Colossians 2:16–23

The Apostle's warnings seem to fall under three headings. Look at verses 8, 16 and 18. Each opens with a word of caution about the activities of men. Those activities run in different directions, but all are hostile to the truth. The first danger comes from philosophy, the second from Judaism, the third from superstition.

The cross blotted out our sins truly, but it did more: it also blotted out the whole system of legal ordinances that stood against us. The law itself was not blotted out. Far from it — the death of Christ vindicated and magnified the law. On the other hand, we died out from under the law in His death. We are now under grace, and all the old legal ordinances no longer stand. Verse 16 gives samples of them. The word translated "blotted out" is one "used for annulling a decree of law."

Do not allow anyone to put you again under these legal ordinances, for the death of Christ has ended them.

Take eating and drinking, or ordinances about the year, month, and week. The Apostle takes particular care to speak not merely of feast or new moon but of sabbaths. Remember that these things are only pictures of the body — the real good found only in Christ. In fact, these times and seasons point mainly to what God will give His people later on. The new moon was a striking picture of Israel renewed after fading away. The sabbath pictured the rest of God, which He will yet enjoy and share.

A "holy-day" — it is worth calling it that, since the name shows its meaning — was a day God had made to be regarded above another. That day, and the foods, drinks, various washings, and outward ordinances of Judaism, all had their time and use. "The body is of Christ." In Him we have what they were designed to picture. If I take them up now, I take up the shadow and not the substance; it is a mere shadow, but by setting it up again, I make it the real thing and deny Christ.

It was true that the instructions about new moons and sabbaths, and the rules about food and drink, came from God. They really were shadows of things to come. The body, however, of which they were true shadows, is of Christ. As shadows they were correct, outlining truth about the One who has come. But they could not even hint at all that He is… Why turn to the shadow after the substance has appeared?

We have everything in Christ, and nothing outside of Him: completeness in the presence of God, and perfect deliverance from all that we are in ourselves, and from everything that is or could be used against us. What perfect liberty! We need to see that we use it in a holy way, but it is a perfect liberty.

Someone may ask what these things have to say to us today, since no active Judaizing party is at work in the church now. The answer is that they are still very much to the point. There is not much active Judaizing because the professing church itself has been so largely Judaized for centuries… The word here is not exactly "sabbath days," but "sabbaths" — covering sabbaths of all kinds, whether of days or of years.

They prove that the Lord's day occupies a place that is quite unique, quite heavenly, quite divine. But they equally prove that the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord's day are entirely distinct. The New Testament keeps the two days as distinct as we keep Saturday and Sunday.

It was true that the instructions about new moons and sabbaths, and the rules about food and drink, came from God. They really were shadows of things to come. But the body, of which they were true shadows, is of Christ. As shadows they were correct, and they outlined truth about the One who has come. Yet they could not even foreshadow all that He is. Judaism could never give those raised in it the full truth about Christ.

"Body" here is plainly substance in contrast to shadow — that is, "All that was shadowed had its origin as well as its fulfilment in Him," as has been well said.

I am standing at a street corner, waiting for a friend. The sun is shining behind him as he comes round the corner. The first thing I see is his shadow. I have the body, the Person, and I am occupied with Him. What a Person! Where is there room for food and drink, and the sabbath?

The new moon was a remarkable type of Israel being renewed after fading away. The sabbath was the type of the rest of God which He will yet enjoy and share... The Jew had the shadow, and by God's grace he will have the things to come under the new covenant by and by. We are given the substance of Christ now. It is a question here of Jewish days. The Lord's day has nothing to do with Judaism; it is not only separate from that system, but in contrast with it.

The food, the drink, the various washings, and the outward ordinances of Judaism had their time and use. "The body is of Christ." In Him we have what they were designed to picture. If I take them up now, I take up the shadow and not the substance. It is a mere shadow, but by setting it up again I make it the real thing and deny Christ.

The Colossian believers faced this snare, and it has developed into the ritualism of our day... Sadly, Christendom has fallen into this snare. In turning back to the shadows it has lost much of the Substance.

