Paul the apostle had great
concern for the church members in Colosse as he knew there were
false-teachers among them which included the “Gnostics” who
denied the deity of Jesus Christ and the “Judaizers” who promoted
works and faith as the means for salvation. He showed them the
preeminence and truth of Jesus so their “hearts might be
comforted”, they would be unified, and they would acknowledge
“the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ”. If
they knew that in Jesus “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge”, they would be less likely to be deceived. In
chapter two and verse four of his letter to them, Paul gives the
reason of others “beguiling” them as a reason for his words where
we read:
And this I say, lest
any man should beguile you with enticing words.
The verse begins, “And
this I say, lest any man should beguile you...” Paul
continued his words with “And” which
denotes a continuance of his previous thought from the last verse as
he adds, “lest any man should beguile you”
which means “to reckon wrong, miscount, to cheat by false
reckoning, to deceive by false reasoning, to deceive, delude, or
circumvent”. Paul knew if the Colossians followed the heresies of
those who denied the deity of Jesus, they would be deceived and
cheating themselves from the truth that lies within Him.
The verse continues, “...with
enticing words.” Paul also
notes how this “beguiling” will be enacted, “with
enticing words” or with words
that are “speech adapted to persuade, discourse in which
probable arguments are adduced, in a bad sense, persuasiveness of
speech, and specious discourse leading others into error”. It
wasn't as though the arguments of those who came against the truth
were blatantly off-base. They were very persuasive in their words,
and their arguments sounded like they were speaking the truth. Paul
knew that if he set forth the truth with the church members of
Colosse, they would be less likely to be persuaded by others no
matter how “enticing” their words would be.
The idea of “beguiling”
is somewhat like a person who wears a mask. Outwardly they appear one
way, but beneath the mask, they are totally another. There was great
concern on Paul's part for the church members to be “beguiled”
or deceived, and he took measures to insure they were not. The truth
from the word of God about Jesus Christ was imperative to distinguish
between the truth and a lie. Perhaps as we think about this idea, we
too will be encouraged to know the truth as presented in the word of
God so we also will not be “beguiled”. May the Lord help
us to know His truth and discern that which is error no matter how
convincing others' words may be.
Next
time Paul writes about himself being absent and yet present with the
Colossians,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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