4, 5. (a) What religious influences existed in Colossae? (b) What was Gnosticism, and what dangerous effects might its influence have produced?

⁴ Colossae was a religious melting pot. The native Phrygians were an emotional people deeply immersed in spiritism and idolatrous superstition. Then there was the city’s Jewish populace, still shackled to Judaism. Colossae’s proximity to a major trade route also resulted in a steady stream of visitors. Likely, these foreigners loved to spend their leisure time telling or listening to something new. (Compare Acts 17:21.) This led to the spread of new philosophies, among them slowly emerging Gnosticism. Says scholar R. E. O. White: “Gnosticism was a climate of thought as widespread as evolutionary theory is today. It probably came into prominence in the first century or earlier and reached its zenith in the second. It combined philosophic speculation, superstition, semi-magical rites, and sometimes a fanatical and even obscene cultus.”

⁵ In such a climate, religion in Colossae seems to have become a kind of ongoing experiment​—a hybrid mixture of Judaism, Greek philosophy, and pagan mysticism. Would Christianity, too, be cast into the same melting pot?

‘Deprived of the Prize’​—How?

6. (a) How would Paul’s words have counteracted the influence of pagan philosophies and Judaism? (b) Why was there a need for Christians to “look out”?

⁶ Paul’s powerful letter to the Colossians would have counteracted the influence of any who might have wished to fuse Judaism and pagan philosophy with Christianity. Repeatedly, he called attention to Christ. Paul wrote: “Carefully concealed in him [Christ, not any Judaizer or pagan philosopher] are all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.” The Colossians were urged to “go on walking in union with him [Christ], rooted and being built up in him and being stabilized in the faith.” Otherwise, they might be led astray. So Paul warned: “Look out: perhaps there may be someone who will carry you off as his prey through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ.”​—Colossians 2:3, 6-8.

7. (a) Why might the teachings of pagan philosophers and Judaizers have appealed to some Christians? (b) Why were their teachings really “empty deception”?

⁷ Perhaps some new followers of Jesus Christ missed the awe of mysticism or the stimulation of philosophy. Certain Jewish Christians may have had a lingering fondness for the obsolete traditions of Judaism. The teachings of pagan philosophers and Judaizers would therefore have had a certain appeal to such individuals. Yet, however convincing or eloquent these false teachers may have seemed, they offered nothing more than “empty deception.” Instead of expounding the pure word of God, they were merely parroting “the elementary things of the world”​—useless philosophies, precepts, and beliefs. Embracing those erroneous ideas would spell disaster for a Christian. Hence, Paul said: “Let no man deprive you of the prize.”​—Colossians 2:18.

8. (a) What was “the prize,” and what scriptures support your answer? (b) How could anointed Christians be deprived of “the prize”?

⁸ “The prize” was immortal life in the heavens. It was likened to the reward given the victorious runner after an exhausting footrace. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Philippians 3:14; 2 Timothy 4:7, 8; Revelation 2:7) Ultimately, only Jehovah God through Jesus Christ could disqualify someone from the race for life. (John 5:22, 23) Nevertheless, if a false teacher brought a Christian under his tutelage, this could have the effect of depriving him of the prize. The deceived one could veer so far from the truth that he could fail to finish the race!

Personality of the False Teachers

9. What four things characterized the false teachers among the Colossians?

⁹ Was there any way, then, of identifying a person who was intent on ‘depriving a Christian of the prize’? Yes, for Paul gave the personality profile of the false teachers at Colossae. Such a man (1) “takes delight in a mock humility and a form of worship of the angels”; (2) is “‘taking his stand on’ the things he has seen”; (3) is “puffed up without proper cause by his fleshly frame of mind”; whereas (4) “he is not holding fast to the head,” Jesus Christ.​—Colossians 2:18, 19.

10. How did the false teachers ‘take delight in a mock humility’?

¹⁰ What a clever ruse! Ignoring Jesus’ condemnation of ostentatious fasting, the false teacher presented an appealing facade of humility. (Matthew 6:16) Indeed, the false teacher ‘took delight’ in making a show of fasting and other forms of religious self-denial. (Colossians 2:20-23) His sad-faced appearance was carefully designed to emit a false piety. Indeed, the false teacher was ‘practicing his righteousness in front of men in order to be observed by them.’ (Matthew 6:1) But all of this was a sham, “a mock humility.” As The Expositor’s Bible puts it: “A man who knows that he is humble, and is self-complacent about it, glancing out of the corners of his downcast eyes at any mirror where he can see himself, is not humble at all.”​—Italics ours.

11. (a) What was the worship of angels? (b) What evidence is there that the worship of angels persisted in Colossae?

¹¹ Nevertheless, this sham humility added seeming credibility to an otherwise absurd practice​—the “worship of the angels.” Paul does not explain exactly how this worship was performed. The evidence is, however, that it was a form of false worship that persisted in the area of Colossae for centuries.

13. (a) Is the worship of angels acceptable? (b) How did the false teacher ‘“take his stand on” the things he had seen’?

¹³ Worship of angels in whatever form, though, is wrong. (1 Timothy 2:5; Revelation 19:10; 22:8, 9) But the false teacher would try to waive this objection aside by ‘“taking his stand on” the things he had seen.’ According to The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, this expression was used “in the mystery religions to denote the climax of initiation, when the mystês [initiate] ‘sets foot on’ the entrance to the new life which he is now to share with the god.” By using pagan phraseology, Paul mocked the way the false teacher prided himself on having special insight​—perhaps even claiming to have had supernatural visions.

14. How were the false teachers ‘puffed up by a fleshly frame of mind’?

¹⁴ Though claiming to be spiritual, however, the false teacher was really puffed up without proper cause by his fleshly frame of mind. The sinful flesh tainted his outlook and motives. “Puffed up” with pride and arrogance, his mind was “on the works that were wicked.” (Colossians 1:21) Worst of all, he was not holding fast to the head, Christ, for he was giving more weight to the speculations of worldlings than to the teachings of Jesus.