Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.1
As this passage opens we should take notice of what precedes it; we should see what the “therefore” is there for. In short, Paul has established with his hearers the all-sufficiency of Christ. Who he is and what he has done needs no add-ons. Therefore, we must not submit ourselves to the judgmental criticism of those who require more than faith in Christ. Whatever that “more” may be, Paul wants the Colossian believers to guard against any requirement for unnecessary practices.
There are scholars who have spent much time trying to analyze Paul’s writing here. The most honest of them will admit that Paul’s allusions in these verses are not easy to identify. Some of the things mentioned like “food or drink” (v. 16) or “don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch” (v. 21) sound Jewish. Other things sound like they could be various pagan influences that were being practiced in Colossae. New Testament professor David E. Garland suggests that some of the things mentioned must be Jewish references, as Paul would never have credited pagan religions with being “shadows of things to come” (v. 17).2 I tend to agree. Further investigation into the practices Paul mentions can be enlightening, and we will leave that to other resources.3 Fortunately, we can still understand the point of the passage without knowing the Colossian context with perfect clarity. Whether Jewish or pagan in nature, we must not be obliged to practices that the Christian gospel holds as unnecessary.
What happens if we do succumb to such requirements? Paul says that we are “disqualified” (v. 18). Whether we are talking about trophies, elections, or other awards, we understand the impact of disqualification. Imagine after an award is given, a contest won and the victory claimed, that someone comes along with news that a rule has been violated and the prize must be surrendered. There is no joy in that for the one who had received the prize. This is certainly the image Paul is trying to convey. The New American Standard Bible translates verse 18a as “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize….” If we surrender to the unnecessary obligations, we not only give way to the idea that Christ alone isn’t sufficient for our salvation, but in doing so we also are surrendering the peace and joy that comes with resting in Christ.
There is a final piece worthy of notice, coming to us in verse 23. When one reads the epistles of Paul in the New Testament, it is abundantly clear that Paul expects the Christian believer to experience real inner transformation. He might call it the flesh versus the Spirit, the old self versus the new self, or some other contrasting word pictures. The point is that Jesus makes a change in one’s heart, and it is a change only Jesus can make. The add-ons Paul has in mind “are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (v. 23). Paul will expound on this later in the letter. For now it is enough to note that Paul’s mind is pointed that direction.
At this point a further reflection may be beneficial. Paul does not suggest that Christianity does not come with requirements or expectations. There are practices that benefit one’s spiritual maturity. Those have often been called spiritual disciplines through the generations of the Church. Such things are not on Paul’s mind in this passage. Paul is addressing the “add-ons” as they have been called in this post. These practices or observances are not obligations for Christian faith. They may not even point us in the direction of the fulfillment of Christ. Imposing them as requirements does nothing more than to rob the believer of her joy and to diminish the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It is this that Paul will not tolerate.
- Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ↩︎
- David E. Garland, NIV Application Commentary: Colossians/Philemon, 174. Garland writes, “Since Paul would never describe pagan rituals as a shadow or outline of what was to come in Christ, the promise/fulfillment motif is more fitting as an evaluation of Judaism. ↩︎
- A personal recommendation for Bible commentary is the multivolume work The NIV Application Commentary. Each volume is written by a different scholar, highly credentialed in their field of biblical academics. The commentary is substantial and yet accessible, written to satisfy both trained and armchair theologians. ↩︎
The Winding Path 