“Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations — “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using — according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:20-23, NKJV)
Introduction — The Colossian Problem
Origin of Colossian Church
The church at Colossae started, no doubt, due to the influence of Paul. When Paul came to the city of Ephesus (Acts 19:1ff) he not only informed the disciples of John that they needed to be baptized into Christ (a biblical example of the importance of being baptized with the right baptism at the right time), but he also used that city as a launchpad to reach other cities in Asia. During his three year stay in Ephesus (Acts 20:31) he taught daily in the school of Tyrannus (vs.9), which enabled him to evangelize throughout the province of Asia. Verse 10 informs us that “...this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”
How many churches were established as a result of Paul’s efforts while based in Ephesus? Though there is no way of knowing everything that Paul may have done in evangelizing Asia, we do know that Colossae was one of several churches in the region. [Others include Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea (cf. Ephesians, Colossians, Revelation 2-3).] Paul's letters to the church at Colossae and to Philemon demonstrate that he had considerable awareness and input concerning the affairs of the church in Colossae.
Problems of Colossian Church
By the time that Paul wrote his epistle to the church at Colossae, several problems had developed. The church had come under the influence of teachers that denied the deity of Christ, taught false philosophies and spread false religious practices.
To combat these errors Paul taught that Christ was indeed deity by demonstrating His role in the creation and the sustaining of our physical world (1:13-19). He downplayed the false philosophical concepts and empty deceits (2:8) and declared Christ to be the complete embodiment of the Godhead (2:9).
He also corrected them on their false religious practices, most notably the tendency toward asceticism. Asceticism involves the practice of self-denial, and in religion it assumes that there is a connection between the severity of the denial and the greatness of one’s devotion to God. Asceticism assumes that the more one denies self, the more righteous he is before God.
Paul’s Assessment of the Problem
The assumption of asceticism is a false one, and Paul states so quite plainly in the passage cited at the beginning of our article (Colossians 2:20-23). Paul tells the Colossian church that the self denial they were practicing (“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”) was nothing more than the “commandments and doctrines of men.”
Though Christians are not to love the world or the things that are in it (cf. 1 John 2:15-17), the refusal to eat meats or marry, for example, are instances of self-denial that have no bearing on one’s spiritual greatness (cf. 1 Timothy 4:1-5). Yes, Jesus taught that denying self was a requirement necessary to follow him when he said “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24) But the denial that Christ asks of us is not man-made, it is Christ-commanded.
The Colossians, however, came under the influence of teachers who taught them to deny themselves in ways that Christ had not commanded. Jesus never said that refusing to eat meat makes one more spiritual. Jesus never taught that refusing to marry made one closer to God. To believe and practice this sort of man-made religion is denounced by Paul when he says “These things have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
This is a most telling condemnation of the Colossian heresy. Their religion had so degenerated that it now only appeared to be wise, but in reality it had no value against combatting the sins of the flesh. Ultimately, it was only “self-imposed religion” and “false humility.” The King James Version translates “self-imposed religion” as “will worship.” To worship according to the manner of the Colossians was to make the will of man more important than the will of God. It was a religious system that was imposed upon man by other men...and it was false.
Importance of the Problem
Colossae and Contemporary Religion
The problems within the church at Colossae are similar to those that exist in today’s religious world. Many people are involved in the beliefs and practices of religious systems that are man-made, and not Christ-commanded. Far too many people have been instructed to do this or told not to do that by others who have simply made up their own commandments and restrictions. God never gave them. Those who make up their own religious systems are practicing “self-imposed” religion, and those who follow them do the same.
Hardly anything worse can be imagined than involvement in a religious system that was invented by men and not by God. Paul’s concern with this problem compelled him to write to the church at Colossae to help them see their errors. Persisting in religious beliefs and practices that God has not authorized is futile. If God has not told us to do something, then why do it? Paul told the Colossian Christians to avoid religious practices that “are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
Participation in such unauthorized religious practices is not only futile, it is potentially damning. If God has neither commanded nor prohibited it, then why get involved with it? If it is futile and has no value in combatting sin, then it allows us to remain in sin, and thus lost in sin. If it can’t save you from sin, then religion is ultimately worthless.
