Prize fighting is what the apostle Paul was all about. Not the crude form of bare-knuckle boxing, but the struggle of which he spoke in another letter: “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14). Literally, the word means, “prize of conflict,” and there is certainly a conflict in the Christian life, in terms of how to live our lives. We either “walk in Him” (2:6) striving for the true goal of Christ or we follow after a religious system of various sorts. The implications of what Paul has been saying thus far is that since we are “complete” in Christ, then all other religious systems, which are all based on some form of human achievement, are fallacious and counter-productive to genuine spiritual growth.

Now he turns his application eye to specific teachings confronting the Colossians, many of which are universal “religious” things. The first is “self-abasement.” Sanctification, or true spiritual growth, is not found in setting our goal to physically deny ourselves. Some religions promote self-flagellation, inflicting physical harm on one’s body as a means of suppressing “the fleshly desires.” Some obsess with angelic manifestations. Still others emphasize the experience of supernatural visions. All these have the ultimate effect of stroking a person’s ego. And the aforementioned things get bigger and better with the telling, i.e. exaggeration. It is entirely possible that such testimonies begin with some small impression or experience that is interpreted in a spiritual way, and then “inflated” through the retelling, like an urban myth, or a Christian-myth. The tendency is for people to hold on to these kinds of experiences, to bolster their lagging faith. This describes Gnosticism, a system built on esoteric experiences, visions and insider knowledge.

However, all such ways of pursuing spiritual experiences, though appealing to the “fleshly mind,” have this one big problem—they all gain acceptance only when a person lets go of “holding fast” to Christ. It is in Christ, and Him alone, that the church finds nourishment for faith and growth. There is no substitute, no supplement for truth. He is the Truth, the whole Truth and spiritual growth comes through our “walking in Him.”