Now this I say, that no man may deceive you by loftiness of words.

“I hear also those words of his, "And these things I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, or one should enter in to spoil you." And again, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ;" branding not all philosophy, but the Epicurean, which Paul mentions in the Acts of the Apostles, which abolishes providence and deifies pleasure, and whatever other philosophy honours the elements, but places not over them the efficient cause, nor apprehends the Creator. ... And, in truth, the Word does not wish him who has believed to be idle. For He says, "Seek, and ye shall find." But seeking ends in finding, driving out the empty trifling, and approving of the contemplation which confirms our faith. "And this I say, lest any man beguile you with enticing words," says the apostle, evidently as having learned to distinguish what was said by him, and as being taught to meet objections.”

“And it has seemed good to Thee, by means of our Lord and Creator, to fashion us again unto immortality; and Thou hast graciously given unto us a return to Paradise by means of Him who separated us from the joys of Paradise; and by means of Him who hath power to forgive sins Thou hast blotted out the handwriting which was against us. Lastly, by means of Him who is a partaker of Thy throne and who cannot be separated from Thy divine nature, Thou hast given unto us the gift of reconciliation and access unto Thee with confidence.”

“Above he commended the state of the faithful, which is the state of grace, and its author, namely Christ; here he protects them against things contrary to this state, and first against corrupting doctrine; second against perverse morals, in chapter III, at the words "if then you have risen together." Concerning the first he does two things: first he shows his solicitude for their state; second he guards them against bad doctrine, at the words "but this I say." Again the first part is divided into three particles. For first he sets down his solicitude; second the persons for whom he is solicitous, at the words "for you"; third that about which he is solicitous, at the words "that they may be comforted." He says therefore, "for I want you to know what solicitude I have," namely a great one. And this pertains to a good prelate. Rom. 12:8: "he who presides, in solicitude." Luke 2:8: "there were shepherds in the same region, keeping watch and guarding the watches of the night over their flock." And not only for those converted by him and present to him, but also for others. Hence he says "for you," namely whom I have not seen in the body, but in the mind, and not only for these, but also for those who have not seen, etc. For indeed he was solicitous for the whole world. Wis. 8:24: "in the ankle-length robe of Aaron the whole world was," etc. So too in the mind of the apostle. 2 Cor. 11:28: "besides those things that are without, my daily pressure: the solicitude for all the churches," etc. But for whom is he more solicitous? I answer, for those not seen, as to a certain point, because he did not know what was happening concerning them, but not simply. Then when he says "that they may be comforted," he shows what he is solicitous about, namely their comfort. And first he sets this down; second, how this can be had, at the words "instructed." He says therefore "that they may be comforted," that is, that through me they may have spiritual comfort, of which comfort the good is productive. For it is productive of joy, so that one who is saddened about one thing may be comforted about another equally good thing. Now there are two things that comfort us, namely the meditation of wisdom, Wis. 8:9: "it will be the discourse of my thought and of my weariness." The other is prayer. James 5:13: "Is any man sad among you? Let him pray. Is he cheerful in mind? Let him sing." Consequently, when he says "instructed," etc., he sets down in particular the instruction of wisdom. There is a twofold reading here, namely the one that has been given, and the one that is found in the Gloss thus: "that the hearts of those instructed may be comforted," etc., "unto knowing," etc. And it is the same sense. The instruction of wisdom therefore comforts against temporal evils. But one must here be instructed concerning the way, and therefore he says "in charity," which namely is the way to God. 1 Cor. 12:31: "I show you yet a more excellent way, if with tongues," etc. Instructed therefore in the charity by which God loves us, and by which we love him. For each of these comforts us, namely both because the Lord loves us — Gal. 2:20: "I live," etc.; and afterward: "who loved me and delivered himself up for me," etc.; Eph. 2:4: "rich in mercy, on account of his exceeding great charity, with which he loved us," etc. — and likewise because we love God, we are comforted, because it is the comfort of a friend, if for him one endures evils. Ecclus. 22:31: "and if evils should befall me, I will bear them for his sake." And he adds "and unto all riches," that is, in every capacity. For our intellect is in potency to knowing something; but the intellect of an Angel, in its creation, was filled with the knowledge of intelligible things. And therefore it is necessary that knowledge come upon our human intellect either through instruction — but this is insufficient, because nothing so great can ever be known in this way as to fill its capacity — or through divine revelation and the gift of God, and this is sufficient. Ecclus. 