The world is full of conmen, hucksters and grifters. These deceivers worm their way in, gain your trust and then BOOM! They’ve stolen your identity and emptied your bank account. Here in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul warns his friends about a team of smooth talkers that are headed their way. “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (v6). Don’t fall for their con. Don’t be duped. Don’t be fooled. They’re selling a counterfeit gospel. And you can be sure that God will punish them for it.
In many ways, this verse is THE warning that the apostle wants the Ephesians to hear. To get a clearer picture of what’s going down, we need to actually check out his letter to the Colossians. That’s because what happened in Colossae is headed straight for Ephesus. Paul sits in a Roman prison waiting for Caesar to hear his appeal. While he’s there, a pastor from Colossae named Epaphras comes looking for him (Col 1:7-8). He tells the apostle that a group of spiritual snake oil salesmen have done a ton of damage among God’s people in Hierapolis, Laodicea and Colossae (Col 4:13). These false teachers have duped folks into thinking Jesus might be good but not God. He might get us into God’s kingdom but it’s up to each of us to stay there. And, whaddaya know, it just so happens that they have the magic formula to do just that. Follow their super secret list of religious rules, holidays and dietary requirements.
Paul wrote this letter to set the Colossians straight. He tells them that not only is Jesus God, He’s more God than we can wrap our brains around on this side of eternity (Col 1:15-20). Don’t believe the pack of lies these conmen have sold you (Col 1:16-23). Their teaching might look good and sound good, but it’s really of no good. If you’re wondering what to do, do this. Keep in the forefront of your mind that “you have been raised with Christ” (Col 3:1). In other words, remember who Jesus is and what He’s done. He lived the perfect life that we completely failed to live. He died the bloody death for our sin that we should have died. He rose to a spectacular new life that we don’t deserve. He did for you and me what we couldn’t dream of doing for ourselves. It’s not about what you and I do. It’s what He’s done. So “set your minds on things above” (Col 3:2)!
So what does this Big Colossian Con have to do with the folks in Ephesus? Well, I’m glad you asked. The two cities are just 100 miles apart. As a matter of fact, there’s a pretty good chance that Epaphras heard about Jesus from Paul in Ephesus when the apostle set up shop in the big port city for three years (Acts 19:1-41; 20:31). That would explain why the Big E went looking for the man from Tarsus for help when it hit the fan. After Paul writes to the Colossians, he fires off another letter to Ephesus. Think of Colossians as treatment for disease and Ephesians as an inoculation against it. The apostle knows that if he can get believers focused on the truth of who Jesus is and what He’s done, they won’t fall for anything less than Jesus.
That’s why Paul begins the letter to Ephesus with a Tsunami of Blessing (Eph 1:3-14). Let goodness of God’s grace just overwhelm and wash all over you. Let it take you away! Be blown away by all that He’s done for you and me! Remember that we were walking around like zombies before “God made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:1, 4-5). We didn’t do a stinkin’ thing when it comes to our salvation (Eph 2:8-9). It was God and His grace. It is ALL God and His grace. It will ALWAYS be God and His grace. As William Temple says, the only thing we bring to salvation is the sin that makes it necessary. When we remember that, there’s no way we’ll fall for a counterfeit of God’s Good News.
That leads us back to this key verse. Think of it as a scouting report. Paul lets his readers in on the tactics of these false teachers. They will try to “deceive you with empty words” (v6). He uses the verb apatao, which means to cheat, trick, outwit, fool, beguile, lead astray and intentionally mislead. They will purposefully try to trick someone into believing erroneously. Paul used this to when describing Satan’s smooth talking con of Eve to eat the fruit (1Tim 2:14). These hucksters are great at their game of doctrinal Three-card Monte. They’ll make sure you and I never win. Unless, of course, we know the truth ahead of time. Watch out for anyone who tries to drive a wedge between Jesus’ followers and create spiritual roadblocks, “by their smooth talk and flattery they deceive (Gr. apatao) the hearts of the naive” (Rom 16:17-18). There are deceivers out there. It’s not “if” but “when” they hit town.
The apostle tells us to be VERY careful of their “empty words” (v6). What they have to say will sound good. It will sound VERY good! But their words that don’t do anything. They’re empty. They’re waste-of-time words. Cotton candy words. They taste good at the time, but there’s nothing there in the end. “Empty words” (v6).
Just who are these spiritual swindlers Paul is warning us about? While we don’t get their names, he refers to them by their alias: “the sons of disobedience” (v6). The term “disobedience” (Gr. apeitheia) means obstinate opposition and noncompliance. Don’t confuse it with our word “apathy.” This is active rebellion against God. These dudes don’t just ignore Jesus, they shake their fists at Him! Earlier in this letter, the apostle drops a mention of these conmen. Before Jesus brought us to life, we were the Walking Dead, under the influence of the same demonic influence that “is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Eph 2:2). Note to self: if Satan has ahold of someone, don’t buy what they’re selling! And it’s no surprise that these SODs come up in the letter to Colossae. “On account of these the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience” (Col 2:4). Some early manuscripts of the Colossian letter don’t include the phrase “sons of disobedience” but the similarities between these letters make it glaringly apparent that is exactly who Paul is warning his readers about.
The good news for God’s people is that when it comes to these conmen we don’t have to worry about kicking their tails, we just have to kick them out. Paul makes it clear that our heavenly Father has His laser site of His wrath set on these dudes. He’ll handle it. We just need to stay focused on Jesus.
Let’s take a lesson from the Ephesians. Know God’s truth. Know our Savior. Know who He is. Know what He’s done. Know who we are in Him. Then we won’t fall for the Big Colossian Con. “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness of deceitful schemes” (Eph 4:14). We won’t be duped by smooth talkers (Col 2:4).
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