{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-3463","native_reference":{"book_number":580,"chapter_from":2,"chapter_to":2,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":18,"verse_to":18},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Ambrosiaster</b>: What was previously warned under the name of philosophy, now he teaches more openly to be observed by those who, studying earthly wisdom, assert that these things which are adjacent or apparent to the eyes should be worshiped, so that their souls, bound under the firmament, may not strive beyond the firmament towards the higher heavens to worship the God of all. The work of the enemy is such that he always seeks to keep humiliated souls on Earth, where he knows that he, who has been cast down from heaven, will always face the just judgment of God. He simulates religion, although it is the greatest sacrilege. For he inflates the movement of the stars, which he calls angels, not by divine authority, but by human superstition, which is useless and only leads to harm. They refuse to hold onto the faith of Christ, who is the creator and Lord of all.<br/><i>— Commentary on Colossians</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: There is another even more obscure passage about which I ask you to pull me up out of deep water and set me in the shallows. In the epistle to the Colossians, I simply cannot see the connection where he says: \"Let no man seduce you into taking pleasure in the humility and religion of angels, walking in the things which he has not seen; in vain puffed up by the sense of his flesh and not holding the head.\" What angels does he mean? If he means the rebel and wicked angels, what is their religion or their humility, or who is the master of this seduction, who under cover of some angelic religion or other would teach what he does not see as something seen or experienced? Doubtless, the heretics, who follow the teachings of demons, who think up false systems under the impulse of their spirit, who give out that they have seen visions which they have not seen and by their deadly arguments sow their seed in foolish and credulous hearts—doubtless, these are the ones who do not hold the head, namely, Christ, the source of truth. .</p><p><b>Clement of Alexandria</b>: Therefore there is nothing meritorious about abstinence from marriage unless it arises from love to God. At any rate the blessed Paul says of those who revile marriage: \"In the last times some shall depart from the faith, turning to spirits of error and doctrines inspired by daemons, forbidding to marry and commanding abstinence from food.\" And again he says: \"Let no one disqualify you by demanding self-imposed ascetic practices and severe treatment of the body.\"<br/><i>— The Stromata Book 3</i></p><p><b>Irenaeus</b>: True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which \"the natural man receiveth not,\" the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man \"taste,\" he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, who go into matters of which they have no perception. For the truth is unsophisticated; and \"the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart,\" as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience \"the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.\" For this is the affinity of the apostolical teaching and the most holy \"faith delivered unto us,\" which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge have taught, not \"giving heed to endless genealogies,\" but studying rather [to observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having been deprived of the Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of heaven. For truly the first thing is to deny one's self and to follow Christ; and those who do this are borne onward to perfection, having fulfilled all their Teacher's will, becoming sons of God by spiritual regeneration, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; those who seek which first shall not be forsaken.<br/><i>— Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: What is meant is the same as the Apostle writes to the Colossians: Let no man seduce you, willing in humility, and religion of angels, walking in the things which he hath not seen, in vain puffed up by the sense of his flesh, And not holding the head, from which the whole body, by joints and bands being supplied with nourishment and compacted, groweth unto the increase of God (Colossians 2:18-19). We approve that which we frequently say: And if I should be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge (2 Corinthians 11:6), this, we now declare, is what Paul said, not concerning humility, but of the truth of conscience. For language does not explain profound and hidden feelings. And although he feels himself what he says, he cannot express in words, pure enough for the ears of others, what those feelings are. When he tries to interpret himself, who had been very eloquent in his native language (for he was a Hebrew, born from Hebrews and educated at the feet of Gamaliel, the most learned of men in the law), he becomes entangled. However, if this happens to him in the Greek language, which he had imbibed from his childhood while being raised in Tarsus of Cilicia, what should be said of the Latins who, attempting to express word for word, make his thoughts more obscure, and like weeds growing, stifle the abundance of fruits? Therefore, we will try to unfold the meaning in a paraphrased way, and bring back the tricks of the involved language to their order and connection, so that the threads of words run on a simple warp: and under a plain cover, the texture of the Apostolic speech may grow. Let no one surpass you, that is, let no one take the prize from you: this is said in