Chapter Twelve
Colossians 2:16-23 Don't Be Deceived
We live in interesting times, we now have fake news, fanciful news stories, biased news reporting, seemingly no media regulation, condescending reporters, shall I go on? What about regarding the subjects of God and religion? Even if one agrees that there is a God, there apparently is no end to the various and often scattered viewpoints and arguments. What is the cure for this spiritual inundation, religious trickery and deliberate subterfuge? While today’s world may be filled with potentially more spiritual and religious distractions, the early church had their share of naysayers and disruptive influences too. Paul addresses three such influences that are, to some degree, still major problems in Christianity today: legalism, mysticism and asceticism. Each of these issues are indeed unique in their own way, but many of their elements often get intertwined and overlap each other.
2:16 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.
Legalism can be defined as the ‘religion’ of human achievement, focusing on the ‘what’ you do, instead of the motivation of why you are doing it. Just as we discussed back in verse eight regarding tradition, where we learned that God cannot be served through ritualism or anything else that is not from our hearts (see Chapter 10), legalism requires people to conform to man-made rules and rituals. As Christians, we are ‘complete’ in Christ, He did all the work, providing complete salvation, complete forgiveness and complete victory for us. There is nothing that we can do to add to something that is already complete. That is why Paul tells us that we should not let someone judge us regarding what we eat or drink (see Leviticus chapter 11 and Romans 14:10-13) nor judge us on keeping the Old Testament ordained gatherings. Here Paul refers to festivals, new moon celebrations and to the Sabbath. The ‘festivals’ are a reference to the seven festivals God instructed the Israelites to celebrate throughout the year (see Leviticus 23:1-2 for a quick summary). The new moon celebrations were those ordained by God that were to be observed monthly at the “new moon,” (the Hebrew word is often used to describe a lunar month, see Numbers 28:11). The Sabbath was to be celebrated on the seventh day of each week on Saturday (see Leviticus 23:3).
2:17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Paul says these God-ordained festivals and days are a shadow. What is a shadow? We might define a shadow as the result of something that is blocking light from a light source. While shadow movement may provide some information to us, the shadow itself is not as important as what casts the shadow. Paul uses the term ‘shadow’ figuratively representing something, or in this case, someone of greater importance had come (see Hebrews 8:5; 10:1). The ‘substance’ (Greek word here is ‘sōma’, a word that is most often translated as ‘body’) that is creating the shadow belongs to Jesus (see Romans 10:4). The festivals, new-moon celebrations and Sabbaths all point to Jesus. Paul is directing our attention to the fact that Christians do not need to follow these regulations. There are no rules or procedures, Christianity is about our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we follow and obey Him because we love Him. However, not having strict rules and regulations was very intimidating among Jewish converts to Christianity, something that even the Apostle Peter had a problem dealing with, and yes, it was Paul who straightened him out (see Galatians chapter 2). This issue should never be taken too lightly as legalism still plagues many Jewish converts today. It is interesting to note that the first four of the seven festivals given to Moses have indeed pointed to significant events (Jesus was crucified on Passover, buried on Feast of Unleavened Bread, rose to life on Feast of First Fruits and the church was born on Pentecost) the remaining three may yet point to something significant, perhaps that is the reason Paul chose the Greek verb ‘estin’ to refer to “these are a shadow,” instead of ‘were’ a shadow.
Jewish converts are not the only ones that may be adversely effected by legalism. Various worship practices are often started by well-intended church leaders representing some aspect they feel important to either celebrate or to emphasize. When the practice continues to be practiced and maintained for many years without change (sometimes due to the fact that the reason for the practice was never relayed from generation to generation), it can become a valued tradition, which on its own is not a problem, but when that practice becomes more important than what is represents by the people of a church, then it can be a potentially hazardous tradition. Let’s face it, no human relationship would be considered healthy when one goes through the same motions and speaks the same words whenever they see each other, so why would we want to do that with Jesus? Some Christians defend their ‘traditions’ by referring to some Old Testament practices, if that is what you are thinking, please understand that is okay, but none of those requirements are pertinent anymore. The Law was fulfilled by Jesus, including all ritualistic worship practices, you are now free to praise however you want, whenever you want. Remember all authority has been given to Jesus, our service is to Him.
