Asceticism in Colossae

"Let no man judge you" in Colossians 2:16 has been wrongly interpreted by many churches. If someone said to you, "Don't let anyone criticize you for loving your spouse," does that mean you should stop loving your spouse? "Let no man judge" is not an admonition to stop doing what you are being criticized for doing. Instead, it is encouraging you to keep on doing what you are doing! How could we have been so confused for so long?

Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians while imprisoned in Rome. While there, he learned that heresy had crept into the church at Colossae. The type of heresy is evident in chapter 2:

²⁰ Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
²¹ (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
²² Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
²³ Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.

Paul was warning the believers against the religious practices of asceticism -- severe self-discipline and avoiding indulgence in the flesh in any way.

In this context we can more clearly understand verse 16:

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

Verse 16 indicates that the Colossians had, indeed, been taught, most likely by Paul, to observe the holy days, and they were observing them, the new moons, and the Sabbath -- and were being criticized for how they did it.

Greek philosophies, including asceticism, was the cause of the criticism and conflict in the new church. It could be that the criticism came from those outside the church, or perhaps some of the new converts retained some of those philosophies and wanted to combine them with their new belief in Christ. The conflict was not so much that the believers were observing these days, but that they were being criticized for how they observed them, for what they were eating and drinking on those days.

This is the only reason Paul would have said, "Let no man judge you..." If the problem had been the observance of the those days, he wouldn't have said, "Let no man judge you," he would have said something like, "Let none of you concern yourself with observing holy days, new moons, and sabbath days."

The "shadow of things to come" is to come in my next post.