Let No One Judge You
Colossians 2:16–22
Cherry Picking de Jours:
Welcome back to the Sound Bytes series. Back to cherry-picking. Doctrine defines the following passage as instructions not to allow some “law-keeper” to judge you for not keeping the Sabbath, the Feasts, or using the moon to count months and weeks. The first verse (16) is cherry-picked and processed and changed and redefined out of context with the rest of the passage to give Christianity a pass on being obedient to the Father.
Sectarian Christians repackage v16 with the phrase from v8 calling those gifts given in the Torah to be Jewish traditions of men, full of deceit, and mere philosophy. Christians who cherry-pick v16 steal the phrase: elementary matter of the world, to refer to the things of the Father. Keep this in mind.
That’s not at all what this passage is about, and the doctrine, once again, lied to you by changing the context and picking the cherry.
Colossians 2:16–17 (in segments) — 16) Let no one therefore judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths…
Context
To Whom is he writing? Believers — not some “mythical” lawless church organization that has “Doctrine of What We Believe” stuffed into the pew backs and a Mission Statement printed in their hymnal and weekly bulletin. He’s writing to those obedient believers that HE taught belief obedience.
He wasn’t writing to you, the Christian. He was writing obedient followers of Messiah Yeshua, the ones Sha’ul taught.
They are concerned because some outsiders — in this case, Gnostics — are judging them FOR keeping the Sabbath, FOR counting the months (using the moons), and FOR celebrating the Feasts of YHVH.
The next statements from Sha’ul clarify this:
… 17) which are a shadow of what is to come…
Christian doctrine says it all already happened. Sha’ul states right here that they are shadows of what is STILL TO COME! That is consistent within the Greek, also.
What have I said about Passover? It happens again every single time someone comes to belief-obedience in the Messiah, a new spiritual heart’s doorway is marked with the blood of the Messiah so that death will pass over. For an entirely new soul, the sacrifice of Messiah is brand new and fresh and meaningful, even to long-time believers, we all still celebrate a new believer coming to Messiah. It hasn’t already happened. It is STILL HAPPENING!
Shavuot recurs EVERY TIME a believer is filled with the Spirit of Elohim anew. Every time a new believer is filled for the first time. Every time a person needs to speak in a language they don’t know but suddenly are gifted with that ability. Every time someone needs to heal, perform any type of miracle, share the witness of Messiah with someone ready to hear it, and on and on and on… It is STILL HAPPENING.
Sukkot… Well, that hasn’t happened yet. We await His return and the Millennial Kingdom. (Although one can also see His birth at Sukkot as Immanu-El — Elohim living with us — and they’d be partially correct. But Scripture is very clear that this is still to happen. <Zech 14:16-19> Zechariah states that AFTER the return, during the millennial kingdom all people on earth, even those that did not make it into the kingdom, will still celebrate Sukkot.
→ How can anyone claim that the Feasts have all been fulfilled if they are still going to happen later?
… but the Body of the Messiah.
…but the body of Messiah… It seems oddly placed. Remember that Sha’ul is critical of his ability to communicate, especially aloud in public, but he compared his knowledge and understanding as superior — it was, that is in no doubt. In this case, we are reading a letter written in a language other than English, with different grammatical structures and rules, including the lack of any punctuation. Taking these two verses, let’s reorder them in a manner that conforms better to modern English grammatical structure and understand it without changing the context of the message:
… 16) Therefore, let no one but the body of Messiah judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17) which are a shadow of what is to come.
Bing!
The “body of Messiah” is to give rulings on all matters within the body of Messiah, NOT THE OUTSIDERS! Don’t let someone who is lawless, regardless of what “faith” they claim, judge you FOR keeping the Sabbath, FOR keeping count of the months, (so that you can count) FOR keeping the Feasts of the YHVH.
To reinforce this, Sha’ul even addresses the “insiders” who claim “the law has been abolished” who judge you for being obedient:
Colossians 2:18–22 (in segments) — 18) Let no one deprive you of the prize…
If you have ever authentically celebrated the weekly seventh-day Shabbat regularly, or Passover, or afflicted yourself for the Day of Atonement, or made a Sukka for the fall Feast, then you already know what a JOY these things are — AND — how close they bring you to the Father and Messiah. JOY is a prize to be treasured and sought.
… one who takes delight in false humility and worship of messengers {angels}, taking his stand on what he has not seen, puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19) {they do these things} and not holding fast to the Head {Messiah} <Eph 4:11>, from whom all the Body — nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments — grows with the growth of Elohim.
The issue in Colossians is Gnosticism
These so-called believers, with a faith rooted in ancient pagan customs, worshipped angels to gain special knowledge (gnosis, G1108). They deprived their bodies of food and rest, harshly. They dictated mandatory, strict fasting and meditation so that one could “commune with the spiritual realm.”
WHO DOES THIS TODAY?
Yes, I know, there are some Western “congregations” that do some of this stuff. Mostly these things have returned to the pagan world and are practiced by Hindus, Buddhists, and other “spiritual” faiths.
