Reality CheckShembull

Throughout this letter, Paul has been encouraging the church of Colossae to stay faithful in their devotion to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He wastes no words warning them against the inerrant doctrines of false teachers, and to not be swayed by the religious practices of this world. He emphasises the need to be diligent in their pursuit of Kingdom matters.  

Here, Paul urges his fellow Christians to not be governed by the rules and regulations of the false teachings that “have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-religion and ascetism” (Col. 2:23). Ascetism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the practice of strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline. Basically it is following a set of rigorous practices, denying all indulgences, to obtain a measure of spiritual piety. Ascetic rules are principles and disciplines created by man, not by God. 

While the adherence to the regulations (the dos and don’ts) create an appearance of spiritual devotion, they themselves do not make us holy or righteous. We can be easily deceived by the “doing of the right things” for the appearance of godliness, while our hearts remain ruled by the flesh and our lives are pulled away from Jesus. 

If we know Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, and acknowledge Him as Lord of our lives, then our identity comes from Him, not a set of rules, doctrines, or spiritual practices established by man. Jesus is superior to all things, religions and regulations. All authority in heaven and on earth is His (Matt 28:18). We can exhaustively pursue all manner of earthly disciplines in our attempts to obtain righteousness, but we will always fall short. Only in Jesus are we made whole and right before the Lord.

 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).