Bible reading: Colossians 2:9-15.

Philosophy is a subject that I’ve never really studied. I know that the actual word “philosophy” comes from two Greek words and means “a love of wisdom”; I know too that it can be considered the study of knowledge, existence, and reality: who are we, why are we here, how does our world work – the deepest questions about human existence.

And, although most of us probably know little more than their names, what philosophers have thought and spoken and written about the so-called “human condition” has had an enormous effect on us all. It may seem that they do their thinking in ivory towers, set apart from the pressures of real life; in fact their thinking has seeped into books, films, art and other media, affecting us in ways we don’t even realise. They have changed society itself. Let’s briefly mention a few of them.

So, several centuries before the time of Jesus, we have the Greek philosopher Aristotle, whose thinking about logic and the way we can observe natural phenomena form the basis for modern science. The views of another Greek, Epicurus, who lived about 50 years later, continue to have a great effect on how people live today: he believed that human life is governed by the pursuit of pleasure rather than by pure reason, and that humans should therefore seek to avoid the fears which bring about anxiety.

John Locke, an English philosopher of the 17^th century, influenced our understanding of how our minds and personal identities develop; he also has a profound effect on ideas of living in a liberal democracy. In the following century Jeremy Bentham proposed the concept of utilitarianism: how, in a society with limited resources, we use them to benefit the greatest number of people. (By the way, you can meet Bentham in person at University College in London: his stuffed and mounted body is on display in a glass case for all to see!)

In the 19^th century Karl Marx critiqued established economic systems and set the workers who produced goods against their masters who profited from them; we all know about the huge effects that has had on the world. A little bit later Friedrich Nietzsche expounded the bleak theory of nihilism: that life is meaningless and that the world lacks any higher purpose. In the last 30 or 40 years Jacques Derrida’s idea of deconstruction has had a wide influence: that words need to be separated from their obvious meanings and carefully examined.

Well, that was just a quick snapshot of just a few philosophers who have shaped the way we look at the world. There have of course been many more, including those from India, China and the Islamic world which I haven’t even mentioned.

But why have I been talking about them? Well, it’s Paul’s fault, for this is what he writes to his Colossian readers: “See to it that no-one enslaves you through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ”. Paul is giving a solemn warning – but against what? Some Christians – dare I suggest that they may be those with less formal education? – have used this verse (among others) to say that it’s wrong for us to engage in intellectual thought as this will lead us away from “the simple Gospel”; in other words that this kind of rational thinking may well make us give up our faith. Are they right?

Before I answer that (and I think you can guess what that answer will be), we need to think about the “deceitful philosophy” that Paul was so concerned about, one which he believed could have a weakening, even deadly, effect on the Colossian church. The problem is that both he and his readers knew what he was writing about, but we don’t! So we have to resort to intelligent guesswork; and it seems that it was a mixed brew of early Gnosticism, Greek philosophy, local mystery religions and Jewish mysticism. You don’t need to know much about these, only that Gnosticism stressed that God can have no contact with the real world (which rules out the idea of Jesus coming to live among us); and both the mystery religions and Judaism stressed the eating of certain foods and the observance of special days. These ideas have cropped up time and time again during the history of the Christian Church.

The problem with this philosophy was that it wasn’t obviously evil or immoral. Quite the opposite, it seemed to be highly intelligent and it some of the Colossian church members were clearly attracted by it. attractive. However, to quote one writer on this passage: “The ideas sounded appealing, but Paul’s ruling was that they were all hogwash. These greatly touted teachings were fruitless, pointless, misleading concepts that lacked any actual content”. They were a travesty of the true Gospel, and Paul’s approach was not to get into a detailed debate about their errors. Rather, he encouraged the Colossian Christians to reflect more deeply on the person of Jesus, the centre of their faith.

So was Paul saying that Christians should have nothing to do with secular philosophy or intellectual thought? I think the answer must be, “No, he’s not saying that at all” – in fact, in his letter to the Romans, he talks about us having our minds transformed by God’s Spirit, and of course he used his own mind to good effect! His target here is a very specific set of teaching which, he believes, was capable of undermining and weakening the Colossian church. He is saying, “Be discerning, make sure that you don’t become its slaves”.

We can go further. The distinguished Catholic thinker Peter Kreeft reminds us that “philosophy” loves the kind of truth called “wisdom”, the knowledge not just of facts but of values, of what is humanly important. He points out that many of the great Western philosophers were Christians, which means that we don’t need to have a built-in fear or rejection of philosophy. Yes, we must approach it critically: but that is true of everything in life. And we aren’t left alone in our task, as the God of all truth has revealed himself to us, and given us his reliable and trustworthy Word to guide us. Kreeft concludes, “With this in mind, Christians need not fear the truth when it is found on the lips of non-believers. If an atheist states that 2+2=4, they are speaking the truth, and we can agree with it. If pagan philosophers like Plato or Aristotle speak truth in various areas, we can agree with it”.

I close by making two points. One is that, despite all I’ve said, it is possible to “overthink” our faith, by which I mean it’s all too easy to boil it down to a set of doctrinal statements or creeds. I think, too, that the spirit of the last few centuries (although this is changing) has been to try and think about everything in “rational” and “scientific” ways, and this has particularly got into the Reformed traditions of Christianity, such as the Church of Scotland, where sermons were often academic but dry as dust – although that’s a bit of a caricature.

The problem, when think like that, is that we either bring God down to a level we can understand, which is always far, far smaller than who God actually is; or we rip the heart and life out of our faith by forgetting that it’s actually all about a person: Jesus. Discussions and debates about what we believe are fine and have their place; but it’s who we believe in that’s really important. As the hymn says, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep me”.

The other point I must make is that the issue that Paul is addressing is still very much alive; there are plenty of folk who offer alluring alternatives to mainstream Christianity. We might call them heresies, we might even call them cults; but they’ve been there throughout the history of our faith. Indeed, the internet has made them far easier to access; we might so easily follow a trail of websites and get sucked in. Some folk have always got excited by hearing about “new” or “secret” spiritual knowledge. At best this is likely to be a very weird interpretation of the Bible; at worst it can lead one into a dangerous lifestyle or a controlling cult from which escape is difficult. We need to know our Bibles well, especially what it says about Jesus, so we can discern truth from falsehood and avoid being entrapped. It’s still worth taking notice of what Paul wrote to the Colossian church all those years ago.

I’m aware that this hasn’t been the most exciting or attractive sermon I’ve ever preached! Indeed you may have felt that it was heavy-going, abstract and downbeat, not what you wanted to hear on a Sunday morning in August! But please don’t ignore what I have said; if you take away just one thought, let it be this: think deeply about your faith, engage your brain in worship rather than switching off, ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten and renew your thinking. If we all do that, we will be better prepared to face the temptations and pressures that our secular world so often presents.