Their unspiritual minds puff them up with idle notions

Colossians 2:16-23 (TNIV) -

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such people also go into great detail about what they have seen, and their unspiritual minds puff them up with idle notions.

19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.

23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

My thoughts -

I don't know if I can make heads or tails of this passage. I had half a mind to just skip over it and write about what comes next. That would have been easier this morning but it felt dishonest. So, I don't really get this. So what? What's wrong with that? Let's just wrestle through it together.

Don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or whether you observe religious tradition and holidays "properly". That seems pretty straight-forward. Jesus didn't seem like a stickler for the "rules" when it came to that sort of thing. That's one of the reasons he pissed off the religious establishment so much. I don't know that there's anything wrong with observing holidays and traditions. In fact, I think there's a lot right with it. I don't think there's anything wrong with being intentional and disciplined about what you eat and drink and when. I think there's a lot right with it. But Paul is saying that these things pale in comparison to Christ. You are not saved through your discipline.

As for the bit about false humility and the worship of angels, I'm sure there is something from his day and in this culture that Paul is responding to. Some day I plan to know everything that can be known. Today is not that day so I don't know what Paul is responding to. But, I think we can relate to the idea of false humility and worshiping things that, while they may be good, are not Christ. People can be pretty full of themselves, and yet pass themselves off as being "humble". Those same people can be very domineering in our communities and congregations. When I was a Youth I had more than one person attempt to limit my participation in the church and in the worship because I was not like them. I just didn't "get it". Paul is telling us that we cannot allow these people to limit the participation of others. On the flip side, I'm not sure that we should assume that we ourselves are not puffed up with false humility. I walk a pretty fine line there sometimes.

There is a lot to be said for discipline. There is a lot to be said for fasting and praying and daily devotional time and enthusiasm in worship and all kinds of things. These are to bring us closer to God. But sometimes we allow them to puff ourselves up. This accomplishes the opposite of what the discipline is supposed to. Instead of bringing us closer to God it then makes us more full of ourselves and stuck in the illusion of self-reliance. Maybe this issue is a universal one. Maybe that's what Paul is dealing with here. 2000 years later I'm fighting that fight within myself and I'm sure there are a lot of congregations fighting that fight amongst themselves.

On first read I though perhaps Paul was telling us that these "disciplines" were bad, but that doesn't really fit Paul. He was a pretty disciplined guy. And the next chapter includes a laundry list of things Christians should and should not do. Paul isn't really an "anything goes" kind of guy. So that must not be it. It does seem odd though, but it rings true in my own life, that we often allow that which is good to be used for ill. That we allow that which should bring us closer to God to push God away and affirm our own willfully stubborn Independence.