Charles Spurgeon 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—

Or, "rob you."

Through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Hold fast to Christ, beloved. Go no further than he leads you; and do not turn away from him either to the right hand or to the left. In him are contained all the riches of grace, and all the treasures of knowledge. If you would become truly wise, seek to know more of the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Plenty of people would spoil you in this way, by teaching you their profound thoughts, their grand inventions, their bright ideas.

Beware of all of them.

Beware lest any man spoil you (plunder you, it might be rendered)

through philosophy and vain deceit,

Beware of those who pretend that they are going to enrich you, but whose real object is to plunder you. They say that they will give you advanced thought, deeper ideas, a system more congruous with the age; but it is—

After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

"What do you want with their traditions? Christ has revealed his truth to you. What do you want with the world's rudiments? You have gone beyond such elementary, useless knowledge as that, for you have got the truth itself."