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.
All Commentaries on Colossians 2:8 Go To Colossians 2
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.
