Colossians 2:4 ESV
Sometimes a bible truth hits home better in a different translation because a person gets so used to hearing it one way that it unintentionally gets relegated to "the same ol' same old" status. That happened to me for Colossians 2:4.
Most of the time I use the NASB, where Colossians 2:4 is translated as, "I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument." (Note the change between persuasive and plausible.) If you generally use the King James, then you have heard it this way, "And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words."
My old understanding of this verse always had a temptation & manipulation flavor to it. And while that is valid—arguments are often structured to tempt and manipulate—I had missed the 'plausible sophistry' angle (WNT), the idea that people were being deceived with logic and reasonable-sounding rhetoric.
In the preceding verses, the Apostle Paul had told how he wanted hearts to be encouraged, to be knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance, and to have understanding resulting in true knowledge. Who wouldn't want those things? And that is exactly what KatieLyn needed! That is why Paul warned against buying into "plausible arguments" that to not originate with God.
It was like "BLAM!" A light-bulb moment; that is what happened to KatieLyn! How ironic that in matters of the heart, it was an argument to deceive her mind that did her in. This is why her excuses were not making any sense! Her mind was at war with her heart. Rather than fight to win the war of her heart, she decided that she did not like war, and so she threw in the white flag and ran home in the middle of the night.
We had known from the beginning of the broken engagement that her decision meant that she was walking by sight, not by faith. We knew that to please God, one must walk by faith, cf Hebrews 11:6. We knew the admonition of 2 Corinthians 5:7, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." But knowing what was wrong and knowing how it came about are two different things.
I now understand better why Joe was so blindsided by her bolting off just a few days before the wedding. His mind was sealed in knowledge of the Spirit. When you are in this place of assurance, you are walking by faith; worldly reasoning loses most of its power to affect you. It is possible to know 100% that you are in the will of God, and Joe did. So he was not expecting KatieLyn to not know this for herself.
It is both insidious and tragic how Satan was able to use Gwen, mother of the runaway bride, to utterly destroy KatieLyn's confidence in the Lord.
Gwen was the epitome of the double minded person. And if you don't know what the Bible says about that, I have looked it up for you:
I hate the double-minded, but I love your instruction. Psalm 119:113
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8
"Hate" is a pretty strong verb. Fortunately, James also gives the cure for it:
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8Alas, Gwen did not do that. Instead of honestly drawing near to God she stayed stuck on the plausible arguments in her own mind.
A few of the earlier posts in this blog give more details as to what was happening, including the timeline and the quotes, but in summary, Gwen was all over the place. She began by telling me she thought that KatieLyn's relationship with Joe was "a God thing." She gave Joe her blessing to propose. Then she turned, or perhaps more likely, was turned by the thoughts the devil was floating across her mind. In any event, she chose to dwell on what could go wrong instead of praising God for answering her daughter's prayers. Gwen was in open disobedience to Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." She was picking fights with her daughter; fights that she could "win" simply by casting doubt and destroying her daughter's faith. Without faith, KatieLyn would complete the final destruction of the engagement herself. Gwen would be left looking like a benevolent prophet of the coming destruction, when in fact, she had lit the spark.
To score in this kind of fight, Gwen could appear to take the high road by claiming that her "loving concerns" were her motivation. The devil probably had her convinced of that, so she would not have needed to act the part. If the devil followed his SOP, then it is likely that Satan fed Gwen the most plausible arguments, targeting those that could destroy KatieLyn's faith. Gwen was already reading my email to her daughter, so that could easily be twisted—in hindsight I understand how practically everything that I wrote with the intent of helping KatieLyn feel at home and be excited about how the Lord was working in our lives could be "reinterpreted" by her mother and given different motives that KatieLyn was used to seeing in her own mom.
I am not Gwen, my worldview and my motivation is radically different, but KatieLyn had not made the time to find that out. Not that I had ever expected her to; I thought we would have years to discover that and build a loving relationship that was quite separate. The last thing the poor girl needed was a future mother-in-law and half-stranger telling her what to think! (And yes, I do think of her as a 'poor girl' in that regard. Mostly, KatieLyn is a woman, but under the influence of her mom she reverts to being a girl.)
The Lesson
Satan can always come up with a plausible argument to not follow God. When he delivers that plausible argument to you in the mouth of a trusted loved one, it can be extremely difficult to resist the devil and stand against his devices. The only way to completely avoid stumbling in this area is to be completely submitted to God. When KatieLyn submitted herself to her mother's words before he submitted herself to God's instructions, she made a tragic error and ran out of God's will for her in the middle of the night. She was deluded by a plausible argument. But plausible was not truth.
♦ Key to Abbreviations used in this post
ESV - English Standard Version
NASB - New American Standard Bible
WNT - Weymouth New Testament
SOP - Standard Operating Procedure
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