Colossians 2:16-23: "The 'Christ Plus Legalism' Compromise."

 Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the book of Colossians. Last time in this book, Paul went on an extended oration about how awesome Christ Jesus is in Colossians 2:9–15. And that was strategic. Paul has warned us already about “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition… and not according to Christ” (2:8). So Paul spoke in grandiose ways about the magnificence of Christ Jesus and what he’s done for us.

Now, in today’s passage, Colossians 2:16–23, Paul is going to expound a little more on what exactly the Colossians were dealing with that he labeled “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition… and not according to Christ.” Paul calls this form of deceit circulating in the Colossian church “judgmental.” He calls it “puffed up.” He calls it “fleshly.” And he calls it “self-made religion.”

And I hope to extract from this passage a few application principles for us to protect against what I’m calling a “Christ plus Legalism.”

I want to talk this morning about three things:

1. The emptiness of “Christ plus legalism” (2:16–17)
2. The conceitedness of “Christ plus legalism” (2:18–19)
3. The ineffectiveness of “Christ plus legalism” (2:20–23)

That is your outline for today.

Years ago, the Greek writer and moralist Aesop wrote a fable about a dog. And this particular dog had a bone in his mouth. And that dog was happy, as only a dog with a bone can be. But as that dog walked by a creek, he noticed another dog in the water. And that other dog had another bone. And the envy and the avarice of that dog got the best of him. So he did what only a dog could do in that situation. He dropped the bone in his mouth to snap for the bone in the mouth of the other dog. And as he did that, he dropped his own bone into the water never to be retrieved. So instead of having two bones, and instead of having one bone, he now had none. Y’all heard that before?

Now, imagine with me a Christian man (or woman) two thousand years ago in Colossae who is in Christ Jesus. And this Christian is happy. His sins are forgiven. He has everything he needs in Christ. But along comes a wicked and self-promoting “expert” in the Scriptures who says, “Christ is great. I believe in Christ too. But you are missing something. You need to add something else to your Christian faith. You need to upgrade to a better version of Christianity.” And sure enough that person is tricked into thinking that he (or she) is deficient in some way spiritually. And in chasing some other thing, some other additive to Christ, they lose sight of what they already have in Christ.

That’s the situation that Paul is addressing in this letter to the Colossians. That’s the hucksterism that was going on in Colossae that makes Paul’s blood boil. And yet Paul, very calmly and astutely, addresses these errors and warns the Colossians to watch out.

Watch out for…

1. The emptiness of “Christ plus legalism” (2:16–17)
2. The conceitedness of “Christ plus legalism” (2:18–19)
3. The ineffectiveness of “Christ plus legalism” (2:20–23)

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Let’s deal with those in turn. First…

1) The emptiness of “Christ plus legalism” (2:16–17)

Here’s what Paul says in verse 16:

¹⁶ Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

Last week we talked about circumcision and the presence of certain people in Colossae who were advocating for literal circumcision among the Gentile converts. That wasn’t the only thing that these false teachers were advocating for. They were also advocating for food and drink laws. They were also advocating for festivals and new moon observance. They were also advocating for Sabbath observance.

And to all this, Paul says “let no one pass judgment on you.” In other words, don’t let anyone look down on you or despise you or impose on you a form of legalism that is not necessary for your Christian faith.

In the OT, there are a number of food laws that the Israelites were given. And these laws were good. They meaningfully differentiated the Israelites as a people. There were laws concerning what kinds of food could be eaten (clean vs. unclean). There were laws concerning how an animal would be killed. There were laws concerning how the food was to be prepared.

But Jesus made clear that those food laws were fulfilled in Christ. According to Mark 7:19, Jesus declared all foods clean. This was reiterated in the book of Acts with Peter when a sheet full of clean and unclean animals was brought down from the sky and God said, “Arise, Peter, kill and eat!” (see Acts 10:9–16; see also Acts 15:28–29). The dietary laws of the Old Covenant are no longer in force. NT Christians are under the New Covenant now.

Paul says clearly in 1 Corinthians 8:8,

“Food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.”

Also in the OT, there were festivals that were observed by the Israelites—Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles (Exod 12:1–28; Lev 23:4–8, 15–21, 33–43; Deut 16:1–16; Exod 34:22–23; Neh 8:13–18). Sacrifices were offered on the new moon or the first day of the month (Num 28:11–14). And the temptation for the NT Christian in Colossae, especially when they came in contact with Jewish influencers, was to abide those OT regulations. What’s wrong with that? What harm can that cause?

Well, there’s no harm in that, just like there’s no harm in circumcision (no spiritual harm), unless there is the passing of judgment. “Are you observing Passover? You should be. Are you celebrating the new moon and offering sacrifices? Oh, you aren’t! Why not? Don’t you know the OT requires that of you. You are the NT people of God, so you’ve got to obey the OT!” Something like that was going on in Colossae. And the false piety of it was confusing the Colossians. And Paul says, “let no one pass judgment on you based on this stuff.”

I think the Sabbath statement is especially tricky here. Are Christians required to observe the Sabbath? It’s in the Ten Commandments! The Ten Commandments are so important to us. They are the framework for a modern civilization!

Yes, but here’s the thing. Christ is the fulfillment of the OT Sabbath. The other nine commandments are applicable, and I would even say morally binding on a Christian. But we are not required to rest for worship on Saturdays. And we are not even mandated to rest and worship every Sunday, despite what our Sabbatarian friends have concluded about this passage.

Is it good for us to rest once a week? Yes. Is there an abiding principle in the concept of six days man works, and on the seventh, he rests? Yes. Is that part of our New Covenant framework? Not really. It’s more like circumcision than it is like the seventh commandment: “You shall not commit adultery!” (Exod 20:14).

Look, I can give you lots of NT passages that speak against adultery and fornication for the NT Christian (Matt 5:27–32; 19:3–9; Mark 10:11–12; Rom 13:9; 1 Cor 6:9–20; Eph 5:3–5; Heb 13:4). But there are no NT statements that speak of the Christian’s duty to observe the Sabbath (Mark 2:27–28; Matt 12:1–12; Luke 13:10–17; John 5:1–18; Col 2:16–17; Rom 14:5–6; Heb 4:1–11). And that’s because Christ himself is the fulfillment of Sabbath. He is our Sabbath rest!

Which leads to verse 17. Here’s the crux of the issue with dietary laws, dates, and drink.

¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance [literally: the “body”] belongs to Christ.

Hebrews 10:1 says as follows,

“For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.”

The Old Covenant foreshadows the New Covenant. And the New Covenant surpasses the Old Covenant. Why would we go back to the old? Christ is the true and better Sabbath. Christ is the true and better sacrifice. Christ is the true and better Passover (1 Cor 5:7). Christ is the true and better food from above. He is manna from heaven. He is the bread of life that came down from above (see John 6:22–71).

When we take communion, we remember Christ. We have metaphorically eaten from his flesh and drunk from his blood (John 6:35, 47–58; Matt 26:26–28; Mark 14:22–24; Luke 22:19–20; 1 Cor 11:23–26). And he makes us clean in a way that clean and unclean laws can’t ultimately make us clean.

And it’s hard to know exactly what the Colossian church was dealing with. But there must have been a group of people going around trying to convince the Colossian church to adopt OT rituals in keeping with the Old Covenant. And instead of seeing the New Covenant in Christ as superior to the Old Covenant… or instead of seeing the New Covenant as superseding the Old Covenant, they saw the New Covenant as incomplete and needing to be enhanced by the Old Covenant. And to that, Paul says, “no bueno!”

To use a word picture from Jesus, it’s like new wine in old wineskins. That doesn’t work.