Now that the body, Christ, had appeared, the shadow received a meaning and an interest. By itself it had been uninteresting and unbearable. We can now use the shadows with profit to show the reality: the many riches of the graces of Christ. This is so because "the body is of Christ." But to impose them again as duties would deny Christ.

The body is not a development of the shadows. Neither is it a product of man's philosophy — "the body is of Christ." The body is derived from Christ...

The verse could be translated, "Let no one get round you," or "cheat you." It is as if he said: do not let such things into your mind. If you do, a self-chosen humility and the like will cheat you out of what Christianity has given you in Christ. The passage has no separate word for "reward," but you need that word to bring out the full sense of the verb. Those extra English words all stand for a single word in the original: "Let no man beguile you of your reward." That word appears nowhere else in Scripture.

One translation of the verse's opening reads: "Let no one fraudulently deprive you of your prize, doing his own will in humility and worship of angels." That makes the whole position clear. The procedure all looks very humble. It is really self-will, a thing very hateful to God. Those who fall for it may well be true believers. But the fraud turns them away from Christ, and they lose their prize.

I may talk a lot about saints and angels in heaven, about their glories and the like, and call this humility. It is not humility. It is the very opposite: my own fleshly mind, puffed up over nothing. What do I know about them? Have I been in heaven? While I intrude into things I have not seen, I am losing knowledge needed by all saints. The weakest believer is as much one with Christ as an apostle, and as complete in Him. It might seem more humble to say, I am this, that, or the other thing; but can we do without Christ? Do you reply, I have not arrived at such a position? Then you are expecting to attain it — that is presumption.

Verse 16 deals mainly with a Jewish form of the evil; but verse 18 goes further and shows a prying into the unseen. It is not so much the religious use or misuse of what can be seen, which was the Jewish trap, but dabbling with philosophy, especially eastern philosophy. There was a great appearance of humility in all this, as there always is in false systems. The worship of angels seemed right and proper, especially since it used no word that belongs only to the worship of God... It is true there are such beings; but it is the prying into such subjects that is so evil. They have to do with us, but not we with them. Our business is with God. Now it seemed a reasonable conclusion. If angels have to do with us, then we must have to do with them. And since they deal with God directly, why should we not turn to them to approach Him?

Prying into what God has not revealed, and man has not seen — speculation about angels, for example — is the clear proof of one thing. The heart is not satisfied with its portion. This is not holding the Head. He who keeps hold of Christ, in conscious union with Him, could never be craving after angels. In Christ the saint is above them, and leaves them to God without anxiety or envy.

Legalism is not true law-keeping. It thinks it humble to use angels as go-betweens, as if we were not worthy to approach God directly in worship. This is completely false humility. It intrudes into what a person does not understand, and it puffs up the mind of the flesh... God warns His people strongly against this. It is a cheat. It robs a person of true blessing now and of reward in the future, because it puts something other than Christ between the soul and God.

These are the people described as "not holding the Head." That tells us what "holding the Head" involves. It means knowing the truth that Christ is our Head, and acting in line with it. It means letting nothing come between Him and ourselves. And it means letting Him direct us.

Saints may well hold the doctrine that Christ is Head of the body, and speak of it in the words of Scripture. But "holding the Head" is much more than that. Those who are "holding the Head" are in communion with Him about the members of His body. Their hearts and minds are interested in what interests Him. Their sympathies, affections, and care reach out to no smaller circle than "all saints."… We believe there is no other way to prevent or cure sectarianism.

So people pry into what God has not revealed and man has not seen, such as speculations about angels. This is clear proof that the heart is not truly satisfied with its portion. This is not holding the Head. Someone who keeps hold of Christ like this, in conscious union with Him, could never crave angels. In Christ the saint is above them, and leaves them to God without anxiety or envy.

Some brought in foreign helps such as philosophy and strict self-denial. In reality these hindered the simplicity of the gospel. They did not help the soul into real union with Christ. Such helps drew the soul away from dependence on Christ. Those who valued them did not "hold the head."… Direct "holding the head" is the only safeguard against it.

