Misused Texts #2

Introduction to Misused Texts and Colossians 2:16-17

0:04 The following message was preached Sunday, October 11th, 1998, to Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church of Sea-Tac, Washington. The speaker is Pastor Robert Martin. This message is the 15th in a series of 24 titled, The Christian Sabbath.

0:23 Now please turn in the scriptures again to the book of Colossians, Paul's letter to the Colossians, chapter 2. I would like to begin by reading two verses in this second chapter.

0:44 A bit later we'll read the entirety of the chapter, but to place our focus on the verses that are the subject of our consideration of God's word tonight.

0:56 Colossians 2, verses 16 and 17. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is Christ.

1:26 Now this evening, as we did this morning, we are taking up the subject of the Christian Sabbath in the ongoing series on that subject that we have been considering. And we come now to a very crucial text, a text which has been cited by those who have anti-Sabbatarian sentiments as proving beyond question. That there is no obligation to the people of God to keep Sabbath one day in seven under the terms of a new covenant.

1:59 A.S. Peake, commenting on this very text, in the Expositor's Greek Testament, says that Paul speaks, and here I quote, of the Jewish sacred seasons, enumerated as they occur yearly, monthly, and weekly. The Sabbath is placed on the same footing.

2:22 And Paul, therefore, Peake says, commits himself to the principle that a Christian is not to be censured for its non-observance.

2:39 Peake, when he reads this passage, when he sees in it the word Sabbath or Sabbaths, he says that Paul here puts the Sabbath day on exactly the same footing. He regards it in exactly the same way. The same way as he does feast days, festivals of the new moon.

3:03 And in doing this, he says, Paul commits himself to the principle that a Christian is not to be censured, is not to be condemned for its non-observance.

3:19 Henry Alford, in his commentary on this text, similarly, but I believe even more strongly, says that, quote, If the ordinance of the Sabbath had been in any form of lasting obligation on the Christian church, it would have been quite impossible for the apostle to have spoken in this way. If, he says, the ordinance of the Sabbath in any form had been of lasting obligation on the Christian church, it would have been quite impossible for the apostle to have spoken. It would have been quite impossible for the apostle to have spoken in this way.

4:04 Ellicott, however, says the assertion of Alford can not be substantiated. Now, how can Ellicott, how can those who turn away from reading Peake's commentary, how can those who turn away from reading Alford's commentary, how can they come away and say, you're wrong. What you've said cannot be substantiated. Doesn't the language of verse 16 support, support the view that Peake and Alford and others of similar sentiments, doesn't it actually support the view that they take of this text?

4:41 Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or Sabbaths. Doesn't the language of the text itself support the view that these men take of it? Well, it does. But it does only if we are prepared to read, that Paul's words with no respect whatsoever to their context and with no appreciation of the aberrant circumstance in Colossae that he is addressing in this letter.

The Primacy of Context in Biblical Interpretation

5:18 Now, what did we see this morning when we examined Romans 14, verses 5 and 6? We saw that the words that Paul has there, words which some have taken to mean there is no Christian Sabbath, that in order to write, in order to rightly understand his words, in order to rightly understand the limit of interpretation to be placed on them, you have to understand the context. You have to understand the circumstances into which he's writing. It is necessary to understand he is addressing the issue of Christian liberty and is only addressing those things which fall within the range of Christian liberty.

6:00 He is not addressing those things which the Bible never regards under any circumstances. As being matters of liberty for the Christian. You have to regard the context as the very first foundational primary rule of proper interpretation of the Bible. And then we came to Galatians 4, and we saw that statements that are found in that passage, statements which if taken out of their context can be treated as a nose of wax, can be turned and shifted in such a way as to make the case these men are trying to make.

6:36 But if you... If you leave it in its context, what the apostle is saying is that we are not to observe days in such a way as to regard that observance as part of the righteousness that makes us right before God.

6:50 But when we come to Galatians 2 tonight, it's possible to read into these words the idea, as Alford says, that if the ordinance of the Sabbath had been in any form of lasting obligation, then Paul could not have possibly spoken in the way that he did. But in order to say that, in order to say that, you have to turn a blind eye to the context, and you have to turn a deaf ear to anything that anyone would have to say about the circumstances there in Colossae which Paul is addressing. It is possible to come up with this interpretation only by, I believe, abusing the Scriptures. As we saw in our examination of Romans, Romans 14 and Galatians 4, Paul's words must be read, they must be interpreted in the light of their context, in the light of the situation that he's addressing. And if we bypass that procedure, we're going to misread him, and we're going to perhaps pack into his words a meaning that he never intended. Such, I believe, is the case here, in that Peake and Alford and others of the same opinion have bypassed the context. They have bypassed the circumstance in Colossae that Paul was addressing, have drawn their conclusion only from the form of the words that he used,

8:21 even reading into his words an interpretation which they regard as the only logical interpretation, that is, reading his words only in one way, as though no other interpretation of his words was conceivable or possible. Well, in opening this text, what I want to do first is to read, as I've already done in the opening of the service, something of the larger context. I've read the first chapter, and now we come to chapter 2, to understand something of the aberrant circumstance that was found in Colossae that Paul is addressing in this letter.

