Understanding the meaning of Colossians 2:14-17.

[Hobie]

Many cite the verse and say it does away with the Sabbath, but it does no such thing, so here is the verse from the KJV:

Colossians 2:14-17
King James Version (KJV)
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 lets take a closer look at what it says:

1) 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; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
2) 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
3) sabbath days: Which are a
4) shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

#1 The 'handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us' was the law of Moses, not Gods moral law. The Commandments were described in the Bible as being written on stone with His finger not handwritten by Moses. Also Gods law was not grievous to us as Moses law was a witness against us.
Deuteronomy 31:26 King James Version (KJV)
26 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.

#2 The Mosaic Ceremonial Laws dealt with meat and drink offerings and various holydays, but the 10 Commandments did not. Also, Mosaic laws did not judge a man, that was not its purpose; those laws were added BECAUSE of transgressions and did not DEFINE the transgression as the Ten Commandments do; these were already shown above.

#3 Notice that 'sabbath days' was used here; plural. The seventh-day Sabbath is usually referred to as 'the sabbath day'(singular). The various holy days of Moses Law or Mosaic Ceremonial Laws, were ceremonial days and were called high sabbaths, but they all revolved around timing of the moon not the seven days of creation.

#4 The Mosaic ceremonial laws were a 'shadow of things to come' and you can see this in Galatians..

Galatians 3:16,19
King James Version (KJV)
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ....19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

So we see this argument against the Sabbath is void because it isnt even talking about the Ten Commandments.

 

[Hobie]

One really important observation is found in Deuteronomy 31:9.Here is what it says;

Deuteronomy 31:9
King James Version (KJV)
9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel.

What is important to see is that Moses delivered his law to the priests that were baring the ark of the covenant (Exodus 40:20) which already contained the Ten Commandments! These laws are separate though they are related. One points out sin (Gods law) and the other defined what was needed to atone for breaking Gods law (Moses law). Now, of course, Christ has taken the atonement part from us (the penalty phase), we no longer have to do sacrifices because Christ became the sacrificial Lamb for all our sins.

Now many have cited the following verse:

Romans 6:14
King James Version (KJV)
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

But they always fail to read the very next verse, which says;

Romans 6:15 - What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Nor do they read some of the other verses by Paul, such as Romans 3:31:

Romans 3:31
King James Version (KJV)
31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

And Romans 7:7:

Romans 7:7
King James Version (KJV)
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

So you see, this argument is defeated before it begins, and all because those that cite it are leaving out Pauls entire thought. If we do this with every verse in the Bible we can literally make the Bible say anything we want it to say.

 

[GRACE ambassador]

op: sabbath judgment defeated?

Of course, there is also this, instead of a shadow:

Christ [ The True Sabbath we rest in, ] Living [ 24/7/365 ] In us, To Fulfil:

All Of His Law, In ONE Word: ►► love ◄◄ thy neighbor
as thyself!" (Galatians 5:14; Romans 13:8-10)​

Don't see any observance 'of a day' in there.

Amen.

 

[Hobie]

op: sabbath judgment defeated?

Of course, there is also this, instead of a shadow:

Christ [ The True Sabbath we rest in, ] Living [ 24/7/365 ] In us, To Fulfil:

All Of His Law, In ONE Word: ►► love ◄◄ thy neighbor​

as thyself!" (Galatians 5:14; Romans 13:8-10)​

Don't see any observance 'of a day' in there.

Amen.

And yet Christ tells us..
Matthew 5:19
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Christ knew what men would do, trying to change what He made from the beginning at Creation..
Mark 7:7
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

And Christ makes clear who is it that love Him...
John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.

If you look closely at verse 14 in Colossians 2, you see even more of what it was talking about..
Colossians 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;

Here we are basically introduced into one aspect of the law, the 'ordinances.' Now, can it be shown that this is the same as the law of Ten Commandments? Not according to the bible if you look, it shows what these 'ordinances' were..

Hebrews 9:1
Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.

Unto the first covenant was added 'ordinances,' which were ceremonies needed to be performed by the Israelites and the priests. This is was the 'ceremonial laws.' So we wee that Paul begins his discussion of the law with respect to the ordinances of the law, not the Ten Commandments. Hebrews 9 explains what those ordinances were, and he concludes them all as being 'carnal ordinances', in verse 10,,
Hebrews 9:1-10
1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.
3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

The law of God, however, is not carnal, but spiritual or from God not man...
Romans 7:14
For I know that the law is spiritual. So it is not speaking about the spiritual law of 10 Commandments, but of the carnal ordinances added to the law 'because of transgressions'. So no wonder that Paul then specifies those ordinances in verse 21, saying, 'why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not...'
Colossians 2:20-21
20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;

Such requirements are clearly echoed by Paul as ordinances of the ceremonial law in Hebrews 9 where in verse 10 he made it clear
"Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances"

You can see even more evidence of this is in Pauls use of the word 'handwriting.' The greek word translated 'handwriting' is 'cheirographon' and it literally means 'something written by hand.' Now God did not write the 10 Commandments by hand or with a Moses putting it down, but by Gods own finger:
Exodus 31:18
And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

Moses, however, wrote with his 'hand' the ordinances found in the book of the law:
2 Chronicles 33:8
Neither will I anymore remove the foor of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law, and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.

We need to read scripture precept upon precept; line upon line, here a little, and there a little, it gives us truth and the Holy Spirit guides us into all of its truth. Scripture shows that the 'book of the law' that contained ordinances and curses, and we find that Moses commanded it 'not' be placed with the 10 Commandments inside the Ark of the Covenant, but rather 'outside' the Ark. The reasons are simple: they are not to be counted as the same because one was perfect, the other was not. That is why the 'book of the law' was 'against us.' Let us place these two verses side by side:

Colossians 2:14
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.

Deuteronomy 31:26
26 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.

With the scriptural evidence we can see that Paul specifically had the ceremonial law in mind when he wrote those words in Colossians 2 verse 14, especially since his focus is on circumcision (verses 11-13), another ceremonial law. This is the context, and should be kept in mind when reading down these verses.