Shadow Fighting: The Uselessness of Man-Made Religion Text: Colossians 2:20-23
Introduction: The Ghost in the Machine
The human heart is an idol factory, as Calvin said, but it is also a rule factory. When men turn away from God's law, they do not become lawless. They simply invent their own, and they do so with a grim and religious fervor. Our secular age imagines itself to be free and enlightened, having thrown off the shackles of dusty, ancient prohibitions. But look around. Our world is choking on a proliferation of new commandments, new taboos, and new, unforgiving priests. Thou shalt not use plastic straws. Thou shalt not question the current thing. Thou shalt not stray from the ever-shifting orthodoxies of the courtiers of the sexual revolution. Man is incurably religious, and if he will not have God's religion, he will inevitably invent his own.
The Colossian church was facing a similar problem, though it was dressed in different clothes. A syncretistic heresy was creeping in, a blend of Jewish legalism, pagan philosophy, and mystical asceticism. It was a "Jesus-plus" religion. Jesus, plus our special rules. Jesus, plus our dietary restrictions. Jesus, plus our mystical experiences. Jesus, plus our severe treatment of the body. And Paul, writing with apostolic authority, identifies this for what it is: a return to slavery. It is an attempt to go back to kindergarten after you have already graduated from the university.
This passage is a frontal assault on all forms of legalism and false piety. It exposes the fundamental lie at the heart of all man-made religion, which is the assumption that we can achieve holiness through external regulations and self-denial. Paul's argument is devastatingly simple: not only is this approach ineffective, but it is also a profound theological category error. It is to act as though you are still living in the world's system when, in fact, you have died to it. It is to fight shadows with a wooden sword while ignoring the dragon in the room. This passage teaches us that true sanctification is not found in what we abstain from, but in whom we are united to.
The Text
If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees: "Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch"? Which deal with everything destined to perish with use, which are in accordance with the commands and teachings of men; which are matters having, to be sure, a word of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
(Colossians 2:20-23 LSB)
Dead Men Don't Obey Decrees (v. 20)
Paul begins with a foundational reality that the Colossians were in danger of forgetting.
"If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees:" (Colossians 2:20)
The "if" here is not an "if" of uncertainty. Paul is not questioning their conversion. It should be understood as "since." Since you have died with Christ. This is not a mystical feeling; it is a legal and spiritual reality. When Christ died on the cross, all those who are united to Him by faith died with Him. Your old self, the self that was "in Adam," was crucified. Your rap sheet, your record of sin, was nailed to that cross and buried. God now sees you "in Christ." To be a Christian is to have your identity completely redefined by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And what have we died to? "The elementary principles of the world." The Greek is stoicheia. This refers to the basic, rudimentary building blocks of a system. In this context, it refers to the religious ABCs of the fallen world-system. It is the religion of merit, of external observance, of appeasing angry spirits through ritual, of earning favor through performance. This includes pagan philosophies, but it also includes the Mosaic law when it is stripped of its Christ-centered, typological purpose and turned into a ladder for self-righteousness. Before Christ came, the world was in its spiritual childhood, under tutors and guardians (Gal. 4:1-3). But now that Christ has come, the reality is here. To go back to the stoicheia is to prefer the shadow over the substance.
So Paul's question is a sharp one. It is dripping with logical force. "Why, as if you were living in the world...?" Why are you acting like you are still citizens of that old kingdom? You have a new passport, a new king, and a new constitution. To submit to these man-made decrees is to live as though your death certificate was a forgery and your resurrection a rumor. It is to put on the old prison uniform after the king has already pardoned you and adopted you as his son. It is a fundamental contradiction of who you now are.
The Negative Creed of Futility (v. 21-22)
Paul then gives us a sample of this worldly religion. It is a religion of prohibitions.
""Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch"? Which deal with everything destined to perish with use, which are in accordance with the commands and teachings of men;" (Colossians 2:21-22)
Notice the character of this false piety. It is entirely negative. It defines holiness not by what you positively do in love for God and neighbor, but by what you avoid. "Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch." This is the creed of the religious fussbudget. It is a spirituality of quarantine, obsessed with avoiding contamination from the material world. This is a Gnostic impulse, which sees matter as inherently suspect, if not evil.