Are you aware that with all the discussion in Sha’ul’s letters about fasting, there is only one, single commanded “fast” in Scripture? It is not necessarily a food fast, but a personal affliction. For one day, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). As a diabetic, I am not medically allowed to fast. For several years I turned off my real addiction — the television — for that day. Not one minute. These days I spend the day in prayer and study and personal reflection, leading to genuine teshuva — turning back — leaving behind the world and its ways, and returning TO Him and His Way.
How many churches in Western Christianity practice regular fasting and claim that it brings one closer to the “spiritual realm of Elohim”? Several, maybe more than I am willing to admit. This is still Gnosticism.
Messiah compares regular fasting to nothing more than “acting pious.” In Luke 18, He provides a parable of two men at the Temple: A Pharisee, one who practices religion by rote, and a tax collector, a sinner who knows he needs the mercy of the Father. In Luke 18:12, the Pharisee pompously declares that he fasts twice each week. This may have been performed according to gnostic practices — which were around for hundreds of years. But more likely was done as an act of piety, not purification or self-denial.
Luke 18:14 offers us the clarity of what fasting does… Nothing — when done as rote religion. The tax collector could make no such claim but presented himself before the Father with a broken and contrite heart. Here is the result:
Luke 18:14 — “I say to you, this man went down to his house declared right, rather than the other. For everyone who is exalting himself shall be humbled, and he who is humbling himself shall be exalted.”
What is the purpose of fasting? Can you come to the same teshuva without it? Yes, of course. Fasting is a tool, not a requirement.
A lot of “Christians” believe they can talk with angels. Well, sure, I guess, they are all around us all the time doing their thing for Elohim. I guess when we speak aloud, especially if we say something like, “To the angels in the room, hi! How ya doing,” we are talking to them. But do they answer back? Gnosticism believes they do. You pray to them, then go into a trance, and they will speak.
{Doubly-deep sigh…}
It is all about how the gnostic achieves this state of mind. Starvation fasting leads to low blood sugar. This leads to starvation of the brain. Which leads to hallucinations. It is no wonder gnostics believe they can speak to the bowl of fruit on the table, their brains are starving to death!
**I know that these days a person can fast for very long periods safely without hallucinations, but it requires supplementation of nutrition and still requires water and rest. Gnosticism would not allow proper care for self, like resting and water.
Elohim speaks to us through His Word. He speaks through His creation. If you think you hear something that does not align with the Word He already gave, you didn’t hear it correctly… or at all… or you made it up… or you heard something else.
Now Sha’ul moves into some terminology. I addressed quite a bit of this in the Wiki “Elementary Matters” but wish to expand on that here.
… 20) If, then, you died with Messiah from the elementary matters <Col 2:8; Gal 4:3,9> of the world…
These “ elementary matters “ that Sha’ul mentions: OF what are they? Are these the elementary matters of YHVH? Those first steps that we no longer need to do because some doctrine says it’s been done away with? Sha’ul DEFINES them within the same sentence: elementary matters OF THE WORLD!
Only church doctrine redefines the philosophies of men as “matters that pertain to YHVH.”
THEY LIE TO YOU
and anyone else stuck in their web of confusion and obfuscation of the Word of Elohim. And it gets worse…
… why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to dogma…
Church doctrine defines “dogma”, dogmatizo G1379, as “The Word of Elohim”. Oh, wait… They claim that Torah is dogmatizo. I just said the same thing. Did you catch it? Your church doctrine tells you that the Torah — the Word of Elohim — is dogma, the dogma of men. They redefine the Word of Elohim as the dogma of men.
→ Is it the Word of Elohim or not?
→ Do they follow the Word of Elohim or not?
→ Do YOU follow the Word of Elohim or not?
He provides the contrasting teachings of the Gnostics. If you died with Messiah to those elementary matters of the world, why surrender yourself to the Gnostic teachings (elementary matters of the world) of:
… 21) “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle” — 22) which are all to perish with use — according to the commands and teachings of men? <Isa 29:13; Matt 15:8–9; Mark 7:6–7> 23) These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed worship {doing worship according to their own ways}, humiliation and harsh treatment of the body {self flagellation, starvation fasting} — of no value at all, only for satisfaction of the flesh.
These things make a person appear pious. They DO NOT MAKE a person set apart (holy). Lip service. Rote practice of religion. Look right on the outside, be black as coal on the inside.
None of these things listed in the passage are in the Torah. < Isaiah 58>
To the contrary, each of the things listed (in verse 16) that doctrine tells you are abolished are either called “the FEASTS of YHVH” OR help one count their way to them. How many kids count down the days to a birthday or Christmas? When counting the Omer, the 7 Sabbaths plus one day to Shavuot, we count down using the moons to help us find the proper timing of the moedim of YHVH.
This passage in Colossians is NOT justification for believers to not keep these things of YHVH but instructs us to disregard the religion of men who TELLS US not to do them and judge us FOR doing them. That is what Sha’ul is addressing here. You don’t know Sha’ul if you think he is saying, “Don’t do them.” But that’s another lesson (or 21…).
Originally published at https://aminoapps.com.
