ACC ~ Colossians 2 v16 - 23

OVERVIEW:

In living the Christian life one must not be deceived by false and outward appearances, being led to embrace these, either in understanding or in behavior, rather than the true reality of Christ (ORIGEN, EUSEBIUS, CHRYSOSTOM, SEVERIAN, BASIL). Indeed, Christians are bound, in practicing the disciplines and observances of their religion, to be sure that these are understood only from the perspective of Christ, so that then they may be pursued in the right spirit and with right discrimination (AMBROSE, AUGUSTINE). The temptation to become absorbed in the worship of angels is a lure to superstition and bondage to the law once again (ORIGEN, CHRYSOSTOM, THEODORE, SEVERIAN, THEODORET, AMBROSIASTER), while it also raises the question of false claims and a prideful spirituality (PELAGIUS, AUGUSTINE). The prohibitions articulated by the heretics serve to lure believers into the worship of angels and into a neglect of spiritual truth and of the goodness of God’s world (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, ORIGEN, NOVATIAN, THEODORE, THEODORET, CHRYSOSTOM, JOHN CASSIAN, AUGUSTINE). However, these prohibitions may be considered as having some value only if they are securely grounded in the lordship of Christ (AMBROSE, AMBROSIASTER).

2:16-17 | The Substance Belongs to Christ

LET NO ONE JUDGE YOU. ORIGEN: “They drank from a spiritual rock which followed; and that rock was Christ.” Paul says this, “A Hebrew of Hebrews, according to the law, a Pharisee,” “educated at the feet of Gamaliel,” who would never dare to speak of “spiritual food” and “spiritual drink” unless he had learned that this is the meaning of the Lawgiver through the knowledge of the truest doctrine handed down to him. For this reason, he adds, as he is bold and certain about the meaning of clean or unclean foods, that it must be observed not according to the letter but spiritually. He says, “Therefore, let no one judge you in food or in drink or in participation of the feast days or new moons or sabbaths which are a shadow of the future.” HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 7.4.

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: “Let no man, therefore, judge you regarding food or drink, or with respect to a holy day, or the new moon, or sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come.” For if the laws relating to the difference of foods, and the holy days and the sabbath, like shadowy things, preserved a copy of other things that were mystically true, you will not say without reason that the high priest also represented the symbol of another High Priest, and that he was called Christ, as the pattern of that other, the only real Christ. THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 4.16-17.

BASIL THE GREAT: There is, however, a certain other life, to which these words call us; and, although at present our days are evil, yet some others are good, which night does not interrupt; for God will be their everlasting light, shining upon them with the light of his glory. Consequently, when you hear of the good days, do not think that it is your life here that is set forth in the promises. In fact, these present days are the destructible days, which the sensible sun produces; but nothing destructible could suitably be a gift for the indestructible. “This world as we see it is passing away.” Therefore, since the law has some shadow of the good things to come, consider I pray, present sabbaths to be pleasant and holy, as they have been brought from the eternal days, and new moons, and festivals. But look upon them, I pray you, in a manner proper to the spiritual law. HOMILIES 16.

FIXATION ON WHAT IS UNIMPORTANT. CHRYSOSTOM: Do you see how he depreciates what the Colossians think important? If you have obtained such things [i.e., grace and wisdom through Christ], Paul asks, why make yourself accountable for these petty matters? And he makes light of them. … Don’t put up with those who judge you in these trivial considerations. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 7.

SEVERIAN OF GABALA: Paul teaches that the law is abolished, Christ having passed over the “bond” against us. He teaches that the evil one has fallen, Christ having exposed and made a parade of the evil powers. Thus, we are no longer to obey what has been abolished, and we are to reject Jews who would urge us to keep the law. … This law was the mere shadow of Christ, lacking the substance. Further, we are not to obey Greeks who would encourage us to worship angels or worldly elements. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

PROPER PERSPECTIVE, THEN PROPER OBSERVANCE. AMBROSE: Shall we, then, think of festival days in terms of eating and drinking? On the contrary, let no one call us to account with respect to eating, “For we know that the law is spiritual.” “Let no one, therefore, call you to account for what you eat or drink or in regard to a new festival or a new moon or sabbath. These are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.” So let us seek the body of Christ which the voice of the Father from heaven, the last trumpet, as it were, showed to you on that occasion when the Jews said that it thundered for him. … Wherever the body of Christ is, there will be the truth. ON THE DEATH OF HIS BROTHER SATYRUS 2.108.