15:5: "the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding," etc. And therefore he says "of the fullness of understanding," that is, in abundance. Wis. 8:5: "what is richer than wisdom?" Is. 33:6: "the riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge." Instructed therefore in the abundance of divine wisdom, which abundance fills the understanding. And this we shall have by knowing God. And therefore he says "unto the knowledge of the mystery," etc., that is, unto knowing the truth of this hidden sacrament, namely that God is the father of Jesus Christ. Or the mystery of God the Father, which is Christ. Therefore it is said in Matt. 11:25 concerning the apostles: "you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to little ones." Or in the knowledge of the eternal generation and incarnation of Christ. Wis. 6:16: "to think, then, upon her is a perfected understanding." Augustine: "blessed is he who knows you, unhappy is he who does not know you." Through the knowledge of God man has every fullness. John 17:3: "this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God," etc. But is the understanding filled through the knowledge of Christ? I answer, yes, because "in him are all the treasures," etc. God has the knowledge of all things, and this knowledge is compared to a treasure. Wis. 7:14: "for it is an infinite treasure unto men," etc. A treasure is riches gathered together, but things poured out abroad are not called a treasure, but only those that are in one place. For God has scattered his wisdom over all his works, Ecclus. 1:10. And according to this it does not have the character of a treasure, but according as reasons of this kind are united in one, namely the divine wisdom, and all treasures of this kind are in Christ. For wisdom is the knowledge of divine things, but science is the knowledge of creatures. But whatever can be known about God pertaining to wisdom, all of it God knows abundantly in himself. Likewise, whatever can be known about creatures, he knows in himself in a supereminent way. But whatever is in the wisdom of God is in his one Word, because by one simple act of understanding he knows all things, since in him there is no knowledge in potency nor in habit. And therefore in this Word are all the treasures, etc. But he adds "hidden," because that something is hidden from me happens in two ways, namely either on account of the weakness of my intellect, or on account of an opposing veil, just as someone does not see a candle either because he is blind, or because it is veiled. So in the Word of God are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, but hidden from us who do not have clear eyes, but bleary ones — John 12:35: "yet a little while is the light in you" — and because it is veiled with a double veil: namely that of the creature, because our intellect now cannot attain to that knowledge except through the likeness of creatures. Rom. 1:20: "the invisible things of God are perceived, being understood through the things that have been made," etc. Second, it is veiled in the flesh, John 1:14: "and the Word was made flesh." And if we see something of God, nevertheless not the whole. Is. 45:15: "truly you are hidden." Num. 20:6: "open to them your treasure." Let us suppose that someone has a veiled candle: he would not seek light from elsewhere, but rather that what is possessed by him be unveiled, and therefore one need not seek wisdom except in Christ. 1 Cor. 2:2: "I did not think that I knew anything, except Christ Jesus," etc. And 1 John 3:2: "when he shall appear," that is, shall be revealed, "we shall be like him," namely knowing all things; just as one who had a book in which was all knowledge would seek nothing except to know that book, so too we need not seek anything further except Christ. Then when he says "but this I say," etc., he instructs and warns them against corrupting doctrine. Now they were being seduced by certain philosophers, against the faith, and by heretics who taught the observances of the legal precepts. Therefore he first instructs them against the philosophers, second against those judaizing, at the words "in whom also you are circumcised." Now in worldly knowledge two things are contained, for there is a certain knowledge of speaking, and a certain knowledge of things, and therefore they can deceive in two ways. Therefore he first fortifies them against the philosophers who deceive them through the knowledge of speaking; second against those who deceive them through the knowledge of things, at the words "see that no one." First he makes plain the deception; second he assigns the reason, at the words "for though in the body." He says therefore: I say that in Christ is all knowledge. And I say this, lest, seeking knowledge elsewhere, you be deceived. And he says "let no one," that is, neither Demosthenes nor Tully, deceive you "in loftiness of speech." Is. 33:19: "you shall not see an imprudent people, a people of deep speech," etc. But is it a sin to use lofty speech? I answer: No, because even holy men speak more elegantly than even the rhetoricians of the world, as Ambrose, Jerome, and Pope Leo. For if it is lawful to use ornate speech to persuade unto evil, much more so unto good.”