I bless God for many means that help me on in my walk. But take my standing with God. If anything at all were still needed, it would mean I was not already perfect in Christ. Faith says, Christ has presented me in the presence of God, according to the mind of God, and I have nothing to seek. This is what the apostle means by "holding the Head," Col. 2:19.

Joints of supply help spread nourishment to the members of the body. Joints help in the movements and exercises of the body. Bands bind the members together in spiritual help. A believer may not be a prophet or a teacher, and yet be of great help to the saints. He does this by bringing Christ before them, by encouraging them in exercises that lead to spiritual progress, or by fostering divine love and faithfulness to Christ, so as to draw the saints closer to each other.… In 1 Corinthians we read of shining gifts, in which some sought to display themselves. They stand in marked contrast to the often hidden but effective working of the joints and bands.

If we were not drawing from the Head we might forget these hidden joints and bands. Every saint of God draws from this blessed One who is Head of the body. That must result in a knitting together and an increase which is according to God.… We do not want an increase of doctrine and knowledge only, important as that is. What we want is an increase that is of God, so that He becomes truly real to us.

In practice, this shows that the idea of a denomination directly contradicts the truth that Christ is Head. It introduces a division within the body of Christ (1 Cor. 1:12–13). It also interferes with Christ's headship, for He is the Head of the entire body. Man-made denominations also tend to come with man-made leadership. In other words, men (or women) take the place of the head of the "church."

This is not at all about being dead to the natural life a man had in the world. That is not the Christian life. The Christian life is really the life of Him who died and rose again. He died — that is the point here — and therefore I am dead too. But if I am dead, what do I have to do with things that only affect men as long as they live?... A man alive in the world is under these regulations, and owns them. That was the position of Israel.

These first exhortations rest on the great truth that believers have died with Christ to the elements of the world. The Apostle's own words and the general tone of the letter show plainly what "the elements of the world" are. They are the religious regulations invented by men or borrowed from Judaism.

The rudiments or elements of the world are every subtle principle and motive that comes from the world, apart from God. They take in all that makes up the spirit and character of the world, whether religious or irreligious... Note the special term Paul uses in verse 20: "if you have died with Christ [not TO the world, but] from the rudiments of the world." The believer must still stand in many relations towards the world... bodily needs, earthly duties.

"As if you were still alive in the world." These words do not mean the simple fact of being in the world. They mean having lived in it and of it, outside of Christ. That is the kind of life regulations apply to. It is remarkable that the very things in which Christianity seems to give place to man declare man to be dead — baptism and the breaking of bread, which the flesh would turn into regulations.

Since we have died with Christ, our true interests lie clean outside the world and its rudiments, or elements... The world, and especially the religious world, has many regulations about using or not using perishable material things. They tell us not to handle or taste or touch this or that. But if we really grasp our identification with Christ in His death, we find ourselves outside the world where such regulations hold sway. That settles all such questions for us, and settles them decisively.

If I am really dead to the flesh, I cannot be looking to ordinances to get the flesh improved. But the tendency of our hearts is always towards this... Here is our danger: religiousness in the flesh is what this special warning is against. And with all its plausible appearance, what does the apostle call it? "Will worship." It may have a great reputation for humility, but before God it is the most positive and terrible pride.

How many poor weak believers are in just this state — not walking as those whose citizenship is in heaven, but living down on earth and in the world, and making their religion consist largely in self-imposed ordinances... Such a state is not merely a loss of comfort to themselves, or a state of Christian weakness; it is a state most inconsistent with the faith they profess.

Now if Christians had died with Christ from all this, they were also risen with Him. So they were to seek the things where He sits at the right hand of God. They were to set their minds on things above, not on things on earth. For they are dead, their life is hidden with Christ in God, and they look forward to appearing with Him in glory.

Colossians 2:20 asks this: if you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why do you still submit to ordinances, as though you were alive in the world? The apostle gives a sample of these ordinances in the three prohibitions which follow, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch. This was Jewish legalism all over again. It suited a people in the flesh like Israel, people who, as he says here, are "living in the world." But it does not fit the spiritual condition of the Christian at all, for the Christian has died with Christ.