Reading the Full Context of Colossians 2

9:01 Beginning with verse 1 of chapter 2, Paul says, For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for them, that Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of Christ, or the mystery of God, even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden. This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech. For though, I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, or in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and builded up in him, and established in your faith, even as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving. Take heed, beware, lest there shall be anyone that makes spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments, or the elements, or the principles of the world,

10:30 and not after Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in him you are made full, who is the head, of all principality and power, in whom you were also circumcised, with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead through your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he, we make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross, having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or a new moon, or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is Christ's. Let no man rob you of your pride by a voluntary humility

11:58 and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which ye have seen, being vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast the head that is not holding fast Christ, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God. If you died with Christ from the rudiments, the principles, the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourself to ordinances, handle not, nor taste, nor touch, all which things are to perish with the using, after the precepts and doctrines of men, which things have indeed been made to be, a show of wisdom in will-worship and humility and severity to the body, but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

The Colossian Heresy: Essene Asceticism and its Dangers

13:01 Now, the Colossian believers had been converted through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

13:08 Epaphras had come to Colossus. He had brought with him the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. Earlier in this letter, Paul reminds them that ever since they had heard and known the grace of God in truth, that ever since they had believed in Christ, that the word of the truth of the gospel had been bearing fruit and increasing among them. In other words, he tells them, they have been growing in their Christian lives because of their attachment to Jesus Christ, and because of their attachment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That had been the center, that had been the focus, that had been the secret of their Christian lives. They're being joined in faith to Christ, they're adhering to Christ, they're clinging to Christ. But these Colossians had been subjected to an onslaught of heretical ideas on the subject of what constituted the very heart of Christianity, and especially what constitutes the very heart of the Christian life.

14:27 The gospel had been brought to them. They had embraced the gospel. They had believed on Christ. But then, coming along behind, as was true in so many places, heretical teachers came in and began to bring another gospel.

14:43 And they came in and began to tell them, there is more to the gospel than what Epaphras, there is more to the gospel than what these other teachers have taught you. And they began to be assailed with all of these ideas of a more spiritual Christianity. A Christianity which would make them more godly people.

15:06 Now, the identity of the heretics that were now endangering the Colossian church is unclear as to their specific identity. As in so many cases in the New Testament, Paul does not always, or the Bible writers do not always, identify their adversaries biologically. By name. They give us something of the principles those to whom Paul writes on this occasion knew exactly who he was speaking of.

15:33 But here we are, 2,000 years later. We have half of a conversation. We have his letter to them. But we don't have those reports that came to Paul that stirred him to write this letter.

15:46 So we don't know. He doesn't say exactly who these folk were. So we are left with the necessity, with gleaning what we can from what Paul says in this letter, putting that together with what we know of the history of the times and trying to determine who were these people. What were their views of the Christian life?

16:06 Why is Paul so disturbed about their coming to Colossae? The best suggestion I believe that has been made is that these folk were former Essene. That is, they were members of a very small and very exclusive Jewish sect who had embraced Christianity, certain principles of Christianity, had embraced Christ as Savior, yet without abandoning key Essene doctrines. Now we know that was the case with the Judaizers.

16:37 The Judaizers who came to Galatia, to the churches of Galatia. They had embraced Christ, but yet they wanted to bring along much of their Judaistic religion, much of the Pharisaic religion which had been their life before coming to Christ. Well, these Essene, if indeed, this is, these members of a very small but exclusive influential Jewish sect had apparently embraced Christ, but in doing so they had not jettisoned all of their Essene religion. According to Josephus, who himself was a former Essene, these folk were very ascetic in their lifestyle.

17:18 They were stricter in their observances than even the Pharisees. When it came to such things as food regulation, they were very ascetic in their lifestyle. The observance of Sabbaths and the keeping of the feast days. We also know from the histories that have come down to us from various comments by ancient writers that these folk emphasized circumcision even far and above what the Pharisees did and they invoked angels in prayer as mediators between God and man.

17:51 Now, an ascetic is a person who is very austere, who is very rigid, who is very severe with himself, who is very severe with himself in practicing strict self-denial as a means of disciplining the flesh. And there have been in the history of the church many ascetic sects, many of the monastic orders. In fact, most of the monastic orders began as an attempt to live an ascetic life, a life of rigid discipline, denying the flesh of things which were things that other Christians were allowed to indulge in, but denied for the sake of creating in oneself a superior holiness or a superior righteousness. And the Essenes were such an ascetic sect in Judaism. They believed that a rigid, minute observance of rules supposedly based on the law of Moses, they believed that that would be of great value in mortifying the flesh, and would secure for them a righteousness which was superior to the righteousness of others. Now these folk apparently have come to Colossae.

19:12 These folk apparently have in some sense embraced Christ Jesus as the Messiah. And now they have come to Colossae following along behind the gospel and now professing faith in Christ they are trying to convince the Colossians that, that rigid observance of their ascetic system of rules is the secret to the Christian life. Here's the key, fellows. Here's what Epaphras, here's what the apostles didn't tell you.

