Colossians 2:16-17 Meaning
Colossians 2:16-17 (NIV):
“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.”
Most people believe that Colossians 2:16-17 tells us that the Sabbath amd religious festivals merely pointed to Christ, and now that Christ has come, these days of worship should no longer be kept.
But this interpretation of Colossians 2:16-17 seems to contradict several prophecies about the future.
Consider Isaiah 66:23:
And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord.
The plain reading of this verse seems to indicate that at some time the whole world will celebrate the Sabbath and new moons. This has never happened before. And if you read the whole chapter, you will see that it is a prophecy about the future.
So if the Sabbath and new moons have been replaced by Christ, why will they be observed by the whole world in the future?
Another prophecy mentions that all nations will be required to keep the Feast of Tabernacles after Christ comes back to earth again:
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” – Zechariah 14:16-18, NKJV
Again, if you read the whole chapter, this is clearly a prophecy about the future.
These Bible verses should make you wonder whether Colossians 2:16-17 really says what you think it says.
Let’s read it again:
“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.” (Colossians 2:16-17, NIV)
It still seems to say that the Sabbath and festivals are a shadow of something that has already come, and the reality is in Christ.
But that is a very, very bad translation, so I bolded parts that were added or badly mistranslated.
Here is the Greek:
Μὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω ἐν βρώσει ἢ ἐν πόσει, ἢ ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς ἢ νουμηνίας ἢ σαββάτων· ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων, τὸ δὲ σῶμα χριστοῦ. (Pickering Edition)
Which is correctly translated:
“Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day—which are a shadow of the things to come—but the body of Christ.”
Now, with a correct translation, we can see the real meaning of these verses.
What Paul was actually saying is that we should not let anyone judge us about how we keep the Sabbath and feast days except for “the body of Christ.”
The body of Christ is the Church (Colossians 1:18, 24). So only the true Church of God should guide us on how to keep the Sabbath and feast days—not unbelievers or any church that does not actually follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.
So why did Paul need to tell the Colossians not to let anyone judge them (except the Church) about eating and drinking and observing the biblical festivals?
The answer is in the context. There were some ascetics who were telling the disciples, “do not touch, do not taste, do not handle” (Colossians 2:21). Paul told the disciples to ignore these man-made rules that would interfere with eating and drinking on the Sabbath and feast days. So this scripture actually shows that the Gentile Christians at Colossae were keeping the Sabbath and feast days, and some outsiders were judging them for feasting on those days.
But also notice that Paul says the Sabbath and feasts “are a shadow of thing to come.” That means they are a prophetic shadow of a future reality.
What do these days foretell? Find out here: