What is the meaning of vain deceit in Colossians 2:8?

It may then be helpful, especially to young believers, to consider briefly what the Scriptures have to say concerning rationalism. In Colossians 2 Paul warns us against three enemies of Christianity - rationalism, ritualism, and superstition, and it may be observed that he puts the first into the front rank. These are his words: "Beware lest any man spoil you [lead you away as a prey] through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." What then is meant by philosophy and vain deceit? It is the application of the human mind, human powers of reasoning, to the Scriptures and to divine things; and it is thus the expression of man's competency to sit in judgment upon the Word of God and what that Word reveals. This is done, and the right to do it is claimed on all sides, and the effect upon souls is that they do not know what to believe, and accordingly they lapse very much into the state of Pilate as embodied in the question he addressed to the Lord, "What is truth?" What other result can be produced when it is maintained, for instance, by one of the most popular preachers and writers of the day, whose "orthodoxy" it was not even permitted to question, that neither Paul nor John understood the nature of the death of Christ? It may, indeed, be doubted whether eight out of every ten professing Christians met with would not hesitate to affirm the plenary inspiration of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The evil is spread far and wide, and, like some infection in the air, it is spreading ever more widely; it has penetrated unnoticed into many a godly family circle, and it has filled the minds of many of the young with doubts and questionings, if not with infidelity.

V. 8. In the eighth verse the Apostle warns us against a second great snare — the snare of rationalism, or the effort to explain all things by human reason in order to exclude revelation. The Apostle says, "See that there be no one who shall lead you away as a prey through philosophy and vain deceit" (N. Tn.). Philosophy is the love of wisdom, but the wisdom of men by which man seeks to search out and explain all things under the sun. Alas! human wisdom leaves out God and leads to "vain deceit", such as evolution, which would fain have a universe without God, and modernism which would have a form of Christianity without the Christ of God and the atonement of the Bible.

It is on this account that the apostle specifies in this chapter the various antagonistic influences, which are ever at work to undermine this blessed truth. The first of these is philosophy and vain deceit; that is, as we understand it, philosophy which is nothing but vain deceit. It must be so characterized, for it springs from man's mind; it is formed into a system by human reason, and its object is to corrupt the revelation which God has been pleased to make by His Spirit in His inspired Word. It is Rationalism - Rationalism pure and simple, which judges everything according to its estimate of what is suitable to man. Sinful man would thus sit in judgment upon the thoughts of God! This philosophy, in the words of another, is the wandering of the old man's mind; and, as we read, is after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Our passage in Colossians 2 shows the dangers that beset the saints at Colosse, and also the divine presentation of the truth regarding Christ which, if received, would rescue them from their dangers. Well does the Apostle say, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit," for these things have ruined the testimony of many dear saints of God, and led astray many who have been brought up among the saints of God. There is no room for human thoughts in the things of God; the assembly has no need for the help of the great thinkers of this world; indeed, they do grave harm to all who imbibe their opinions, for all human thoughts, all that springs from the mind of man away from God, leads to infidelity. Philosophy makes much of man, and those who absorb it usually think very highly of themselves and of their intellectual powers, but it is empty; there is nothing substantial in it for the soul or mind of man, nothing that can bring peace to the conscience or joy to the heart. It allures with great promises, but is actually empty and deceitful.

"Beware," said the apostle, "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." The force of the word "spoil" is not to mar but to capture, i.e., to take as a spoil or prey. Nothing does more easily capture intellectual people than the philosophy of the world-teachers, because it is so very abstruse and involved. It represents the highest flights of the reflective and imaginative powers of the human intellect. Here, however, it is coupled with "vain" or "empty" deceit, which affords us a sure insight into what it really is according to the divine view.

Having surveyed very imperfectly some part of the material universe and observed or deduced what they believe to be the laws governing it, men love to speculate upon the mysteries of its origin and its character. They attempt the solution of a problem only knowing, and that imperfectly, some tiny fraction of the factors involved in it. Is it likely then that their philosophies will stand? Moreover, could they become possessed of ALL the facts governing the case their minds would break down under the weight of them, for only a mind equal to the mind of God would be capable of comprehending the inter-relation of all the facts and so drawing correct conclusions. What hope is there, then, in philosophy? It is only "after the tradition [or, teaching] of men, after the rudiments [or, elements] of the world," and we Christians should know something of what men and the world are. It is not "after Christ," and hence has the effect of diverting from Him.

"Beware lest any man spoil you". It means "make a prey of you". Something like a captured animal, unable to move in the sphere where one could normally move; out of one's environment, and all through philosophy and vain or empty deceit — nothing in it at all.

But warning was necessary, for the same subtle foe, who had succeeded by the use of intellectual wiles in Eden, was at work, with similar weapons, in the church. He sought to spoil and lead captive the confessors of Christ, and, by the use of wicked men to bewilder the minds of His followers. Thus to this end he employed philosophy—the speculation of the human mind, which, after all, could only be guesswork, whether as applied to creation, or to the more serious work of theorizing on the Godhead, both matters utterly beyond the reach of man, save as by the revelation of God Himself. Such philosophy is but vain deceit, and is a sinful tampering with that revelation.

The word "spoil" in verse 8 does not mean to mar, but rather, to capture as spoil, or to make a prey of you. It describes the kind of thing that will happen to you if instead of progressing in the faith of Christ you submit to the teachings of philosophers. It is a strong way of putting it, but not one whit too strong. In the ancient world the Greeks were the great philosophers. They had no knowledge of any revelation from God, and in its absence set their minds to work on the problems presented by man and the universe. In result their teachings were but empty deceit, all of them framed according to man and his little world.

Even in Paul's day some were found who wished to accommodate Christian teaching to Grecian philosophy, and this meant the virtual destruction of faith. In our day the same kind of thing has taken place. The philosophy of today differs in many ways from that of the ancient world. Two terrible features characterize it: firstly, it pursues its investigations and theorizings not in ignorance of any revelation from God at all, but in rejection of the revelation that has been brought to their notice; secondly, it all too frequently has seized upon the terms used in God's revelation, the Bible, and then having emptied them of their Scriptural meaning has filled them with another meaning suited to their own purposes. A very deceitful process, this! When the Apostle coupled together philosophy and vain deceit he wrote as a prophet indeed!

As to the negative side, we are to be watchful (v.8), for some people are always ready to ruin the testimony of a believer. Philosophy is the first serious danger mentioned. This is the wisdom of man intruding where he has no real understanding. Christ is our Head from whom all wisdom flows: in the things of God, man's wisdom is foolishness (1 Cor.1:20). There has been no greater human wisdom than that of Solomon, and his book of Ecclesiastes is the best philosophical book in existence. But even Solomon's philosophy leads only to one conclusion so far as this world is concerned: "all was vanity and grasping for the wind" (Eccl.2:11). If such philosophy intrudes at all in spiritual matters, it is "empty deceit," both empty and deceiving. It may have man's venerable tradition behind it, but is still only of man -- of the world not subject to Christ who is not of this world.

This was the best medicine for the Colossians, the divinely appointed remedy. Nothing was as suited as the presentation of Christ’s fulness to help them detect the hollowness of what others were offering them. What could possibly be added by human philosophy if they had the one in whom ‘all’ the treasures of wisdom (Gr. ‘sophia’) are hid? Philosophy applies the power of human reasoning while closing the eyes to divine revelation. Christ was that revelation, the image of the invisible God. Why follow the ‘teaching of men’ if ‘all’ the treasures of knowledge were in Christ? What could any of the ‘elements of the world’ add? They were ‘not according to Christ’ (v. 8) and, consequently, as all wisdom, knowledge and riches are in Christ, these elements of the world must be devoid of any wisdom, knowledge or worth. (Of course, we all have to learn maths, science, and many other human insights — but these things do not make us better Christians.)