AUGUSTINE: Whoever seeks to be a stranger to that carnal … Judaism which is justly repudiated and condemned must first consider as alien to himself those ancient observances which have clearly ceased to be necessary. This is so because the New Testament has been revealed, and the things which were prefigured by those others have come to pass. A person is not to be judged “in meat or drink or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon or of the sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come.” On the other hand, he must receive, embrace and observe, without any reserve, those commandments in the law which help to form the character of the faithful … [and] whatever progress he makes in them he must not attribute to himself but to “the grace of God by Jesus Christ our Lord.” LETTERS 196.2.8.

2:18a | Let No One Disqualify You

UNFAIRNESS OR HOSTILITY? CHRYSOSTOM: The term meaning “to rob you of your prize” is employed when one person is victorious, but the prize of victory is given to another, when though a victor, you are robbed of the victor’s prize. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 7.

THEODORET OF CYR: The verb translated “disqualify” means “to judge a victory unfairly.” Whoever mixes legal observances with the gospel leads people from better things to worse. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

2:18b | Insisting on Self-Abasement and Worship of Angels

ANGEL WORSHIP A JEWISH APOSTASY. ORIGEN: You will find particularly in Jeremiah that the word of God through the prophet finds fault with Israel because they worship these [i.e., angels] and sacrifice to the queen of heaven and to all the host of heaven. … Paul, who received a meticulous education in Jewish doctrines and later became a Christian as a result of a miraculous appearance of Jesus, says these words in the epistle to the Colossians: “Let no man rob you.” AGAINST CELSUS 5.8.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER. CHRYSOSTOM: But what is the general drift of Paul’s words? There are some who maintain that we must be brought near by angels, not by Christ; for Christ to do so would seem too great an act on our behalf. Paul continually emphasizes what has been done by Christ. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 7.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Because it was said that the law had been given through angels—since it was by these ministers that the law was given at that time—the blessed Paul himself had said, “For if the message declared by angels was valid.” They, therefore, who were arguing with them to keep the law were also taking the position that the angels were angered if the law were not being kept. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

THEODORET OF CYR: Those who defend the law lead persons to worship angels, since they say that the law was given through them. This vice persisted for a long time in Phrygia and Pisidia, such that a synod gathered at Laodicea in Phrygia laid down a law that angels should not be invoked. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

SEVERIAN OF GABALA: What is self-abasement? Saying that we are self-abased [can only mean] that God is great and far above any service we can render to him. Since, then, we cannot get near him, it is through his angels that propitiation comes and we may draw near him. For this reason he spoke earlier of one “who is the head of every power and principality.” And now he says, “Why do you come to elements and angels, having renounced their head, who is Christ?” PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

FALSE CLAIMS. AUGUSTINE: There is another even more obscure passage about which I ask you to pull me up out of deep water and set me in the shallows. In the epistle to the Colossians, I simply cannot see the connection where he says: “Let no man seduce you into taking pleasure in the humility and religion of angels, walking in the things which he has not seen; in vain puffed up by the sense of his flesh and not holding the head.” What angels does he mean? If he means the rebel and wicked angels, what is their religion or their humility, or who is the master of this seduction, who under cover of some angelic religion or other would teach what he does not see as something seen or experienced? Doubtless, the heretics, who follow the teachings of demons, who think up false systems under the impulse of their spirit, who give out that they have seen visions which they have not seen and by their deadly arguments sow their seed in foolish and credulous hearts—doubtless, these are the ones who do not hold the head, namely, Christ, the source of truth. LETTERS 121.2.1.

2:18c | Taking His Stand on Visions

SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS. ORIGEN: There is a corporeal eye, by which we see those earthly things, an eye according to the sense of the flesh. Scripture says of it, “He walks in vain, puffed up by the sense of the flesh.” We have another eye, opposed to this one. It is better and perceives divine things. But it was a blind eye in us. Jesus came to enable it to see, so that those who were blind might see and those who saw might become blind. HOMILIES ON LUKE 16.8.

SPIRITUAL ARROGANCE. CHRYSOSTOM: For [this man] has not seen angels and yet acts as though he had. Therefore Paul says, “vainly puffed up by his carnal mind,” not about any true fact. About this doctrine, he is puffed up and puts forward a false humility. He acts and thinks carnally, not spiritually. His reasoning is simply human reason alone. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 7.

AMBROSIASTER: It happens that persons become bound up with the worship of earthly things under the form of philosophy, so that, held by these, they do not rise. … They end up simulating true religion. They become inflated by watching the movements of the stars, which Paul calls angels, not by divine authority but by human superstition, which brings nothing but damnation. COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

PELAGIUS: Let no one, haughty with feigned humility and telling the lie that he sees angels, vainly exalt himself above other men; these voice their “visions” from the heart. Let the man who only seems to be humble and religious not be imitated. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

2:19 | Holding Fast to the Head

THE ESSENCE. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: The purpose and view of the epistle is here, as Paul mentions, to respond to the emphasis on angels urged by some. Christ is the head of all, just as the soul is the head of the body. Christ is head of all the cosmic elements. It makes no sense to be in submission to anything else. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

2:20-23 | Elemental Spirits, Human Precepts and Doctrines

THE SUBTLE CHALLENGE OF FALSE ASCETICISM. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: It follows that celibacy is not particularly praiseworthy unless it arises through love of God. The blessed Paul says of those who show a distaste for marriage: “In the last times people will abandon the faith, attaching themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demonic powers that they should abstain from food, at the same time forbidding marriage.” Again he says, “Do not let anyone disqualify you in forced piety of self-mortification and severity to the body.” STROMATA 3.5.51.

ORIGEN: To have one’s feet washed by Jesus was expedient in order to have a part with him. But Peter, because he did not understand that this was expedient, first objected, as it were, and said, so as to put himself to shame, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” and a second time, “You shall never wash my feet.” If what he said was a hindrance to the act that would cause him to have a part with the Savior, it is clear that although he said this to the teacher with a sound and reverent intention, he spoke in a way harmful to himself. Now life is full of errors of this kind, of people who intend what they believe to be best but out of ignorance say, or even do, things which take them in the opposite direction. Such indeed are those who declare, “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” concerning everything that is meant for destruction and human consumption, based on some teaching which generally falls far below the divine statement, “You shall die as men.” COMMENTARY ON JOHN 32.57-59.

NOVATIAN: God delights only in our faith, our innocence, our truthfulness, those virtues of ours which dwell in the soul, not the stomach. Fear of God and heavenly awe, not earthly perishable food, obtain these virtues for us. With reason does the apostle rebuke those who are slaves to the superstitions pertaining to angels, “inflated with their fleshly outlook, not clinging to Christ, who is the head, by whom the whole body is fitted together by joints, and fastened together and united by mutual members in the bond of love to reach full growth in the Lord.” They prefer to follow the admonition: “Do not touch nor handle” things that indeed seem to have a show of religion because the body is treated severely. Yet there is in them no increase at all of righteousness in that we are recalled by a self-imposed slavery to the rudiments to which we are dead through baptism. JEWISH FOODS 5.17-18.

CHRYSOSTOM: You are not in the world, Paul says. How is it you are subject to its elements? And note how he pokes fun at them, “touch not, handle not, taste not,” as though they were cowards and keeping themselves clear of some great matters, “all which things are to perish with the using.” … So that even though they appear to be wise, let us turn away from them. For one may seem to be a religious person, and modest, and to have a contempt for the body. … They dishonor the flesh, Paul writes, depriving it and stripping it of its liberty, not allowing them to rule it with their will. But God has honored the flesh. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 7.

SEVERIAN OF GABALA: These prohibitions about eating and drinking that you hear from the Greeks are based on their mistaken conviction that you should not partake of anything living. But all this has been given for consumption and nourishment. So, don’t pay attention to what has been given in accordance with their teaching. PAULINE COMMENTARY IN THE GREEK CHURCH.

THEODORET OF CYR: When these intemperate teachers bring in their own ideas, they do not follow the purpose of the law. Instead, they deceive with spurious words, they call observance of the law humility, they say that one must not transgress that which was given by God and that the body is not to be spared, that, indeed, all things are not to be used freely. This is just plain slavery and the abrogation of an honor given to us. Abstinence must be freely chosen, not because created things are repulsive but precisely because they are pleasing. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

JOHN CASSIAN: This is what the apostle said: “You make observations of the months and of the times and of the years.” Or again: “Do not touch, do not taste, do not pick up.” And there is no doubt that this is said about the superstitions of the law. To plunge into them is to be an adulterer from Christ. CONFERENCES 14.11.

