Colossians 2:4

This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.

Delude ... persuasiveness ... These are two of the 34 words peculiar to Colossians, as mentioned in the introduction; several others appear in this chapter. These new words are just as Pauline as all the rest of his writings, being required by the special circumstances addressed by Paul in this epistle.

The scholars usually understand this as directed against the advocates of Gnostic speculations, as follows:

To beguile (delude) here is "to reason into error"; enticing words are "words of persuasion" rather than reason or revelation. It would be difficult to describe more accurately the marvelous fabrics of Gnostic speculation, each step claiming to be based on some fancied probability or metaphysical propriety, but the whole as artificial as the cycles and epicycles of the old Ptolemaic astronomy.[12]

While such observations appear to be true enough, it cannot be denied that the same words are applicable to the insistent claims of aggressive Judaism.

No one ... This is the springboard from which some speculators identify the Colossian heresy as advocated by one man, called "the false teacher" by many writers; but as Guthrie said, "It is more likely that Paul is using the term generally in the sense of anyone."[13]

It is of significance that in this verse it appears that the error at Colossae arose from false speech, rather than from immoral or false practice.

[12] Alfred Barry, op. cit., p. 105.

[13] Donald Guthrie, New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 1146.