Bible Verse: Colossians 2:18 – ritual formal service of messengers

Originally posted on January 20, 2026 – by Andre Piet

Let no one disqualify you, in self-chosen humility and ritual formal service of the messengers…

Paul is not warning here against crude idolatry, but against something far more subtle: religious influence. He speaks of “self-chosen humility” and of a “ritual service of the messengers.” Many translations render this as “worship of angels.” But that evokes an image that does not fit here. Paul is not concerned with people who worship angels, but with people who present themselves as messengers and seek to exercise authority through religious rituals. That is what he is warning against in this letter.

The problem is that these messengers appear pious and precisely for that reason are able to ritualize people. They impose forms, customs, actions, schemes, regulations—and do so with a spiritual coating. Thus dependency arises. Not on Christ, but on the preacher. It is manipulative piety. For Israel, rituals had a place in God’s dealings, but for the nations they did not. Yet water baptism and the Lord’s Supper have later also been turned into religious forms.

Therefore Paul uses a sharp word: disqualify. It subtly draws you away from Christ. Whoever allows himself to be pressed into a spiritual mold in order to lack nothing, loses his freedom. In Christ there is no lack. Whoever knows Him does not need to be upgraded by rituals, systems, or special claims. For in Christ we have received the fullness (:10)!

Delen: