Colossians 2:16,17
by Dr. Grant C. Richison
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Colossians 2:16
"So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival
or a new moon or sabbaths."
A pitfall that bedevils the child of God is legalism. Verses 16-19 set
before us warnings against legalism.
There are two dangers in the Christian life; one is the extreme of the other.
We can under live or over live the Christian life. If an airplane pilot
undershoots the runway or overshoots it, he can get killed at either end.
We do not want to believe anything less than that which is in the Bible.
Neither do we want to believe any more than is in the Bible.
The Devil tries to push us to either end. Here he attempts to make us overshoot
the runway through legalism. Legalism is pseudo spirituality. Religious
types believe that there is something spiritual in asceticism. The more
they deny themselves, the more the impress God. The more miserable they
make themselves the better their place with God.
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"So let no one judge you "
Note the word "so." This word sends us back to verse fourteen.
Jesus wiped out the ordinances against us on the cross. Old Testament
ritual, restrictions and regulations were abolished on the cross yet many
Christians today hang onto them. They have hang-over from their religious
training. They do not realize that Jesus met all the demands of the law
on the cross.
When a legalistic person observes a Christian operating on grace (v.15)
he judges him as operating on license. Spiritual bullies use the standard
of self to measure others. To defend his position of legalism he must attack
those who operate on grace. The bond woman (law) always persecutes the
free woman (grace; Gal. 4). Legalism always criticizes grace (Rom. 14:4).
He wants to superimpose his system upon the grace believer. He loves to
meddle in the affairs of other believers. He tries to run their lives.
He sets himself as the criterion of spirituality. "You are not spiritual
like me unless you have given up..." Principle = we cannot build
our spirituality on someone else's lack of spirituality or apparent failure
to meet our standards.
It is open season on Christians. People love to pass judgment on believers.
It is also a favorite indoor sport of Christians. Christians love to judge
other Christians. Matthew 7 argues against judgment of others:
1 "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 "For with what judgment
you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be
measured back to you. 3 "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's
eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 "Or how can you
say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look,
a plank is in your own eye? 5 "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from
your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your
brother's eye.
PRINCIPLE: The Christian is to not let legalism judge him.
APPLICATION: If we are in the habit of passing judgment on other Christians,
we will find ourselves the victims one day. We pass premature judgment
because we do not possess all the facts. If we did, it would withhold judgment
or temper our judgment with mercy. Because we are ignorant of all the factors
we pass hasty, censorious judgment only later to find that we were wrong.
By then we have done so much damage we can do nothing to undo it.
Some people seek to build their righteousness on criticism and judgment
of those who violate their own standards.
In order, we have annual, monthly and weekly religious celebrations in this
verse.
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"in food or in drink"
Christians are free from the legalistic requirements about food (Rom. 14:1-4).
The terms "food" and "drink" refer to the acts of eating
and drinking. It is not a question of food or drink; it is a matter of
ascetic attitudes toward them. Romans 14 addresses this issue:
"Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful
things. 2 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats
only vegetables. 3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and
let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
4 Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or
falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand"
(Rom. 14:1-4).
"For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17).
"But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we
the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse" (I Cor. 8:8). Food
is a non issue to the Christian life.
" Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to
the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31). This is the operating principle
in all disputes over food and drink.
We may eat all foods so long as we eat them with thanksgiving (I Tim. 4:3).
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"or regarding a festival"
Israel had three outstanding feasts a year: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.
The first and last days of these feasts were holy days. In those days
they did no work. In the New Testament era we observe no feasts. Religious
days such as Christmas, Easter, Lent, Maundy Thursday, Ash Wednesday and
Good Friday are inventions of men. The Bible does not give the day the
Lord Jesus was born. We commemorate the resurrection every Sunday, not
just one day a year.
There are always those who pay their annual respect to God on Easter. Everyone
likes something special. For one day a year they are on their best behavior
and manners as if this impresses God. God nowhere in the Bible presents
this as a standard of Christianity.
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"or a new moon"
This day was celebrated by blowing trumpets, special sacrifice, feasting
and religious instruction. Labor was suspended and no national or private
feasts were permitted to take place. Religious authorities went to great
pain to fix the commencement of the month. Also, the Gnosticism of the
Lycus Valley had its systems of new moon worship as well.
The new moon may have its affect on our romantic life but there is no significance
to Christianity!
PRINCIPLE: Ritual can destroy the vitality of our faith.
APPLICATION: Religious mechanism can attack our faith. If we place special
value on religious apparatus rather than upon the person of Christ, we lose
the reality of Christianity. Many people give up food for lint. Others
wear uniforms or special clothing. Earlier this century many evangelicals
would not travel on Sunday or go into an establishment where liquor was
sold. Some Christian even chant mantras believing that God will specially
bless them.
What moment we think that our religion can commend us to God, we miss the
boat about how to live the Christian life.
The first day of the week is Sunday; the seventh day of the week is Saturday.
If we were to keep the Sabbath day we would worship on Saturday. Does
the Bible teach the Christian is to worship on Saturday?
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"or sabbaths"
The word "sabbath" means seven. The Bible uses "sabbath"
most commonly of the seventh day of the week -- Saturday. "Sabbath"
is used more broadly in the sense of a festival set apart for a special
occasion.
