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Colossians 2:16 KJV 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:

Another texts anti-nomians use to twist Paul and the NT to claim that Yeshua died on the cross so they could eat BBQ pork and Canadian bacon pizzas.

Quote it in context:

“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; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16Let 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: 17Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Colossians 2:14-17).

Richard Drake said, "In ancient Israel, when a person brought charges against another person in court, the person pressing the charges wrote them down on a piece of paper and placed it in the middle of the court. Anyone could then come and look at the charges to see why the person was being taken to court. The charges that were written down were called the ‘handwriting of ordinances’. The word ‘way’ in Colossians 2:14 comes from the Greek word ‘mesos’ which literally means ‘middle’ (See Strongs Concordance).

With this information in mind, it is easy to see that Colossians 2:14 says “Blotting out the (charges) that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the (middle of the court), nailing it to the cross.”

Colossians 2:16 is simply saying that we should not let any ‘man’ ‘judge’ us in how we ‘eat’, or ‘drink’, or for keeping a ‘holyday’, or for keeping the ‘new moon’, or for keeping the ‘Sabbath.’ It is a popular belief that the ‘sabbath days’ refer to Annual Sabbaths which are holydays. However, it would not make sense for Paul to say “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 holyday.” Therefore ‘sabbath days’ have to refer to the Seventh Day Sabbath. This makes sense considering that the word ‘days’ was added by the translaters!

Colossians 2:17 says “Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” The word shadow is referring to the Annual Sabbaths and the Weekly Sabbath. Some take this to mean that the Annual and Weekly Sabbath were shadows that pointed to the cross, and were therefore done away with at the cross. This is WRONG! Please notice that Paul is writing this AFTER the cross. The words ‘are’ and ‘to’ are future tense. It is then reasonable to conclude that the Weekly and Annual Sabbaths point forward from the cross into the future. If this were not so, then Colossians 2:17 would read “Which were a shadow of things to come.” But it doesn’t! It says, “Which are a shadow of things to come.”

Ephesians 2:15 says, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law (3551-nomos) of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” Please notice the italicized words. They were added by the translators. This text really says “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, the law (3551-nomos) of commandments in ordinances; for to make himself of twain one new man, making peace.” The word ‘enmity’ comes from the Greek word ‘echthra’ which means “a reason for opposition:-enmity, hatred” (Strongs Concordance). This text is really saying “Having abolished in his flesh the (reason for opposition to; hatred for) the law(3551-nomos) of commandments in ordinances; for to make himself of twain one new man, making peace.” What a beautiful text! Christ took away our hatred for the Nomos, or Torah!

All of the Feasts have future fulfillments. Matthew 5:17-18 says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law(3551-nomos), till all be fulfilled.” Since the Feasts have not been fulfilled, they have not passed away from the law, the ‘nomos’!

In teaching that the Sabbath was not done away with, we point out that the apostles kept the Sabbath after the cross. This allows us to state that since the apostles kept the Sabbath after the cross, it was not done away with, for the Apostles understood what was done away with at the cross. It is interesting to note that the apostles also kept the Feast Days. Paul “bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus” (Acts 18:21). There are more places in Acts where it is recorded that the apostles kept the feasts – like Pentecost etc… People are quick to state that Paul was still a Jew and he was just trying to prove to the Jews that he was still one of them by keeping their feasts. However, other churches use the same reasoning for why Paul kept the Sabbath. Was he really just trying to identify himself with the Jews? No!

Not only did Paul keep the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, but he kept them with his Gentile converts.

“At Philippi Paul tarried to keep the Passover. Only Luke remained with him, the other members of the company passing to Troas to await him there. The Philippians were the most loving and true hearted of the apostle’s converts, and during the eight days of the feast he enjoyed peaceful and happy communion with them” (AA 390, 391).

If the only reason for Paul to keep the Feasts was to identify himself with the Jews, then why did he keep Passover and Unleavened Bread with the Philippians, who were Gentile converts?

We know why, the early Christians knew that Yeshua didn't die on the cross so they could eat pork sandwiches or disregard other aspects of Torah.

I didn't mean to take this down the path of talking about the feasts rather than the Levitical dietary laws but the renunciation of both the feasts and the dietary laws comes from the same source of rebellion and anti-nomianism and are linked together.

For more information on the Richard Drake execerpt, go to http://www.bibleexplorations.com/article6.html