Author : Keith Sharp
Let No One Judge You In Sabbaths
The apostle Paul combated the inroads of human philosophy among the brethren at Colosse (Colossians 2:8) by pointing them to the fulness of Christ (1:19). As in His fleshly body dwelt all the fulness of deity, He is our fulness (2:9-10). We must not be led astray from Him by human philosophy (2:8) or religious practices unauthorized by Christ (2:16-17).
“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”(Colossians 2:13-14)
As uncircumcised Gentiles, they had been dead by their trespasses and “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 (cf. Ephesians 2:4-7) by forgiving their trespasses when they were baptized (2:11-12) and “wiping out” (erasing) “the handwriting of requirements.” The apostle Paul refers 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.
“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”(Colossians 2:15)
When Jesus in death entered the hadean realm, He conquered Satan and his forces who had bound mankind in the power of sin and death (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.
“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,”(Colossians 2:16)
We must not submit to judgement by others over the Law’s demands. The Mosaic covenant imposed regulations concerning foods (Leviticus 11). Christ removes all such distinctions (1 Timothy 4:4-5). The Old Testament forbid one who took the Nazirite vow to drink anything from the grape (Numbers 6:1-3). 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).
The Sabbath has been removed. Since the Sabbath is the fourth of the Ten Commandments, this is conclusive proof that Jesus removed the Ten Commandments as law.
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, and 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 (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church. 3:380) but over 200 years too late for divine authority. The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week (Exodus 20:8-10), but the Sabbath is done away in Christ.
All these religions try to negate this by asserting that, since the word “sabbath” 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”) (cf. 1 Chronicles 23:30-31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 8:12-13; 31:3; Nehemiah 10:32-33; Hosea 2:11).
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).
“which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:17)
The Old Testament, including the Sabbath, was to Christ as the shadow cast by a body is to the body itself (cf. 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.
