Author : Keith Sharp
Text : Colossians 2:13-17
The beloved apostle Paul wrote from prison in Rome to the Christians in Colosse to warn them to be on their guard so that no one would take them as captives of war in leading them away from Christ, our fullness (Colossians 1:1-2; 4:2-4,10-11; 2:8-10). The Colossians church was a Gentile congregation (Colossians 1:24-27), and, as Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21; Romans 11:13-14), he was very concerned about their steadfastness to Christ (Colossians 2:1-7).
As Gentiles, they had been spiritually dead by their trespasses and uncircumcised flesh (Colossians 2:13) and were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
But God had made them alive together with Christ (Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 2:4-7). He did this by forgiving their trespasses when they were baptized (Colossians 2:11-13) and by “wiping out” (erasing) “the handwriting of requirements” (Colossians 2:14).
The apostle is referring to the law of Moses as written by hand (2 Corinthians 3:1-8). This written law was against and contrary to both Jew and Gentile, in that it excluded the Gentiles from God’s covenant (Ephesians 2:11-16) and imposed a burden of guilt on the Jews they could not bear (Acts 15:10).
Thus Christ took away the law as an authoritative standard by His death on the cross (Colossians 2:14).
When Jesus in death entered the hadean realm, He conquered Satan and his forces who had bound mankind in the power if sin and death (Colossians 2:15; Ephesians 6:12; 2:1). His resurrection from the dead and ascension on high was a triumphant victory procession in which the Lord “led captivity captive” (Ephesians 4:8-10). Satan used the law to bring mankind into captivity, but the Lord Jesus Christ “broke the bonds of sin and set the captives free.”
We must not allow others to judge us in regard to the demands of the Old Testament, the Law of Moses (Colossians 2:16). The Mosaic covenant imposed regulations concerning what foods Jews could eat (Leviticus 11), whereas Christ removes all such distinctions (1 Timothy 4:4-5). The Mosaic Covenant forbade one who took the Nazirite vow to drink anything from the grape (Numbers 6:1-3), but such restrictions no longer apply. The Law imposed a round of annual, monthly and weekly “feasts of the Lord” (Leviticus 23; Numbers 28-29). The Sabbath was the first feast day Moses listed (Leviticus 23:1-3).
Catholics, Protestants and Seventh Day Adventists unite in rejecting this truth but clash in application. Catholics claim the Pope by divine right changed the Sabbath to the first day of the week. Protestants say Christ changed it to Sunday. Sabbatarians claim the Pope illegitimately changed the Sabbath to Sunday and that we’re still to keep the seventh day Sabbath.
They’re all wrong. The Roman Emperor Constantine decreed Sunday to be the day of rest in A.D. 321, almost 300 years before Pope Boniface III was proclaimed the first universal bishop (Schaff. 3:380) but over 200 years too late for divine authority.
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, but the Sabbath is done away in Christ (Exodus 20:8-10; Colossians 2:13-17).
All these religions try to negate this truth by asserting that, since the word “sabbaths” is plural in Colossians 2:16 and since the definite article “the” is not used before it, the word does not refer to the weekly Sabbath but to the monthly and annual feasts. But the plural “sabbaths” is used (in the original Greek) to denote the seventh day Sabbath (Matthew 28:1; Luke 4:16; Acts 16:13), and the seventh day Sabbath is often denoted without the definite article in the original (Matthew 28:1; John 5:9-10,16). The apostle used the usual Jewish formula for all the Jewish holy days in Colossians 2:16. They were annual (“festivals”), monthly (“new moon”), and weekly (“sabbaths”) (1 Chronicles 23:30-31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 8:12-13; 31:3; Nehemiah 10:32-33; Hosea 2:11).
Besides, no one really keeps the Sabbath today. The Sabbath was kept by rest from labor (Exodus 20:10), a holy convocation (assembly; Leviticus 23:3), no fire in their dwellings (Exodus 35:3), and the offering of two lambs in addition to the two offered daily (Numbers 28:1-10). Anyone who violated the Sabbath was to be put to death (Exodus 35:2; Numbers 15:32-36).
The Old Testament, including the Sabbath, was to Christ as the shadow cast by a body is to the body itself (Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 8:4-5). It was a dim outline of the real, whereas Christ is the real substance of the heavenly things. Don’t turn away from the real to grasp a shadow.
The “Christian Sabbath” is our rest in heaven (Hebrews 4:9-11). We must not judge each other in regard to keeping days (Romans 14:5-6,13), and the keeping of religious festivals and holy days, remnants of the Mosaic Law, is sinful (Galatians 4:9-11).
We are under law to Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19-22), since, by his death He brought in a new law or covenant (Hebrews 7:12; 9:15). We are saved by this law (Romans 8:1-4), obligated to obey it (James 1:24), and will be judged by it (James 2:12).
Does this mean we can worship idols, use the Lord’s name in vain, curse our parents, commit murder and adultery, steal, lie, and covet with God’s approval? No, the law of Christ forbids all these sins (Acts 14:11-18; Acts 17:22-31; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Ephesians 6:1-3; 1 John 3:15; Matthew 5:21-22; Hebrews 13:4; Matthew 5:27-28; Ephesians 4:25,28; Colossians 3:5).
New York declared its independence from Great Britain on July 4th, 1776. The law of England forbids murder. Does that mean murder is legal in New York? No, because the law of New York also forbids murder. One who illegally takes human life in New York will be punished, not because he violated the law of Great Britain, but because he violated the law of New York.
It is sinful to worship other gods, make idols, use the Lord’s name in vain, dishonor our parents, commit murder and adultery, steal, lie, and covet, not because the Ten Commandments forbid these things, but because Christ does. The only one of the Ten Commandments not repeated in the law of Christ is the Sabbath.
Christians are to assemble to worship on the first day of the week. The Lord arose from the dead on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1-2,9; Luke 24:1,13,21,46). The first day of the week was the beginning (Leviticus 23:15-16; Acts 2:1-4; 11:15) of the kingdom of Christ (Mark 9:1; Acts 1:6-8; Acts 2:1-4), the reign of Christ (Acts 2:29-36), the preaching of the gospel of the risen Lord (Acts 2:32,36,38,40), salvation in Christ (Acts 2:40), the church of Christ (Acts 2:47; 5:11), and the New Testament (Hebrews 9:15-17).
On the first day of the week (Sunday) we are to come together to remember Christ by eating the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:17-34) and to take the collection for the work of the church (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). These are the only peculiar demands the Lord makes of us concerning the first day of the week. The New Testament does not bind a day of rest, and we may engage in other acts of worship on any day of the week, including the first day.
Let no one judge you by the Law.
Works Cited
Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church.