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But it’s not just a form of OT law-abiding legalism that they were advocating. In the next section, Paul moves on to another expression of legalism. And this is more of a pseudo-spiritual mysticism mixed with asceticism that had crept into the church. And Paul doesn’t just address the error of these false teachers and their theology; he also addresses their pride.

In the first section of this passage, we see the emptiness of Christ plus legalism. In verses 18 and 19, Paul exposes…

2) The conceitedness of “Christ plus legalism” (2:18–19)

Look at verse 18 with me.

¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism

By the way, there are two imperatival commands in this passage. In verse 16, Paul says, “let no one pass judgment on you.” And in verse 18, “let no one disqualify you.”

And here’s what’s interesting grammatically. Not only are these negative prohibitions—“thou shalt nots” if you will—they are also indirect commands. So Paul doesn’t say, “Don’t do this.” He says, “Don’t let other people do this to you.” That’s remarkable.

As a Christian you are morally responsible not only to not do things, but also to not let other people do things to you. If someone is forcing a “Christ plus legalism” on you, you have a moral responsibility to say, “No!” “I will not compromise Christ or the sufficiency of Christ by listening to you.”

That’s the impact of what Paul is saying here. Don’t let people judge you on the basis of legalism. And don’t let people disqualify you on the basis of legalism. Stand up for yourself.

Paul says,

¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,

Literally, “the mind of his flesh.” You might translate this as follows: “puffed up without reason by his carnal mind.” What Paul is saying here is that there’s a kind of spirituality, there’s a kind of legalism, that looks righteous and moral and holy… but it’s actually carnal.

Those of you who are experienced Christians are not surprised about this. There is a kind of legalism and morality that is actually more sinful than helpful. It’s prideful. And it’s fleshly. It’s Christ-defying discipline, not Christ-obeying discipline. It focuses more on moral attainment than Christ’s atonement.

Now let me define some terms here and see if we can make sense of what was circulating in Colossae. First of all asceticism in verse 18. What is that? Well, here’s the definition of an “ascetic” in English. An ascetic is one who practices strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline. It’s someone who is austere in appearance, manner, or attitude.

The Greek word here translated “asceticism” is ταπεινοφροσύνη (ta-pei-no-phro-sy-nē). Etymologically it means “low-minded” or “humble-minded.” And it’s one of those Greek words that can be used positively or negatively in the Scriptures. That’s why context is so important to understanding meaning in the text. You can’t just extrapolate meaning from a word in isolation.

For example, in Philippians 2:3, Paul writes,

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility [ταπεινοφροσύνη] count others more significant than yourselves.”

That’s a positive use of this word. Paul even uses this word positively later in Colossians 3:12. He says,

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility [ταπεινοφροσύνη], meekness, and patience.”

But in Colossians 2:18 the usage is obviously negative. This is a “false humility” that the false teachers are exhibiting and insisting on, not godly humility.

The ESV translates this word “asceticism.” The NIV translates it “false humility.” The NASB95 translates it “self-abasement.” I think “asceticism” is the right nuance for this word. What these false teachers were advocating for was some kind of physical self-denial and verbal self-denigration that was really just masking their self-destructive pride.

I had a conversation once with a young man while traveling from Longview, Texas to Ouachita, Arkansas, where this individual tried to convince me that he was the humblest person that I had ever met. And the extent to which he went on and on about his profound humility was almost convincing. Something like that was happening with these false teachers in Colossae.

But their pride and their self-denial was worse than that, because it was also Christ-denying.

Look at verse 19.

¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head,

Capital-H “Head!” They are puffed up with pride and not holding fast to Christ.

¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Their self-denial was really a form of self-inflation. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it was also steering people away from the sufficiency of Christ. How can you grow spiritually as the body if you are disconnected from the head? Without the head, the body is dead.

Paul is probably having some fun here with these ascetics. They want to impose food laws and restrict the diets of the believers. Paul says, “Forget about food. It is Christ who nourishes the body! You can eat the best food. You can purge your diet from anything ‘unclean’ and still be an emaciated, starving Christian. Why? Because Christ nourishes you. He gives the growth that is from God!”

