From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 1 of a series.

What is the essential difference between true and false doctrine? We find the answer in nine words in Paul's epistle to the Colossians. 

Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head [that is, to our Lord Jesus Christ], from whom all the body [that is, the entire true Church of Christ], nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations - "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using - according to the commandments and doctrines of men?

These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:18-23)

This section of Colossians chapter 2 is a warning against the threat of man-made doctrines - counterfeit doctrines - making their way into the life and thinking of the Christian as an individual and the church as a body.

In verse 18 we find a striking statement about the nature of counterfeit doctrines. Paul says that the man or woman who brings such things into the church is "intruding into those things which he has not seen." 

Doctrines Built On Thin Air

The men and women who were trying to bring counterfeit revelation into the Colossian church claimed that they had actually seen the things they were trying to introduce, that they had studied these things carefully. But the Apostle Paul, in one short phrase, authoritatively dismisses their claim. He asserts, by the authority of God the Holy Spirit, that these false teachers are "intruding into those things which [they] have not seen."

Paul then states the actual origin of their false teachings. He does this both positively and negatively. He tells us where these things do come from, and just as importantly, he tells us where they do not come from. He declares that false teachings originate in the mind of the sinful flesh.

But just as importantly, in verse 19 he states the negative. He declares that these teachings are counterfeits because those who originate and propagate them are "not holding fast to the Head" of the church - that is, to Jesus Christ. The literal meaning is that they do not possess the Head. They do not possess Christ. The falsehoods that they are trying to bring into the church demonstrate that these people are not regenerated saints of God.

The people who invent counterfeit doctrines, who insist on promoting them and will not repent, may appear to be Christians for a time. But they soon fail the test. Paul warned Timothy about this in Second Timothy chapter 4. The time will come, Paul says, when these people "will not endure sound doctrine." They will go after fables, after counterfeits, and they will go after the false teachers who invent such things.

The word that is translated "intruding" Colossians 2:18 literally means that the people who claim to bring new revelations into the church are taking their stand upon things which they had not seen. To put it even more literally, they were "treading on air." The teachings they were attempting to bring into the church were absolutely without foundation. And so it is today, in the digital age, with the myriad combinations and permutations of error that are spreading through churches literally at the speed of light. They are, by their very nature, counterfeit revelation. They are, therefore, worse than worthless.

Next: A Wrong Emphasis in Apologetics

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