“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” (Colossians 2:8-10)
The nature of the false teaching that appeared at Colossi was a blend of Jewish legalism, Greek philosophy and mysticism. This form of mysticism glorified human strength and autonomy. It proclaimed the power of humans to control their own destiny. Such false teaching considered Jesus as a demigod or lesser type of divinity. Humans could work to become like him, demigods as well or godlike through a process of meditation, philosophy, and works of asceticism or self-denial. In this way one could attain secret knowledge that brought them to the upper echelon of spiritual enlightenment.
The false teaching which prevailed at Colossi dominates our contemporary culture. This is why we have such unrest and acrimony in our land. Each individual claims to be autonomous and, therefore always right about everything. Such thinking has even infiltrated the Church as many churches and church leaders now teach philosophy as religion, a religion which exalts the individual. Such thinking is influencing believers to forget that the whole reason they came to faith in Christ in the first place: we all were imperfect and flawed sinners who had never been able to achieve such enlightened perfection on our own. We were all alienated from God, unable to make themselves right or good.
Paul brings us back to our true focus and our head, Jesus. On the cross, He performed the ultimate act of unselfishness by dying for us, we who were alienated from God without any hope of ever achieving oneness with Him no matter what we did. We cannot abandon faith by returning to using the useless ways and methods that our world offers. They only enslave us and give us a false sense of security that leads us away from the will and purpose of the Lord. We must renounce the wisdom of this world which is not true wisdom. True wisdom humbly leads us to surrender our lives to Christ.