Colossians 2

The first response by those who have studied the question of feasts and Sabbath keeping, and are quite sure observance is wrong, is to refer the Torah-observant Christian to Colossians 2:14, 16-17:

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 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: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

The common interpretation of these verses is that when Jesus died, the commandments were erased, nailed to the cross, and we no longer have to keep them. The "handwriting of the ordinances" is the ten commandments, they say; the ten commandments were against us, were contrary to us, but they are now gone, nailed to His cross. In addition, they say, we don't have to worry about what we eat or what days we keep holy, because they are a shadow of things to come. The "body is of Christ" means important thing is Christ, goes that interpretation.

Judith Koch has written a good article that is worth reading, What Was Nailed to the Cross?

There is so much in these veses, in every phrase, in every word! I remember studying these verses with a teacher when I was 12 years old. We were Bible Sabbath keepers, and it bothered me that the verse said, "Let no man judge you... in respect of any holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days."

"Does that mean we're not supposed to keep the seventh-day Sabbath?" I asked.

"No," said the teacher. "That is referring to the annual sabbaths, the Jewish feasts."

"Oh," I said, then asked, "Why does it say holydays, and then sabbath days? It's just repeating itself."

"That's for emphasis," said the teacher. "It's a pattern of Jewish writing."

So that's where it was left in my mind for decades, a verse in the Bible that didn't make sense to me. When I really began to study it and discovered what it actually was saying, I was excited!

The first thing I learned was the meaning of "handwriting of the ordinances." God is the one who gave us the ten commandments and the accompanying statutes and judgements. They were given to guide our lives, to give us boundaries within which we would be happier than if we did not follow these guidelines.

Are these guidelines against us, contrary to us? How can they be? They were given by God! David said, "Oh, how I love thy law!" The believers in the New Testament, even Paul, continued to believe "all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets" (see my post, Reasons Christians should keep Torah).

Along with the ten commandments, God gave a listing of punishments that would happen if the commandments and statutes were broken. It is these that are against us, contrary to us. The handwriting of the ordinances that are against us is the declaration that we are guilty and deserve punishment. By Jesus' death on the cross, He nailed our guilty verdict to the cross, declared us righteous, no longer on Death Row for being sinners.

More to come.