Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival (Col. 2:16).
Devotional:
The Colossians' religious teachers were oh-so-spiritual and quite strict. They organized life around a calendar of religious events and divided all of life into things permissible and untouchable. They had visions and revelations. And they claimed that God spoke to them.
But Paul said, "Rubbish!" These religious teachers forgot that Christ had fulfilled the Old Testament. The Savior had already come, but they reverted to Old Testament pictures and symbols of salvation. And they practiced a self-willed religion that placed them outside the love-beat of Christ's church and out of touch with the Lord Jesus.
It's tragic that people who begin with the gospel of grace can end up in a moralistic house of bondage. It happened to the Colossians, it happened to the Galatians, and it happens to many congregations and denominations today. They start out as evangelical groups, thrilled by the gospel of freedom, but they end up under the whip of the moralists. Somehow grace turns sour, and their religion becomes a book of do's and don'ts. They have the gospel but they don't know why it is called the "good news." They have the law but they forget that the law is fulfilled by love.
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
These verses are often used to show that the Old Testament was nailed to the cross. But a careful reading of these verses in Greek shows that it was man-made laws that Yahshua nailed to the cross. The word translated "ordinances" in verse 14 is the Greek word "dogma". Dogma means "a man-made law". Luke 2:1 is helpful in understanding the definition of a "dogma".
Luk 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree(dogma) from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
The word translated "decree" is "dogma".
However, not all dogma are bad. It was only the dogma that was against us, contrary to us, that was nailed to the cross. That is, any man-made law that contradicts the Holy Law of YaHWeH. In Paul's days, Jewish leaders had added many man-made laws that were a severe burden to believers in YaHWeH. Yahshua Himself broke many of these man-made laws(dogma), and the Jewish leaders hated Him for this. We are supposed to beware of the "leaven of the Pharisees". This leaven includes false doctrine. Paul was a "Pharisee of Pharisees", so he followed the leaven(dogma) of the Pharisees. After Paul converted, he knew that Pharisee dogma contained false doctrine, that is why he said that Yahshua "nailed it to the cross".
In verse 2:16, Paul told the Colossians not to let anyone judge them because they were now keeping Holy Days. Colosse is in modern day Turkey. The Colossians were uncircumcised(verse 13); they were not Jews. Since Colosse was a Gentile region, the Gentiles wouldn't judge the Colossians for NOT keeping the Holy Days, instead, the Colossian Christians were judged by the Gentiles because they WERE keeping the Holy Days. Paul encouraged them to not let anyone judge them because they were now keeping YaHWeH's commanded, eternal, Holy Days.
Verse 17 states that Holy Days and the weekly Sabbath days ARE a shadow of things to come. Some people like to change this verse by removing the word "are" and inserting the word "were". But the clear truth is that the Holy Days and Sabbath ARE a shadow of things yet to come. Since they still ARE a shadow, they still apply.
Thank you TorahKeeper for clarifing the Scripture...:applause:...
"Do not let anyone judge you"...article shared ~ "It's tragic that people who begin with the gospel of grace can end up in a moralistic house of bondage"...
*** Amazing...a contradiction betwix the title and the article posted...This is exactly why I don't profess a mans doctrine or interpretation of it...for they most always condem brothers and sisters in Yahshua/Jesus with thier opinions instead of exhorting them to remain true to the LORD and His commands...xo
