Colossians 2:16-17
Back to The Bible's Difficult Scriptures Explained!
“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: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
Does this scripture state that nobody has authority to tell Christians that they are right or wrong in regards to unclean meats, Holy Day observance, and Sabbath observance? This passage is quoted by nearly every Protestant and Catholic authority to prove this thinking.
The point: Christians should not let people arbitrarily judge what they should or should not do. Only the Church (Col. 1:18)—“the body of Christ” (Col. 1:17)—can do this. (Also see Ephesians 1:22-23.) The word “is” is in italics and translators blurred the meaning by adding it.
The phrase “in meat or drink” (Col. 1:16) is correctly translated “for eating or drinking.” Some ascetics in Colossae were teaching that self-denial and will-worship (Col. 1:20-22) were God’s way (see the Galatians 4:9 explanation).
Notice that the first phrase in Gal 4:17 uses the present tense in reference to the Sabbath and the Holy Days. It says, in effect, “these days are [not were] a [fore] shadow of things to come.” Christians know that the Sabbath and Holy Days picture the Plan of God, which certainly does involve many “things to come.” Gal 4:18 is a final warning to Christians to not allow anyone to trick them about these important issues, because it is only the Church—the body of Christ—that carried authority to make judgments before the brethren (Gal 4:17, end).
No suggested reading.