The problem is magnified that much more when we are lulled into believing that our “self-imposed” religion is God-ordained. We become convinced that our beliefs and practices can, and will, save us from sin. We become convinced that what we are doing is what God wants us to do. Such was the problem with many of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day (Matthew 7:21ff; 15:1-20) — and such was the problem with some members of the church in Colossae.
The Need To Examine Our Beliefs
Because of the potentially damning situation we might be in if we follow a self-imposed and man-made religion, it is of utmost importance that we examine what we believe to determine whether or not it is truly a religion required of God.
Throughout the rest of our study on “self-imposed religion” we will investigate one specific Bible example in great detail to see how and why the practice of self-imposed religion takes place. You are encouraged to check every Bible reference given to make sure that it is cited properly and used fairly in the presentation of our study. Be like the Bereans and search the scriptures to see if the truth is presented (Acts 17:11). Test everything; believe only what passes the test (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Don’t believe everything everyone tells you, but test their claims, for many are false teachers (1 John 4:1).
Example of the Problem — John 4 and The Woman At The Well
The Setting
The fourth chapter of John begins with the following four verses:
Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria.
While on his trip through Samaria Jesus stopped, weary from his journey, and sat by a well which was dug during the days of Jacob (vs.6) .
While at the well, Jesus met a woman of Samaria who came to draw water. He asked her for a drink (vs.7).
The woman was surprised that Jesus spoke to her, for she was both a woman and a Samaritan, and the “Jews have do dealings with Samaritans.” (vs.9)
Jesus told the woman that if she knew who he was, he would give her living water (vs.10).
The woman was confused. How could this man draw water from such a deep well with nothing to draw with? Was he greater than Jacob who gave us this well (vs.11-12)?
Jesus told her that those who drank from Jacob’s well would thirst again, but those who drank water he gave would never thirst (vs.13-14).
When the woman asked for this water, Jesus asked for her to call her husband. She replied that she had no husband. Jesus knew that she was telling the truth. She had been married five times before and the person she was presently with was not her husband (vs.15-18).
The woman, obviously amazed at Jesus’ knowledge of her personal life, stated that she thought Jesus was a prophet. Then, for some reason that is not made clear, she said this: “Our fathers (i.e., the Samaritans) worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” (vs.19-20)
The Issue of Worship
This discussion between Jesus and the Samaritan woman has been introduced for good reason. The issue of worship, as raised by the Samaritan woman, provides an excellent backdrop for our study of “self-imposed religion.” The Samaritans during the time of Christ worshiped on Mt. Gerizim in Samaria, but the Jews worshiped in the temple in Jerusalem. Why was this the case? To understand this, as well as the origins of the Samaritan worship, we will note in some detail a few relevant old testament passages.
History of the Problem - Why did the Samaritans worship as they did?
As we consider the history of the Samaritans and their worship, it is important that we examine the following passage from 1 Kings. It tells us of the origin of a new system of religion in the land of Israel, one that had immediate impact upon the Jews. But, as we shall see, it would also have an impact upon the Samaritan people a few hundred years later, and for hundreds of years to come.
I Kings 12:25-33
Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.” Therefore the king took counsel and made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.
Jeroboam’s Errors
As you read through the passage cited above, you will note at least the following errors committed by Jeroboam: (1) Jeroboam took counsel (vs.28), but from men and not from God. (2) He made calves of gold and told the people that these calves were the gods that brought them out of Egypt (vs.28). (3) He made shrines on the high places (vs.31). (4) He established his own order of priests (vs.31), and cast out those who were true priests (2 Chronicles 11:14; 13:9ff). The following chapter informs us that Jeroboam persisted in his errors concerning the priesthood, even to the extent of making whoever wanted to be one a priest in his system (1 Kings 13:33-34). (5) He ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month (vs.32). And, (6) He created a sacrificial system of his own choosing (vs.32-33).