WHEN TO TOLERATE FALSE ASCETICISM. CHRYSOSTOM: To be a virgin it is not enough just to be unmarried. There must be spiritual chastity, and I mean by chastity not only the absence of wicked and shameful desire, the absence of ornaments and superfluous cares, but also being unsoiled by life’s cares. Without that, what good is there in physical purity? … [Those who do not understand this belong] to the very weak who crawl along the earth. It was impossible to uplift souls so disposed all at once to the argument on behalf of virginity. One who has been so excited by worldly things and so admiring of the present life will think … that what is worthy of heaven and close to the angelic state [the call to virginity] is deserving of disgrace. How would such a one tolerate advice promoting this course? And then is it surprising if Paul has adopted the same strategy of argument in the case of something that has been permitted when he does the same thing in the case of what has been forbidden and is contrary to law? For instance: dietary laws, the acceptance of some foods while rejecting others, were a Jewish weakness. Nevertheless, there were among the Romans those who shared this weakness. Paul has not only vehemently denounced them, but he does something more than this. He disregards the wrongdoers and censures those who attempted to prevent them with the words, “But you, how can you sit in judgment on your brother?” Yet he did not do this when he wrote to the Colossians; rather, with great authority he rebukes them and treats the matter philosophically: “No one is free … to pass judgment on you in terms of what you eat or drink.” And again: “If with Christ you have died to cosmic forces, why should you be bound to rules that say, ’Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’ as though you were still living a life bounded by this world? Such prescriptions deal with things that perish in their uses.” Why ever does he do this? Because the Colossians were strong, but the Romans still required much accommodation. ON VIRGINITY 77.2-78.3.

CORRECT PROHIBITIONS MUST BE CORRECTLY UNDERSTOOD. TERTULLIAN: When Paul blames those who claim to have had visions of angels, on the basis of which they teach that people are to abstain from meat … he does not mean to criticize the mandates of the Jewish law, as if he had been speaking at the instigation of superstitious angels. His intention, rather, is only to condemn those who do not accept Christ as the One who has true authority over all such things. AGAINST MARCION 5.19.

AMBROSE: Indeed, we are often deceived by sight, and we see things for the most part other than they really are. We are deceived by hearing too. And so, if we do not wish to be deceived, let us contemplate not what is seen but what is unseen. … On this account the apostle also cries out: “Do not touch, nor taste, nor handle, things which must all perish”; for things which are for the body’s indulgence are also for its corruption. DEATH AS A GOOD 3.10.

AMBROSE: With the knowledge of what Paul had seen and heard in paradise, he cried out saying: “Why, as if still viewing the world do you lay down rules: ‘Do not touch; nor handle; nor taste!’—things which must all perish in their very use!” He wished us to be in the world in figure, not in actual possession and use of it. We are to use the world as if we did not use it, as if we were but passing through, not residing in it, walking through as in a dream, not with desire, so that with the speed of thought we might pass through the shadow of this world. LETTERS 79.

AMBROSIASTER: The problem is that the Colossians worship worldly things, put their hope in them, and not in Christ alone … so that these rules have been cut off from the head, who is Christ, and thus have become the basis of a pseudo-religion and a sacrilege. COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

AUGUSTINE: What is so praiseworthy as a show of wisdom, and what so detestable as the superstition of error? Humility, also, both pleasing to God and eminently praiseworthy in true religion, is given with a show of wisdom to those of whose teachings and actions we are told: “Touch not, taste not, handle not, which are unto destruction,” because they are not of God, and “all that is not of faith, is sin.” … I wish to know what this humility is and this show of wisdom which he says is in their superstition, which comes from the doctrines of men. … I think he is speaking of a pretended and useless abstinence such as heretics usually strive after … because they put on the appearance of a holy work, but, as they do not practice it in the fold of truth, they gain neither honor nor the reward of glory. LETTERS 121.2.13.

AUGUSTINE: As to the words “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” they are not to be considered as a commandment of the apostle forbidding us to touch, taste or handle something or other. It is just the opposite, if I am not deluded by the obscurity of the passage. Surely he used these words in mockery of those by whom he did not want his followers to be deceived and led astray. They were the ones who made a distinction of foods according to the worship of angels and issued decrees for this life, saying: “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” although “all things are clean to the clean.” “For every creature of God is good,” as he assures us in another place. LETTERS 149.2.23.

PAUL A STRICT TEACHER. AMBROSE: [Some] say that Paul was a teacher of wantonness. Pray, who will be a teacher of sobriety if he taught wantonness, for he chastised his body and brought it to subjection and by many fasts said that he had rendered the worship which is due to Christ. He did so not to praise himself and his deeds but to teach us what example we must follow. Did he give us instruction in wantonness when he said: “ ‘Do not touch; nor handle; nor taste!’ things that must all perish in their use”? And he also said that we must live “Not in indulgence of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying and love of the flesh, not in the lusts of error; but in the Spirit by whom we are renewed.” LETTERS 44.