Question:
Will you please explain Colosians 2:14-17? (1) The word here is sabbaton, genitive plural. It is also sabbaton in the Septuagint in Exodus 20:8-10. (2) “Ordinances” is “dogma” (Greek, law, decree, etc.). The bond (see R. V.) was written in the dogma or law. (3) Verse 17, being nominative plural and neuter in Greek, agrees with “holy day,” “new moon,” and “sabbath.” (4) The order “holy day,” and “new moon,” and “sabbath” is exactly as the order is in the Old Testament in some places. When that order appears in the Old Testament, does “sabbath” mean the Decalogue Sabbath or not? Would these considerations involve the claim that Paul in Colosians 2:14-17 did not refer to the Decalogue Sabbath?
Answer:
Let’s answer the last question first. It would not affect the claim that Paul did not refer to the Decalogue Sabbath. The Decalogue Sabbath is not a “shadow of things to come.” It is a memorial of that which is past. It is the constant present evidence of God’s power to create and re-create.
The Greek word sabbaton is used for the singular in its plural form, partly for emphasis. That can be easily seen by tracing it in a New Testament Greek concordance. The kind of sabbaths, new moons, etc., is shown by the phrase referred to before: “Which are a shadow of things to come.” That was true of the feast-days, the monthly festivals, and the yearly sabbaths.
Another consideration is worthy of note in this passage that the student ought to notice, and that is the point of the apostle’s teaching. He is speaking to Christians, those whom God has redeemed and re-created in Christ Jesus. They have been placed upon the true foundation of God’s Word, and the apostle desires that they shall be rooted and built up in Christ and established in the faith. All this is in harmony with God’s holy Word. Our Lord Himself was that Word personified, a commandment-keeper, and those rooted and established in Him by faith are also commandment-keepers; therefore, being justified by Him, received by Him, sins cleansed by Him, let not man judge. Let not man condemn. In other words, whatever men may say, do not let us feel condemned by them, even though we are not walking in the ordinances of men. God’s path of commandments upon which grace has placed us may lead us away from all the traditions of the church in the past and contrary to all human laws in the present. Let not these things trouble us. Go forward, looking to Christ and Him alone. We are not to be led away by false philosophy or puffed up by the fleshly mind, but the Christian is to hold fast to the Head. He who honestly and intelligently holds fast to the Head, Christ our Lord, will be a commandment-keeper, not to earn salvation, but because of the life within him.