The Errors of The People
Jeroboam’s sin had even further consequences. His creation of a new system of worship caused the people who followed him to sin as well: (1) The people went to worship the gold calves, even as far as Dan (vs.30). (2) The people worshipped at the false shrines on the high places (vs.31) (3) The people submitted to the false system of priests (vs.31). (4) The people kept the man-made feast days (vs.32).
God’s Will
God’s will about the sins of both Jeroboam and the people who followed him is made quite plain: (1) It was sin (vs.30). (2) The shrines and calves (vs.28, 31) were in direct violation of the commands of God given to Moses on Mt. Sinai (cf. Exodus 20:4). (3) The priests were not from Levi (vs. 31), as the Mosaic law demanded (cf. Numbers 8:5ff). (4) The feast Jeroboam created was like the feast in Judah (cf. Leviticus 23), but it was not the feast in Judah (vs.32). (5) The sacrifices (vs.32-33) were not in harmony with those given by the Lord to Aaron and his sons (cf. Leviticus).
We must note that not everyone in Jeroboam’s kingdom fell captive to Jeroboam’s folly. Those who were true and faithful priests after God’s order did not tolerate Jeroboam’s inventions, but rather fled to the land of Judah to follow God as God said they should (2 Chronicles 11:13ff). Many others left the land of Israel and refused to follow Jeroboam’s false system of religion: “And after the Levites left, those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers.” (2 Chronicles 11:16)
The most telling remark, perhaps, is made when this passage tells us that Jeroboam made the feast days as “he had devised in his own heart.” (vs.33) It was just like the practices that some in the church in Colossae began to practice; it was a “self-imposed” religion.
The Reason For Jeroboam’s Sins
The reason for Jeroboam’s errors are simple ones. He was afraid that the Jews who lived in the northern kingdom where he reigned would continue to worship in Jerusalem. He thought that if the people continued to worship in Jerusalem, they would change their allegiance to Rehoboam, the king of Judah, and seek to kill him (Jeroboam, 1 Kings 12:26-27). So, in order to solve this alleged problem he created a new system of religion.
But none of this was necessary. Through the words of the prophet Ahijah (1 Kings 11:38), God told Jeroboam that he would bless him as long as he kept his law. But when Jeroboam not only failed to keep the will of the Lord, but even went to the extent of creating a new way of worshiping God, the Lord denounced him (cf. 1 Kings 13:1-10; 14:7-20; 2 Chronicles 13:3ff).
The Kings of Israel After Jeroboam
You may be wondering “What’s the point of all this? What has Jeroboam’s false system of religion have to do with the Samaritan woman? And, how does it relate to the Colossians’ ‘self-imposed’ religion?”
These are important questions. When they are answered you will understand how all of these things are related. Consider for a moment how the northern kings who followed Jeroboam lived.
Nadab, Jeroboam's son, continued in the sins of his father (1 Kings 15:26). When he died, in fulfillment of prophecies made against Jeroboam and his household, no further descendants of Jeroboam reigned in Israel.
Following the reign of Nadab, Baasha ruled, but he, too, “did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel to sin.” (1 Kings 15:34)
Elah, Baasha’s son, reigned after him and was guilty of the same sins as his father (1 Kings 15:13). Like the household of Jeroboam, the household of Baasha was cut off.
Zimri, who slew all of the descendants of Baasha, including Elah, reigned in Israel next, but like the kings before him, he followed “in the way of Jeroboam.” (1 Kings 16:19)
The kingdom was divided for a short time between Tibni and Omri, but Omri won out and reigned next in Israel. Like those before him, “he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols.” (1 Kings 16:26)
Perhaps you have already noticed a pattern here. Almost every king that followed him engaged in the same sins as did Jeroboam. The only king not specifically condemned is Shallum. But, he only reigned for one month and did not have much of an opportunity to lead Israel astray. If his life was like the rest of the kings of Israel, however, Shallum's sins are condemned in the statement made in 2 Kings 17:22-23. Note also that he killed Zechariah to become king.)
