Colossians 2:8

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Verse 7 Read Chapter 2 Verse 9

Ambrosiaster

AD 400

He calls that philosophy worldly by which men who desire to be wise in earthly terms are seduced. .

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Clement Of Alexandria

AD 215

And again, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; ". For Paul too, in the Epistles, plainly does not disparage philosophy; but deems it unworthy of the man who has attained to the elevation of the Gnostic, any more to go back to the Hellenic "philosophy "figuratively calling it the rudiments of this world". So also to the Colossians, who were Greek converts, "Beware lest any man spoil you by philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of this world, and not after Christ". It is the prerogative of the Gnostic, then, to know how to make use of speech, and when, and how, and to whom. And already the apostle, by saying, "After the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ". "Now the wild olive is inserted into the fatness of the olive"

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Clement Of Rome

AD 99

Wisdom and the "frivolous error of the plausible words of the wisdom of men". "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."

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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258

But there is a wide difference between Christians and philosophers. And when the apostle says, "Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit". Moreover, the blessed Apostle Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, and sent forth for the calling and training of the heathen, bears witness and instructs us, saying, "See that no man despoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ, because in Him dwelleth all the fulness of divinity."

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Cyril of Jerusalem

AD 386

True religion consists of these two elements: pious doctrines and virtuous actions. Neither does God accept doctrines apart from works, nor are works, when divorced from godly doctrine, accepted by God…. The knowledge of doctrines is a precious possession. There is need of a vigilant soul, since there are many who would deceive you by philosophy and vain deceit.

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Lest any man impose upon you. In the Greek, make a prey of you, as thieves that steal things. There were two sorts of false teachers among them; they who mixed vain errors from heathen philosophy with the principles of the Christian religion, and they who had been Jews, and were for making them retain those rites and customs which the Jews had among them, and were only from their private human traditions. (Witham) This alludes to the traditions and observances which the Pharisees had added to the law of Moses, and which Christ had blamed; but which these false apostles wished to introduce amongst the Colossians. The ceremonial laws were the elementary instructions given by God to the world, but we are to attach ourselves to the doctrines of Jesus Christ, from whom alone we expect light and justice, and sanctity. (Bible de Vence) According to the rudiments of the world: by which some expound vain fallacies and false maxims of the first kind of teachers; others the Jewish ceremonies, w... Read More

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Hippolytus of Rome

AD 235

For it seems expedient that we, making an onslaught upon the opinion which constitutes the prime source of (contemporaneous) evils, should prove what are the originating principles. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

Do you see how he shows him to be a thief, and an alien, and one that enters in softly? For he has already represented him to be entering in. Beware. And he well said makes spoil. As one digging away a mound from underneath, may give no perceptible sign, yet it gradually settles, so do you also beware; for this is his main point, not even to let himself be perceived. As if some one were robbing every day, and he (the owner of the house) were told, Beware lest there be some one; and he shows the way— through this way— as if we were to say, through this chamber; so, through philosophy, says he. Then because the term philosophy has an appearance of dignity, he added, and vain deceit. For there is also a good deceit; such as many have been deceived by, which one ought not even to call a deceit at all. Whereof Jeremiah speaks; O Lord, You have deceived me, and I was deceived Jeremiah 20:7; for such as this one ought not to call a deceit at all; for Jacob also deceived his father, but tha... Read More

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

Then because the term philosophy has an appearance of dignity, Paul added, “And vain deceit.” For there can also be a pious deceit, such as many have been deceived by, that one should not consider a genuine deception. Jeremiah notes that even God can seem to deceive. “O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived”; in this example we have nothing we can describe as deceit. For Jacob also deceived his father, but that was not finally a deceit but the proper way to act in the situation.

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Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius

AD 320

But assuredly, because they contributed no advantage to life, they neither obeyed their own decrees, nor has any one been found, through so many ages, who lived in accordance with their laws. Therefore philosophy

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

The apostle, so far back as his own time, foresaw, indeed, that philosophy would do violent injury to the truth. Writing to the Colossians, he says, "See that no one beguile you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, and contrary to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.". When, again, he warns them to "beware of subtle words and philosophy "as being "a vain deceit "such as is "after the rudiments of the world "(not understanding thereby the mundane fabric of sky and earth, but worldly learning, and "the tradition of men "subtle in their speech and their philosophy),

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