Albert Barnes Commentary Colossians 2:8

"Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ:" — Colossians 2:8 (ASV)

Beware lest any man spoil you. The word spoil now commonly means to corrupt, to cause to decay and perish, as fruit is spoiled by being kept too long, paper by being wet, hay by a long rain, or crops by mildew. But the Greek word used here means to spoil in the sense of plunder, rob, as when plunder is taken in war. The meaning is, "Be careful that no one plunders or robs you of your faith and hope through philosophy." These false teachers would strip them of their faith and hope, as an invading army would rob a country of all that was valuable.

Through philosophy. Greek philosophy was very prevalent in the regions around Colosse, and perhaps also the Oriental or Gnostic philosophy (see the Introduction). They were exposed to the influences of these plausible systems. They consisted largely of speculations respecting the nature of the Divine existence; and the danger of the Colossians was that they would rely on the deductions of that specious reasoning, rather than on what they had been taught by their Christian teachers.

And vain deceit. This means mere fallacy. The idea is that the doctrines advanced in those systems were maintained by plausible, not by solid arguments; by considerations not suited to lead to the truth, but to lead astray.

After the tradition of men. There seem to have been two sources of danger to which the Christians at Colosse were exposed, and to which the apostle in these cautions alludes, though he is not careful to distinguish them. One was that arising from Greek philosophy; the other from Jewish opinions. The latter is what he refers to here. The Jews depended greatly on tradition (see the commentary on Matthew 15:2); and many of those traditions would have greatly tended to corrupt the gospel of Christ.

After the rudiments of the world. The marginal reading is elements. See this explained in the commentary on Galatians 4:3.

And not after Christ. That is, not what Christ taught.