Colossians 2:9

After briefly mentioning the need to avoid being bogged down in human tradition and elemental spirits—people claiming the supremacy of tradition and special connections with spirits running rampant and looking for human hosts—Paul returns to talking about Christ.

He is trying to tell us that there is nothing we are looking for in anything and anyone else, past, present, and future. He is all in all.

When Paul says that the fullness of deity dwells in Christ, he is telling you to turn your eyes away from everything and everyone and place them elsewhere. We should keep “our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Simple!

Paul advocates for “sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3) and does not want us to be pushed and persuaded by what does not help us.

The last thing he wants is for us to be moved away from Christ, which is exactly what the devil wants, and because he is the god of this age (2Corinthians 4:4), he has tools at his disposal that, if you want to spend your energy trying to deal with the devil rather than a fixation in Christ, may mean you are already entrapped by him.

Let's learn a lesson from Paul. He expended just a few drops of ink, mentioning what false teaching is, including the captivating nature of the presenters, with captivating teaching and then started hammering on Christ.

But there is an error of the opposite kind, where the people want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend it's all hunky-dory and that there is no possibility of deception, being captivated, being hoodwinked, being all smiley, or not being a guard. That is the last thing you want to do.

Also, let's understand what Paul is saying here. He said fullness. This means whatever you are looking for in anyone or system peddling tradition and in anyone promising a special connection to the spirit is darkness masquerading as light. We need to reject all lies and lair, but that takes courage.

It takes courage to stand for truth and the right thing, even if all hell is breaking loose on you. But remember that Jesus, at the cost of his life, refused to bend to the will of the religious leaders; he refused to stand down or yield at the risk of his life.

The Book of Hebrews states that we should be ready to resist sin to “the point of bloodshed” (Hebrews 12:4).

It is definitely sinful to bow to tradition and elemental spirits who claim to be connected to the unseen world. However, because the fullness of the deity is in Christ, we can say that we don't need to try to get something from someone or something else. Christ is enough.

Christ is enough because the fullness of the deity lives in him bodily. And the “bodily” is important because he is saying while the purveyors of traditions and the elemental spirits will die, Jesus is alive.

In another place, we were told that he was the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). There is no update on him. We are only waiting for his return. Between now and then, we are to deepen our knowledge and not be tossed back and forth by every wind of teaching (Ephesians 4:14).

Whatever is presented as an update is an elemental spirit — something we cannot find in scriptures but is now important to abide by. It emanates from someone who is speaking unconsciously from the spirit realm.

Those who speak in this way, calling out these things, should be ready to be accused of being from the devil, just as Jesus was accused that he was able to drive out the devil by the prince of demons (Matthew 12:24).

Paul wrote that we struggle against principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12). Those who attack the need for the purity of the truth and centeredness on Christ are also embodied by these principalities and powers who fight us, and we should be aware of that.

Though we are not wrestling with flesh and blood, flesh and blood embodied (whether they know it or not) by the principalities and powers in the heavenly places are fighting us. They think they are doing God's will.

Jesus said that “a man’s enemies will be the members of his household” (Matthew 10:36). And if you cannot hate your mother, father, and wife, you cannot be his disciple (Luke 14:26).

But that's the last thing people want to do; it's like cutting off your hand if it causes you to sin (Matthew 5:30). It threatens your economic, social, and emotional foundation, but maybe that is necessary so that Christ is the only ground we stand on. Nevertheless, we must stand up for truth because Jesus promises rewards to those who stand up against falsehood and for truth (Revelation 2:2).