While the Bible is filled with fascinating historical accounts of battles, natural disasters, and political intrigue, often a single-word picture or comparison can invoke the same sense of wonder and bring an even greater depth of meaning to a particular truth. For me, one such comparison is found in Colossians 2:8, which begins, “Beware lest any man spoil you…”
Now, if your first thought is something like rancid milk or rotting meat, let me begin by clarifying what sort of “spoiling” this verse refers to. Warfare has always tragically affected civilians. Today, we tend to be more “civilized” in how we do battle, but this was generally not so in medieval or ancient times. Rather, the savaging of the civilian population of your enemies was a normal tactic in wartime. The plundering of goods was a means of paying and rewarding the victorious army.
The taking of livestock and stored grains was a means of feeding the troops. The destruction of standing fields and the burning of barns, houses, and other structures was a means of weakening the infrastructure of the nation and depriving the enemy troops of any future benefits they might provide. Finally, the killing or enslavement of civilians reduced the risk of boys growing up into soldiers, prevented the encroachment of enemies towards your territories, and, hopefully, would break the spirit of your enemy.
All this destruction and plundering is known as spoiling. Those civilians who managed to retreat to a walled city or otherwise escape would often come home to utter destruction to decide if it was worth rebuilding from scratch.
With these depictions in mind we can reconsider Paul’s exhortation with a richer understanding of his message. Let’s go ahead and finish the verse: “Beware 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.” We see that Paul describes four common dangers that could rain spiritual destruction upon uncareful Christians. These dangers will rob you of, or lay waste to, your spiritual blessings from the Lord.
The first of these is Philosophy. In Paul’s day, the ideas of Greek philosophers like Epicurious, Plato, and Aristotle were regarded as cutting-edge science. Their theories of both the physical universe and the spiritual realm greatly influenced public thought and education. Naturally, this carried over into the Church, and we see various warnings in the Epistles which seem to directly address some of these influences. Of course, the most notable direct confrontation with Greek philosophy was by Paul in Acts 17, where he adeptly quoted various philosophers like Seneca and Aratus to introduce the thinkers of Athens to the true God, Savior, and Creator, Jesus Christ.
The danger of Philosophy to the believer is not in reasoning or scientific exploration. In fact, God wants us to use our minds. The danger is that philosophy tends to exalt man’s reasoning over what God has revealed. Hence, worldly philosophy builds a worldview that is based largely on experiences. The flaws that come from this are evident. For example, when Aristotle observed that swallows disappeared in the winter, he taught that they rested in large heaps at the bottom of rivers, waiting to come out again in the spring. If he had only read Jeremiah 8:7 or Job 39:26, he would have known that certain birds fly to warmer climates in the winter.
Crossroads Bible Fellowship is located at 1002 Road B, Henderson, NE.
