ACC ~ Colossians 2 v18b

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.

Col