Greek, καταβραβευέτω when someone who is in the contest, due to the unfairness of the judge or the tricks of the masters, loses the prize and the palm that is due to him. There are many words that the Apostle uses in a more familiar manner according to the custom of his city and province. From these (for example) a few should be mentioned. But to me it is a small thing to be judged by (1 Cor. 1), that is, ἀπὸ ἀνθρωπίνης ἡμέρας: And, I speak in a human sense (Rom. 6), that is, ἀνθρώπινον λέγω: And, I did not burden you (2 Cor. 12): and what is now said, μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω that is, no one take the prize from you. They use these and many other words up until today, the Cilicians. We should not be amazed by this in regard to the Apostle if he uses the customs of his language, in which he was born and raised, since Virgil, the other Homer among us, following the customs of his homeland, called the wicked chill (Georgics 2). So let no one surpass and conquer you, willing to follow the humility of the letter, and the religion and culture of the angels; so that you do not serve spiritual intelligence, but rather the examples of the future, which he, who wants to surpass you, has neither seen nor perceives (for both are held in Greek), especially when he walks arrogantly, and walks puffed up, and exhibits the pride of his own spirit in the gesture of his body, for this is what ἐμβατεύων signifies. But in vain, he is inflated and swells with the sense of his own flesh, understanding everything carnally, and seeking the delirium of Jewish traditions, and not holding the head of all the Scriptures, that which is written: The head of the man is Christ (1 Cor. 2, 3; Eph. 1, and 4 and 5; Coloss. 1). But the head and beginning of the whole body, and of those who believe, and of all spiritual understanding. From which head the body of the Church takes the vital juice of heavenly doctrine through its connections and joints, so that all its parts may gradually be enlivened, and through the secret channels of its veins, the exhausted blood of foods is founded, ministered, and increased; indeed, so that temperance of the body may be maintained, so that the members, watered from the source of the head, may grow into the perfection of God, and the prayer of the Savior may be fulfilled: \"Father, I will that they may be one as we also are one\" (John 17:21), so that when Christ has delivered us to the Father, God may be all things to all men (1 Cor. 15:28). He writes such things, both in words and in meanings, and in the style of speech most obscurely to the Ephesians. But speaking truth in love, let us grow in all things into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body is joined together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each individual part. It makes increase of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:25, 16). And we have said more fully about this subject even in his Commentaries on the same Epistle. But he speaks throughout against those who, believing in Christ the Savior, desired to observe Jewish ceremonies. About this matter, a not insignificant controversy was raised, not even in the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 15). Whence Paul also says above, concerning those who boast that they are teachers of the Law: Let no one judge you in food and drink (Colossians 2:16), as if some were clean and some unclean; or with respect to a part of a festival day, as if some days were festivals and others not. For us who believe in the risen Christ, there is a judgment and an eternal festival. Or in the part of the new moon, that is, of the calendar, and of the new month, when the waning moon ends, and is covered by the shadows of the night. For the light of Christians is eternal, and is always illuminated by the rays of the Sun of righteousness. Or on a part of the sabbaths, so that they do not do servile work and do not bear burdens, because we have been given the liberty of Christ, and we have ceased to bear the burdens of sins. All these things,\" he said, \"are shadows of things to come, and images of future happiness, in which the Jews hold fast to the letter and are bound to the earth; but we, according to the spirit, shall pass over to Christ who is now called the body in contrast to the shadows. For just as in the body truth is and in the body's shadow there is falsehood, so in spiritual understanding all food and drink and all festivities and perpetual calendars and eternal rest are to be expected. We seek to know what he meant by this, either in the humility and religion of the angels or in what sense. \"From where the Lord spoke to the disciples: Rise, let us go hence (John 14:31): And, Your house shall be left desolate to you (Matthew 23:38): And, The place where the Lord was crucified, is spiritually called Egypt and Sodom (Apocalypse 11:8), all the customs of the Jews are destroyed and whatever they offer in sacrifices, they offer not to God, but to fleeing angels and unclean spirits. Nor is it surprising if they do this after the passion of the Lord, since it is also said to them by the Prophet Amos: Have you offered me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the desert, and have you taken up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rempham, figures which you have made to adore them (Amos 5:25-26)?