### Colossians 2_18-23 > [!bible] [Colossians 2:18-23 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/51/2/) > 18. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, > 19. and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. > 20. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations — > 21. “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” > 22. (referring to things that all perish as they are used) — according to human precepts and teachings? > 23. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Here we are at the end of Colossians 2, and it is a weighty set. I want to continue breaking down the book by connected thought, and the more I tried to separate this passage into parts, the less it made sense without it's surrounding pieces. I never want to try and understand scripture outside of its context, so I don't want to artificially remove a verse for examination outside of its connective content. Anyways. #### v. 18 Let no one "disqualify" you has been one I've been wanting to sit in for a second. Here is the Greek: - katabrabeuo - "Disqualify" - Defraud, Deprive - kata - Down from, flow from, according to. - I wonder if kata is closer to if or closer to then. - If kata is closer to if, is it iff(if and only if)? - brabeuo - to decide, to determine, to direct, to contol, to rule - From brabeion - the award to the victor in the games - From brabeus - an umpire - So katabrabeuo would be to deprive of a prize, but I see what they are saying with the root of umpire. - So I think the meaning would be better understood as deprived of the better prize, but maybe better would be to be judged from another umpire. Only submit to God. So, let's hit a few more weighty words in this verse to try to come to an understanding: - tapeinophrosyne - "Asceticism" - Humility, Modesty - tapinos - "Humble" - lowly, deferring servilely to others, low in spirit - phren - "Understanding" - Mindset, think, thoughts - So it is a false humility, or maybe better, an unnecessary humility. - So do not practice humility for the sake of enlightenment, but instead be humble for the sake of emulation of Christ. > [!bible] [Philippians 2:3 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/50/2/) > 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. This is the same word, tapeinophrosyne, so just as I said in [[James 3_11 - The Source of Will]], [[James 3_15 - Two Wisdoms]], and [[James 3_13 - Good Works from a Good Source]] there is a good or sinful way to to do anything in this world. Humility towards others as an expression of knowledge that we are as they are is good. Humility for gnostic, body-hating reasons is evil. I believe the humility/asceticism Paul is referring to is the foundation of Gnosticism, which would have been starting up around this time. They insisted that matter is evil, so they would view their bodies as evil, torturing them for the chance at spiritual elevation, as he describes in v. 23. I think this is why Paul brings up visionary realms, because that is the goal of Gnosticism, to escape matter. - heoraken - orao - To see. - orao - Vision, visible, to see - So the claim of these false teachers was that they could see more than others. #### v. 19 > [!bible] [Colossians 2:19 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/51/2/) > 19. and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. I thought to myself, surely Paul doesn't think that nourishment starts in the head and not the stomach. But upon reflection, that's exactly where nourishment comes from, as that's the only place food comes in. So without Christ as the center of our Christianity, we cannot be nourished and fed. He feeds the body. Also worth noting that no amount of strain from the Christian will grow them, but only a holding fast to Christ, who can provide us with growth. #### v. 20-22 > [!bible] [Colossians 2:20-22 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/51/2/) > 20. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations — > 21. “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” > 22. (referring to things that all perish as they are used) — according to human precepts and teachings? This verse is grouped with the other passages regarding the state of cleanliness in the New Testament: > [!bible] [Mark 7:14-23 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/41/7/) > 14. And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: > 15. There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” > 17. And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. > 18. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, > 19. since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) > 20. And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. > 21. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, > 22. coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. > 23. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” > [!bible] [Acts 10:9-16 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/44/10/) > 9. The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. > 10. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance > 11. and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. > 12. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. > 13. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” > 14. But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” > 15. And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” > 16. This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. So we should not take Acts 10 as our only proof text when false teachers try and chain us back to the law regarding what we can handle, taste, or touch. Christ feeds us what we need, and there is nothing that we intake that can corrupt His righteousness. Let's also not rush past the "elemental spirits". I talked about them before: ![[2 Peter 3]] And past those thoughts, let's look at the Greek: - stoicheion - elements, principles, basic fundamentals - stoicheo - formation, as in soldiers, direction - The word "Stoic" derives from this rather than the root of the stoicheion - They were known to hold to the elements as fundamental truths from which meaning could be ascertained. - They are also a form of asceticism as they believe too much emotion to be weakness. - "Do not feel" - They are also one of the few philosophical schools directly mentioned: > [!bible] [Acts 17:18 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/44/17/) > 1. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities” — because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. #### v. 23 > [!bible] [Colossians 2:23 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/51/2/) > 23. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. I think based on this passage we can conclude that he is directly combatting stoicism and their unneeded restrictions on men. I have always valued stoicism as a way to combat foolishness, but it never helped me fight my flesh.