Charles Ellicott 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)

Spoil you.—Properly, to lead you away as a spoil, triumph over you as a captive, and make you a slave. Compare Paul’s language regarding the older Judaism at Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:20): “Ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.”

Philosophy and vain deceit—that is (like “the knowledge falsely so called” of 1 Timothy 6:20), a philosophy that is inseparably connected with vain deceit. The warning implied here seems to be twofold:

1. First, against considering Christianity primarily as a “philosophy,” that is, a search for and knowledge of speculative truth, even the highest. That it involves philosophy is obvious, for it claims to solve for us the great problem of Being, in Nature, in Man, and in God. Paul, while he depreciates the wisdom of this world, dwells emphatically on the gospel as “the wisdom of God.” (See especially 1 Corinthians 2:6–16).

   In this Epistle in particular he speaks of “wisdom” again and again (Colossians 1:9; Colossians 1:28; Colossians 2:3; Colossians 3:16; Colossians 4:6) as one great characteristic of Christian life. It is also clear (as the ancient Greek commentators here earnestly remind us) that Christianity finds a place and a blessing for all true human philosophy, and makes it, as Paul made it at Athens, an introduction to the higher wisdom. But Christianity is not a philosophy, but a life—not a knowledge of abstract principles, but a personal knowledge of faith and love of God in Christ.

2. Next, against accepting in philosophy the “vain deceit” of mere speculation and imagination instead of the modest, laborious investigation of facts. This is the “knowledge falsely so called”; of this it may be said (as in 1 Corinthians 8:1) that it “puffs up,” and does not “build up.” In ancient and modern times it has always confused brilliant theory with solid discovery, delighting especially to dissolve the great facts of the gospel into abstractions, which may float in its cloudland of imagination.

After the tradition of men.—This is the keynote of our Lord’s condemnation of the old Pharisaic exclusiveness and formalism (Matthew 15:2–3; Matthew 15:6; Mark 7:8–9); it is equally the condemnation of the later Jewish, or half-Jewish, mysticism which Paul attacks here.

It is hardly necessary to remark that the apostle often claims reverence for “traditions” (1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; see also 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Peter 2:21), but they are traditions having their starting point in direct revelation of God (Galatians 1:12), and, moreover, traditions freely given to all, as being His. The “traditions of men” here condemned had their origin in human speculation, and were secretly transmitted to the initiated only.

The rudiments of the world.—See Galatians 4:2, and Note there. This marks the chief point of contact with the earlier Judaism, in the stress still laid, perhaps with less consistency, on matters of ritual, law, ascetic observance, and the like. These are “of the world,” that is, belonging to the visible sphere; and they are “rudiments,” fit only for the elementary education of those who are as children, and intended simply as preparation for a higher teaching.

On verses 8-15:

The general exhortation of the previous verses is now emphasized by a solemn warning against deadly speculative error.

1. The character of that error in itself is described with apparently intentional vagueness, as “a philosophy of vain deceit,” “after tradition of men,” after “the rudiments of this world.” Even its Judaic origin, which is made clear below (Colossians 2:16–17), is here only hinted at in the significant allusion to Circumcision, and perhaps in the phrase “the rudiments of the world,” which is also used of the Judaism of Galatia (Galatians 4:3; Galatians 4:9).

2. What is brought out vividly and emphatically is the truth which it contradicts or obscures. First, the full indwelling Godhead of Christ and His headship over all created being; and next, as derived from this, our own “spiritual circumcision in Him,” that is, the true “death unto sin and new life unto righteousness” in Him who is the One Atonement for all sin, and the One Conqueror of all the powers of evil. On the relation of the Epistle to Gnosticism see Excursus A.