ETB Colossians 2:16-23

Earlier in chapter 2 of Colossians, a warning was issued against “plausible arguments” (2:4). Falsehood in the hands of a persuasive person is the stuff of which deception is crafted and error is propagated. Also, earlier in this chapter, a warning was voiced about falsehood that “takes you captive” (2:8). Unfortunately, the lure of falsehood can possess the unsuspected power to take prisoners. Being a prisoner of error is not anything akin to being a servant of the truth.

The positive note concerning Christ sounded earlier in Colossians 2 is that in him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3). The operative term is “all.” That being true, no hidden wisdom or knowledge is to be found elsewhere, especially not in humanly reasoned and imposed practices, however religious they might appear on the surface.

This week’s passage explores the freedom in Christ; from humanly imposed duties and practices, from the allure of false teachers, to live in liberty because of Christ’s authority, and to worship without additional man-made practices. We are free to enjoy a relationship with God through Christ and to express faith in Christ based solely on His saving work.

[LifeWay Adults (2020). (p. 104). Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide - ESV - Fall 2021. LifeWay Press. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

Explore the Text

Colossians 2:16–17 ESV

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. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

“Therefore” at the beginning of our passage prompts us to remember not only the previous statement about Christ having nailed to the cross all the legal demands of the law and overcoming all the powers and authorities of the world but also His preeminence and that all the “hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are found only in Him. Because these things are true, the Colossian believers and we today have Christ ruling in our hearts, He is our judge, and no man can condemn or bind us under any human authority.

“Pass judgement” is translated in other versions as criticize or condemn. There is a connotation of the false judges trying to “guilt” the believers into performing a certain way. There is also the concept of “assessing value” so it may be a way of other expressing more value to their beliefs than to the Colossians’ faith in Christ. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul wrote, 1 Cor 8:8 “Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” God through Paul is more concerned about the state of our soul and our relationship to Him than whether or not we have “eaten properly”. Romans 14:17 tells us that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Food and drink are things that go into the body and are temporary. Paul is telling the Colossians don’t worry about what others say you are doing wrong; they are so far off base they have no basis to judge you. He will continue to point out their errors and significant sins through the rest of the passage.

Just like the things that we put into our bodies do not affect our righteousness before God the timing of our worship is not critical either. Festivals were annual, new moons are monthly, and Sabbaths are weekly. Today Christians have services nearly any day of the week, but most seem to have their “main” services on Sundays as the believers in the New Testament did starting in the book of Acts. Although Hebrews 10:25 tells us to not neglect “to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” it does not prescribe a frequency for this gathering. The intent of the gathering is to “stir up one another to love and good works”. Meeting once a month or only on “special days” cannot do this for any in the modern era as we are too easily distracted on a moment-by-moment basis for any lasting effects of a brief time together. Although each person is different, the premise of needing others to help us stay on track is true for all. Some of us need all the help we can find to remain true and focused on the truths of Christ and His gospel of grace. Once a week may not be enough and Paul is telling the Colossians do not let others dictate how often you gather to worship, adjust your lives to Christ’s leadership and let Him the through Holy Spirit prompt you as to how often you need to meet with Him and fellow believers.

In their time and for their intended purpose, the special food laws and holy days were important. Paul expressed that importance by referring to them as a shadow of the things to come. The substance of which they were a shadow was Christ. As such, they played a preparatory or anticipatory role for God’s covenant nation, Israel. [LifeWay Adults (2020). (p. 105). Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide - ESV - Fall 2021. LifeWay Press. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

Rituals and observances regardless how often they are done or what they represent, they will never bring peace between God and man, only Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross accomplished this. Everything else is an empty, bad copy. Hebrews 10:1 “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.”

Shadows today are not any different than in the original reader’s time. We may understand more about them scientifically, but they are still just outline sketches and darkened images representative of the original. Years ago, there was a popular style of portraits done - portrait in silhouette - in which only the outline of the side of person’s head was drawn and it was filled in black like a shadow. When they were done well you could tell who was portrayed without any other facial features present. My mom did one of each of her sons at 2 years old and we can all still tell who is who. We recognize who the portrait or shadow represents but we do not get a full picture. We would look at these images on the wall and then turn to face the real person and say, “That’s you!”. Paul is telling the Colossians, why dwell on and look at the shadow on the wall when you can worship the real and living Christ?!

In order for an object to cast a shadow it must be solid or have “substance.” The word used here in the Greek is more often translated as body but that word in the English may have caused confusion as this is not referring to the church as Christ’s body but is a word of contrast to the shadow. An ethereal shadow is cast by solid body.

Some of the teachers in Colossae had some “plausible arguments” but Paul is now going to get to some specifics to help us spot the “dangers in the road” before they take us off course.

Colossians 2:18–19 ESV

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, 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.

We have looked at a similar word for disqualify earlier in our lessons, referring not to you doing something erroneous within a race but rather someone doing something to you to prevent your proper progress within the race (tripping, causing to stumble, shoving you off course.) Here the believers can be prevented from growth in Christlikeness by having the focus drawn toward rituals and mis-directed worship.

Depending on which author or commentary you read, "asceticism and worship of angels” is either 2 different erroneous acts of worship or 1 single one. Asceticism in basic terms is the denial of the body of pleasures for the benefit of the spirit. If these two are linked as a single act, then the belief is that only by certain pious acts and bodily restraints can a person obtain the appropriate “spiritual state” that will allow them to worship “with” the angels in the heavenly realm. If the two are separate, the false teachers are promoting worship “of” angelic beings, the rest of the encounters with angelic messengers gives us a clue to the error. No proper angel revealed in Scripture ever let any human bow to him in worship, but a fallen one would demand it. Regardless of the interpretation, the theological error is significant and does not give Christ His preeminent position in the worship.

I was reminded this week in one my daily devotions that C.S. Lewis in his book The Problem of Pain, spoke about the dangers of this type of self-denial for spiritual benefit.

As a layman, I offer no opinion on the prudence of such a regimen; but I insist that, whatever its merits, self-torture is quite a different thing from tribulation sent by God. Everyone knows that fasting is a different experience from missing your dinner by accident or through poverty. Fasting asserts the will against the appetite—the reward being self-mastery and the danger pride: involuntary hunger subjects appetites and will together to the Divine will, furnishing an occasion for submission and exposing us to the danger of rebellion. But the redemptive effect of suffering lies chiefly in its tendency to reduce the rebel will. Ascetic practices, which in themselves strengthen the will, are only useful in so far as they enable the will to put its own house (the passions) in order, as a preparation for offering the whole man to God. They are necessary as a means; as an end, they would be abominable, for in substituting will for appetite and there stopping, they would merely exchange the animal self for the diabolical self.

Paul’s conclusion about these false teachers is similar as he describes their self-promotion in supposed visions and carnal minds. I am not sure if it was intentional when he wrote or not but the phrase “going on in detail about visions” had the most variations in commentary and definitions because of the unusual phrasing. It almost as if the words used are to help us see how the things they are talking about are really out of place. 1 Tim 1:7 is a cross reference listed so the false teachers may be more about them trying to figure out the meaning of their vision with human wisdom rather than godly interpretations. Paul did not write to the Corinthians much about his vision only that “he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter”. After this he immediately begins talking about a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. He may be warning the Colossians to listen to these “goings on” for who or what is being glorified and if it “puffs up” the speaker than it was not from God, or at least being abused for personal gain if it was.

The point Paul was trying to emphasize with this phrase was more about their ludicrous nature than actual content. One commentary said that he “identified these visions as egotistical delusions of a carnal mind”. [CSB Study Bible: Notes. Ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017. 1897. Print.}

Colossians 2:18–19 ESV

This carnal thinking or sensuous mind looks toward the self and not Christ for answers and spiritual insight. This the exact opposite of what we learned in Eph 4:15-16. Such mind sets also prevent proper communication with the Head. John 15:5 reminds us that “apart from Him” we can do nothing. This carnal thinking is like a blood clot in the body that cuts off functionality to another part of the body. Without proper blood flow for a prolonged period the tissue begins to die. The Greek word here for sensuous appears to be used as a contrast to the spiritual more than a description. Carnal fleshly thoughts instead of having the “mind of Christ”. It also has the connotation of being “dead meat” instead of “living tissue” which is what the word “soma” suggests when used describing the “whole body” later in the verse.

Rom 8:7 “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”

Christ is our head, and we must do all we can to maintain an appropriate, untainted, unhindered relationship with Him.

The false teachers were not holding exclusively on to Christ as the Head and as a consequence were really undernourished spiritually, all the while imagining themselves to be spiritual experts in a class all by themselves.

Furthermore, it is the divine Head by which the body is knit together. Like the joints and ligaments that keep a physical human body properly joined and functioning, so Christ keeps His spiritual body—the church—joined in unity and functioning with growth that is from God. Falsehoods promoted by the false teachers could never enable unity and real growth in the church. Heresy breeds dissension and division, a condition that results in weakness and stymied growth in a church [as well as the individual believers.] [LifeWay Adults (2020). (p. 107). Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide - ESV - Fall 2021. LifeWay Press. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

After commanding the Colossian readers to be on their guard against being disqualified for worthy service, Paul now asks a rhetorical question concerning who or what they are submitting themselves to.

