Colossians 2:18

There are sets of people Paul is warning against. The first group consists of those who captivate others with empty and deceitful philosophies. Then people who want to judge you based on appearance, holding onto things that are merely shadows.

Now, some delight in false humility. It is false humility to say that you are not worthy to approach God and therefore need some form of intermediary; to say to yourself, “God surely is far from me, but I can approach these angels.”

That is the textbook definition of false humility, fueled by self-deception and self-will. Where you have been shown that Jesus is the way (John 14:6), who humbled Himself to be called his brother (Hebrews 2:11-12), and you reject that and want to stay far away from Him, peeping at Him through the window when he has invited you into his house (Ephesians 2:19) and to sit with Him on His throne (Revelation 3:21).

These people want to judge you and label you as proud and arrogant when you say you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). They insist that you must bow down to images and kiss statutes because (as they are clearly affirming), truly, God is far away.

They do not leave you alone to serve God; they want to pass judgment on you. They are zealous and confident, declaring that you are wrong, even on social media. Don't give them any bandwidth in your mental space; that is what Paul is saying.

There is something sweet about false humility. It makes the practitioners feel good because they compare themselves with you and pat themselves on the back for how humble they are. They are arrogant about their “humility.”

But Paul wants the Colossian Christians to develop a backbone against those who want to bully them away from the truth and those who don't know anything and try to convince them that they do, so as to control them.

Paul argues that some people think that bringing out a supposed trump card of what they have supposedly seen shuts you up.

Note how Paul, who said he has outstanding visions and revelation (2 Corinthians 12:7), rarely talks about them in his letters. But these people that Paul is talking about— the only thing you know about them are their supposed visions and revelations.

Peter has also seen some things. He saw Jesus transfigured on the mount (Matthew 17:1-8), but that occupied a small part of his writing. He even said that they should hold fast to the words of the scriptures, not what they have seen (2 Peter 1:16-18). After Peter, John, and James saw Jesus, Elijah, and Moses, Jesus said they should hold off telling anyone. But what we hear are people who go on and on about what they have supposedly seen.

Even when Agabus said the Holy Spirit was saying that Paul would be bound in Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-13), Paul did not then cower under Agabus and try to have him control his life.

Again, Paul is trying to help the Colossian Christian develop a backbone. Again, there are people whose modus operandi is to bully people into giving them attention, a position in their life, and listening ears because of the things they have supposedly seen.

Some will say that it is good if it does not contradict the scriptures, but that is not what Paul is saying here. He is saying that the one whose priority is to tell you what he has seen should have all your alarm bells firing in full swing. Do not give them attention. But, boy, oh boy, those stories are so fanciful!

Paul said, “What he has supposedly seen.” No one can independently verify that those fabulous claims that he claims to have seen were true. No one was there with him in the vision. He is the one who brought out the claim. So basically, Paul is saying do not believe someone just because they say they have seen something. It is not for nothing that the bible says a matter should be established with two or three witnesses (2 Corinthians 13:1), and the supposed vision has only one witness: the “visionner.” There is no way and no one to independently confirm it.

This is Paul’s conclusion about such a person: he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. These people base their authority on what they have supposedly seen, subtly suggesting that they are better than you and that you must give them your allegiance.

Swaths of people are taken in as they speak with arrogant pretension, make claims, or write volumes that elevate them above others and demand to be followed.

"That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen." Again, they fill volumes with what they have supposedly seen. Run from those people; they do you no good. That is the truth. Paul is suggesting their minds, full of the desire of the flesh, might have generated those things they have supposedly seen.

Basically, these are minds that are bent in a way that they generate falsehood that deceives themselves and others. The Bible says the human mind is more deceitful than anything else (Jeremiah 17:9).