Again.
Food , drink sabbaths, holy days are but shadows of things to come.
This might make my point easier to understand. It's lengthy, but needs to be to fully understood.
Colossians 2:16-17 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. As we can see, Paul refers to things like the Sabbath and festivals as “shadows” that point forward to Christ. Based on these verses, some argue that now that Christ—the substance—has come, the shadows are no longer of any importance. Those commandments were set aside and nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Consequently, since these parts of the Torah are now irrelevant, we shouldn’t let anyone judge us for not observing them. Or so the argument goes.
Pastor John MacArthur’s comments are representative of the traditional interpretation of these verses: Don’t let anybody hold you to a Sabbath. And that’s referring to the weekly Sabbath, because the other festival Sabbaths are covered under the term “festival and new moon.” Don’t let anybody hold you to the Sabbath. It was part of the system that included the temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices. It’s gone. It was only the shadow, not the substance […] Paul is saying, you no longer need the shadow, you have the substance. -John MacArthur,
Is that really what Paul is saying in Colossians? Does he declare commands like the Sabbath and festivals to be irrelevant now that Messiah has come? That seems unlikely for a couple of reasons. First, such an interpretation doesn’t fit with the broader biblical witness of Paul’s perspective on these commandments. For instance, throughout the New Testament, we see that Paul regularly attended and participated in the synagogue services on the Sabbath (Acts 13:14, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:3). Luke records that Paul’s “custom” was to worship on the Sabbath (Acts 17:2). Moreover, in Acts 20:26, we see Paul expressing a desire to be in Jerusalem for the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost. In 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, Paul instructs his readers on how they are to observe Passover. Based on Paul’s behavior and teaching elsewhere in Scripture, it’s difficult to imagine him thinking that these parts of the Torah became irrelevant in light of the Messiah’s coming. Instead, these examples of Paul observing and teaching these commandments are what we would expect if he believed they were still important. Second, the false teaching Paul addresses in Colossians is characterized as “according to human tradition” (Colossians 2:8). It is “according to human precepts and teachings” (Colossians 2:22). That description does not seem to apply to the Sabbath, festivals, and dietary laws. Those things were not human teachings; they were commanded by God. Moreover, this false teaching is characterized further as being “not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8). But we know that Christ affirmed every iota and dot of the Torah as having enduring authority in the lives of his followers (Matthew 5:18). He said his followers are to do and teach even the least of the Torah’s commandments (Matthew 5:19). When we consider Paul’s record of observing the biblical Sabbath and festivals, along with the fact that in Colossians 2 he is coming against what he calls “human teachings,” it seems strange that he would discourage Sabbath, festival, and dietary law observance in Colossians 2:16-17. But, aside from simply doubting the traditional interpretation of these verses, do we have any good reasons for accepting an alternative interpretation? To understand Paul’s admonition here, it might help us to gain a fuller understanding of what scholars call “the Colossian heresy.” What was this heresy that Paul counters in his letter? The Colossian Heresy Paul warned the Colossian believers about a false doctrine that certain people were teaching. We are given a description of this false doctrine in Colossians 2:8. Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. The false doctrine influencing believers at Colossae is characterized first as “philosophy and empty deceit.” The Greek term translated “philosophy,” philosophia, generally carries the sense of “manner of life” and often addresses ethics. For instance, Josephus describes the Essenes, Sadducees, and Pharisees as different “sects of philosophy” (Antiq. 18.11). In the Hellenistic Jewish literature, the word takes on what the scholar Nijay Gupta calls “a moralistic edge.” He writes: A number of texts presume that a good and true philosophy has the ability to restrain sin and control wanton passions and desires. -Nijay K. Gupta, Colossians (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2013), p. 90 Gupta cites three historical sources that demonstrate this idea. For instance, in 4 Maccabees, written in the first or second century AD, Antiochus pressures the Jews to eat unclean foods. Eleazar defends the dietary laws of the Torah, as well as Judaism more broadly, calling it “our philosophy”: You scoff at our philosophy as though living by it were irrational, but it teaches us self-control, so that we master all pleasures and desires, and it also trains us in courage, so that we endure any suffering willingly. -4 Maccabees 5:22-23, RSV According to the Letter of Aristeas, written in the third or second century BC, Ptolmey asks the question, “What is philosophy?,” to which a Jewish sage responds: To deliberate well in reference to any question that emerges…and never to be carried away by impulses, but to ponder over the injuries that result from the passions, and to act rightly as the circumstances demand, practicing moderation. -Letter of Aristeas. Quoted in Nijay K. Gupta, Colossians (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2013), pp. 90-91 Philo, a first-century Jewish philosopher, also has some relevant remarks: Philosophy teaches temperance with regard to the belly, and temperance with regard to the parts below the belly, and also temperance and restraint of the tongue. -Philo, Congr. 80. Quoted in Nijay K. Gupta, Colossians (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2013), p. 91 These historical sources give us an idea of what Paul means by the word philosophy. Broadly, it’s a manner of life intended to develop self-control. The doctrine influencing the Colossian believers could be considered a type of philosophy, but according to Paul it is “empty deceit.” It doesn’t actually deliver what it promises. Paul says it is “of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:23). Another problem with this false teaching is that it is “according to human tradition.” From Paul’s perspective, mere human teachings are useless in overcoming the power of sin (Colossians 2:22-23). Finally, this false teaching is according to “the elemental spirits of the world,” which likely refers to spiritual beings that were believed to have control over nature and the cosmos. Philo writes about nations that made divinities out of the four elements of earth, water, air, and fire (Decalogue 53). The Wisdom of Solomon, a book written in the first century BC, speaks similarly about ignorant people who believe that the elements, such as wind, fire, water, and so forth, were gods who ruled the world (Wisdom of Solomon 13:1-2). Passages from the pseudepigrapha (1 Enoch 43:1-4; 75:1; 80:6-8; Jubilees 2:2) and Dead Sea Scrolls (1QM 10.11-12) give some additional evidence of these types of ideas floating around the Judaisms of the Second Temple era. It appears that the false teachers at Colossae were enamored with cosmic authorities, supernatural powers over nature, and angels (Colossians 2:8, 15, 18, 20). They exalted and feared these spiritual entities, believing them to have control over the universe and their destinies. These superstitions were also combined with religious practices, including biblical holy days.
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