2:18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Paul now turns to those tempted by mysticism, the pursuit of a deeper but highly subjective religious experience. One that generally ignores classic reasoning or understanding with emphasis on feelings, intuitions and other similar, otherwise-unprovable, indicators. Mysticism is often joined with outrageous explanations and extraordinary theories. Paul tells us that we are not to let anyone disqualify us, this is undoubtedly another example of a sports reference that he often uses, here he is referring to being disqualified from the race (see 1 Corinthians 9:24-27) used as a metaphor for a Christian’s walk in life. Paul warns Christians to avoid people who insist on asceticism, the promoting of false humility where one practices a form of self-discipline abstaining from any earthly pleasures. Due to absence of these pleasures many become recluse and live a solitary life. However, it seems that nearly every religion has some faction that either existed in the past or continues to this day that embraces asceticism. Paul will come back to this subject after he is finished with mysticism, he now continues to warn us against those that support the worship of angels (remember there is only one mediator between us and God the Father and that person is Jesus), promoting visions and things they claim they saw to be of greater importance than the real truth (see Ezekiel 13:7; 1 Timothy 1:6-7), all while endorsing their own prideful and sensuous thinking (see Romans 8:7-8). These people have forfeited Jesus, who is the Head (see Ephesians 4:15-16) that nourishes and provides growth for the whole church. Unfortunately, mankind often seeks subjectivity as opposed to objectivity, even among Christians. Those that shifted from Jesus to experience, replacing the Word of God with feelings. On occasion I run into people who attempt to analyze experiences using their own interpretation of who Jesus is and how He should respond in various situation. They may say something like, “Well my Jesus would never do that!” At that point I usually say something like this, “That’s interesting, because the Jesus of the Bible would.” We cannot interpret God using our own feelings, desires or even intellect, Biblical truth must always be understood from God’s intended interpretation (see 2 Peter 1:20-21).
2:20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?
Paul now goes back to the subject of asceticism, in this case, referring to someone who deliberately lives the life of rigorous self-denial. Paul calls our attention to the fact that we died with Christ to the elemental principles (or spirits, same word he used previously in verse 10) referring to the lusts and desires of the world (see Galatians 4:9), so why do we continue to submit to regulations? The word Paul used here is ‘dogmatizo’ referring to regulations put in place by man. Paul used the root word, ‘dogma’ earlier in verse 14, translated in the ESV as “legal demands” but it is usually translated as decrees (NASB) or ordinances (KJV). Paul continues the question through verses 21 and 22 by commenting on the nature of this type of thinking, “People will tell you, “Don’t handle this! Don’t taste or touch that!” All of these things deal with objects that are only used up anyway.” (Colossians 2:21-22, GW) calling our attention to the fleeting nature of living a life of restrictions (see verse 16; 1 Corinthians 6:13 and 1 Timothy 4:3), that are based on human precepts (Greek word ‘enthalma’ meaning ‘mandates’) and teachings. False teachers often taught a form of ‘dualism’ that through strict asceticism, one could free the ‘spirit’ from the confines of the sinful ‘body’.
2:23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Much like his plea, warning us about falling for “plausible arguments” in verse four, Paul now warns us that these ideas may look good on the surface, having the appearance of wisdom. Fashioned to promote self-made (not God ordained) religion that does not concede to any hardship to the body. The word Paul used here that is translated as ‘appearance’ is ‘logon’, which can be translated “mere talk,” giving us additional insight to the nonsense and futility of man-made religions, rituals and traditions. Asceticism is a form of false humility that ultimately ends up promoting arrogance and pride in achievements, the exact opposite of humility. Paul concludes this section by reminding us that none of these human efforts can have any effect on stopping the indulgences of the flesh. This statement reminded me of something God once told Jeremiah, “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13, ESV)