Colossians 2:18-21 English Standard Version

¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. ²⁰ If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹ “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”

Asceticism is self-imposed regulations we choose for ourselves. They have no bearing on a spiritual life in Christ. Self-control is not the same thing as obedience of faith. They are not the same as those things we have learned to distance ourselves from for health reasons. A diabetic understands the need to control what they eat for health reasons. That is not asceticism.

In the spiritual relationship we have with God asceticism is a restrictive behavior that replaces listening to the Lord with self-insistence. It says that we have to choose what is right for ourselves to show ourselves that we love Christ. Puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind is pride in performance in regulations that are not imposed by God.

In the world we have a fear of performance of love, that we will be rejected if we do not “perform”. We fear that the ones we love will replace us. Performance is an act, it is not real. This might be one aspect of the fear John speaks of in 1^st John.

1 John 4:18 English Standard Version (ESV) There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

His love is perfect and it is His love that ends performance fear. He loved us at our worst. Why should He stop loving us now that we are better? We are better. We are better off with Him than without Him.

Leviticus 6:2 King James Version (KJV) If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;

Acts 2:42 English Standard Version (ESV) And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Returning once again to choices in translations we will see that the KJV use the word fellowship first in Leviticus 6:2 while the ESV does not use the word until Acts 2:42. So let us break down these usages into basic definitions.

The KJV definition in Leviticus means pledge, security, deposit.

The ESV definition in Acts means communication, to share.

It would seem that the Old Testament usage in the KJV is to be taken with a high degree of seriousness. To violate the pledge, security or deposit is seen as a trespass against the Lord.

The New Testament usage in the ESV there is a sense of sharing, hence the breaking of bread and prayers. There is nothing serious mentioned beyond the word devoted.

Absent from the New Testament is a sense of violation. Sin has already been dealt with for those of us that have accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts. There is no violation associated with the strength of devotion that we exert in these relationships.

To break down these two elements to the bare essentials, the OT violation is against the law while a NT violation is against the love that abides in each of us. There are serious consequences for violating the OT law. The only consequence of a violation in the NT is in relationship with our Lord. We as disciples of the Lord are asked to love one another.

How seriously we establish NT fellowship is a mirror image of our relationship with our Lord.

How seriously we establish OT fellowship is a mirror image of our sins against our Lord.