Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. – Colossians 2v8
Whenever we come across a warning sign in the word of God we do well to stop and pay attention. In the previous verses Paul was instructing the believers to walk in Christ, rooted and built up in Him, abounding in the faith, living what they have been taught, and abounding with thanksgiving.
With that foundation we can look at the warning. Beware, because there are those out there who through there love of worldly wisdom, through their trickery, and through human traditions will try to cheat you. Their basis not Christ, but human traditions.
Paul is writing to believers. Therefore the warning here is for us. Our faith is not in danger; we cannot be cheated out of that. Yet, if we are not careful we can be cheated by those who would rob us of the life of abounding in Christ.
Sadly, the traditions of men can creep into the church. Things which are not according to Christ creep in as traditions. When these traditions are allowed to rise to the level of rules and policies we have indeed been cheated and robbed.
Beware; don’t be robbed by those who would impose their worldly traditions on you.
1 comment:
Whoa - never thought of it (or heard it preached) from this angle. I've always heard not to fill your head too full with "book learning" because that was the cause of all that empty deceit. And well, let's face it, it can be. But this is a whole new paradigm-cheating ourselves because we accept traditions blindly and by our own works become this person we think God wants us to be because it fits into a mold someone says is "right" or "holy" when in reality it is actions added to His Holy Word and is preference instead of principle. Then we are cheating ourselves because we are minimizing the gifts God had gifted us with and saying His unique gifting is not enough-our way is better-and it's just another form of idolatry where we worship ourselves instead of the Giver of Love. Ok, I'm going to be ruminating on this one for a while.
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