Colossians 2:16-23 → Let No One Disqualify You
- Steve Schott
- Jan 20
- 11 min read
Updated: Jan 23
Theme
► The main theme of Colossians, in my opinion, is the deity of Jesus Christ - His fullness as God, and His complete sufficiency as having done all that is necessary to save us from our sins.
► Colossians 2:9-10a → "9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete,..."
→ Who Jesus is, is complete - the supremacy of the Person of Jesus
→ What Jesus has done, is complete - the sufficiency of the work of Jesus
• There is nothing that we can add to this to effect, improve, or add value to, our salvation.
► Paul will spend the rest of this letter, both carefully elaborating on the divine character of Jesus, and also being very specific about the completeness of what Jesus did on the cross to obtain our salvation.
► Attacks, if you will, from outside the church (and perhaps some from inside the church), that suggest that more is needed, specifically within the framework of our human efforts, to fully obtain salvation, will be shot down like enemy missiles, the intent of which is to destroy our faith.
Outline
► An outline of the Book of Colossians
→ (This is the outline used by the group of teachers I participate with at our church. All of my blog postings for Colossians are following this outline)
Theological
• Pretty much everything in this section (chapters 1 and 2), including Paul’s greeting, is dialoguing about the truth of Jesus, and how it has impacted our lives, and will continue to do so in the future.
• Even when Paul is dealing with the false teaching, he’s dealing with the false teaching in light of the truth about Jesus he’s already dealt with up to that point.
1 → Introduction to the Book of Colossians
2 → 1:1-12 Greeting and Prayer for the Colossians
3 → 1:13-18 The Preeminence of Christ
4 → 1:19-23 Reconciliation Through Christ
5 → 1:24-29 Paul's Ministry to the Church
6 → 2:1-7 Reaching the Riches of Full Assurance
7 → 2:8-15 Made Alive Together With Christ
8 → 2:16-23 Let No One Disqualify You
Practical
• Once we get into chapter 3, and through chapter 4, Paul’s approach will be much more centered on how to live out this true gospel in our everyday lives, in the community of the body of Christ.
9 → 3:1-8 Seek the Heavenly, Put to Death the Earthly
10 → 3:9-17 Put on the New Self
11 → 3:18-4:1 Rules for Christian Households
12 → 4:2-6 Steadfast Praying, Wise Walking, Gracious Speaking
13 → 4:7-18 Final Greetings
Intro to today's passage
► In today's passage, while it is still dealing with the basic truths of, 1st - Jesus' supremacy, i.e., that He is God incarnate, and 2nd - Jesus' sufficiency, meaning that we can add nothing to what Jesus has already done to gain our salvation, we will see Paul deal with false teaching, in the form of outsiders trying to manipulate the Colossians into believing that something "extra" is needed for salvation.
► We saw it subtly dealt with in the previous 2 passages, and we will see a detailed exposé of the false teaching in this last passage of chapter 2.
Passage
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
→ There are 3 warnings about false teachers in Colossians. The first was in verse 2:8 - "8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."
→ Verses 16 and 17 are the 2nd warning. These first 2 verses of this passage seem to be pointed at those who would try to push the concept that adherence to Jewish law and/or tradition would be necessary to be a true Christian.
→ Verse 16 gives us a list of several items touted as necessary for salvation that Paul dismisses.
• What you eat, and how or when you worship ("new moons" and "festivals" and "Sabbath days") are the main topics here.
• We call the people who push this agenda Judaizers.
• Every one of the items listed have a direct connection to Judaism.
• This concept of having to keep the Jewish law as communicated in the Old Testament as a requirement of salvation, even though Paul has refuted it adamantly, is still being pushed today, 2,000 years later.
♦ I have friends who are Seventh Day Adventists who flat out tell me that once the significance of the keeping of the law, and most specifically the dietary laws and the keeping of the Sabbath, have been explained to me, that if I don’t “repent”, and begin following those laws, that I would not be saved.
