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Colossians 2 · a question people ask

"Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit" (2:8). Does the letter say what the philosophy was, or who might rob them?

In the text

No. It calls it "philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ" (2:8), and says no more of what it was, who taught it, or who might rob them. These notes identify no one and nothing, then or now, and apply the words to no teaching, group, faith or person.

The verses

“Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ.”
Colossians 2:8 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Colossians 2

Colossians 2: Rooted in him

Colossians 2 says knit together twice, one Greek verb both times: of those "knit together in love" (2:2), and of "all the body", which from the Head "grows with God’s growth" (2:19). Between them comes "walk in him, rooted and built up in him" (2:6-7).

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions