SDA HOUR OF GRACE BROADCAST

TOPIC: LET NO ONE JUDGE YOU WITH THE SABBATH, HOW?

EPIOSDE 70

WELCOME ADDRESS: Hello Saints of the Most! It’s time again for another edition of the
program, the Hour of Grace Broadcast. Before we go any further, I want to dedicate this text
to you. Isaiah [Link] Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my
unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the
LORD, who has compassion on you. Claim this promise by faith, and it shall be your portion
in Jesus name! Amen.

REVIEW & INTRODUCTION OF NEW TOPIC: Last week, we saw from the book of
Acts of Apostles that Paul and his companions observed the Sabbath of the Lord. It was a day
to worship, and to preach Christ. The Christian church back then was a Sabbath keeping
church. And so, there was no single account of the apostles worshipping on any other day.
Today our focus is Pauline text that have always been used by modern Churches to teach that
the Sabbath have been abolished. They are: Colossians 2:14-17; Romans 14:5-6; Galatians
4:8-11. We shall limit our message for today to Colossians 2:14-17. Our topic is, “LET NO
ONE JUDGE YOU WITH THE SABBATH, HOW? (Pray)

Colossians 2:14-17: “Having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against
us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed
the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the
cross. 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.” (NIV)

First, this text has been a bone of contention for scholars and theologians, exegetically, it is
one of the most difficult passages to interpret in the New Testament. Hence, there has been
many theories and interpretations given to it over the years. Predominantly, the interpretation
given to this text, which has passed down from the Church Fathers to modern Christian is that
the Sabbath, according to Colossian’s passage has become a bygone ceremonial shadow of
the Jewish dispensation, abolished by Christ on the cross. The mention of a few significant
scholars will suffice to establish this fact. W. Robertson Nicoll similarly maintains that “the
unmistakable teaching” of Colossians is that “the obligation of the Jewish Sabbath has passed
away as much as sacrifices and circumcision.” Paul K. Jewett likewise comments that
“Paul’s statement [Col. 2:16] comes as near to a demonstration, as anything could, that he
taught his converts they had no obligation to observe the seventh-day Sabbath of the Old
Testament.

How do we understand this text? Does this text really teach that the Seventh-day Sabbath has
been abolished? Is the sabbath part of the shadow of things to come? What issues was Paul
addressing? What was the nature of false teaching that Paul was refuting?

Studying the background and the context of this Bible passage will help a great deal. First,
Paul, an apostle of Jesus was the author of the Book of Colossians, and so the statement in
question was made by him to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ at Colossae (1:1, 2),
NIV notes on Colossians adds, the book of Colossians was one of the Pauline epistles, written
by Paul in his first imprisonment in Rome. Internal evidence shows that there was a problem
in Colossian church—false teachers introducing heresy in Colossian Church —what was the
nature of the heresy? There is no much information given on the nature of the heresy in
Colossian Church; it is safer to understand the false teaching in Colossae as a mixture of
Judaism and some oriental paganism. Clinton E. Arnold, in his book “The Colossian
Syncretism” adds, “Recent studies have supported the more traditional conviction that in
Colossians we are not dealing with traditional Judaism but with a syncretic movement in
which Jewish elements are present. 1” While the reference to the observances of “festival, new
moon and sabbath” plainly shows that the false teachers derived some of their teachings from
the Old Testament, the restrictions regarding “eating and drinking” can hardly be traced to
the same source.

However, an in-depth study on this text reveals that the Colossian “philosophy/heresy” (2:8)
was competing with Christ for man’s allegiance. Its source of authority, according to Paul,
was man-made—that is man’s “tradition–paradosis” (2:8) and its object was to impart true
“wisdom–sophia” (2:3,23), “knowledge–gnosis” (2:2,3; 3:10), and “understanding–sunesis”
(1:9; 2:2). To attain such knowledge Christians were urged to do homage to cosmic
principalities (2:10, 15) and to “the elements of the universe–ta stoicheia tou kosmou”
1
Clinton E. Arnold, The Colossian Syncretism: The Interface Between Christianity and Folk Belief at
Colossae (Tubingen: J. C. B Mohr, 1995); Margaret Y. MacDonald, Colossians and Ephesians (Collegeville,
MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), pp. 10-13; and Victor Paul Furnish, “Colossians, Epistle to,” in Anchor Bible
Dictionary, vol. 1, edited by David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), p. 1092.
(2:8,18,20). To gain protection from these cosmic powers and principalities, the Colossian
“philosophers” were urging Christians to offer cultic adoration to angelic powers
(2:15,18,19,23) and to follow ritualistic and ascetic practices (2:11,14,16,17,21,22). By that
process one was assured of access to and participation in the divine “fulness–pleroma”
(2:9,10, cf. 1:19). This is consisted in interposing inferior angelic mediators in place of the
Head Himself (2:9,10,18,19). Paul insists on the supremacy of the incarnate Christ. “In him
the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily” (2:9), therefore Christian attain “the fulness–
pleroma” of life not through the elements of the universe, but through Christ, “who is the
head of all rule and authority” (2:10; cf. 1:15-20; 3:3).

WHAT WAS THE WRITTEN CODE NAILED TO THE CROSS?

Is the Apostle referring to the moral or ceremonial law when he speaks of the “written
document–“cheirographon” which God “set aside, nailing it to the cross” (2:14)? This
clarification will help us establish whether in Paul’s mind the Sabbath is part of what was
nailed on the cross. By the “handwriting of requirements that was against us,” Paul makes
reference to the Mosaic code that drew a distinction between the covenant people of God,
who were considered ritually clean and holy if they kept the ritual law, and the people of the
nations, who were deemed unclean and unholy, since they did not keep the ritual law, thus
excluding the latter from the forgiveness of sins was made possible also by Christ’s death on
the cross (v. 13) Christ death has canceled the written code of Mosaic law.

IS THE WEEKLY SABBATH PART OF THE SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME?

For our purpose one of the key terms in that sentence is “Sabbath day.” Is it referring to the
seventh day Sabbath of the Old Testament or is it designating something else? Observe that
the reference is not to the sabbath commandment because the Sabbath could not be described
as “shadow of what is to come” (2:17); it was instituted before sin came into the world. The
Sabbath was instituted at the close of Creation week, it is not a shadow-type of anything.
Rather, it is a permanent truth and obligation that binds the dependent human creation to the
Creator and Sustainer in a loving bond. Observe the use of the Greek “sabbatōn” used in the
passage—which is plural rendered as sabbath days. This simple means that we are not
dealing with the weekly sabbath but the ceremonial Sabbaths associated with the Israelite
festivals.89 (citation needed) These could properly be described as shadows pointing to the
work of the Messiah. This view has been recently and ably defended based on linguistic and
syntactical analysis, solidly grounding it in the Scripture.90
SUMMARY & COMMITMENT: In summary Colossians 2:16-17 is saying, do not let
anyone (referring specifically to the false teachers in Colossae) determine/regulate or tell you
how and when to eat or drink or regarding a festival or new moon or sabbaths, because these
things have been made void by Christ Sacrifice on the cross. are shadow. The ritual law
consisted of types and ceremonies which foreshadowed the atoning work of Christ and had
no more function after Christ came as the real Sacrifice, the Body to which the shadow points
(v. 17). I Wanna Pray with you.

Thanks for listening in, this message is brought to you by Pastor CHINTUA Ogbonna, of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. If you have been blessed by this message, do well to let us
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