Shadows and the True Substance

A symptom of the fallen human condition is to think and live as if we can or must contribute to our salvation. The atmosphere this creates is one marked by rivalries, dissensions, judgment, and legalism. It can even lead to extrabiblical teaching that promises an alternative route to growth or access to God through sacred rituals and ecstatic experiences. While these things can appear to be helpful, they are in fact a shadow of the true substance, a source of bondage not freedom, and no help whatsoever in avoiding the indulgence of our corrupted nature. Paul confronts a specific manifestation of this all-too-human tendency in his letter to the Colossians and we would do well to heed his warnings. We’ll shed some light on Colossians 2:16–23 with the study notes from the ESV Reformation Study Bible.

The Shadow of Religious Observance

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Colossians 2:16–17

2:16, 17 In Colossae, observance of the Jewish Sabbath feast days (the monthly “new moon” and annual feasts) was apparently being advocated in order to placate supernatural powers or angels thought to direct the course of the stars, regulate the calendar, and determine human destiny. This, Paul says, is a form of bondage from which Christ came to liberate men and women. Paul is not speaking here of the observance of a weekly day of rest and worship, which is grounded in creation and integral to the abiding moral law (Ex. 20:8–11).

Excursus: Special Issues – Jewish Regulations

The teaching appears to have reflected Jewish influences, as evidenced by the value placed on legal ordinances, food regulations, Sabbath and new moon observance, and other prescriptions of the Jewish calendar (2:16). Though circumcision is mentioned, it was not necessarily seen as one of the requirements imposed by the false teaching in Colossae (2:11).

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The Shadow of Asceticism and Angelic Worship

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Colossians 2:18–19

2:18 worship of angels. This has been taken by some scholars as a reference to practices found among some Jewish mystics, whose goal was to participate in angelic worship before the throne of God and to attain to ecstatic prayer through asceticism and strict observance of the Torah. In this case, “worship of angels” would mean “worship along with angels.” This line of interpretation assumes that the false teachers actually practiced a relatively orthodox Judaism and wanted to worship God. But the appearance given by Colossians is that the church was being tempted to worship not God but spirits intermediate between God and humans.

Excursus: Special Issues – Angelic Spirits

The role of angelic spirits was also an important element in this teaching. Two factors point to this. First, there is stress on Christ’s superiority to and victory over “rulers” and “authorities” (1:16; 2:10, 15). Second, the role of angels in the Colossian error is evident in the phrase “worship of angels” (2:18). Early Christians knew that there were angels who served agents at creation and in the giving of the law (Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2). The false teaching in Colossae had confused the limited and legitimate role of angels as “ministering spirits” (cf. Heb. 1:14) with the larger role attributed to angels in some parts of Judaism, not to mention the astral powers of the Gentiles. As a means of overcoming fear of these astral or cosmic powers, and under the guise of revelations that so-called “philosophers” received in ecstatic states, the Colossians were being urged to become ascetics and to worship angels.

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2:19 To seek the favor of angelic beings is to fail to honor Christ for what He is as the fullness of deity (v. 9; 1:19) and to not enjoy the totality of the redemption that has been won in His death and resurrection (vv. 10–15; 1:20–22).

Head . . . body. This language looks back at 1:18 and ahead to the way Paul develops the idea of the Christian life under Christ’s headship in the context of membership in the church in 3:1–4:6.

The Shadow of Legalism

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Colossians 2:20–23

2:20 If with Christ you died. Believers’ union with Christ in His death (Rom. 6:3–7) has freed them from worldly rules that enslave the consciences of others. Paul will next argue (3:1–5) that believers’ union with Christ in His resurrection and ascension entails their responsibility to have their minds (perspectives, affections, values) defined by heaven and the Christ “who is your life,” who lives and reigns there.

Excursus: Special Issues – Elemental Spirits of the World

Scholarly opinion is divided as to whether the term “elemental spirits of the world” (2:8, 20) also refers to superhuman spiritual beings, thought to control various aspects of human experience (see 2:8 and the same expression in Gal. 4:3, 9). Phrygia was well known for preoccupation with the need to placate various spiritual forces associated with stars and planets.

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2:23 self-made religion. God only accepts worship offered according to His will revealed in Scripture, not religious exercises done at the dictate of presumptuous human whim (Matt. 15:9). The idea that God must be worshiped only in the way He has instituted has had a profound influence in Reformed churches, which identifies the idea as the “Regulative Principle of Worship.”

of no value. The Greek of this verse is very difficult. It may mean that the ascetic disciplines Paul is opposing are not only worthless but actively harmful, exciting their own sort of “indulgence of the flesh.” For Paul, “the flesh” is manifested not only in bodily sensuality but also in attitudes of the heart such as pride, jealousy, and rivalry (Gal. 5:19–21). This is precisely what the Reformers—preeminently Luther—saw themselves as opposing in the extrabiblical rituals that had emerged in the medieval church.

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