“The apostle cautions the Colossians against deceivers (Col 2:4): And this I say lest any man beguile you with enticing words; and Col 2:8, Lest any man spoil you. He insists so much upon the perfection of Christ and the gospel revelation, to preserve them from the ensnaring insinuations of those who would corrupt their principles. Note, 1. The way in which Satan spoils souls is by beguiling them. He deceives them, and by this means slays them. He is the old serpent who beguiled Eve through his subtlety, Co2 11:3. He could not ruin us if he did not cheat us; and he could not cheat us but by our own fault and folly. 2. Satan's agents, who aim to spoil them, beguile them with enticing words. See the danger of enticing words; how many are ruined by the flattery of those who lie in wait to deceive, and by the false disguises and fair appearances of evil principles and wicked practices. By good words, and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple, Rom 16:18. "You ought to stand upon your guard against enticing words, and be aware and afraid of those who would entice you to any evil; for that which they aim at is to spoil you." If sinners entice thee, consent thou not, Pro 1:10. Observe, I. A sovereign antidote against seducers (Col 2:6, Col 2:7): As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him, rooted and built up, etc. Here note, 1. All Christians have, in profession at least, received Jesus Christ the Lord, received him as Christ, the great prophet of the church, anointed by God to reveal his will; as Jesus the great high priest, and Saviour from sin and wrath, by the expiatory sacrifice of himself; and as Lord, or sovereign and king, whom we are to obey and be subject to. - Received him, consented to him, taken him for ours in every relation and every capacity, and for all the purposes and uses of them. 2. The great concern of those who have received Christ is to walk in him - to make their practices conformable to their principles and their conversation agreeable to their engagements. As we have received Christ, or consented to be his, so we must walk with him in our daily course and keep up our communion with him. 3. The more closely we walk with Christ the more we are rooted and established in the faith. A good conversation is the best establishment of a good faith. If we walk in him, we shall be rooted in him; and the more firmly we are rooted in him the more closely we shall walk in him: Rooted and built up. Observe, We cannot be built up in Christ, unless we be first rooted in him. We must be united to him by a lively faith, and heartily consent to his covenant, and then we shall grow up in him in all things. - As you have been taught - "according to the rule of the Christian doctrine, in which you have been instructed." Observe, A good education has a good influence upon our establishment. We must be established in the faith, as we have been taught, abounding therein. Observe, Being established in the faith, we must abound therein, and improve in it more and more; and this with thanksgiving. The way to have the benefit and comfort of God's grace is to be much in giving thanks for it. We must join thanksgiving to all our improvements, and be sensible of the mercy of all our privileges and attainments. Observe, II. The fair warning given us of our danger: Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, Col 2:8. There is a philosophy which is a noble exercise of our reasonable faculties, and highly serviceable to religion, such a study of the works of God as leads us to the knowledge of God and confirms our faith in him. But there is a philosophy which is vain and deceitful, which is prejudicial to religion, and sets up the wisdom of man in competition with the wisdom of God, and while it pleases men's fancies ruins their faith; as nice and curious speculations about things above us, or of no use and concern to us; or a care of words and terms of art, which have only an empty and often a cheating appearance of knowledge. After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world: this plainly reflects upon the Jewish pedagogy or economy, as well as the Pagan learning. The Jews governed themselves by the traditions of their elders and the rudiments or elements of the world, the rites and observances which were only preparatory and introductory to the gospel state; the Gentiles mixed their maxims of philosophy with their Christian principles; and both alienated their minds from Christ. Those who pin their faith on other men's sleeves, and walk in the way of the world, have turned away from following after Christ. The deceivers were especially the Jewish teachers, who endeavoured to keep up the law of Moses in conjunction with the gospel of Christ, but really in competition with it and contradiction to it. Now here the apostle shows, 1. That we have in Christ the substance of all the shadows of the ceremonial law; for example, (1.) Had they then the Shechinah, or special presence of God, called the glory, from the visible token of it? So have we now in Jesus Christ (Col 2:9): For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Under the law, the presence of God dwelt between the cherubim, in a cloud which covered the mercy-seat; but now it dwells in the person of our Redeemer, who partakes of our nature, and is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and has more clearly declared the Father to us. It dwells in him bodily; not as the body is opposed to the spirit, but as the body is opposed to the shadow. The fulness of the Godhead dwells in the Christ really, and not figuratively; for he is both God and man. (2.) Had they circumcision, which was the seal of the covenant? In Christ we are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands (Col 2:11), by the work of regeneration in us, which is the spiritual or Christian circumcision. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, Rom 2:29. This is owing to Christ, and belongs to the Christian dispensation. It is made without hands; not by the power of any creature, but by the power of the blessed Spirit of God. We are born of the Spirit, Joh 3:5. And it is the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit, Tit 3:5. It consists in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, in renouncing sin and reforming our lives, not in mere external rites. It is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God, Pe1 3:21. And it is not enough to put away some one particular sin, but we must put off the whole body of sin. The old man must be crucified, and the body of sin destroyed, Rom 6:6. Christ was circumcised, and, by virtue of our union to him, we partake of that effectual grace which puts off the body of the sins of the flesh. Again, The Jews thought themselves complete in the ceremonial law; but we are complete in Christ, Col 2:10. That was imperfect and defective; if the first covenant had been faultless, there would no place have been sought for the second (Heb 8:7), and the law was but a shadow of good things, and could never, by those sacrifices, make the comers thereunto perfect, Heb 10:1. But all the defects of it are made up in the gospel of Christ, by the complete sacrifice for sin and revelation of the will of God. Which is the head of all principality and power. As the Old Testament priesthood had its perfection in Christ, so likewise had the kingdom of David, which was the eminent principality and power under the Old Testament, and which the Jews valued themselves so much upon. And he is the Lord and head of all the powers in heaven and earth, of angels and men. Angels, and authorities, and powers are subject to him, Pe1 3:22. 2. We have communion with Christ in his whole undertaking (Col 2:12): Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you have risen with him. We are both buried and rise with him, and both are signified by our baptism; not that there is anything in the sign or ceremony of baptism which represents this burying and rising, any more than the crucifixion of Christ is represented by any visible resemblance in the Lord's supper: and he is speaking of the circumcision made without hands; and says it is through the faith of the operation of God. But the thing signified by our baptism is that we are buried with Christ, as baptism is the seal of the covenant and an obligation to our dying to sin; and that we are raised with Christ, as it is a seal and obligation to our living to righteousness, or newness of life. God in baptism engages to be to us a God, and we become engaged to be his people, and by his grace to die to sin and to live to righteousness, or put off the old man and put on the new.”