Now, let me deal with a couple things here before we move on to the third section of this passage. First of all, there’s a curious statement here that deserves comment. Look again at verse 18.

¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels,

You might say, “Worship of angels? Who would ever be duped into doing that?” You’d be surprised! You’d be surprised what people can be duped into worshipping… or let me give you another word… venerating.

In Paul’s day, there were people who were actually advocating for the worship (or veneration) of angels. We see the same kind of error in the book of Hebrews. That’s why the author of Hebrews went on an extended “Christ is greater than the angels” discussion at the beginning of his book (see Heb 1:5–14)! He says that angels are nothing more than ministering spirits sent out to serve those who inherit salvation. Don’t put them on par with Christ!

But probably the false teachers in Colossae were saying something like this: “God is too lofty and too transcendent to worship. He’s too aloof. That’s why we worship and serve angels. Let’s fixate on them.”

I read this last week about a famous movie that came out thirty years ago called “Michael.” Maybe some of y’all remember this. It was a movie about an angel. And John Travolta played the titular role of this angel who went around and made people fall in love like Cupid. That movie was, even by Hollywood standards, a profoundly stupid movie. What can I say… it was the 90s.

And when asked about that movie, the screenwriter Nora Ephron said the following:

“What people can’t stand is, everyone wants to believe God notices you, that He notices the details.… The horrible truth is that He probably doesn’t notice. He’s got more important things to do. But angels do notice. You know, they make the tow truck come when you have a flat tire.”

As if angels are fixing flat tires while God is too busy to notice.

The problem with that line of reasoning is two-fold. First of all, when angels show up in the Bible they are more often than not killing people not changing tires or making humans fall in love. If you remember, John was tempted twice in the book of Revelation to worship an angel because he was so gobsmacked by the majesty of what the angel was showing him (Rev 19:10; 22:8–9). But the angel rebuked John twice and said, “You must not do that. I’m a servant of God just like you. Worship God and God alone.”

The second problem with that quote by Nora Ephron is that the great mediator between God and man is not an angel. No angel died for the sins of God’s people. Christ is our mediator. He notices all the details on earth. He’s aware of all of our sins. And he intercedes on our behalf before the Father.

So whatever these legalists or ascetics in Colossae were advocating for, Paul says, “Don’t be persuaded by that. Don’t let them take your eyes off Christ! Don’t let them disqualify you!”

In our day, we don’t have a lot of people advocating for the worship or the veneration of angels. But we do have people advocating for the veneration of saints. And we do have people advocating for the veneration of Mary as co-redemptrix or co-mediatrix. And I would say—not unlike what Paul is saying here—don’t let anyone disqualify you by taking your eyes off of Christ and putting them on someone else… even if that someone else is yourself.

And look again at verse 18, because there’s another curious statement that I want to deal with.

¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,

What are these visions? I don’t know. And Paul doesn’t specify. But I know people who go into churches all the time in our day saying, “I have a vision from God for you.” And I’ll just tell you, that’s the fastest way to be escorted out of this church.

“Pastor Tony, I have a vision from God that you need to hear.”

“Oh, okay! Why don’t you go bother some other church with your vision.”

In Martin Luther’s day, he had to deal with a group of mystics and visionaries led by the radical Anabaptist Thomas Müntzer. Müntzer was all about extra-biblical revelation and experiences. And he would run around crying “The Spirit, The Spirit.” But Luther said of him, “I will not follow where [his] spirit leads.” When Müntzer came to visit Luther and tried to convince him about these visions, he said, “I slap your spirit on the snout!”

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Finally, here’s #3. We’ve looked at the emptiness of Christ plus legalism. We’ve looked at the conceitedness of Christ plus legalism. Now Paul addresses…

3) The ineffectiveness of “Christ plus legalism” (2:20–23)

Paul says in verse 20,

²⁰ If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—²¹ “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”

Verse 20 harks back to Paul’s statements earlier about burial and resurrection. You were buried with him in baptism (Spirit baptism!) and raised to new life through faith. You are dead to sin. You are dead to this world. You are dead to the elemental spirits of the world.

