Colossians 2:8

Watch out that nobody uses philosophy and hollow trickery to take you captive! These are in line with human tradition, and with the “elements of the world”—not the king.  ~NTE

I like N.T. Wright’s simple warning with regard to this verse:

Whatever new idea someone comes up with, this is the acid test: does it have Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord, as its centre and focus? If not, beware….if you’ve already got Jesus the Messiah as your Lord, you don’t need to be ‘completed’ by any other system at all…

Sometimes we as Christians do not live as though we truly believe that Jesus literally embodies the one true God, God in all God’s fullness. When we live into the fullness of Jesus in us, there is nowhere to go but down as far as philosophies and traditions, because they are merely human-devised and appointed.

Sometimes we forget who is in us, and therefore, just how little we need from this world.

Again, Wright asked this thoughtful question:

What are the religious and philosophical attractions in your world that are most likely to draw new Christians away from the ‘fulfillment’ they already have in the king?