God’s Thoughts About Philosophy

Issues – September 2015 – Grace & Truth Magazine

God’s Thoughts About Philosophy

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” —Colossians 2:6-8 NKJV).

In Colossians 2, the Holy Spirit strongly warns us through the apostle Paul about four dangers: philosophy (vv.8-10), Judaism (vv.11-17), superstition and occultism (vv.18-19), and carnal asceticism or the idea of attaining a high spiritual state through self-denial (vv.20-23). These are serious threats to the believer who wants to walk “in Christ” – wanting to glorify the Lord Jesus in all areas of his personal life.

In the Greek there is one article in front of “philosophy and empty deceit” This means that the two belong inseparably together. Why? It is because philosophy by definition either excludes God or seeks to explain God in a human way. God calls philosophy “empty deceit”!

Philosophy literally means “love of wisdom.” With this we must not think of the wisdom of Proverbs 8 – the divine wisdom that can be found only in the Lord Jesus. Even more, in that chapter Wisdom is His own name. Instead, we are considering the so-called “love of wisdom” that arises from man. It focuses on the intellect, appealing to the world and its inhabitants. Philosophy seeks an explanation for the problems of the universe, and in particular for the life issues of man while excluding the divine answer: Wisdom, Christ Himself. God is left out of its considerations and musings. Philosophy is the attempt of the human spirit, without God, to prove its own ability and understanding.

A specific form of philosophy is the theory of evolution, or the reasoning of evolution. It is reasoned and argued without any firm foundation in nature and is in complete contradiction to God’s Word in order to reach the conclusion that God does not exist or that He is not the almighty Creator-God. Therefore, in the minds of these philosophers, there cannot be a Savior-God!

According to God’s Word, philosophy in all its forms is vain, having little substance and being hollow and of empty deceit because it makes mankind the basis, the starting and focal point – indeed the standard of man’s life. God’s Word says in 1 Corinthians 1:23 that the word of the cross is foolishness to the Greeks because they are not able to understand it. Spiritual things can only be understood with the spiritual insight that God gives – not with human reasoning, suppositions or arguments (1 Cor. 2:6-14). Paul said, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4-5).

How can you as a child of God be kept from the great dangers that arise from philosophy? After all, many have been shipwrecked in their faith or have even become false teachers by allowing themselves to be taken in by it. The appeal of philosophy in its various forms must not be underestimated, particularly in textbooks and courses on the topic. When you no longer “have enough” in Christ, when you are willing to open your mind to “new” thinking and human reasoning, there is a great danger that you will become interested in the arguments and logic of the human spirit. Then you will be pulled along by this worldly way of thinking in which man is central. His unbounded pride tries to reason about the meaning of life, the meaning of suffering, the creation of the earth and any number of other things – all the while excluding the almighty God. Yet He has given an answer to all these questions in His Word, to the extent that He saw fit.

Beware of “Christian philosophy” – the worst form of philosophy that there is – because while having an appearance of godliness it denies its power (2 Tim. 3:5). It is simply another attempt of the human mind to reason out and understand its Creator. But it is not possible to fathom the mind of God (Isa. 40:28). “My ways [are] higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (55:9).

Let us not reason or allow ourselves to be dragged along by strange teachings. But let us bow down full of worship for and respectful amazement at the great glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! Only this view of Him and intimate fellowship with Him can keep us from deviations in our thinking.