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What do you do with this scripture?
16 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. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ
There is a warning in scripture about Paul's writings, so we need to study his writings very carefully and make sure we are not using them to teach against what Jesus taught because if we miss what he is trying to say, it comes with some steep warnings, we should take serious.
2 Peter 3:15 and consider
that the longsuffering of our Lord
is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable
people twist to their own destruction, as
they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
So lets examine Col 2:16-17.
The context starts before this so lets bring it in so we can try to figure what Paul is saying here and is he teaching something different than Jesus taught, or is there more to the story than the single verse everyone uses.
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;
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
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:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
So we know from these verses Paul is referring to the following
1. something handwritten
2. ordinances
3. was contrary and against
4. nailed to the cross
So if this referring to any of the Ten Commandments?
1. Was the Ten Commandments handwritten?
No: Exo 31:18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
2. Was the Ten Commandments called ordinances?
NO: 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep
My commandments.
3. Was the Sabbath contrary and against?
NO: Holy and blessed by God is not the definition of contrary and against
Exo 20:11 For
in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that
is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4. Was the Sabbath nailed to the Cross?
No! Jesus in His own Words taught the Sabbath would be kept by His faithful decades after the Cross and until the second coming of Jesus Christ Mat 2:20 The Sabbath continues in the New Heaven and New Earth for His saints Isa 66:22-23
So what is Paul referring to.
There is more than one sabbath in the scripture and Paul made it so clear what he was referring to never countermanding Christ on what He taught or how he lived and what even Paul taught as he kept every Sabbath faithful as well Acts 15:21 Acts 18:4 etc
Where does Paul get the words
"... against us ... contrary to us..." from, in the context of the passages he is quoting from in the Old Testament, and what does it mean there?
Deuteronomy 31:26 KJB - Take
this book of the law, and put
it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that
it may
be there for a witness against thee.
Deuteronomy 31:28 KJB - Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to
record against them.
Deuteronomy 30:19 KJB - I call heaven and earth to
record this day
against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and
cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Paul is referring to what was written in the book of the law handwritten by Moses set outside the ark as witness against.
The Ten Commandments finger written by God was placed inside the ark of the covenant and we are blessed when keeping Rev 22:14
What were the ordinances
Deuteronomy 31:26 KJB - Take this
book of the law, and put it
in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that
it may be there for a witness against thee.";
Colossians 2:14 "
handwriting of
ordinances";
Ephesians 2:15 "
the law of commandments contained in ordinances";
Hebrews 9:1 "... also
ordinances of divine
service, and a
worldly sanctuary.";
Hebrews 9:10 "...
meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances ...";
Ezekiel 43:18 "... These
are the
ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer
burnt offerings thereon, and
to sprinkle blood thereon."
Luke 1:6 "... walking in all the commandments
and ordinances ...";
Numbers 9:12 "They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to
all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.";
2 Chronicles 33:8 "... to
do all that I have commanded them, according
to the whole law and the statutes
and the ordinances by the hand of Moses."]
It had to do with all the sacrificial system, animal sacrifices written in the book of the law- that all pointed to Jesus. There is no animal sacrifices in the Ten Commandments
Colossians 2 KJB, parallels
Ephesians 2 KJB, and
Hebrews 9-10 KJB. The language is the same. The "ordinances" in
Colossians 2 deals with "shadows", such as the
daily "meat and drink" offerings of a worldly sanctuary and carnal ordinances, the
seasonal "feast days", the
monthly "new moons", and the
year based "sabbaths", in the singular, every 7 and 50th years, as Paul is citing
Psalms 98:1-3; and
Ezekiel 45:17 KJB with other texts.
The Sabbath of the LORD thy God is always called "my [as in God's] sabbaths", and the others in
Leviticus 23:4 onward are called "your [the peoples] sabbaths" [
Leviticus 26:35 KJB] which are "beside [given in addition to] the sabbaths of the LORD" [
Leviticus 23:38 KJB]. The Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath of the 4th Commandment, are "light" [
Proverbs 6:23,
Isaiah 8:20, 51:4 KJB], never a "shadow", are "spiritual" [
Romans 7:14 KJB], never "carnal" [
Hebrews 9:10 KJB].
Colossians 2:14 - "ordinances"
Ephesians 2:15 - "law of commandments contained in ordinances"
Hebrews 9:1 - "ordinances of divine service"
Hebrews 9:10 - "carnal ordinances"
Colossians 2:16 - "in meat, or in drink" [offerings]
Hebrews 9:10 - "meats and drinks" [offerings]
Colossians 2:12 - "also ye are risen with him"
Ephesians 2:6 - "raised us up together"
Colossians 2:16 - "a shadow of things to come"
Ephesians 2:7 - "in the ages to come"
Hebrews 9:11 - "of good things to come"
Hebrews 10:1 - "the law having a shadow of good things to come", "those sacrifices", "offered year by
You can read more about this in detail here
https://www.christianforums.com/threads/col-2-14-17-the-real-truth-from-gods-word.8021854/