October 30, 2011 · Colossians 2:16–17

Freedom From Human Rules

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

“It's Jesus plus the new moon, plus the Sabbath, plus gnosis, plus hollow and deceptive philosophy. It's always distracting the people from Jesus. This seems to be a mishmash, a hodgepodge of Judaism and Christianity and some of the religious cults around the area. These people are trying to give a teaching that adds to — and eventually actually takes away from — the gospel. So Paul is making clear. That type of rule was meant to point to Christ. He calls them shadows — but they're just a mere shadow. Now we have the real thing. Why are you bothering with new moon festivals and calendars and all these special holidays when we now have Jesus? He is the reality. He changes the game. Now it's Jesus. It's all Jesus. It's just Jesus. Because before, to get into the people of God, you had to go through a lot of rituals. If you were male, circumcision. You had to follow these festivals. You had to fast at certain times, and so we see this observation of law being the way into the people of God — but Jesus deliberately changes that. We cannot go back to that. Not after Jesus. Not after this Christ who is supreme even over the evil empire we've heard about. Now when we enter the people of God, it's through faith in Jesus alone. I mean, you have baptism as the new sign of the covenant — but not even that is required, because we know that the thief on the cross was in paradise without having been baptized. Paul is introducing us into this world the shadow versus the reality, and trying to help people understand: why go after the shadows, the mysteries, the gnosis, when you have Jesus? Why are we chasing after all these extras? When we are in Christ, reality sinks in.”