19:46 Here is how to deal with being a Christian in this world. Here is how to have a righteousness that is superior to what you see amongst your brethren. If you will embrace our system of rules, if you will apply yourself, diligently, rigidly, to denying yourself, you will have success you have not yet had in mortifying the flesh. And you will attain to yourself a level of righteousness, a level of holiness that outshines all of your brethren.

20:20 Here is the key. Here is the secret to the Christian life.

20:25 Now how does Paul respond to this? Does Paul say, well, this is a matter of Christian liberty. These brethren want to be more severe with themselves. And the Bible requires, well, of course, we must let them do so.

20:38 We must recognize their liberty in Christ. We must leave them alone. We must not say anything bad about them. We must not judge them in matters that are matters of liberty.

20:48 Remember what I wrote in Romans 14. Let these fellows alone. Receive them, their weaker brethren, but don't make a big deal. Is that how he responds?

20:56 No, he doesn't. Because the issue is not an issue of Christian liberty. What these folk are doing is not coming to you and sitting alongside and saying, here is things that you can do, but we're not going to press it upon you as Christianity, as the heart of Christianity. No, they came alongside saying, this is real Christianity.

21:16 And what you have isn't.

21:19 This is the real thing. What you have isn't. And Paul understands that if the Colossians embrace this system, if they embrace this system of aesthetic rules, this system of rules of rigid discipline, if they embrace this as the heart of Christianity it is going to turn them, it is going to take them away from Christ it's going to take them away from the gospel and it is in fact going to ruin their Christian life it's not an inconsequential matter if you embrace this as what Christianity is it's going to turn your mind away from Christ, it's going to turn your mind away from the gospel of free grace and it's going to turn your mind to your own holiness and your own self-discipline as the heart of what it means to be a Christian and to be right with God. This is not a matter of inconsequence. And therefore he warns them. He says, beware of anyone who makes spoil of you. This is not

22:29 an inconsequential matter. This will rob you. This will take from you. This will pillage you as much as if an army came through and pillaged your city. Be aware, he says, of any, beware of any who makes spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the principles of the world, and not after Christ. This is not what Christ has taught you. This is not Christianity, Paul is saying. He further asks them at the end of the second chapter, he says, if you died with Christ from the principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourself to ordinances?

23:16 That is, to the ordinances of these heretics. Handle not, nor taste, nor touch all which things are to perish with the using after the precepts and doctrines of men.

23:30 This is not the word of God, Paul is saying to them. This is man's philosophy. This is not the wisdom of God from on high. This is vain deceit. This is not the word of the living God to you. This is the traditions of men, which things he say, all the system that they would impose upon you. It indeed has a show of wisdom. It looks like it might be wise, but it's a show of wisdom in will worship and humility and severity to the body, but not of any value. It is completely unprofitable against the indulgence of the flesh. The Essene plan for the Christian life seemed so spiritual. It was full of self-denial. It was full of zeal in mortifying the flesh. Now, doesn't

24:28 that sound spiritual?

24:31 Full of self-denial. Full of zeal. These folks were zealous. You have to give them that.

24:38 They were zealous in desiring to mortify the flesh.

24:43 Yet, in the end of the day, the apostle says that their system had only the show of wisdom and had no value at all in living the Christian life. It was merely will worship or as Calvin paraphrases at this point, voluntary service which men choose for themselves without authority from God. Here's the system that men have made up. They embrace it, but the only power behind it, the only authority behind it is the will of man and the mind of man. God's not within a thousand miles of it and his spirit's not going to bless it. It's merely will worship. It's worship rendered in the hope of acquiring greater merit before God, but in fact it is a worship unsolicited and unaccepted by God himself. God didn't ask you to do this.

25:38 What reason do you have to believe that God is pleased if you do it? You see, that's Paul's argument. God has not asked you to do this. God has not asked you to adopt this code of rigid rules. He has not asked you to adopt this code of rigid regulations. He has not asked you to treat yourself in this kind of ascetic way. This is not what the gospel is. God has not asked for this. God is not pleased with this.

Christ's Sufficiency vs. Man-Made Rules

26:11 Now in this letter, did you notice reading through these two chapters, did you notice how Paul reminds the Colossians repeatedly about Christ? Over and over again he keeps bringing them back to the place of Christ in the Christian life. Over and over again he keeps bringing them back to the Savior. Over and over again he keeps bringing them back to the Son of God as the center, as the focus, and as the real secret to the Christian life.

26:45 Over and over again he reminds the Colossians that all salvation, as well as all spiritual wisdom and understanding are to be found in Christ. If it's wise, if it's discerning, if it is indeed something that shows an understanding of the gospel that God has sent forth, then Christ is going to be at the center of it. He's going to be at the heart of it. Chapter 1 and verse 19, it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him, that is in Christ, should all the fullness dwell.

27:21 In Christ, he says, chapter 2 and verse 3, are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden. Chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him you are made full.

