COLOSSIANS 2.8 (POOLE)

"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 (Colossians 2.8)."

Philosophy and vain deceit. These are tools of man Paul warns may spoil you. His explicit instruction is to beware of them. Shun them like they were leprosy or a plague. Condensed down to its rawest form, philosophy is little more than theories couched in logical form, garnered from the minds of those that have little else to do than to think on more subjects than they can master. Vain deceit is simply a lie told by a liar that foolishly believes what he is saying.

Philosophy and vain deceit ooze forth from the cesspool of man's traditional view of things, and from undeveloped (rudimentary) worldly perceptions, and never from the mind of Christ. As touching Christian deportment, they are positively Anti-Christ, first, last, and always. God, and the glory of His Son, are fully absent from the presentations of these philosophers and vain deceivers.

"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2.9)." If all fullness dwells in Christ, the God-man, then we may be assured these philosophers and vain deceivers are but empty and void. Having been warned to beware of these frauds, the saints of the Most High may be assured the Prince of peace shall guide their minds and hearts into all needful wisdom and light.

We are persuaded these lying philosophers are much like those pests Paul described in the following: "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (II Timothy 3.7)."