Free Bible Commentary
“Colossians 2:16-19”
Categories: Colossians“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”
---End of Scripture Verses---
There is more going on here with regard to the “food and drink” than merely a condemnation of dietary restrictions of the Law of Moses (verses 21-22), but it is obvious that the references to “a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day” are specific to that inferior and supplanted covenant and system of rules and regulations. Paul called these types of austerity measures and religious rituals “elementary principles of the world” in verse 8, and here he refers to them as “mere shadows” (verse 17).
A shadow is completely dependent upon and inferior to the object that casts it. A shadow is temporary and non-substantive, and has no significance except in its relation to the material that it darkly reflects. The ordinances of the Law of Moses were precursors that foreshadowed the superior things that were “to come” in “the substance” which is Christ Jesus. The Hebrew writer wrote the following about this shadow and substance relationship that existed between the Law of Moses and our covenant in Christ:
“Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, ‘See,’ He says, ‘that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.’ But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.” (Hebrews 8:4-6)
Paul was not singling out the ordinances and holy days of the Law of Moses in His denouncement of the rudiments and elements and shadows of the “religious” world. He condemned any form of false teaching and practice as disqualifying us from the race and “defrauding” us from our eternal “prize” in Christ Jesus (verse 18). Anyone who tries to enforce “self-abasement” or the “worship of angels” is acting equally contrary to the truth and worthy of condemnation.
Paul even warned against people who take their stand on “visions” that they claim they have seen. There is only one reliable and authoritative source of revelation for our faith, work and worship today, and that is the New Testament. You cannot trust your own feelings, dreams or apparitions that you think you have experienced. I know some people who are convinced that they are privy to prophetic dreams and visions even today. An inspired Apostle tells us here that these things cannot be trusted! They cause people to be “inflated without cause” (verse 18)! Why? Because there is no substance to them! They are just feelings or hallucinations!
Don’t trust your feelings. Get your spiritual instruction and nutrition from Jesus through the Bible only. He is “the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God” (verse 19)!
Please read Colossians 2:20-23 for tomorrow.
Have a great day!
- Louie Taylor
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