Colossians 2.22-Paul Makes Two Assertions which Demonstrate the Life of the Church is Not Governed by the Mosaic Law
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 13, 2016
Colossians: Colossians 2:22-Paul Makes Two Assertions Which Demonstrate the Life of the Church is Not Governed by the Mosaic Law
Lesson # 64
Colossians 2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? (NASB95)
“(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)” refers to not only the material objects implied by the second prohibition in Colossians 2:21 but also all three prohibitions in Colossians 2:21.
Thus, the phrase ἅ ἐστιν πάντα, “which are all” is modified by two prepositional phrases.
The first being εἰς φθορὰν τῇ ἀποχρήσει, “destined to perish with use” and the second being κατὰ τὰ ἐντάλματα καὶ διδασκαλίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων, “in accordance with the commandments as well as teachings originating from men.”
Therefore, we have two relative pronoun clauses and thus two assertions are being made by Paul.
The first is that all the animals designated as unclean by the Mosaic Law are destined to perish with their consumption while the second is that the three prohibitions in Colossians 2:21 are all based upon the commandments and teachings of men.
“In accordance with the commandments and teachings of men” indicates that the three prohibitions listed in Colossians 2:21 are based upon the commandments and teachings originating from men.
Colossians 2:22 These are, as an eternal spiritual truth all destined to perish with their consumption. These are, as an eternal spiritual truth all based upon the commandments as well as teachings originating from men. (My translation)
Paul is making two assertions.
The first is that the material objects which the Mosaic Law declared as unclean for the Jew are all destined to perish with use.
The material objects are of course those animals which the Law declared unclean for the Jew to eat.
The second assertion is that all three prohibitions in Colossians 2:21 are based upon the commandments as well as teachings originating from men.
This second assertion resembles Paul description of the teaching of the Judaizers in Colossians 2:8 which he describes as being “based upon the tradition produced by human beings.”
The difference between this assertion in Colossians 2:8 and the second assertion in Colossians 2:22 is that the latter describes the Judaizers misinterpretation and misapplication of the Mosaic Law to the church while the former describes the man-made traditions of the Judaizers.
If you recall, Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their adherence to their own rabbinical traditions rather than the Word of God (Mark 7).
Therefore, Paul is asserting that the Mosaic Law does not apply to the church.
In Colossians 2:22, Paul is asserting that the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law do not apply to the church.
The second assertion goes a step further than the first in that it makes clear to the faithful Christians in Colossae that the purity laws of the Mosaic Law in their entirety have no application for the church.
These dietary regulations do not govern the life of the church.
All the purity laws of the Mosaic Law do not govern the life of the church.
All three of these prohibitions speak of basic purity rules which are found extensively in the Mosaic Law.
They are not all in reference to the dietary regulations of the Law.
There were commands and prohibitions in the Mosaic Law which governed what a Jew could eat or not eat (see Leviticus 11).
That which they could not eat was considered “unclean” and that which they could eat was “clean.”
God gave the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai.
He designated certain foods were “clean” and “unclean” for the Israelites (Leviticus 11; 20:15; Deuteronomy 14:3-21; cf. Leviticus 17:10-16; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:15-25).
The dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law prohibited Israelites from eating “unclean” animals (Leviticus 11; 20:15; Deuteronomy 14:3-21; cf. Leviticus 17:10-16; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:15-25).
The Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles whose teaching is in the New Testament make clear that the dietary laws of the Mosaic law did not apply to the church (Mark 7:2, 5; 14-19; Acts 10).
Acts 10 records the Lord teaching Peter that the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic Law were no longer applicable.
The gospels and Acts both record that the Lord Jesus taught no food is unclean (Matthew 15:10-20; Mark 7:14-19; Acts 10:1-15).
Paul taught the churches throughout the Roman empire that all foods were fit for consumption (cf. Romans 14:14; 1 Corinthians 10:25-26).
He taught Titus the same thing (cf. Titus 1:15).
Hebrews 13:9 teaches that the Christian is not spiritually strengthened by eating meat, but by God’s grace.
Colossians 2:20-23 teaches that abstinence does not make us more spiritual.
The Judaizers were causing divisions in the church by attempting to impose the ritual of circumcision upon the Gentile believers (Acts 15; Gal. 5) and by imposing the observance of laws of food of the Mosaic Law on the Gentiles (Col. 2:16-17).
In Romans 16:17, Paul warns the Roman believers to watch out for those who cause divisions and temptations to sin and apostasy contrary to the doctrine they’ve been taught and that they were to avoid them.
The Mosaic Law also addressed what the Jew could handle or touch.
For instance, they were prohibited from coming into contact with lepers (Lev. 13:45-46) and a woman during her menstrual period (Lev. 15:19-24) or a man with a discharge (Lev. 15:2-12), or a corpse (Num. 19:11-13).
Pharisaic and Essene Judaism were very much concerned about purity issues.
They both had strict regulations to ensure that no one in Israel impinged upon the purity of the people.
In fact, they added their own purity rules which were in addition to those found in the Mosaic Law.
Their own rules they even raised to the level of Scripture!
So Paul is teaching in Colossians 2:20-22 that the Mosaic Law which was designed to govern the ritual purity of the citizens of the nation of Israel does not govern the life of the church since the church age believer, whether Jew or Gentile has died to the Law because of their identification with Christ in His death.
In fact, he teaches in Colossians 2:22-23 that the Judaizers’ teaching that the Mosaic Law must govern the life of the church is simply the teaching of men rather than God.
This is the case since these men were seeking to do what God did not want to do, namely He did not want the life of the church to be governed by the Mosaic Law but rather by the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ.
This was not God’s idea that the conduct of the church would be governed by the Mosaic Law since God through the death of Christ and the baptism of the Spirit caused the Christian to die with regards to the Law.
The Judaizers were in direct opposition to God by teaching the Law governs the conduct of the church.
God’s design was that the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ would govern the conduct of the church.
In Romans 7:1-6, Paul taught the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome that Jewish Christians are not under the authority of the Mosaic Law because they are identified with Christ in His death on the cross and thus Gentile Christians are not under the authority of the Mosaic Law as well.