♦ They include the avoidance of soda pop because of the caffeine. I’m not sure where that comes from, but I’m sure they have a verse to support it.
♦ These are not some kind of “wicked” people, with a goal of disrupting the work of Christ. They truly believe that they are being obedient to God, and feel they are helping others to do so as well. But this is not biblical.
→ Verse 17 calls these items “a mere shadow of what is to come”.
• In the Old Testament, all of the things mentioned in verse 16 were valid – but only for that time.
• The whole purpose for those observances was to point forward to the coming Christ.
• In Galatians 3:24 Paul says “24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith."
• In fact, Galatians chapter 3, Galatians possibly being one of the earliest of Paul’s writings, deals specifically with this issue of trying to add observance of the Jewish law as a requirement for salvation.
• So the problem is still going on, but the truth hasn’t changed.
• There is nothing that can, or should be, added to the work of Christ on the cross, to add to our salvation.
18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
→ Verses 18 and 19 are the 3rd warning, and introduce 3 additional concepts that seem to be from a more mystical origin, rather than from a Jewish perspective.
• One thing that is not clearly communicated is whether or not the false teaching from these last 2 warnings are coming from the same source, or are from 2 completely separate groups of false teachers.
• Verses 16 and 17 seem to be coming from a purely Jewish perspective, while verses 18 and 19 seem to be more oriented to a Gentile frame of mind. Either way, Paul refutes these concepts.
→ There are 3 concepts Paul mentions…
• 1st – “self-abasement”. This word in the English translations of the New Testament is translated in several different ways…
NASB(1995) → self-abasement
NKJV → false humility
KJV → voluntary humility
ESV → asceticism
NIV → false humility
NLT → pious self-denial
♦ The Greek seems to indicate this is mainly about keeping a low attitude about oneself. In the context of this passage, it also seems to be a false humility, of being proud of your humility. Paul adds in verses 21 and 22, that this “self-abasement” was being demonstrated by the outward physical act of self denial, and self denial in a public way, like “look at how humble I am; I’m denying myself so much because of how close I am to God.”
♦ I looked up the word asceticism at Dictionary.com. It says “the doctrine that a person can attain a high spiritual and moral state by practicing self-denial, self-mortification, and the like.”
♦ I also found a link to a Buddhist website that documented 13 ways of self-denial that devout Buddhists need to maintain to be humble.
• 2nd – “the worship of angels”. John MacArthur, in his study bible, mentions that this was and continued to be an issue around that part of the world for several centuries. He listed a few biblical references from the NT regarding this issue…
♦ Jesus, when He was being tempted in the wilderness by Satan – Matthew 4:10 → 10 Then I said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.' "
New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version (Mt 4:10). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.
♦ John, in Revelation 19:10 → 10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version (Re 19:10). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.
♦ John, again in Revelation 22:8-9 → 8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9 But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”
New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version (Re 22:8–9). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.
• 3rd – “taking his stand on visions he has seen”. This is a very confusing statement. The reason I say this is because…
♦ 1st, in the NASB, ESV, NIV, and NLT the phrase is presented positively – “visions seen” – BUT – in the KJV and the NKJV the phrase is presented negatively – “visions not seen”.
♦ 2nd, the word “visions” in the Greek isn’t actually there. Some of your translations will show that word in italics, indicating that the word is not actually there in the Greek, but is alluded to in the context.
♦ Paul is obviously talking about these false teachers being bold about things they say they’ve “seen”, the implication being that these are supernatural “visions” that are only given to the most humble of humans.
→ Collectively, these 3 attributes lead the false teachers to be “inflated without cause by his fleshly mind”. They not only think they have the truth – they think they are superior to everyone else.
→ The primary cause of this is because, as it says in verse 19, they are “not holding fast to the head”, meaning Jesus. Using the analogy of the human body, rather than allowing themselves to be directed by Jesus, the head, they are disconnected, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, not realizing they are dead yet.
