Colossians 2:21-23by Dr. Grant C. RichisonTo: Colossians Main Menu To: Grace Notes Home Page Colossians 2:21"'Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle'"Many people think that they are spiritual because they follow taboos. They don't smoke cigars and they don't go with the girls who do! No Christian in his right mind ought to do this, but it is no proof that we are spiritual Christians. This verse sets forth three negatives. These negatives give the impression that if we are going to heaven, we must give up pleasure in life. Pseudo spirituality revels in rules. ---------- "Do not touch" "Touch" means to fasten oneself to. The idea is more than an inadvertent touch. It means to cling to. Under the ceremonial law touching a dead body and anything offered to an idol was wrong. ---------- "do not taste" To taste forbidden food was sinful in Colosse. Today certain religious types would have us live on lettuce leaves! We cannot live a spiritual life without denial of food. There are many food taboos today. ---------- "do not handle" "Handle" means to handle in a superficial way. Certain religious people want us to take great care with the ornaments of religious ceremony. PRINCIPLE: Christianity is not a religion of rules. APPLICATION: We can be as carnal as the Devil himself and not smoke cigars. If gossip is part of our lives, we are clearly carnal. We must get out of thinking of spirituality in negative terms, "I can't do this. I can't do that." The genuine is more precious than the imitation. A real diamond is better than a glass diamond. Most people live their entire Christian lives with glass diamonds. They know little of dynamic spiritual life. Many live in the glass diamonds of legalism. Refraining from certain practices do not give us an "in" with God. The Devil always tries to get us on tangents. We put emphasis on the negative and give our young people the impression that Christianity is a religion of reaction. That is why we lose them when they get to High School. They see Christianity as a religious straitjacket from which they must escape if they are to have any fun. If only we could keep the wonder of fellowship with Jesus Christ before our young people! The religious regulation approach to Christianity is all wrong: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" This shows us that we do not understand our death with Christ. To revert to legalism is to return to childlike behavior -- thinking that God will be pleased by our negative approach to life. Colossians 2:22"which all concern things which perish with the using-according to the commandments and doctrines of men?"---------- "which all concern things which perish" "Which" -- the three taboos of verse 21. The word "perish" here means to destroy, to perish, a state of ruin or destruction, with the implication of disintegration. We can translate this phrase, "which all concern things which are for perishing." They are transitory, not eternal. Taboos fail in their purpose. They do not restrain evil. ---------- "with the using" The word "using" signifies misuse, the activity of using up something -- being consumed, consumption. We may render the clause "by their using up." When we exercise taboos we render them unfit for further use. These man-made regulations perish because they have no intrinsic worth in themselves. Those who use them witness them perish and pass away. They corrupt the Christian faith. They have no authority other than the injunctions of men. ---------- "according to the commandments and doctrines of men?" "Doctrines" means the content of teaching -- what is taught, doctrine, teaching. Taboos come from men, not God. The only authority for taboos is human. Jesus challenged the Pharisees, "You observe these minute rituals, but inwardly you are tombs, filled with dead men's bones." You look great as you perform your ceremonies but inwardly you are like a grave full of rotting bones. PRINCIPLE: Over regulation intensify evil. APPLICATION: Human doctrine perishes with use. Holiness by self-effort is human doctrine. This is wrong in principle and unproductive in results. When we observe taboos of men we correlate our lives with temporal things. Temporary doctrines of men have little effect in spiritual things. It is a waste of time and a waste of our lives. The Bible emphasizes eternal things. In eternity human taboos will end in destruction. Undue repression leads to violent eruption. If we repress evil, it will explode in our lives at some later point. The answer is not repression but living our lives around a person. Taboos are futile. We can consume our lives with rules and regulations and have nothing to show for it at the end of our day. Colossians 2:23"These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."Paul points out the futility of legalism and asceticism. Taboos impress some people because it implies that those who practice taboos rise above the desires of the flesh. ---------- "These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom" "These things" -- taboos and legalism. Legalists consider themselves wiser than others. They have an "appearance" (show) of wisdom; it is not real wisdom; it is pretense. "Wisdom" is spirituality centered on Christ. Tabooism passes for spirituality in some evangelical circles. ---------- "in self-imposed religion" The word "self-imposed" means arbitrary and unwarranted piety. Legalism is over scrupulous religion. When we subject ourselves to regulations from men, we operate contrary to the very essence of the gospel of grace (Gal. 5:1f). Man-manufactured religion always trends toward some form of asceticism. Men love to invent religious beliefs and practices that come from their own desires and initiatives. This is self-imposed religion, religion thought up by oneself -- self-made religion. When Christians impose their will over God's, they come up with weird systems of belief. This is religion based on man's will, emotionalism and ecstatics. PRINCIPLE: God wants us to avoid religious systems invented by men. APPLICATION: People love religion, if they do not have one, they will invent one. Evangelical Christianity at the twenty-first century loves to invent new forms of religion like that in the days of the Colossians. We love legalism, asceticism, ecstatics. At the same time, we do not expend effort in the Word of God exposing ourselves to what God truly wants from us. When we get away from the Word we always move away from the grace of God. ---------- "false humility" Legalism parades a form of humility but it is only a show. True wisdom keeps us close to the grace of God. This is the phony humility of self-effacement. If people stand erect or speak with confidence, religious types resent it because they are intimidated by their confidence. On the other hand, if we ingratiate ourselves to others, and make people think we are helpless, they will fall over themselves trying to help us. This is ingratiation based on self-effacement. PRINCIPLE: This is a pride that apes humility. APPLICATION: If we have a sad spirit and can hardly stand erect, if we appear weak and pitiful, people will come along and say, "Don't worry about it. We will help you." This pseudo-spirituality appeals to false humility. If we ever want anything from anyone, all we have to do is act helpless, and we will get it. Some types love to help people because it makes them feel good. It compensates for their many guilt feelings. A Christian operating on true spirituality does not concoct pseudo humility. He directs his humility is toward God who provides him divine operating assets for the Christian life. ---------- "and neglect of the body" The word "neglect" means severity, hard treatment, unsparing treatment. Severe self-control suggests an ascetic and unsparing attitude toward the body. The Greeks used harsh control over the body to build courageous exposure to hardship and danger. Here it refers to ascetic discipline or severe self-control, suggesting an ascetic and unsparing attitude of religion. Legalists neglect the body by abstaining from food. They kill bodily pleasures and appetites but there is nothing of true piety in these things. The Bible teaches us to worship God in spirit and truth and not by ritual and taboos. PRINCIPLE: The principle of grace does not involve harsh treatment of the body. APPLICATION: Christianity is not self-induced misery. Fasting, going without food and the ordinary things of life or any system that involves self affliction to gain God's favor, violates the grace of God. Fasting is not wrong. Fasting to gain God's favor is wrong. Jesus did all the suffering necessary. He placated God sufficiently by his death on the cross to gain God's favor. If Jesus won God's favor, we violate him if we independently try to win that favor by ourselves. ---------- "but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh" "Indulgence" means a filling up, gratification, satiety. It is the process of indulging in or procuring the satisfaction of certain desires or needs. The flesh is of no value to remedy the indulgence of the flesh. Asceticism has no value in conquering the flesh. Asceticism treats the body as an enemy. God's view is that the body is an instrument of godliness. Self-chosen acts of self-sacrifice will not overcome the flesh. When we deny body appetites, it simply makes it hungrier. If we try to lose weight by a severe diet, we binge later. Denial arouses desire. We do not nourish the spirit by neglect of the body. Emotional self-effacement is no remedy against the indulgence of the flesh. Giving up food for Lent or observe holy days will not overcome the sin nature. Legalism is on the side of the sin capacity. Legalism facilitates the sin capacity. Only God's plan of grace can combat the sin capacity. PRINCIPLE: Denial arouses desire; grace counteracts the flesh. APPLICATION: Whenever we become dynamic in our spirituality, the Devil uses religion as a counter punch. Severity to the body is evidence of specious piety. Asceticism is utterly hopeless in checking the indulgences of the flesh. We cannot control the flesh by rules. The cross is the only answer. True spirituality accepts the crucifixion of the flesh by the cross. We please God by accepting his evaluation of human nature and depend wholly on grace. We should beware of legalistic piety. Those who go around looking pious are liable to lie about other things too! We can appear to others as godly but at the same time sin can rage inwardly. Anger, vengeance and resentment inside can fill our minds and no one can know it. We cannot regulate the internal by externals. The only way we can conquer the inward life is by the life that Christ gives. Asceticism invades God's providence and cannot control the flesh. The flesh merely goes underground and manifests itself in pride. The flesh cannot please God; that is why he dealt with it so radically at the cross. God does not want us to pander to the flesh but to accept its crucifixion. We are to walk in the fact of the cross provided by grace. The famous Bible teacher H.A. Ironside struggled with pride. After a period of struggle he went to a friend for advice about how to deal with this pride. Someone counseled him to put signs on his front and back with large written Bible verses about pride. He was to carry them throughout the city streets calling out these verses. This was designed to abolish his pride. Dr. Ironside said that he followed that advice. When he finished, his first thought was, "There is no other person in this area dedicated enough to do such a thing!!!" All of these errors have one thing in common -- they lose sight of Christ! Copyright © 1995, Dr. Grant Richison. All rights reserved. There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. You can help further this work by your prayer and by sending a contribution to: Grace Notes% Warren Doud wdoud@bga.com1705 Aggie Lane Austin, Texas 78757 Grace Notes Web site: http://www.realtime.net/~wdoud/ Anonymous FTP site: ftp://ftp.bga.com/vendors/wdoud/ Grace Notes is a ministry of Village Missions International. |
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