Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Colossians 2:18

"Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he hath seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind," — Colossians 2:18 (ASV)

Paul’s third warning brings before us two of the most puzzling verses in the NT. The expression “disqualify [GK 2857] you” has been rendered in many different ways. A technical meaning of the clause is “let no one act as umpire against you,” i.e., give an adverse decision against you. Perhaps it is only a stronger and more picturesque way of saying, “Let no one judge you” (cf. v.16). The essential meaning is, “Let no one deny your claim to be Christians.” The person attempting to make such judgment is described as one “who delights in false humility and the worship of angels.” The context suggests that someone was seeking to impose these things on the Colossians, and that this was the means by which he was attempting to disqualify them for their prize. “False humility” may be a technical term for fasting, since in the OT this was the usual way for one to humble oneself before God. Whether this be so or not, the word in this context appears to denote a mock humility. “Worship of angels” is an allusion to the deference the heretical teachers paid to the hierarchy of spiritbeings who, in their system, filled the whole universe. Perhaps the “humility” and the “worship of angels” were closely related. That is to say, the heretics probably insisted that their worship of angels, rather than appealing directly to the supreme God of all grace, was an expression of humility on their part.

We see a further indication of the method of the false teachers in the words “goes into great detail about what he has seen.” The heretical teacher possibly took his stand on imaginary or alleged visions; he “harped” on those visions, claiming more than he could prove. Paul goes on to depict the heretical teacher as inflated with conceit. “His unspiritual [lit., fleshly] mind puffs him up with idle notions.” That mind is one dominated by the unrenewed nature, without spiritual enlightenment.