But Paul exposes the foolishness of this in two ways. First, these rules concern things that "are destined to perish with use." He is talking about food, drink, and other material things. You cannot build an eternal spiritual identity on your relationship to things that are temporary and transient. Whether you eat the kale or the steak, both are destined for the sewer. To make your diet the centerpiece of your spirituality is to build your house on a sandbar that the tide is about to wash away. Jesus said the same thing: it is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of his heart (Mark 7:18-23).
Second, and more damningly, these rules are "in accordance with the commands and teachings of men." They do not originate with God. This is the fatal flaw of all legalism. It elevates human tradition to the level of divine law. The Pharisees did this, nullifying the word of God for the sake of their tradition (Mark 7:13). Whenever a church or a movement begins to bind the consciences of its people with rules that God has not commanded, it has stepped into the territory of the Colossian heretics. It is legislating where God has left us free.
The Appearance of Wisdom, The Reality of Failure (v. 23)
Here is the knockout blow. Paul anticipates the objection: "But doesn't this discipline look impressive? Doesn't it seem wise and holy?" Paul agrees that it has the appearance of wisdom, but he shows that it is a hollow fraud.
"which are matters having, to be sure, a word of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence." (Colossians 2:23)
This verse is a masterful dissection of false spirituality. It has three characteristics, all of which seem good on the surface. First, it is a "self-made religion." The Greek is ethelothreskeia, which can be translated as "will-worship." This is worship that originates in the will of man, not the will of God. It is man telling God what kind of worship He ought to like. But this is the very essence of idolatry, from Cain's offering to the present. True worship is a response to God's revelation. We worship Him according to His Word, not our bright ideas. This "will-worship" is the root of the regulative principle of worship. God commands what He requires, and we are not to add to it or subtract from it.
Second, it involves "self-abasement" or false humility. This is a humility that is actually a form of pride. It is the man who makes a great show of his fasting, who walks around with a pained look of piety so that everyone will notice how spiritual he is. It is a humility designed to draw attention to itself. True humility forgets itself because it is occupied with Christ. False humility is constantly taking its own spiritual temperature and announcing the results to others.
Third, it requires "severe treatment of the body." This is asceticism. It is the belief that you can beat the sin out of your body. Monks wore hair shirts, slept on stone floors, and whipped themselves, all in an effort to subdue the flesh. But this is a profound misunderstanding of the problem. The "flesh" in the New Testament is not primarily the physical body. It is the sinful nature, the ingrained principle of rebellion against God that resides in our hearts. You cannot whip a sinful desire out of your heart. You can beat your body black and blue, but lust, envy, and pride will remain untouched.
And that leads to Paul's final, devastating verdict: these practices "are of no value against fleshly indulgence." This is the ultimate test. Does it work? Does this rigorous system of man-made rules actually produce holiness? The answer is a resounding no. It is powerless to deal with the real problem. In fact, it often makes it worse. Legalism is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. It focuses all your attention on the forbidden thing, and it breeds pride and hypocrisy in those who manage to keep the external rules, and despair in those who don't. It cannot change the heart, and so it cannot stop sin.
The True Path to Holiness
So if the path of "do not handle, do not taste, do not touch" is a dead end, what is the alternative? Paul does not leave us hanging. The answer is found in what he says immediately before and after this passage. The answer is Christ.
We have died with Christ (v. 20). We have been raised with Christ (Col. 3:1). Therefore, the path to holiness is not found by looking inward at our performance or downward at a list of rules. The path is found by looking upward, to where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Col. 3:2).
You do not defeat fleshly indulgence by focusing on fleshly indulgence. You defeat it by being overwhelmed with a greater affection. You defeat the cheap thrills of the world by being captivated by the glory of Christ. The Christian life is not a matter of behavior modification through a series of prohibitions. It is a matter of identity transformation through union with a person. Because you have died with Christ, the power of sin has been broken. Because you have been raised with Christ, you have the power of a new life within you.
Therefore, stop shadow fighting. Stop trying to earn what has already been freely given to you in the gospel. Your acceptance before God is not based on your diet, your discipline, or your devotional checklist. Your acceptance is based entirely on the finished work of Jesus Christ. He is your life (Col. 3:4). The fight for holiness is not a matter of trying harder to keep man-made rules, but rather a matter of learning to live out the reality of who you already are in Him. You are dead to the world's way of thinking. So live like it. You are alive to God in Christ Jesus. So set your mind on Him, and in the light of His glory, the appeal of fleshly indulgence will begin to fade like shadows at sunrise.