\" Moreover, Stephen the martyr expounding more fully in the Jewish congregation and reviewing the old history, spoke thus: And in those days they made a calf, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and were rejoicing in their works. But God turned, and delivered them up, to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. (Acts 7:41-42) But the host of heaven is not only called the sun, and the moon, and the stars that glow; but also includes all the angelic multitude and their armies who are called in Hebrew Sabaoth, meaning powers or armies. As we also read in the Gospel according to Luke: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will. (Luke 2:13-14) For God makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flaming fire. (Psalms 103:4) And in order that we may know that they who worshiped idols, although they seemed to offer sacrifices to God in the temple, did not offer them to God, but to angels, more fully we learn by Ezekiel: I gave them bad precepts and judgments (Ezek. 20. 25). For God does not seek the blood of goats or of bulls; but a contrite spirit, a contrite and humble heart O God you will not despise (Psalms 50). And therefore, they who made the calf in Horeb, and worshiped the idol of Rempham, of which we shall speak more fully in the prophet Amos, worshiped the images which they had made; and God delivered them up to the service of the host of heaven, which is now called the religion of angels by the Apostle. For humility is read in Greek as ταπεινοφροσύνη, that is, humility of mind or sense. For truly humble sense, and pitiable superstition it is, to believe that God delights in the blood of goats and bulls and the smell of incense, which we often shun. But what follows: If you have died with Christ from the elements of the world, why do you still decree as if living in the world? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle: all which things are unto destruction by the very use, according to the precepts and doctrines of men, having indeed a show of wisdom in superstition, and humility, and not sparing the body; not in any honor for the satisfying of the flesh (Colossians 2:20 and following). It seems to us that this is the meaning. Let us run through all things and, with Christ disclosing, reveal the darkness of perceptions and words. If you have been baptized in Christ and buried with Christ in baptism, dead to the elements of this world, why do you not say to me, but far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14)? And have you not heard the Lord saying to the Father: They are not of the world: just as I am not of the world, and the world hates them because they are not of the world; just as I am not of the world (John 17:16 and 15:19). But on the contrary, as if living in the world, you decide [to] not touch [the] body of a dead man, nor [their] clothing, nor bench on which [a] menstruating woman has sat, nor taste pork, hare, cuttlefish, squid, moray, eel, and all fish which do not have scales and fins. All these, by their use, are corrupted and pass into decay and waste material. For food is for the belly, and the belly for foods; and God will destroy both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. And, \"Every one,\" says He, \"shall give account of himself before God\" (Rom. 14. 12) . \"But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And the Lord rebukes the Pharisees, saying: You have made void the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition. For Moses said: Honor thy father and thy mother; and He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death. But you say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, Corban, (which is a gift,) whatsoever is from me, shall profit thee. And further you suffer him not to do anything for his father or mother, Making the word of God of no effect through your tradition.\" (Matthew 15:8-9, Mark 7:4-6) I cannot unroll how many traditions of the Pharisees there are, which today they call 'δευτερὼσεις,' and how many old wives' tales; for the bulkiness of the books does not allow it, and most of them are so disgraceful that I am ashamed to say. However, I will say one thing to the dishonor of the hostile nation. They put in charge of the synagogues whichever wise men they select and delegate unsavory work to them, like proving (or tasting beforehand) whether the blood of a virgin, whether menstruating or not, is clean, or unclean, if they cannot tell by sight. Furthermore, because it has been ordered that on the Sabbath each person should sit in his own house and not go out (Exod. 16. 29), or walk from where he lives; if we ever find it necessary to restrain them according to the letter, so that they do not lie down, do not walk, do not stand, but only sit, if they want to observe the precepts, they are accustomed to reply and say: Barachibas, Simeon, and Hellel our masters taught us that we should walk two thousand feet on the Sabbath, and other such doctrines, preferring the teachings of men to the doctrine of God. Not that we say that we must always sit on the Sabbath and not leave the place where one was occupied; but that that which is impossible in the Law, in which it is weakened by the flesh, must be fulfilled by spiritual observation.</p><p>It follows: Which things indeed have the reasoning of wisdom. In this place, indeed, the conjunction is superfluous: which we find the apostle to have done in most places because of his lack of skill in the art of grammar. For it does not follow but, or another conjunction, which is accustomed to respond to the preposition wherever it may be placed. Therefore, Jewish observations seem to have an image of reason and human wisdom among the unskilled and vulgar population. Hence, their teachers are called σοφοὶ, that is, wise. And if at certain times they expose their traditions, they are accustomed to say to their disciples \"οἱ σοφοὶ δευτερῶσιν\", that is, wise men teach the traditions. \"Superstition\" is derived from the Greek \"ἐθελοθρησκεία\" and means false religion, and for \"humility\" or \"ταπεινοφροσύνε\", which usually sounds like virtue rather than vice, it must be understood as