Consider the following kings of Israel and the passages where their sinful lives, like Jeroboam, are condemned: Ahab, Omri’s son (1 Kings 16:30); Ahaziah, Ahab’s son (1 Kings 22:52-53; 2 Kings 8:27); Jehoram, Ahab’s son (Ahaziah had no son, 2 Kings 3:2-3); Jehu, who slew the household of Ahab, reigned next, and though he slew the worshipers of Baal he “did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin, that is, from the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan.” (2 Kings 10:29); Jehoahaz, Jehu’s son (2 Kings 13:2, 6); Jehoash, Jehoahaz’s son (2 Kings 13:11); Jeroboam II, Jehoash’s son (2 Kings 14:24); Zechariah, Jeroboam II’s son (2 Kings 15:9); Shallum, who slew Zachariah, ruled next (2 Kings 15:13; see previous note on pg. 1); Menahem who slew Shallum (2 Kings 15:18); Pekahiah, Menahem’s son (2 Kings 15:24); Pekah, who slew Pekahiah (2 Kings 15:28).
It was during Pekah’s reign that Tiglathpileser, the king of Assyria, came against Israel and took some of the Jews captive. Hoshea, the next king, slew Pekah (2 Kings 17:2). During Hoshea’s reign, another Assyrian king, Shalmanezer came against Israel and carried them away into captivity (2 Kings 17:5ff).
The sins of the kings of Israel continued for generations. Moreover, because the kings were wicked, the rest of the nation was wicked too. Neither the kings nor the children of Israel kept God’s commandments. Rather than walk according to the will of God, they “walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.” (2 Kings 17:22-23)
The Assyrian Captivity and Beyond
As we have just documented, the successors of Jeroboam continued to follow the religious practices that Jeroboam instituted. These kings of Israel (also called the kings of Samaria, 2 Kings 1:3) not only sinned, but they led the people of the land to sin as well. All these sins occurred in spite of the fact that God, through the prophets, condemned the new religion of Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:1-10; 14:7-20),
But the errors of Jeroboam's new religion did not end there. Even after the Assyrian nation captured Israel, the sins initiated by Jeroboam continued. As was the custom of conquering nations at that time, Assyria carried away many of the people of Israel/Samaria and repopulated the land with people from other lands (2 Kings 17:23ff). In this manner conquering nations kept their foes weak.
The captive and resettled people thought that because there was no fear of the Lord in the land that God sent lions among them to kill them (vs.25). They spoke to the Assyrian king and said “The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land.” (vs.26)
The Assyrian king settled the matter by instructing the people to do the following:
Send there one of the priests who you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land. Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they feared the Lord, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods — according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel, with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them saying: “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; but the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day. (2 Kings 17:27-41)
If you have followed along this far, you have noticed some very important factors: (1) Jeroboam created his own religion when he was afraid that the one God ordained would take the people of his nation away from him. (2) The succeeding kings of Israel (as well as the people of the nation) continued in the false system of worship that Jeroboam created. (3) Even after the nation of Israel was captured by Assyria, the system of false worship was perpetuated by the Samaritan people.
(4) Moreover, the sins initiated by Jeroboam were compounded through the additional errors of the repopulated people of Samaria who brought their religions into the land when the Assyrian kings moved them there. (5) These false practices continued for generations (2 Kings 17:41), even to the end of the kingdom of Judah.
Jeroboam and The Woman At The Well
The significance of all this history is simple. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, lived roughly 900 years prior to the time of Christ. Though it might seem difficult for some to comprehend, the sins of Jeroboam regarding worship affected the woman that Jesus met at Jacob’s well.
She never met Jeroboam — he lived centuries before her. But the religious practices that he began continued through those intervening centuries and influenced the religion that she, and other Samaritans, believed in and practiced. She did not have to follow the practices of her ancestors, but she did. And like generations of other people through the ages, she, either willingly or ignorantly, worshiped in a manner that owed its roots to King Jeroboam.
Jeroboam created new religious practices rather than submit to those that God had already ordained. He imposed his will on the people of Israel and the land of Samaria, and they followed. Hundreds of years later the woman at Jacob’s well was involved in someone else’s “self-imposed” religion...and it was still wrong.
God never told the Samaritan people to worship at Mt. Gerizim, the mountain alluded to by the woman at the well, nor did he tell them to worship at any of the high places used since the time of Jeroboam. They decided to worship there. God placed his name in Jerusalem (cf. I Kings 8), at the temple built by Solomon. That is where God wanted his people to worship under the old law.
As a result, the Samaritan people were worshipping what they did not know. Jesus said so: “You worship what you do not know...” (John 4:22)
Conclusion
It’s possible to worship and practice religion in error. But that is not what God wants, though it is often what man wants.
False worship and religion can be ignorantly practiced, even centuries after it starts, by well meaning people, many of whom have no idea why they believe and worship as they do. They unquestionably follow the practices of their parents —who, without question, followed the practices of their parents — who followed the beliefs of their parents, and on and on it goes. At the beginning of what is sometimes a lengthy series of generations lies the ancestor, king or religious leader who changed things to suit himself. And the people followed.
Sound farfetched?
The woman at the well worshiped what she did not know, and she did so in a way that owed its origin to someone other than God.
Is it possible that people living today are involved in such “self-imposed religions?” Is it possible that you believe something only because someone else told you to believe it?
It is possible. I know all too well that it is possible — for I used to believe things that others told me to believe. Years ago, when I was a teenager, I was directed to a religious leader, and I let him guide my young mind. He taught me things that I believed were true. He was a nice man. He was a sincere man. But he taught me things that someone else taught him. And the chain continued … almost 500 years back in history … to a German reformer who, in an effort to change errors in the Catholic church, rebelled and challenged the prevailing religious powers. He was right in many of his criticisms of the Catholic church. But eventually his followers began a new religious group based upon man-made teachings. As a young boy I was taught those teachings. I read from Luther’s Small Catechism. I memorized the creeds … the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed … and I was confirmed a member of the Lutheran church.
Years later I was confronted with something different. I was encouraged to read the Bible for myself. “Don’t study what men say about the Bible — study the Bible,” I was told. And so I did. I learned that many of the things I was taught as a young boy were men’s teachings. I learned that the beliefs and practices that someone else told me were not found in the Bible. I did not read of religious “seasons” in God’s word. Lent, Advent, Epiphany, etc. … they simply were not in the Bible. The teachings about consubstantiation, creeds, a clergy distinct from the rest of God’s people, and more … none of those things were in God’s word. But I was lead to believe and practice them. I thought I was doing what God wanted me to do.
And so did the woman at Jacob’s well. But she was wrong … like I was wrong.
I hope that your reading of this article has challenged you. I hope that it will make you think about what you believe. I hope that it will make you dig into the word of God like I did. I pray that it will cause you to investigate the claims of religious leaders and compare them to the teachings of God’s word. And, more than anything, I hope that you will not only study, but follow God’s word — and nothing else. If you do, I know that the word of God, the incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:22-25), can take root in your heart and lead you to become a Christian, a member of Christ’s church, the one you can read about in your Bible.
If you are a religious person, then you are either a follower of God’s religious teachings or those of some “self-imposed religion.” You may believe in many of the basic tenets that are taught in God's word, but they may be encumbered with so many traditions that the traditions have taken precedent over what God commanded. Think about what you believe and practice. Can you find biblical prescription for what you do, or is it just a tradition of men? Examine your beliefs and follow the will of God, not the “self-imposed religion” of man.This item originally appeared in The Good NewsPaper (Oct/Nov 1991)
