There are a couple of definitions that come to my mind when I hear the word spoiled. I most often think of someone who has been lavished on; their wish is someone else’s command. However, the Bible has a very different meaning of the word spoiled. The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church at Colosse. In Colossians 2:8, he warns them, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (KJV). Spoil is translated from a Greek word that means to carry one off as a captive; to lead away from the truth and subject to one’s sway.
The men and women of the early church had to contend for the faith. False teachers, false prophets, and unbelievers who rejected true faith were constantly infiltrating them. Church leaders had to correct, confront, and defend the gospel from wolves. Nowadays, we have access to sermons on demand, Bible study devotionals, and blogs at our fingertips. You must determine if you are being swayed towards Christ or away from Him through what you are hearing, seeing, and reading.
God has been warning His people from the very beginning to be careful of those who wish to hijack their faith and relationship with Him. Deuteronomy 13:1-3 reads, If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
There are people who are so persuasive that they can use your Bible to tell you why you should not serve God. If someone is encouraging you to walk away from Christ, run in the opposite direction. It does not matter how accurate their prophecy is, how eloquent they speak, or how spiritual them seem, you do not want to be spoiled.
For more on removing perversion from your walk with God, read Idol.
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Copyright 2020 T.L. Lockley. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Greek definition taken from the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Public domain.