Paul’s statement here adds a rhetorical flourish—if! If you died! If you died, then why—as if you were still alive in the world—do you submit to these regulations?

The elemental spirits of the world are the forces in this world that empower legalism. Every single religion in the world is built on a foundation of “do this” and “don’t do this.” Every single one except Christianity.

Christianity is not about what you have done, but what Christ has done. It’s not about works; it’s about faith in the finished work of Christ. Paul is asking here, “If you’ve been saved by grace, why are you trying to supplement or replace that grace with legalism. It’s nonsensical.”

Years ago, when C.S. Lewis was alive, there was a British conference on comparative religions. And experts from around the world got together to debate the following topic: Compared to the other religions of the world, what was unique to the Christian faith?

So they began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? No, other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, no! Other religions had accounts of people returning from death.

The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room and asked, “What’s the rumpus about Gentlemen?” And when he heard that his colleagues were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among the world religions, Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” It’s unmerited favor.

So let me go back to the “if” statement of Paul in verse 20. If you have experienced God’s grace… if you have put your faith in Christ, his death and resurrection… if you have died with Christ… then why are you embracing the power of legalism over your life… “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch!”? You’re dead to the power of legalism. Why resurrect it?

It’s hard to identify specifically what the false teachers were telling the Colossians to “not handle.” Probably this has to do with clean and unclean laws of the OT again. Don’t handle unclean food. Don’t taste it. Don’t touch a dead body. Don’t eat with Gentiles. That kind of thing.

And there’s a kind of mocking refrain with Paul’s statements here: “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch.” This sounds like kids on the playground mocking some obnoxious tattletale—“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch!”

And because of the ambiguity of this taunt, it’s hard to know what Paul is talking about here. Don’t touch what? What were the false teachers telling the Colossians not to touch? What were they telling them not to taste? “Spell it out for us, Paul!” I don’t know.

But I’m actually glad that Paul didn’t explicitly say what it was that they were told to not handle, not touch, and not taste. Because these kinds of legalistic requirements can take on many different forms in the modern world. In other words, the human psyche has an endless reservoir of legalism to draw from. And I’m not just talking about OT laws. We make up our own laws sometimes.

Personally I am shocked how often Christians are duped into thinking that proper dieting and exercise are the key to spiritual maturity. I’m all for eating better and living healthier, but that is, at most, only tangentially connected to our spirituality. It’s quite easy for a Christian to be physically healthy and spiritually a mess. I see it all the time.

Look, you can eat the finest, healthiest foods… or you can fast from all kinds of foods out there… and you can still live a miserably, unhealthy, un-Christlike Christian life. I see it all the time.

And don’t get me wrong, the ideal is that we would be both physically and spiritually healthy. But Paul says quite helpfully that outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16). That’s the second law of thermodynamics at work. Your body is moving from order to disorder in this fallen world.

Look at verse 22.

²² (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?

This is all part of one big question in verses 20–22. Let me simplify—“If you have died with Christ, why are you submitting to regulations according to human precepts and teachings?” In other words, “If you have died with Christ, you don’t have to listen to these people telling you that you need a legalistic, spiritual upgrade. Those people don’t know what they are talking about. ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch!’ Those things that you handle and taste and touch are perishable things. Why would they have any lasting spiritual value if you eat them or avoid them?”

I think the key to understanding this whole section is the end of verse 22 and the beginning of verse 23. Paul says, “according to human precepts and teachings.” In other words, this isn’t divine instruction. This isn’t proper interpretation of God’s Word. This isn’t apostolic doctrine. It’s human teaching. It’s worldly wisdom. It’s godless.

And then look at verse 23. Here’s a further indictment.