27:40 You see, that was the problem with the Essene heritage. They were not saying, in Him are you made full. No, they were saying, in our code of rules you are made full.

27:54 Paul says it was in Christ that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are to be hidden, are hidden. It was God's good pleasure that in Him should all the fullness dwell. In Him you are made full. Christ, not this code of regulations is the center of your Christian life.

28:11 He's the heart of it. He's the core of it. And if you embrace their religion, do you understand, my Colossian brethren, do you understand that you are departing from Christ?

28:24 You see, this was no small issue, was it?

28:27 Now, Paul reminds the Colossians of their need. They had a tremendous need to persevere in attachment to Christ. And the gospel. Now, we've seen that theme in a number of places over the last few years, haven't we?

28:44 We saw it in the book of Acts. We've seen it in the book of Hebrews. There is this continual theme throughout the New Testament, indeed throughout the Old Testament as well, of the need of cleaving to Christ, clinging to Christ, persevering in our attachment to Christ. And Paul is reminding these Colossian brethren of their need to persevere in their attachment to Christ and the gospel, a perseverance now endangered by their entertaining and heretical doctrine of the Christian life.

29:18 There's a danger now that they're going to shift their focus, they're going to let go of Christ for all intents and purposes and shift their focus and with both hands grab this code of rules at the heart of their Christianity.

29:31 And Paul warns them, beware of this. He says to them, chapter 1 and verse 23, and look at this with me, please. Chapter 1 and verse 23.

29:44 He says to them that Christ will present you holy. Verse 22, rather, will present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before Him. That is, your salvation is sure and secure and will be brought to its proper end. He will present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before Him.

30:09 If so be that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven.

30:25 If you embrace this ascetic system of the essence, Paul is saying to them, you're not going to do that. You're going to be moved away from the hope of the gospel.

The True Secret to Christian Living: Walking in Christ

30:37 You're going to be moved away from the hope of the only gospel, the gospel that has been preached everywhere that the missionaries of Jesus Christ have gone for. You are not going to continue steadfast. You're not going to continue grounded. But you're going to move away from the gospel if you do not persevere in your attachment to Jesus Christ. Now Paul's central exhortation of the Colossians is found in chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. Bear with me. We're almost back to the Sabbath issue.

31:13 As therefore he says, you received Christ Jesus the Lord. So walk in him.

31:23 Rooted and built up in him and established in your faith, even as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving.

31:36 As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. Rooted and built up in him and established in your faith, even as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving. The secret to the Christian life was not, as their Essene teachers insisted, an asceticism that majored on meticulous obedience to a set of legal traditions, supposedly based on the law of Moses, with a focus on minutia that outdid even the Pharisees. That was not the secret. That is not the heart. That's not the core. The key to the Christian life was found in rendering an obedience that God has not, or the key was not found in rendering an obedience that God had not required in the hope of gaining a greater personal merit before him. That is not what the gospel is. That is

32:35 not what the Christian life is. They had not so learned Christ. That's not what they had been taught. Instead, the gospel had taught them to rest in Christ as their sufficient righteousness.

32:51 The gospel had taught them to learn from Christ as their teacher, as their prophet, as their example. The gospel had taught them to submit to Christ as their Lord and lawgiver. Now, the gospel had taught them all of that. It had taught them to believe on him.

33:11 It had taught them to cleave to him. It had taught them to regard him as your prophet, priest, and king, as your Savior and Lord. Yes, the gospel had taught you all of that. But as their Lord and lawgiver, they are to remember that he had set them free from the precepts and the doctrines of men. Obedience to the doctrines, the precepts of men, obedience to such rules, did not increase their merit before God and was of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. There was, in fact, in spite of all of the self-denial, in spite of all of the rigid ordinances that they subjected themselves to, in fact, there was no real mortifying of the flesh. Not of the sinful nature. There may have been a display of some kind of will worship. There may have

34:09 been a display of some kind of personal strength of character in being able to do the things they did. But in point of fact, it never reached to the heart to the remaining sin that dwelt in them. It was of no value in mortifying the flesh. It did not increase their merit before God. God had never required this of them. God had never solicited this from them. God did not give them this code of rules. And therefore, if they were the most meticulous of all men in keeping this code of rules, it didn't matter. It did not make them more righteous before God because it wasn't God's code. When Epaphras had come to Colossae with the gospel, he did not bring with him a code of ascetic rules and traditions and impose them on the Colossae. He brought the gospel. He brought Christ.

35:07 He brought the word of Christ. But he did not also bring at the same time another way beyond that provided in Christ by which they could gain greater merit for themselves. That he did not do. He did not give them a code by which if they followed it meticulously, they could mortify the flesh and secure a righteousness superior to that which others possessed. That was not the secret of the Christian life. And not having received such a code, not having received such rules and traditions at the beginning, they were not to adopt them along the way.

35:50 You see, these Essene heretics were Johnny Cumlapius.

35:55 And when they came along behind, they brought something that they had never seen before. Well, there was a reason they had never seen it before.

