The Siren Song of False Teaching

Sep 17, 2023 | by Pastor Josh Tate | series: Colossians

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In ancient Greek and Roman mythology, the sirens were creatures who would sing in such an alluring way that sailors would be lured in and become shipwrecked on the rocks. In Homer’s Iliad, Odysseus saved his ship and crew by plugging his sailors’ ears with beeswax and giving instructions for them to tie him securely to the mast. Thus, restrained and deafened they were able to avoid being shipwrecked. However, in The Argonautica, written several hundred years later, a character named Orpheus came up with another plan to counteract the intoxicating song of the Sirens. He played a louder and even more enchanting song on his lyre and thereby broke their spell.

Of course, Sirens aren’t real, they are just a product of human imagination, but they broadly represent all those tempting things that call out to us, but which would cause us to make a shipwreck of our lives if we ran after them. To be sure, there is wisdom in both Odysseus’ and Orpheus’ plans. Sometimes, in the presence of false teachers and their “plausible arguments” we should stop up our ears and we might even need to, in a sense, to restrain one another from going after their bad ideas, but we should also fill our minds with something higher and more excellent that makes all these lesser things appear…well…lesser.

In Colossians 2:8-23 Paul employs both methods to counteract the siren song of false teaching. He speaks negatively about various errors that were threatening to lure these new believers onto the rocks and interspersed throughout we find high, exalted language about Jesus and the Gospel which is meant to break the spell of these ruinous errors.