Colossians 2.19a-The False Teachers Are Unregenerate
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday February 14, 2016
Colossians: Colossians 2:19a-The False Teachers Are Unregenerate
Lesson # 60
Colossians 2:18 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. (NASB95)
“And not holding fast to the head” is not only connected to Colossians 2:18 but it is also emphatic in that it indicates that the latter is advancing upon and intensifying verse 18.
“Not holding fast to the head” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (2) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “not” (3) verb krateō (κρατέω), “holding fast to” (4) noun kephalē (κεφαλή), “the head.”
The noun kephalē is employed in a metaphorical or figurative sense and means “head” expressing the fact that Jesus Christ is the sovereign ruler over the church.
The verb krateo means “to be united” to someone and its meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou which emphatically denies the reality of an alleged fact occurring.
Thus, they express in emphatic terms that they were unregenerate or in other words, they were not declared justified by the Father as a result of trusting in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior.
The verb krateo is in the nominative case and functions as a nominative of simple apposition meaning it is describing something about the false teachers, namely they exist in a state of absolutely never being united with Jesus Christ.
The present tense of this verb krateo is both a customary or stative present and a gnomic present.
The former is used to signal an ongoing state indicating that these teachers from the Essene branch of Judaism who were misapplying and misinterpreting the Law existed in the state of absolutely never being united with Jesus Christ.
The latter is used to describe something that it is true any time rather than a universal statement that is true all the time.
Therefore, the gnomic present of this verb indicates that these teachers from the Essene branch of the Judaizers absolutely never “at any time” existed in the state of being united with Jesus Christ through faith in Him.
Colossians 2:18 Absolutely no one must be allowed at any time to cause any one of you to be disqualified by delighting in false humility as well as worshipping the angels, by going into great lengths about things which they have supposedly seen. He does this because he is permitting himself to be arrogant for no legitimate reason because of his fleshly thinking. 19 In fact, he absolutely never at any time existed in the state of being united with the Head from whom, each and every member of the body is, as an eternal spiritual truth being abundantly provided for as well as united experientially through the ligaments who act as tendons too. As an eternal spiritual truth, it grows spiritually with a growth which is produced by God the Father. (My translation)
Colossians 2:19 continues the apostle Paul’s discussion regarding those teachers from the Essene branch of the Judaizers who taught Christians that they must obey the Mosaic Law to govern their lives.
Not only does this verse continue this discussion of the Judaizers but it also serves as a climax to this discussion of these false teachers.
In verse 19, Paul emphatically asserts that these teachers were unregenerate or in other words, they were not declared justified by the Father as a result of trusting in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior.
He asserts that they absolutely never at any time existed in the state of being united to the Head, who is of course Jesus Christ.
So in emphatic terms Paul asserts that these teachers from the Essene branch of Judaism absolutely never existed in a state of being united with Jesus Christ.
Thus, they were unregenerate or in other words, they were not declared justified by the Father as a result of trusting in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior.
This interpretation is further supported by the entire epistle to the Colossians and other passages of Scripture in which the apostles like Paul or John order the church to administer discipline to those teachers in the church who were teaching false doctrine.
Nowhere in the Colossian epistle does Paul suggest or explicitly state that these men were Christians or in other words, were declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
If they were Christian pastors living in apostasy and teaching false doctrine, Paul would have ordered the Colossian church and Epaphras to administer church discipline to these men just as he did with Timothy and the Ephesian church.
In First and Second Timothy, Paul orders Timothy to continue to administer church discipline to those pastors who were teaching false doctrine and he does the same with Titus and the Cretan church.
Interestingly both Timothy and the Ephesian church as well as Titus and the Cretan church were dealing with the teaching of the Judaizers.
Many pastors had fallen victim to their misinterpretation and misapplication and misuse of the Mosaic Law.
So the fact that Paul does not mention administering church discipline to these false teachers in Colossae makes clear that these individuals were unregenerate or in other words, they were non-believers.
The apostle Paul has described for the Colossians in Colossians 2:8-18 the character and teaching of those from the Essene branch of the Judaizers who asserted that one must live according to the Mosaic Law to be pleasing to God.
He also communicated to the Colossians as to how they should continue to respond to these false teachers.
What can the church today learn from Paul’s description of the Judaizers and their teaching as well as his instructions as to how to respond to this false teaching or misuse and misapplication and misinterpretation of the Word of God?
First of all, false teaching can come in the form of human philosophy if the teaching is not supported by the Scripture.
Those who teach false doctrine within the church or outside of the Christian community can be identified by their emphasis upon traditions that are the product of men’s imaginations rather than from an accurate handling of the Scriptures.
These teachings are the result of the influence of Satan and his angels and are totally and completely contrary to the teaching of Jesus Christ.
There are some teachers within the Christian community and outside of it who have a false humility in that their humility is based upon their misinterpretation, misuse and misapplication of the Word of God.
They are not humble at all but in reality they are totally and completely arrogant driven by their sin nature and influenced by Satan’s kingdom because they are not handling the Scripture probably and thus cannot hear the voice of the Spirit in the Word of God.
False teachers today are often identified by their obsession with the angels, whether fallen or elect.
They might not be worshipping angels as they were in Colossae but they teach often about angels since this draws a crowd because angels are mysterious and fascinating to people.
Ultimately false teachers can be identified by their arrogance and lack of humility which is manifested in their misuse and misinterpretation of the Word of God.
They have no respect for God’s Word as manifested by their sloppy and many times deceitful treatment of the Scriptures.
False teachers are also controlled by their indwelling Adamic sin nature as a result of rejecting the voice of the Spirit which is heard through an accurate interpretation and communication of the Word of God.
The response of the church today must be in obedience to Paul’s instructions.
The church today must remain faithful to the gospel and specifically, they must remain faithful to the teaching regarding their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session by appropriating this teaching by faith and this faith will manifest itself in godly conduct.
The church must follow Paul’s instructions in recognizing that everything they need to perform God’s will and bring glory to Him is bound up in their union and identification with Christ.
They must appropriate by faith the teaching that they are in a position of authority and in a greater position than any of the angels because they are seated with Christ at the Father’s right hand.
The church has the victory not only over the indwelling sin nature but also over Satan’s kingdom and this victory is tied to their union and identification with Christ.
The church must understand the true nature of the baptism of the Spirit and that it is related to their union and identification with Christ.
False teaching within the church has obscured what the baptism of the Spirit really is.
The church has received the forgiveness of sins because of their faith in Jesus Christ at conversion and they experience this forgiveness after conversion through the confession of sin and appropriating by faith their union and identification with Christ.
The church is no longer under condemnation because of their faith in Christ and their union and identification with Him and she must understand that they are not under the jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law since they have died to the Law.
The church has suffered much because of either not being taught this or rejecting this teaching and thus must realize that Jesus Christ is the substantive reality and fulfillment of the Law.
Therefore, remaining faithful to the gospel is the church’s only protection today from false teaching.