The root for "sabbaths" means to cease, desist. The word came
to mean a complete cessation. The idea is not relaxation or refreshment
but cessation from activity. For six days God created and on the seventh
he rested. The seventh day is a commemoration of grace -- God did the doing.
We rest in that.
The observation of the seventh day of week by Israel was a "sign"
between God and his people. God rested after six days of creation (Ex.
31:16,17; 20:8-11). Eventually these regulations became a burden to Israel
due to over systemization of their religion. Two treatises of the Mishna
are entirely occupied with regulations for observance. Jesus liberated
people from the vexatious traditional accretions which were an end in themselves
(Matt. 12:1-13; John 5:5-16). He made it a means to an end.
For the first three centuries of Christianity, "sabbaths" were
never confounded with the first day of the week. Rom. 14:5; Gal. 4:9-11.
Those who place Christians under legalism make an artificial separation
between the ceremonial and moral law. They say that the sabbath has not
been annulled.
o The Sabbath is the only one of the Ten Commands not repeated in the New
Testament.
o Christians met on Sunday, not Saturday (Acts 20:7; I Cor. 16:2).
o Our passage condemns Sabbath observance, Col. 2:16.
o The law was only a shadow of the reality to come (Jesus Christ; Heb 8:5;
10:1). What the Old Testament foreshadowed our Lord fulfilled (Mt. 5:17;
Rom. 8:3-4).
PRINCIPLE: The Bible places no special privilege upon worship on special
days.
APPLICATION: Many children sour on church because of the superficial and
hypercritical behavior patterns of their parents. As soon as church is
over, their parents act like imbeciles the rest of the week. They are supposed
to act like "Christians" on Sunday. They cannot go to a hockey
game on Sunday. Somehow this is supposed to impress God. Children wind
up antagonistic to God and the Bible. Pseudo spirituality restricts activities
on Sunday.
Colossians 2:17
"which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of
Christ."
We should not let the law judge us (v.14) because Christ fulfilled the law
(Rom 6:14). The five systems of legalism of verse 16 are the "shadow"
in this verse.
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"which are a shadow of things to come"
"Shadow" is used of the image or outline cast by an object (here),
of ceremonies under the Law; of the Tabernacle and its appurtenances and
offerings, Heb. 8:5; of these as appointed under the Law, Heb. 10:1. A
"shadow" is the shape or shade cast by an object which blocks
rays of light. Here it refers to an entity that corresponds to an archetype
or foreshadowing, reality, corresponding reality.
The "shadow" of the Old Testament, that is, the Old Testament
ceremonies about Christ are simply ways of depicting Christ before he came
historically. The animal sacrifices were an illustration of his sacrificial
death. They were not the reality of his death. Shadow, however, always
reveals that there is reality somewhere.
"Things to come" -- the coming of Christ and his work.
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"but the substance is of Christ"
The ceremonies of the law served their purpose well. After they fulfilled
their purpose God instituted something better -- the reality of Christ.
All the ceremony of the Old Testament, the legalistic system, the Aaronic
priesthood, the tabernacle with its furnishings and ritual all pointed forward
to Christ. They were pictures and parables of Christ. Jesus took the place
of all that ceremony.
The "substance" is equivalent to reality. Reality is found in
Christ (Heb. 8:5; 10:1,4). It impossible to have shadow without light.
A shadow points toward something real -- "substance." The Old
Testament types merely foreshadowed the coming reality. Christ was the
fulfillment of the types (Mt. 5:17; Rom. 8:3-4).
A "shadow" is only an image cast by a real object which represents
its form. The Old Testament types were not real. Jesus Christ is the reality.
Since the reality has come there is no longer a need to follow the shadow
of the Old Testament types. Christ is the intrinsic value, not the types.
It was the substance that caused the light that caused the shadow to come.
To continue in ceremonial observance (shadows) implies that Christ has
not come.
PRINCIPLE: The law cannot save a sinner nor sanctify a saint.
APPLICATION: It is very difficult to get the message of grace through to
religious people. They feel they must make a contribution to their salvation.
To come to grips with the fact that only Jesus can satisfy an absolutely
holy God is a humbling experience. Before we can accept what God does for
us we have to stop doing the doing (Rom. 4:5). It is imperative to turn
from good works, the law, morality, religion, the Ten Commandments to become
a Christian. God provides all that we need for salvation in the death of
Christ (Gal. 3:13). When we believe that promise, we become a true Christian.
The law cannot sanctify a saint. Formerly, in the Old Testament, God wrote
the law on tables of stone. In the New Testament he writes the law on our
hearts. When we become a Christian, God puts a new heart in us to live
before him.
Ritual without reality is a deadly error. It introduces meaninglessness
into our lives. People who partake of the Lord's supper without understanding
its meaning simply go through motions, but not the reality of the Christian
life.
Some people feel there is good luck in going through rituals. Maybe God
will bless them if they move in the shadows of religion. But Christianity
presents Jesus Christ as reality. Would you rather have shadow or substance?
Would you rather tell a shadow that you love it, or a person? It is no
fun to kiss a shadow! Ritual without Christ is like kissing a shadow.
Copyright © 1995, Dr. Grant Richison. All rights reserved.
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