36:05 The reason was it was not part of the gospel. It wasn't part of the good news. It's not good news to have a set of rules and regulations that have no warrant. In the word of God. Instead, Paul says to them, as therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in your faith, even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. So, Paul, what is the secret to the Christian life?

36:39 What, Paul, do you have to say to counteract what these men are saying? They say they've got the secret to the Christian life. Paul, what is the secret to the Christian life? What Paul is saying is, the secret, the key to a good Christian life is a deeper, more vital attachment to Jesus Christ.

36:59 That's the core. If you want to make progress in the Christian life, then come closer to Christ. Become more attached at the heart to Christ.

37:12 As you received Christ the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in your faith. In your faith in what? Your ability to keep a code of rules? No, your faith in Christ.

37:27 Let Him be the center. Keep Him at the center.

37:31 Yearn and labor for a greater understanding of who He is as proclaimed in the Gospel. You want to grow in grace? You need to learn more of Christ.

37:43 That is why Paul reminded them that all salvation, that's why he reminded them that all spiritual wisdom and understanding is found in Christ. You want to be wiser as a Christian? Go to Christ. Do you want to have greater understanding?

37:57 Do you want to have greater understanding of what God requires of you? Go to Christ. They didn't need the Essene Code. The Essene Code did not give them anything superior to what they already had. They didn't need the Essene Code to know how to be saved. They didn't need the Essene Code to know how to use Paul's words to walk worthily of the Lord and to all pleasing. They didn't need the Essene Code to learn how to please God in a better way. What they needed was a persevering attachment to Jesus Christ in the Gospel.

38:29 That's what they needed.

38:33 And instead of looking for a way to supplement what they already had in Christ, they were to be thankful for what they had in Christ Jesus their Lord. They were to be thankful, not look beyond Him to recognize in Him we are made full.

38:51 You see his point? His code. This is not God's will. In fact, it's a danger to your Christian life and not a help.

Understanding 'Principles of the World' in Colossians

39:04 Now, at two places in this chapter, we come across a phrase that we saw this morning. Did you notice that in reading chapter 2? The phrase, the principles or the rudiments, the elements of the world. How we translate it, my personal preference is the principles of the world.

39:24 Look at verse 8 and then at verse 20.

39:28 Take heed, lest there shall be anyone that may spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the principles of the world and not after Christ.

39:41 What he is saying is that this Essene view of the Christian life, this Essene code of the Christian life, is not only a private philosophy, it is not only vain deceit, it is not only traditions of men, but it is in accord with the principles of the world.

40:01 It is not after Christ. It is not according to Christ. And then verse 20. If you died with Christ from the principles of the world,

40:13 that is, if that was put away from you, put behind you when you came and joined by faith to Christ on the cross and became united to him by faith, if you put the principles of the world behind you, if you died to them as the ruling principles of your religious life, why as though living in the world do you subject yourself to urgency?

40:40 Now we've seen this phrase this morning, didn't we? We saw it in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 3. We saw a companion phrase of the weak and beggarly principles in Galatians 4 and verse 9. We've seen these words before. And how did we see Paul use this phrase in Galatians? We need to understand Paul uses this phrase only in Galatians and here. So it's not a widespread phrase. It's not a phrase that there may be a dozen different applications of it or a dozen different understandings of it. Paul is using it in a very defined and a very specific way. Well, how did Paul use it in Galatians? He used it to describe a religion that had no power to justify men from their sins and which was otherwise unprofitable having nothing to offer them but bondage. The weak and beggarly principles.

41:41 Weak that is powerless to save, beggarly that is unprofitable. Impotent and unprofitable religion. That has nothing to offer you by way of making you right before God. Nothing to offer you to make you more holy before God.

41:57 Nothing to offer you but bondage.

42:01 Alright? Now that is the language that Paul uses here as well. Here he uses this phrase in exactly the same way that he does in Galatians but he uses it to apply it to a different kind of heresy. But the principle is the same.

42:18 The religion advocated by the Essenes and Colossae like the religion advocated by the Judaizers in Galatia though that religion had a place for the law of Jehovah in it, had the law in the wrong place.

42:36 That is the point. The law is in the wrong place. Paul is not denying in Galatians he is not denying in Colossians that there is a rightful place for the law of God but the Judaizers had that law in the wrong place. These Essene heretics have the law in the wrong place.

43:01 God's law was never given so that men could save themselves. The Judaizers didn't understand that. They had the law in the place of an instrument by which men would save themselves.

43:13 Likewise, God's law was never given so that men could reshape it by their traditions. So that men could remold it into a set of rigid ascetic rules by which they might mortify the flesh and secure for themselves a righteousness that was superior to others. The law was never given for that purpose. It was never given that men would take it and begin to add to it their traditions begin to reshape it into a system that in point of fact cannot be found in the law itself so that it can be used as a club to mortify the flesh. So that that system can be used as a method by which we secure a superior righteousness to everyone else. That is to put the law in the wrong place.

