exactly where we are in the purpose of God. We now stand in the full blaze of revelation

given in the prison epistles of Paul and, if we have any real appreciation of these supreme

spiritual riches, we shall be quite ready to drop the shadows. They will vanish in the light

of His ascended glory and our exalted position in Him, `seated together in Christ Jesus in

the heavenly places' (Eph. 2: 5, 6). By nature we are creatures of sense and feeling. If

there is something we can see or hold on to or touch or taste, that is what appears to be

real to us. But we must learn that this is not so in actuality: it is only the shadow as far

as spiritual truth is concerned. The realities are the exceeding riches we have in Christ.

These are eternal and unchanging and it is these that we should be holding fast by faith

and rejoicing in; there is nothing earthly or visible that can compare with them in value.

So to all who might judge us on these things, our answer is the same, namely

Colossians 2: 16. Having the Lord Jesus in all His fullness, we have everything. We are

`filled to the full (complete) in Him' (verse 10) and for us the shadows are for ever

finished and passed away. The Apostle continues:

Katabrabeuo, rob, occurs only here in the N.T. Its meaning in classical Greek varies

from `to deprive of a prize' to the more general `to give an adverse judgment'; its usual

meaning conveys the idea of depriving someone of something which he would have

otherwise possessed. In view of the Apostle's fondness for illustrations drawn from the

racecourse `depriving someone of the prize' is undoubtedly his meaning here. It is good

to realize that the enemy does not waste his time trying to make a believer lose his life in

Christ or his salvation. This is impossible, for that life is safely `hidden with Christ in

God' (Col. 3: 3) and is, therefore, out of the enemy's reach. We remember that Satan

was permitted to touch everything belonging to Job except his life. Satan does, however,

seek to trip up the believer so that possibly a divine reward may be forfeited. It is

`prizes' and `crowns' that can be lost (Rev. 3: 11), and those at Colossae who were being

ensnared by the false teaching that was circulating there, were in danger of this very

thing, a serious loss indeed that would be accompanied by shame, as II Tim. 2: 15

makes clear.

It is extremely difficult to render the Greek of the phrase `intruding into those things

which he hath not seen' (A.V.) for the textual evidence of many manuscripts omits the

negative and embateuon occurs nowhere else in the N.T. and, therefore, we do not have

usage to guide us. Only those with an advanced knowledge of N.T. Greek would be able

to assess the technical difficulties which are discussed by such authorities as F. F. Bruce,

J. B. Lightfoot, E. Percy, G. Taylor, J. R. Harris and others. The weight of evidence

comes down on the R.V. rendering which fits the context very well. Those who were

being led astray were receiving and dwelling on `visions' which resulted in pride (puffing

up by the sinful flesh). Although outwardly appearing to be humble (verse 23), this was a

hollow caricature of the real thing, for it sprang from man's speculations rather than

God's revelation and came from those who had lost touch with Christ (`not holding the

Head') and were at the mercy of the darkened `mind of the flesh'.