Colossians 2:20–22 ESV

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— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?

The if-clause that begins verse 20 is a construction that assumes a fact as true, giving the sense of “if you died with Christ as indeed you did.” The simple term “since” picks up the force of Paul’s statement as based on the truth that a Christian in a sense has died with Christ.

Paul reminded the Colossian believers that genuine conversion equated to dying with Christ insofar as contributing anything of their own to earn their salvation. Trusting Christ alone means abandoning any notion that we contribute to our salvation. Church history witnesses to human efforts to become more spiritual by self-effort.

While personal physical discipline has its place, that place is not a replacement for inward heart devotion to Christ. [LifeWay Adults (2020). (p. 107). Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide - ESV - Fall 2021. LifeWay Press. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

The word submit in the ancient culture was often connected to concepts of slavery. In this verse translation commentaries of this word read like “subjugate yourselves under” or “give credence to”. Almost as if yielding to these elemental things is a form of asceticism.

Seems that the Colossians were not the only one being tempted this way as we hear similar language in Galatians.

Galatians 4:9 ESV

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

Whether they are elemental spirits or principles, they are not centered on God and therefore are temporal and will not last.

Colossians 2:20–22 ESV

Eternal things to not perish. In keeping with the body-flesh theme the word here has a connotation of decomposing tissue. What may have been living in the past is now closer to the “dead meat” alluded to earlier in verse 18. Paul is very serious about not letting anything into the Colossian believers’ theology that can “deaden” their submissiveness to Christ and encourages believers throughout his letters to “stand firm” against such practices and beliefs. To Titus he wrote

Titus 1:13–14 ESV

This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.

Flagrant errors in theology are to be confronted sharply with the Truth of Christ and His gospel message. Paul finishes today’s passage acknowledging that these false teachers have an appeal but when examined closely they have no lasting power.

Colossians 2:23 ESV

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.

To the eyes of the false teachers, these practices seemed to be expressions of deep devotion to God and humility. In fact, such an approach to the Christian life has no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. The result of basing spirituality on such outward matters tends to foster a better-than-thou attitude toward other members of the body of Christ. [LifeWay Adults (2020). (p. 109). Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide - ESV - Fall 2021. LifeWay Press. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

When being chastised for not fasting, a wise believer responded, “I would rather have a full stomach and willing repent of gluttony than have an empty stomach and fail to repent of pride.” Personal or corporate rituals and ceremonies can draw us into a more teachable attitude and readiness for worship, but they cannot change our hearts, only God can do this.

These self-made religious practices often become self-worship or prideful displays of accomplishment. Anytime we promote something we made or “self-made” we dangerously dethrone Christ in our hearts who should remain preeminent in all things - including our thoughts and worship.

Buffét vs Buffet anecdote

Although we are to “buffet” or discipline our body into submission (1Cor 9:27), “severity” to the body is overindulgence and harmful. This level of defamation prevents growth and life within the person. This term is in direct opposition to the growth caused and encouraged by God in verse 19 and as Paul finishes the verse it has no real or lasting worth.

Our sin nature cannot be suppressed by human effort. I do not agree with modern psychology’s practice of “behavioral modification” because it only treats the symptoms or at best “labels” the issue but does nothing to cause lasting change in a person’s heart where the desires for the problem emanate. Spiritual problems cannot be solved with human or worldly answers. The imagery in our verse suggested by “no value” is of trying to prevent overwhelming influences with trivial obstacles. Like band-aids on a severed artery or giving a starving man a single cracker “believing” it will bring him back to full strength. These kinds of “solutions” are worthless and are of no help. 1 Tim 4:8 clearly points us in the right direction.

1 Timothy 4:8 (ESV)

for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

“IF” we are in Christ than it is by faith and His work is sufficient for salvation (justification) and continued growth in Christlikeness (sanctification) until He completes His work in us (glorification). Adding anything to this is worthless and some would call it heresy.

If we rely on anything other than God to helps us grow in the knowledge and fullness of Him, we “shall become either very discouraged or very proud; in either case we shall be relying on something worthless.” [Hale, Thomas. The Applied New Testament Commentary. Colorado Springs, CO; Ontario, Canada; East Sussex, England: David C. Cook, 1996. Print.]

Apply the Text

Believers are free to worship God in light of the gospel.

Believers are free to enjoy a relationship with God through Christ.

Believers find freedom through expressing their faith in Christ in all areas of their lives.

To what evidence can you point as proof that you have died with Christ to the elements of this world? Think and pray about with whom can you share about this freedom you found through faith in Jesus?

[LifeWay Adults (2020). (p. 98). Explore the Bible: Adult Personal Study Guide - ESV - Fall 2021. LifeWay Press. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

Related Media

Related Sermons