44:06 That's why Paul speaks as he does at the end of this second chapter. If you died from Christ or died with Christ from the principles of the world why as though living in the world do you subject yourself to ordinances handle not nor taste nor touch after the precepts and doctrines of men which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship and humility and severity to the body but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh. You're using the law he says to them in a way that God never intended the law to be used.

Revisiting Colossians 2:16-17 in Context: Food, Drink, and Ceremonial Sabbaths

44:45 Now all of this is background. All of this is to prepare us all of this is to help us to understand the context to help us to understand the circumstances in the church at Colossae into which Paul speaks these words.

45:06 If we're going to rightly understand what he says in verses 16 and 17 about the Sabbath we've got to understand the context. It won't do to simply bypass the context. It won't do to act as though there was not a real controversy going on in Colossae that must be understood if you're going to understand Paul's words. It just won't do.

45:32 It's against this background that Paul says so let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath which are a shadow of things to come but the substance is of Christ.

45:55 Now some of this we've seen before. Some of this we saw this morning.

46:02 The reference to food and drink I believe clearly refers to the dietetic injunctions of the law of Moses.

46:11 I think once again Paul has brought us back into the arena of those regulations part of the ceremonial law concerning clean versus unclean food. He just brought us back into that framework.

46:26 In Romans 14 we saw that continuing observance of such ceremonial injunctions was a matter of Christian liberty who does not eat and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats. And he goes on to say in that 14th chapter let not then your good be evil spoken of for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Well here he says so let no one judge you in food or in drink. It's the same issue.

47:06 In the present context the issue is that the Colossians are not to permit themselves to be relegated to the status of second class Christians.

47:20 These Essenes are coming with this code of rules in essence saying to them if you don't keep this code of rules you're either a second class Christian or perhaps you are to be defined out of the faith altogether.

47:36 This is real spirituality. This is real Christianity. And now they've crossed over the line in an area of Christian liberty.

47:47 No longer are they willing not to sit in judgment on their brethren. They are disobeying what Paul has said in Romans 14. They are judging their brethren. They are pressing this issue as though this is Christianity and what you are practicing is not a matter of liberty within the realm of real Christianity.

48:06 It is unchristian.

48:12 In the present context the issue is that these Colossians when he says so let no one judge you in food or drink. The issue is they are not to permit themselves. They are not to fall prey to the bait that has been put before them to begin to think of themselves as second class Christians or to begin to think of themselves as defined out of the Christian faith altogether. That's what these Essene teachers were doing. That's what they were advocating.

48:39 By their views of the law of Moses as the only proper expression of the Christian life.

48:47 Some of us have been in church situations. Some of us have been in ultra fundamentalistic situations where there was a code of rules and we looked at the people who kept those code of rules and we said well if that's real Christianity I must not be a Christian.

49:04 And in some cases things were actually said. Brethren came alongside and said now brother it's obvious that there's defect in your Christian life because you're not living according to this, that, and the other.

49:17 At the very best we began to think of ourselves as second class Christians.

49:23 The more they pressed and the more they pressed at some point the thought crossed our mind well maybe we're not Christians at all. If this is real Christianity then clearly I'm not a Christian.

49:33 Paul says let no man judge you in matters of food and drink.

49:40 You see the Colossians were not obliged to observe the ceremonial dietary regulations of the law of Moses. Christ had freed them from that obligation. And it didn't matter how spiritual it looked. It didn't matter how many came alongside and said this is the real way.

49:57 Christ had freed them from the ceremonial dietary regulation.

50:04 But then Paul goes further doesn't he? He says or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath. And here's some of your translations read or a Sabbath day. In the original the word Sabbath is plural. I think here the New King James Version is superior in translating it as a plural. Especially given the context. Well here Paul cites another area where these Essene heretics were pressing their claims. They were pressing their claims in the area of dietary regulation.

50:48 And they were pressing their claims in the areas of festivals, new moons and Sabbaths. But now the issue is fundamentally the same. Paul does not change categories when he moves from food and drink to these seasons or these holy seasons or these days. Festivals, new moons or Sabbaths.

51:13 The Colossians are not obliged to observe the ceremonial days mandated by the law of Moses.

Distinguishing Weekly Sabbath from Ceremonial Sabbaths

51:22 They are not obliged to live according to the ceremonial injunctions having to do with diet and they are not required under the freedom that Christ has given them from the ceremonial law. They are not required to observe the ceremonial days mandated by the law of Moses. Christ has freed them from that obligation. You say, Pastor I can see how that argument fits in the case of the feast days.

51:50 I can see how that fits when it comes to the new moon observances mandated by the Mosaic law. I can see that. Those ordinances were mandated only by the ceremonial law. It is clear they have passed away when Christ set aside the ceremonial law.

52:06 But Pastor Paul doesn't stop there. He says also, or Sabbaths.

52:14 Now here we don't have to conjecture necessarily in terms of the term that he uses. In Galatians, in Romans he simply says day or days. Well here he does use the term Sabbaths, plural. How, Pastor, can Paul include the Sabbath in the same category?