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
→ Paul now sums up what he is trying to say to the believers in Colossae…
• If you “died with Christ”, meaning being born again, and also means you’ve left the past behind, why are you trying to live in the past once again?
• When Paul talks about the “elementary principles of the world”, based on numerous differences in translations, it can kind of twist the potential understanding of what these are.
NASB(1995) - elementary principles of the world
NKJV - basic principles of the world
KJV - rudiments of the world
ESV - elemental spirits of the world
NIV - elemental spiritual forces of this world
NLT - spiritual powers of this world
♦ This is a reference to verse 2:8 which says “8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”
♦ Several commentators have some differing views as to the breadth of this meaning, but the general consensus is that this phrase includes both the philosophies of men, as well as the influence of negative spiritual beings – demons.
• “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” would be referring to the self-abasement Paul has previously mentioned in verse 18.
• Paul ends this statement by referring to the errors by calling them the “commandments and teachings of men”, in contrast to those of Jesus.
23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
→ Paul sums up this section, about the false teaching, and the entire 1st part of this epistle, the theological section, with the summation that anything added by human effort to the process of entering into, and/or the living of, the Christian life, are totally worthless.
• 1st, Paul mentions that these human activities have “the appearance of wisdom”, that they at least at first glance seem to make sense.
♦ If you spend any time on the internet, you’ll see all kinds of things to do, or buy, or take, to make yourself better.
☺ Tai Chi walking for men to lose weight and gain strength.
☺ All different forms (shots, pills, patches) for the GLP-1 weight loss medication, which is actually medication for diabetes.
☺ There are also several “spiritual” things you’ll find that may or may not be valid, but have the “appearance of wisdom”.
○ Read through the Bible in a year planner – nothing wrong with this, BUT you can do this yourself with your own Bible.
♥ There is nothing about reading through the Bible in a year that makes you any more spiritual than those who do it more slowly or faster.
♥ It’s not about the process of doing it, but rather the connection you make with the Lord in the process.
♥ If it comes to the point where you feel guilty for not staying on track, or you feel pride for staying on track, then you’re missing the point.
♥ It’s not about how fast you can do it, it’s about how connected you become with Jesus.
○ There are now some ads on the internet for the Ethiopian Bible which has 88 books in it. Having more books in your Bible does not make you more spiritual – in fact, it may actually make you less, because of adding the traditions of men.
○ The Hallow Prayer app – looks good on the outside, but keep in mind this is a Catholic thing, espoused by a lot of celebrities, which is great if they are true believers, but is it totally based on the Scriptures?
• 2nd, Paul says that these items consist of “self-made religion” and “self-abasement and severe treatment of the body”, but he sums them up as having “no value against fleshly indulgence.”
♦ Paul is saying that all the human effort in the world is not going to achieve Christ-likeness.
♦ None of it will get you saved, and none of it will make you live in a way that is pleasing to God.
So What?
► My opinion is that this first half of Colossians is laid out in a way to emphasize for us that Jesus is to be our priority.
→ 1st • WHO Jesus is – His pre-eminence – His supremacy.
→ 2nd • WHAT Jesus has done – He has saved us AND He keeps us – His sufficiency.
► We determined that Paul is confident in His understanding of Jesus’ divinity.
→ Jesus Himself is eternal
→ Jesus is the Creator
→ Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God
→ Jesus is over all members of the invisible world – the angels
→ Jesus is holding the entire universe together
→ Jesus is the head of the church – the world-wide church, not just our local body
→ Jesus is of the 1st priority and significance of all of, not only mankind, but of the entire universe
► And we also saw that there is NOTHING that we can do that eclipses who Jesus is, or can add to what Jesus has done for us.
► My prayer for all of us is that we would be so focused on Jesus, that we won’t be distracted by the conflicting voices all around us.
Photo • 2/16/2025 - Sunset @ Convict Lake, CA
“Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org”
All linked verses are from the YouVersion at www.Bible.com
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