feeling lowly and earthly. On the other hand, \"Ἀφειδία\" regarding the body, whose Latin name the language does not explain, is called in our language not sparing one's body. The Jews do not spare their bodies in taking food, sometimes despising what they have and seeking what they do not have, from which sometimes they become weak and contract diseases. And they do not honor themselves, when all things are clean for the clean (Tit. 1.15), and nothing can be polluted, which is received with thanksgiving, and therefore created by the Lord, to nourish and sustain human limbs with satiety and fullness of flesh. But the elements of the world, by which, or rather by which we are dead, the Law of Moses and every old Instrument must be understood: with which, as if with elements, and beginnings of religion, we learn about God. For just as the elements are called letters by which we combine syllables and words, and proceed with long meditation to weave a speech: so music also has its elements, and Geometry begins with the elements of lines, and Dialectic and Medicine have their introductions: thus with the elements of the Old Testament, that it might come to the fullness of the Gospel, the holy infant is educated by learned men. Whence the one hundred eighteenth Psalm, and all the others that are marked with letters, lead us from Ethics to Theory, and cause us to pass from the elements of the western letters, which are destroyed, to the vivifying spirit. Therefore, those of us who are dead to the world and its elements, should not observe those things which are of the world, because in one there is a beginning, in the other there is perfection.<br/><i>— Letter 121, Chapter 10</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: \"Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshiping of the Angels, dwelling in the things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.\" When he had filled them with anger through saying, \"adjudge away from you,\" then he begins; \"being a voluntary,\" he saith, \"in humility and worshiping of Angels, intruding into things he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.\" How \"in humility,\" or how \"puffed up\"? He shows that the whole arose out of vainglory. But what is on the whole the drift of what is said? There are some who maintain that we must be brought near by Angels, not by Christ, that were too great a thing for us. Therefore it is that he turns over and over again what has been done by Christ, \"through the Blood of His Cross\"; on this account he says that \"He suffered for us\"; that \"He loved us.\" And besides in this very same thing, moreover, they were elevated afresh. And he said not \"introduction by,\" but \"worshiping of\" Angels. \"Intruding into things he hath not seen.\" For he hath not seen Angels, and yet is affected as though he had. Therefore he saith, \"Puffed up by his fleshly mind vainly,\" not about any true fact. About this doctrine, he is puffed up, and puts forward a show of humility. By his carnal mind, not spiritual; his reasoning is of man.<br/><i>— Homily on Colossians 7</i></p><p><b>Pseudo-Clement</b>: Let us, therefore, fear the judgment which awaits teachers. For a severe judgment will those teachers receive \"who teach, but do not,\" [Matthew 23:3] and those who take upon them the name of Christ falsely, and say: We teach the truth, and yet go wandering about idly, and exalt themselves, and make their boast in the mind of the flesh. [Colossians 2:18] These, moreover, are like \"the blind man who leads the blind man, and they both fall into the ditch.\" [Matthew 15:14] And they will receive judgment, because in their talkativeness and their frivolous teaching they teach natural wisdom and the \"frivolous error of the plausible words of the wisdom of men,\" [Colossians 2:8] \"according to the will of the prince of the dominion of the air, and of the spirit which works in those men who will not obey, according to the training of this world, and not according to the doctrine of Christ.\" [Ephesians 2:2]<br/><i>— Two Epistles on Virginity, Epistle 1</i></p><p><b>Severian of Gabala</b>: What is selfabasement? Saying that we are selfabased [can only mean] that God is great and far above any service we can render to him. Since, then, we cannot get near him, it is through his angels that propitiation comes and we may draw near him. For this reason he spoke earlier of one \"who is the head of every power and principality.\" And now he says, \"Why do you come to elements and angels, having renounced their head, who is Christ?\" Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church.</p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: The doctrine, however, of Simon's sorcery, which inculcated the worship of angels, was itself actually reckoned amongst idolatries and condemned by the Apostle Peter in Simon's own person.<br/><i>— The Prescription Against Heretics</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: But when he blames those who alleged visions of angels as their authority for saying that men must abstain from meats-\"you must not touch, you must not taste\"-in a voluntary humility, (at the same time) \"vainly puffed up in the fleshly mind, and not holding the Head,\" (the apostle) does not in these terms attack the law or Moses, as if it was at the suggestion of superstitious angels that he had enacted his prohibition of sundry aliments.<br/><i>— Against Marcion Book V</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"05e75a0857dd6d5c3c832ae64243418556cf4f8b04e82170090baa5bdb8d67e4","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":3463,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"ee5af5b68d199e14f7e23f33cb552156273b1d6487f5a23c5bd6ba59346983ce","translator":null,"work":null}