52:32 If the Sabbath also is ceremonial, if it also like the feast and the new moon observances is a shadow of things to come, then didn't it also pass away with the old Mosaic covenant?

52:50 It's a good question, isn't it? Are you with me so far?

52:56 Food, drink, that's ceremonial. Feast, oh yes, that's ceremonial. New moon observances, oh yes, that's ceremonial. All of that has passed away. All of it was a shadow of the new order. All of that's passed away in Christ. He's buried it in his tomb.

53:14 But what about the Sabbaths?

53:17 From the beginning of this entire series, Pastor, you've been telling us the Sabbath is not ceremonial. That is moral.

53:27 Well if Paul is saying it's ceremonial, isn't the gig up? Don't you have to recant everything you've said, Pastor?

53:37 If it's ceremonial, if it's like the feast and the new moon, if it also is a shadow of the things to come, then didn't it also pass away? Isn't it also in the tomb of Jesus Christ?

53:52 Isn't it also wrong to exhume its bones?

53:56 Reimpose it on the people of God? Brethren, it is very important that we understand something about the word Sabbath in the Scripture. Something very, very important. And that is that the word Sabbath in the Old Testament applied not only to the weekly observance of the seventh day, that is to the Sabbath proper,

54:25 but is also used in the Old Testament to refer to all the days of holy rest required by the law of Moses. Especially those days which began and closed the Jewish feast. Whether those days fell on the seventh day or not. If the beginning of a Jewish feast fell on a Tuesday, if the close of that feast fell on a Thursday, those days were still called Sabbaths. And they were called Sabbaths because God required that men cease from their labors on those days as well. That they likewise, though they were not the weekly Sabbath established at creation, though not the weekly Sabbath that was embodied in the fourth commandment of the ten commandments, yet it was still a day of rest required by the ceremonial law. It was in that sense a Sabbath and the Jews called it their Sabbath. God in his word called it Sabbath as well.

55:27 For example, Leviticus 23 and verse 24. The very first day of the feast of trumpets which was to be the first day of the second month, no matter the day of the week on which it fell, was called Sabbath. It wasn't the weekly Sabbath, but it was still called Sabbath. John Owen notes, he says about the time of the writing of the books of the New Testament, both the Jews themselves and all the heathen that took notice of them called all their feasts and solemn assemblies their Sabbaths because they did no servile work in them. When Paul wrote to the Colossians and spoke of Sabbaths, he could use it to speak not only of the weekly Sabbath, but he could use it to speak of the ceremonial Sabbath, so to speak. All of those Sabbaths that were not the weekly Sabbaths that were called so in the Old Testament and everyone would have known what he was talking about. The Jews in Colossae were accustomed to referring to all of their holy days by the term Sabbath.

56:40 All of the heathen, Owen says, who took notice of them, and if you were to read Owen's very extensive exposition of the Sabbath in his opening volume of the Hebrews series of volumes, you would find he gives demonstrations from all kinds of heathen writers of how they take notice of the Jewish practices and how they call them Sabbaths. So, Owen's right. At the time of the writing of the New Testament, both the Jews themselves and all of the heathen that took notice of them called their feasts, their solemn assemblies, their Sabbaths, because they did no servile work in them. I'd like to read a little more extensive quote out of Owen, just about a paragraph, a paragraph and a half. He says, It is known and confessed that at that time all Judaical observations of days, or the days which they religiously observed, whether feasts or fasts, weekly, monthly, or annual, were by themselves and all others called their Sabbath. And that kind of speech which was then in common use is here observed by the Apostle, speaking of this Colossians passage. It must therefore necessarily be allowed that there are two sorts of Sabbaths among them.

58:06 The first and principal was the weekly Sabbath.

58:10 This being designed for sacred and religious uses, their other days, rather, separated to the same ends in general came from their analogy to it to be called Sabbaths also.

58:23 But the distinction and difference between these two kinds of Sabbaths was great.

58:30 The one of them, that is the weekly Sabbath, was ordained from the foundation of the world before the entrance of sin, or the giving of the promises and so belonged to all mankind in general. The others were appointed in the wilderness as a part of the peculiar church worship of the Israelites and so belonged to them, only. Creation Sabbath, Owen says, belonged to all men. The Sabbath was made for man, Christ said. But these other Sabbaths, the opening and closing days of the feast, of the new moon festivals, the other fasts that were appointed, these other Sabbaths, he said, belonged only to the Israelites. The one of them was directly commanded in the Ten Commandments. For in the law of our creation, that is the law made at creation, was revived and expressed. The other, have their institution expressed amongst the remainder of ceremonial temporary ordinances. Now that's an

59:35 important distinction, brethren, two kinds of Sabbaths in the Old Testament.

59:40 And therefore that brings us to the crucial question at this point and that is, which Sabbath did Paul have in mind here when he said therefore let no man judge you in respect of Sabbaths. Which Sabbath did he have in mind?

59:57 Did he have the weekly day of rest which rested on a creation foundation and which was part of the moral law? Or did he have in mind the ceremonial Sabbaths which came into being only with the establishment of the Mosaic Covenant at Sinai and which were buried in Christ's tomb? Which one? There's no question Christ buried those other Sabbaths in his tomb.

