Colossians 2:4
And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
We have come to the very intention of Paul’s writing to the Colossians, as well as the timeless warning from the Holy Ghost to every believer. Paul doesn’t beat around the bush but tells them clearly that everything he has said about Christ is to the end that they are not “Beguiled” by “enticing words.” Doesn’t that statement remind you of what Satan did to Eve in the Garden? This tactic has worked so well through the ages that Satan has never ceased to use it.
The Word Beguile comes from a word that means to misreckon or miscount. It gives the idea of a shop merchant cheating a man of the change that is due him. What a great illustration we find in this definition. We’ve all been there, especially here in Uganda, few days pass when this does not happen. The Word used here is a compound word para-logizomai, which means a close reckoning. Now if the shop owner is smart, he won’t try to cheat you of all you change or even most of it, just a little so it goes unnoticed but by the end of the day, if they have cheated 100 people of a little, he has made a lot. That is precisely what the enemy and his associates would do. They would like to take a little truth at a time so it flies under the radar. These Gnostics didn’t deny Christ altogether they just misreckon the truth about who He was, and therefore robbed the believers of the assurance and peace found in a supreme savior, and robbed unbelievers of the knowledge of a Supreme Savior. Don’t be short-changed when it comes to who your savior is, He is the Image of the invisible God (1:15) He is the Supreme Creator and sustainer of all things (1:16-17). Don’t be shortchanged about what He has done, He has forgiven you (1:14), reconciled you (1:21), and will present you holy and blameless before the throne (1:22), and don’t be shortchanged about what He is currently doing now (1:23-29).
How do these gospel defrauders beguile men? With Enticing words. “Enticing Words” comes from two root words peithos and logos. Peithos was the Greek god of persuasion and seduction and Logos we know is what John, by the Holy Ghost, preferred to call Christ, the Word(logos). In a sense, enticing words are sort of an anti-christ, the opposite of The Word. Better yet, a christ that appeals to the sensual/fleshly nature of man. That is exactly what was happening, these false teachers would put their sensual/philosophical spin on Christ and those who were not discerning would swallow the poison for the sake of the sweet. There is only one True Christ, and the one who appeals to this world and to the puffing up of the flesh by pride, or by pleasure or any of the other sensual desires of man is not Christ at all but another!
This is not an isolated phenomenon in the first-century church either, but an issue that is deceiving and damning men today. There are many churches operating in the wisdom of the world which “descendeth not from above but is earthly, sensual, and devilish.” (James 3:15). “These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. 17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.” (Jude 16-19) There is a sensual gospel and christ being preached in today’s churches, the same thing was happening in the first-century church and the same thing happened in the garden. Satan came and removed God’s period and replaced it with his question mark and appealed to the sensual desires of man to be gods. Notice how Satan’s beguilement appealed to the earthly wisdom that is sensual, and devilish: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Genesis 3:6
Beguiled by the serpent and his enticing words! Dear friend, there is one way to protect ourselves from such beguilement and to stop our ears from the extremely persuasive, seductive lies of the enemy. He has placed the key at the front door of our verse “And this I say.” Paul is referring to the scriptures he had just penned down under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. “This I say,” is the key to not giving into the seduction of enticing words, be more in His word than any other, be with The Word and you won’t be deceived by enticing words. Notice that Christ is the singular Word but enticing words are plural, that is because there is only one Word “In the beginning was the Word,” “The Word of faith that we preach” and “One Faith, One Lord” but there are many lying gospels and many anti-christ, many deceptions. Although the lies be many and the truth be one, we are not at a disadvantage but at an advantage! I don’t have to know all the lies to discern the truth, I just have to know the truth, Jesus (“I am the truth”). We have the wisdom that comes down from heaven, we have Christ who is all and in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid! Don’t be beguiled with the enticing words of the devil and his associates, Look to “This I say”(The Word) “lest any man should beguile(cheat you) you with enticing words.(earthly, sensual, devilish lies)”
Tremendous instruction!