The learned Bishop Davenant on Colossians 1:26:
It is the extreme of folly to construct a Christian creed out of philosophical principles; since the doctrine of salvation revealed by the voluntary act of God, could not have been discovered by any acuteness of human intellect. Here, then, the Scholastic doctors, and the Papists who tread in their footsteps, have erred most egregiously, obtruding many dogmas, derived not from divine revelation, but from the arguments of blind reason, as articles of the Christian faith. Of this nature are free-will, inherent righteousness, the merits of works, and a great many more, all to be found in the Ethics of the Philosopher; none in the Epistles of Paul. Here, then, that warning of the Apostle (Col. 2:8), may be properly be introduced; Beware lest any man deceive you through philosophy. For, as Tertullian (Against Marcion, book 1) truly asserts, All heresies have drawn existence from the brains of philosophers.