60:26 No question whatsoever. Which ones did he have in mind? Well, I believe in the context in every other case cited, the distinctions between clean and unclean food, the observance of the feast and the new moon, Paul is dealing with practices which were shadows which have passed away with the cessation of the Mosaic ceremonial law. In every other case cited in the context. Every other case is part of the ceremonial law. I believe that the Sabbaths plural here are the ceremonial Sabbaths that belong to that class. That passed away with the ceremonial law because it was founded only on the ceremonial law. The Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Pentecost, the new moon observances, none of that was grounded in creation. None of that is found

61:19 in the Ten Commandments of the moral law. All of that was founded in the ceremonial law. All of that has been put in the tomb of Christ.

Conclusion: Christ Buried Ceremonial Observances, Not the Moral Sabbath

61:29 I believe the Sabbaths here are the ceremonial Sabbaths that belong to that class. Not the moral Sabbaths, single Sabbaths, which yet remains as the Lord's Day of the New Covenant Apostolic Church. The Essenes through their ascetic code wanted to reimpose these ceremonial observances. It is even possible, indeed I think it is probable, that they argued that the pious must observe not only the Lord's Day, that is the first day Sabbath of the church, but also the seventh day Sabbath which had been made part of the law of Moses. And we know that there were groups of Christians in the first and even into the second and third centuries who kept not only the seventh day Sabbath but the first day Sabbath. Who felt themselves under obligation to keep both.

62:22 Well, Paul's argument deals only with these ceremonial observances. And his point is that under the terms of the New Covenant no man may exhume those Old Covenant ceremonies out of their grave and reimpose them on the necks of Christ the Son. You can't exhume you can't bring out of the tomb of Christ those ceremonial distinctions between clean and unclean food. Christ made all things clean.

62:54 And you cannot bring out the Feast of Pentecost. You cannot bring out the Feast of Trumpets. You cannot bring out the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You cannot bring out Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. You cannot bring these things out of the tomb of Christ and say, here is your duty O disciple of Christ.

63:13 Christ put them in His tomb. We have no right pulling them out and reimposing them.

63:22 Paul is not arguing as Peake and Alford and others assume that men ought not to be censured for the non-observance of any Sabbath or that Paul is doing what even the Lord of the Sabbath never did which is freeing men to keep Sabbath in any place. Christ never did that. Neither does Paul. As Ellicott rightly observed, such an interpretation of Paul's words can not be substantiated. It just doesn't fit the context.

Pastoral Exhortation on Contextual Interpretation

64:04 Thank you for your attention.

64:07 This has not been the easiest material today, has it? But it's crucial. It's crucial because it is these very texts. It is these very texts that as you go about speaking with Christian friends, it's these very texts that are going to bring you to and say, oh yes but doesn't Paul say?

64:31 Is that right? In your discussion, with Christian friends, are these not the very texts that they come to?

64:39 In my experience, these are the texts that I've been brought to. Historically these have been the texts that brethren throughout the generations have had to wrestle over. Remember, these texts have a context. And we're not at liberty to take the form of Paul's words, to lift them out of their context and to make them say something that could not be said if we gave due proper regard to the context in which the Apostle said them.

65:18 They've got a context. Romans 14, the context is that of Christian liberty. The issue is not the moral law but the ceremonial. In Galatians 4, the issue is how are you going to use such regulations?

65:34 Are you going to use them to save yourself? Then Paul says, I am afraid for you.

65:43 In Colossians 2, the context is one of men's shaping and ascetic codes that they believe will make them more holy than others.

65:56 And Paul says God never required it. These things were a shadow. They've been put in the tomb of Christ. These are ceremonial things. Don't pull them out again. These words have a context.

66:14 Now God willing, next Lord's Day, we will come to the last of the passages in the New Testament that speaks directly to the issue of the Sabbath. We still have to take up after that the whole question of how did we get from the seventh day Sabbath at creation to the first day Sabbath of the New Testament church to today. But there's one more text and that's found in Hebrews 4 and verse 9. Another text, it will be important that we take up in context.

66:50 Here the writer of the book of Hebrews says, There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people. May God be pleased to own our study of His Word this day, brethren. Let us pray.

67:08 Our Father, as we draw near again, we do ask that You would bless us and receive our thanks. Lord, seal these lessons to our hearts. We pray, Father, that we would not be vulnerable to any who would come with these texts in an irresponsible way to lift them from their context and to press them upon us as though Paul indeed these words freed men from observing the Sabbath in any form. Lord, we are convinced that He does no such thing.

67:43 Help us to be prudent. Help us to be wise and discerning. Help us to understand Your Word clearly. Lord, seal these lessons this day through our own judgment and consciences.

67:54 That we would not free ourselves where You have not freed us. That we would not bind ourselves where You have not bound us. Lord, look with mercy on us. We, thank You for Jesus Christ.

68:06 In Him we are made full. We do praise You in His holy name.