"Let No Man Beguile You"
(Colossians 2:18)

• Paul warns the saints against being beguiled of a Divine reward for a voluntary show of humility in submitting to the kind of worship engaged in by the angels - a deception caused by the "intruding into those things which CANNOT be seen" and fostered by a "vainly puffed up fleshly mind" (Colossians 2:18)
  • The angelic form of worship is based upon sight as the angels are associated with the presence of the Lord (Job 1:6-7; Job 2:1-2; Psalms 80:1; Psalms 99:1; Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4:5; Revelation 15:5-6)
  • Paul reminds the saints that while they are "absent from the Lord" - they are to "walk by faith, and NOT by sight" (II Corinthians 5:6-8)

• To engage in a form of worship that is physically observable is to NOT "hold (fast) the Head" (Colossians 2:19 cf. Colossians 2:16-17), WHO supplies the increase of His love so that it may nourish each member of His Body (Ephesians 4:15-16)
  • The kind of worship which honors the Headship of Christ over His Body is based upon spiritual illumination from the Father (Ephesians 1:17-18) concerning the dimensions of the "love of Christ" (Ephesians 3:18-19) to be eternally manifested thru the inheritance of His Body (Ephesians 2:7), which is described as the "fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 1:22-23)
  • The true spiritual worship to be enjoyed today by the Body of Christ (Philippians 3:2-3) will one day and forever be the experience of ALL the redeemed (John 4:21-24) in their resurrection bodies in the eternal kingdom of their Father (I Corinthians 15:21-28 cf. Matthew 13:43; Daniel 12:3)

• The physical observances of the Law pertained to a system of worship based upon sight, which is NOW declared to be the "doctrines of men" (Colossians 2:20-22) and the "doctrines of demons", which are contrary to "words of faith and good doctrine" (I Timothy 4:1-6)
  • The "touch NOT" laws concerning disease (Leviticus 5)
  • The "taste NOT" laws concerning food (Leviticus 11)
  • The "handle NOT" laws concerning garment (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:11)

• Physical restrictions (such as those in the Law) have an outward show of wisdom in the willful denial of the physical appetites of the flesh (Colossians 2:23), but the inner man is renewed by the "looking at the unseen things" which are NOT temporal BUT eternal (II Corinthians 4:16-18)
  • Bodily exercise "profiteth a little", BUT godliness is "profitable unto ALL things" - the life NOW and the life TO COME (I Timothy 4:7-8 cf. Colossians 3:1-4)

Study Outline

Audio Message