Vigilance
Paul starts out this section with a warning, he tells the Christian to “Be careful that no one takes you captive.” There is a reason Paul uses military terms, that is because we are in the midst of a spiritual war. Paul tells us we need to be vigilant, we need to be aware and watchful of any attacks of the enemy; why so that we are not taken captive. You see Satan is looking for ways to capture believers, often by leading them astray due to them not being vigilant to his tactics. It is said that cults do not reach for the lost, rather they go for the immature Christian and lure them in, because they lack the vigilance to notice they are being taken “captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.”
So how are we to be vigilant? We need to be grounded in the Word of God, for that is the source of truth and where our faith is established. As we root ourselves in the Word of God we find ourselves able to discern when we encounter teachings that are not Christ centered and thus teachings that should be avoided.
Proper Teaching
Paul then presents the reasons why the teachings of the Gnostics and other false teachers is not beneficial to the believer. “For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Paul is essentially telling the Colossian church that Christ, being God with us, had the nature and attributes of God. This was contrary to what the Gnostics taught. But it didn’t stop there, through faith we share in that fullness; by this we grow not by adding to Christ but by Christ fills us with the Holy Spirit. So in being vigilant we need to constantly ask of teachings, where does it place Christ, does it keep Christ at the center or does it say we need something other or in addition to Christ? If it takes away from who Christ is and what He did then flee from it.
