthly happiness that comes and goes according to our circumstances (Jn. 15.11; Phil. 4.7).

And all that is just the beginning.

⁵¹Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
⁵⁵“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15).

When false gospels prove themselves to be false, many walk away from God altogether. Yet, the true gospel is so much better. #God #faith #gospel #soulsurvival

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