“And this I say,.... That he had such a conflict for them, and had told them of his care and fear on their account, and had signified his great desire that they might arrive to a more large and certain knowledge of the mysteries of grace, and had asserted that all solid spiritual wisdom and knowledge were in Christ; all which he said, to show his affection for them; to observe unto them, that there was no need to seek for wisdom and knowledge elsewhere, since there was such a fulness of it in Christ, and the Gospel; and to put them upon their guard against false teachers: lest any man should beguile you with enticing words; by which are meant, not apt and pertinent words, such as are suited to the minds of men, and proper to convey right ideas of divine truth, poignant expressions, sound speech, and strong reasonings; for such the apostle himself used, and yet not enticing words of men's wisdom; and which design mere words, great swelling words of vanity, which like bubbles look big, and make a great noise, but contain nothing but wind and emptiness; fair speeches, specious pretences, false colourings, fallacious reasonings, a show of probability, and appearance of science, falsely so called; whereby deceitful workers, such as the followers of Simon Magus and the Gnostics, used, whom the apostle had in view; beguiled unstable souls, and deceived the hearts of the simple: wherefore the apostle said the above things, showing that all true wisdom was in Christ, and all spiritual knowledge was in the pure and unmixed Gospel; which was not to be parted with for other things, which through art and management, and the cunning craftiness of men, might at first sight carry in them a show of probability, and appearance of truth. The gold, the silver, and precious stones of divine truths, which have been proved by the standard, are not to be given up for such as only look like them, being wrought up through the fallacy of men; who by a set of unmeaning words, paralogisms, and false reasonings, lie in wait to deceive.”

“Lest any man should beguile you - The word παραλογιζηται means to deceive by sophistry or subtle reasoning, in which all the conclusions appear to be fairly drawn from the premises, but the premises are either assumed without evidence, or false in themselves; but this not being easily discovered, the unthinking or unwary are carried away by the conclusions which are drawn from these premises. And this result is clearly intimated by the term πιθανολογια, enticing words, plausible conclusions or deductions from this mode of reasoning. The apostle seems to allude to the Gentile philosophers, who were notorious for this kind of argumentation. Plato and Socrates are not free from it.”

“That no man may deceive you. [1] He means those false teachers and vain philosophers, who deceived them by a sophistical way of reasoning, advancing in this manner their fabulous inventions; it is likely some disciples of Simon the magician. (Witham) — The false teachers whom St. Paul wished to refute, despising the doctrine of the gospel, which appeared too simple and common, affected mysterious discourses, and examined the doctrine of the apostles, according to the maxims and axioms of philosophers. They also denied that Christ was God. (Tirinus) — May not this advice be at present applicable to many of our Christian brethren, who are but too often led away by trusting too much to the vain reasonings of man. (Haydock)”