The Letter to the Colossian Church- 9

Subtitle: The Victory of Christ vs The Deceivers- 2

Colossians 2:20-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 7, 2025.

We stopped last week between at verse 20.  Paul was warning the Colossians about the deceivers who were coming to them.  Whether these were Jewish teachers who were pointing to the Law of Moses and the traditions of the elders or Greek teachers who were pointing to Greek philosophies, they both had the same problem.  They were men inflated with their own ideas and imaginations, rather than following the Spirit of God.

This brings us to verse 20.

Paul’s question for them (v. 20-23)

Paul slams his point home by asking them this question.  If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of this world, then why do you submit to the decrees that these teachers bring your way?  This idea of dying with Christ is important.  For a Jew, it would be dying to all the things that are commanded for you to be a good Jew in the Law.  Another way to think about it is to recognize that the law of Moses had only and ever condemned you as a lawbreaker. 

For a Gentile, it would be dying to all the social customs, philosophies, religious instructions and all the underlying worldview assumptions underpinning them all.

Christ died to what he could have done in this mortal flesh.  We too die to the legend of the great “me,” or at least the attempt to make such.  We become servants of Christ taking the Gospel of His salvation to the ends of the earth.  We spiritually die to ourselves and the life we could accomplish on our own.  We no longer follow the self driven life.  Instead, we look to the Lord and what he would have us do.  We are following the journey of Jesus who lived the crucified life long before he ever hung on a cross.

Verse 21 demonstrates the thrust of the teachings these charlatans were pushing.  “Don’t handle, do not taste, do not touch!”  These in general tie back to the earlier reference about food and drink.  These men pushed many prohibitions.  In fact, legalism is generally about what you can’t do.  Yet, those who follow Christ are to be focused more on what we should do, i.e., being led by the Spirit of God.

Of course, legalists like lists.  With lists we can find the loopholes and learn how close to the edge of the cliff we can get without falling off.  Legalism does really care about the heart of God, but more about the image of my religious self.

We might recognize how Gentiles end up in such a state.  But, how did the Jews end up in a legalistic system that has become anti-God and antichrist?  It happens little by little over centuries of placing one man’s human reasoning upon the human reasoning of another man.  We can reason ourselves out on a limb, even twenty feet beyond it, and not realize that we are no longer in the tree, much less close to the trunk.

Jesus challenged the Pharisees that they would break the Law of Moses in order to keep their traditions.  This is how bad they were.  Before we judge them too harshly, we should recognize that we are doing the same thing today in the United States of America.

I could look at the religious angle, but lets talk about the Constitution of the United States of America.  It is supposed to be the supreme law of the land.  However, over the years case law and its decisions have built up around the Constitution.  Supposedly the human reasoning of past judges is impeccable, but even a teenager can see that our federal government breaks the constitution in order to conform and keep the constitutional case law.  They don’t do many things that the constitution says they are given power to do, and they do many things that the constitution never empowers them to do.  All because of brilliant men from one generation building on top of the brilliant ideas of men from another generation.

Without God, we can find ourselves in a political or religious system made up of the traditions of men that have exalted human reasoning above the Word of God.

Paul wants to know why they would accept these prohibitions on what they can eat and handle when they have nothing to do with Christ.  These foods perish with their use (or consumption).  How does a temporary thing doing anything good or bad for me spiritually, or even eternally?

For the Jewish people, the dietary laws were abrogated by Christ in Acts 10.  The dietary laws were always symbolic.  They were intended to teach the importance of holiness until Messiah would come and bring about a deeper holiness than was ever possible through law-keeping.  Before Christ, the Jews needed to be careful of their interactions with Gentiles and certain foods.  These symbolic laws pointed to the defiled Gentiles that God was going to cleanse one day.  This is what Jesus told Peter.  “Don’t call defiled what I have cleansed!”  Now that Christ had come, He was not only making the food holy, but more importantly, He was making Gentiles holy.  The holiness of Christ in you is greater than any “defilement” that an unholy person had.  In fact, the holiness of Christ in you could even be used to make a Gentile holy!

These deceivers were not in touch with Christ and the Holy Spirit.  Otherwise, they would have known these things and would not have pushed these food restrictions and festival observances.  The Gospel had been revealed by Christ to His Apostles.  This was laid down once and for all within the Church.  Anyone else who came along, claiming to have visions and a word from God, would have to line up with these prior teachings.  The deceivers in Colossae fell woefully short.

In verse 23, Paul admits that these things look wise on a certain level.  In fact, the traditions and teachings of the elders in any society have a powerful pull upon the people within those societies.  If you are dropped into a society foreign to you, then it would probably not look wise.  However, if you grew up being indoctrinated in it, it has an appearance of wisdom.

These teachers had a certain allure that looked wise.  They were impressive to those who were looking with the eyes of flesh.  Paul mentions that they had a self-made religion.  The word is literally “will-worship.”  They have come up with all the ways that they wish, or want, to worship God.  It is a self-made religion that makes an outward show of humility and severe treatment of the body.

Our flesh always wants something that it can attain, to which it can point.   “Look at me!  I have accomplished this great thing.”  True spiritual disciplines can devolve into proud achievements in the mind of a person who is not right with God.  We can be impressed by things such as: how often we have read the Bible, how long we pray, how many seeds we have planted, how many converts we have made, etc.  Others who do not do these things may even give us adulation for the accomplishments.

Accomplishing an achievement feels better to our flesh, than simply saying, “Yes,” to God.  Our flesh loves the first, but God is not someone we can control.  He is not easily enamored with us and our accomplishments.  We should focus on trusting our loving Father, even though some of the things He allows in our life might seem harsh.

In fact, legalistic systems are generally harsher on people than our heavenly Father is.  Yet, people still hypocritically protect such systems because they have become skilled at performing within them.

Paul then focuses us on the real problem.  These men look religious and sincere, but their asceticism has no power against the indulgence of the flesh.  It is not that God is against prohibitions.  Murder is always wrong and will never be acceptable.  But, the Spirit of God is about so much more than not murdering others.

No amount of Spartan living and observance of special days can give us power over our sinful flesh.  A man can take even greater pride in his humility and observances than a man who flaunts his pride.  We see this in the attitude of the religious leaders in front of Jesus.  There is a sense where they are full of themselves.  “Don’t you know who we are!”  Yet, they are ignorant of just who he is.

In the end, Christians are called to die to the things of this world.  We cannot look to food as a way to be acceptable to Christ.  Yet, neither do we become a slave to it in gluttony.  Rather, we listen to the teaching of Christ and his apostles.  We pray and ask for his leading through the Holy Spirit.  We live in order to glorify him, instead of trying to justify ourselves.

The Gospel itself creates a kind of tension.  It does not pat us on the back and pretend that we are okay.  It calls us to repentance.  It calls us to turn from our way of thinking, living, towards God’s way.  God loves us too much to leave us entrenched in sin.  He is setting us free.  Ultimately, we cannot celebrate falling short, but neither do we trumpet our successes.  We are not balancing between the two, but instead, we are learning to let the Lord lead us by his Spirit through our faith.

This is the problem with such false teachers.  They draw you into systems that stroke your flesh and yet, leave you trapped in your sin.

Victory of Christ 2 audio