²³ These [i.e., “these human precepts and teachings”] have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion [yuck!] and asceticism [ταπεινοφροσύνη] and severity to the body [yuck!], but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

That’s fascinating. They may restrict your actual flesh. Your body mass might shrink because of the severity to your body. But your flesh, that is your sin nature, won’t be curbed at all. Why is that? How can that be?

Because as soon as you curb your sinful desires for gluttony or drunkenness or lust with asceticism, then you increase your pride in your accomplishments. Your self-made religion is ultimately ineffective. As soon as you shrink your body, you increase your flesh. You are a dog chasing his own tail. You’re a hamster on a wheel. You aren’t accomplishing anything.

Why? Why is that the case? Because “self-made religion” has no ultimate value. It’s vanity.

Listen, Christian, if your self-discipline is more about self than Christ, it is hopelessly ineffective. If your self-discipline is devoid of Christ, then here’s what you are… you are a branch cut off from the tree trying to grow and produce fruit on your own. That doesn’t work! You know what that is? That’s firewood! That’s futility.

It has the…

appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion

But it is of…

no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

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So what’s the way forward? How do we avoid the trap of legalism and asceticism and self-made religion? Because it’s not just false teachers that advocate for this stuff. There is an internal threat of legalism that is inside each one of us, and we’ve got to deal with that too. The human heart craves legalism. How do we combat that? What’s the way forward?

Here it is: at the risk of being abstract, let me just say that everything you have in terms of salvation and your continuing sanctification is constantly anchored to Christ. And you’ve got to reckon in your mind constantly that my salvation and my sanctification is anchored to Christ. Christ Jesus is the source and the power for everything. To use Paul’s language from earlier, we are “rooted and built up in him” (2:7).

So practically speaking, if you are more fired up about your discipleship plan than you are about Christ, I don’t want to hear about it. If you are more verbose about your diet and your discipline than you are about Christ, I don’t want to hear about it. Everything needs to flow from and be dependent on Christ. Paul said in Romans 10:4,

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

So let’s get practical. You might ask, “Can I embrace a diet or an eating scheme for my personal health?” Yes. “Or for my Christian witness.” Yes. “Can I regulate that within the church?” No! “Can I force that on other people?” No, you cannot!

“Can I institute certain ceremonies and holidays and festivals based on the OT in order to enrich my relationship with Christ?” Yes. “Can I regulate that in the church?” No. “Can I view that as an additive to my faith in Christ in terms of making me a better Christian than I already am?” No. Christ is sufficient.

“Can I force what I do on other people in order to super-duper charge their relationship with Christ?” No. No, you cannot. “Can I talk about that ‘thing’ more than I talk about Christ?” Please don’t. “Can I talk more about diet, days, and drink than I do about Christ?” No! Please don’t do that.

Look, the greatest thing about Christianity, in comparison with all the other religions of the world is that Christianity views you as the worst of sinners, and at the same time absolutely sinless. Everybody hear me on this?

“What's the difference between Christianity and every other religion in the world?” Here it is: You are worse than you realize, and you’re also, at the same time, better than you realize! Simul Justus et Peccator. That’s how the reformers talked about it. You are simultaneously (right now) a sinner and at the same time justified before God.

You are a sinner before God. You are worse than you could possibly ever compensate for in your own actions. And at the same time, in Christ, you are perfectly righteous and justified before a holy God. That is what’s unique to Christianity.

And when you add other junk to that, you make Christianity like all the other religions of the world. That’s Christ plus. It’s Christ in addition to some other thing. “I want to add some of my own stuff to Christ.” Stop doing that.

And if someone in the church or in your life tries to get you to embrace a Christ plus legalism upgrade for your spiritual life, you tell that person to “Hit the road, jack, and don’t come back no more no more no more no more.”

And if we as elders see or hear of people doing that in the church, we’ll do the same. We’ll do like Paul does here. Because self-made religion is an abomination. Don’t let anyone disqualify you and don’t let anyone pass judgment on you because of their own self-made religion. Pray with me.