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Bible Dictionaries
Elements
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or στοιχεια , the elements or first principles of any art, whence the subsequent parts proceed. The elements or first principles of the Christian doctrine, Hebrews 5:12 . St. Paul calls the ceremonial ordinances of the Mosaic law, "worldly elements," Galatians 4:3; Colossians 2:8; Colossians 2:20; "weak and beggarly elements," Galatians 4:9 . Elements, as containing the rudiments of the knowledge of Christ, to which knowledge the law, as a pedagogue, Galatians 3:24 , was intended, by means of those ordinances, to bring the Jews; worldly, as consisting in outward worldly institutions, Hebrews 9:1; weak and beggarly, when considered in themselves, and set up in opposition to the great realities to which they were designed to lead. But, in Colossians 2:8 , the elements or rudiments of the world are so closely connected with philosophy and vain deceit, or an empty and deceitful philosophy, that they must be understood there to include the dogmas of Pagan philosophy; to which, no doubt, many of the Colossians were in their unconverted state attached, and of which the Judaizing teachers, who also were probably themselves infected with them, took advantage to withdraw the Colossian converts from the purity of the Gospel, and from Christ their living head. And from the general tenor of this chapter, and particularly from Colossians 2:18-23 , it appears, that these philosophical dogmas, against which the Apostle cautioned his converts, were partly Platonic, and partly Pythagorean; the former teaching the worship of angels, or demons, as mediators between God and man; the latter enjoining such abstinence from particular kinds of meats and drinks, and such severe mortifications of the body, as God had not commanded.
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Elements'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/e/elements.html. 1831-2.