We have done with such language as "touch not, taste not, handle not," which may suit men alive in the world, not those dead in the Christ. This is the manner of human safeguards; this is man's way of preserving flesh in this world.

Since we have died with Christ our true interests lie completely outside the world and its elements. Having died out of the world system we cannot go on as though we are alive in it. That is the argument of verse 20. The world, and particularly the religious world, has its many ordinances about using or not using perishable material things. According to these ordinances we should not handle or taste or touch this or that. But if we really understand our identification with Christ in His death we find ourselves outside the world where ordinances hold sway, and that of course settles all such questions for us in a very decisive way.

The religion of the world is a religion of "ordinances", or human regulations that the natural man can submit to. Such ordinances call for no work of God in the conscience or heart, and raise no question of new birth or conversion. Such ordinances mean giving up certain material things on certain days that men count holy, such as new moons and sabbath days. One negative formula sums them all up: "Touch not; taste not; handle not".

The principle, "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle" describes the whole negative character of legality. If this is the sum of one's religion, he is certainly left empty, though sadly puffed up as though he were full. These things perish with the using. A balloon is only for amusement, quickly deflated and gone. Christianity is not ordinances, but Christ who has in His own blessed Person displaced the whole system of Judaism.

Harsh treatment of the body, as the apostle shows here, does not subdue the flesh and put it to death. It tends to satisfy and exalt it instead. We are taught here a most important truth — the difference between the BODY and the FLESH. Neglecting the body and treating it harshly, giving it no honour or respect, may actually inflate the flesh. The BODY may be set apart to God, may be nourished and used for God, may glorify God; the FLESH never.

"Touch not, taste not, handle not," are among the most effective ordinances and commandments of men; while the living God, who calls His children into the gracious liberty of Christ, is here found using very similar language. But between these outward similarities there is an essential and irreconcilable difference, and noticing it is one of the first duties of a true believer… One mark sets every kind of false holiness apart from "true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). It always aims at presenting the natural man as someone God can accept.

In our Bibles verse 21 and the first part of verse 22 are printed in brackets... The words in the first bracket give us samples of the ordinances the Apostle had in mind... And then the words not in brackets read, "subject to ordinances … after the commandments and doctrines of men … to the satisfying of the flesh."

the climax is turned upside down in our common English Bible... it is a descending climax: the most familiar thing of all, the handling, comes first; then the tasting, which might be much less; and finally, not even a touch. This is the way of human safeguards. This is man's way of preserving the flesh in this world.

such ordinances occupy the soul with material things that perish as they are handled. A religion that consists only of obeying such ordinances must perish when the things it consists of perish. Faith puts the believer in touch with spiritual and unseen things that are eternal in the heavens.

If this is the sum of a person's religion, he is certainly left empty, though sadly puffed up as though he were full... Christianity is not ordinances, but Christ, who in His own blessed Person has set aside the whole system of Judaism — the order God Himself set up by His commandment and teaching. How much more, then, the commandments and teachings of men that have been added to Judaism?

the New Testament uses a particular and uncommon Greek word for commandments when they come from man. The usual word translated that way is entole, but entalma occurs only three times: in Mark 7:7; in the parallel passage, Matthew 15:9; and in Colossians 2:22... In all these passages the word seems to point to those moral maxims and set rules of conduct which men tried to lay as heavy burdens on the shoulders of their fellow men, but which the Lord showed had no authority behind them.

Wherever we impose with absolute authority something that does not come from God Himself, it is a tradition... it matters more than anything that we strengthen each other in this: nothing but the word of God has the right to govern the conscience. When we let go of this principle, and let a rule come in and become binding, so that whatever is not done by that rule counts as a sin, we have moved from the authority of the word of God to the authority of tradition, perhaps without knowing it ourselves.

Since we have died with Christ, our true interests lie right outside the world and its basic principles... But if we really understand that we are identified with Christ in His death, we find ourselves outside the world where ordinances hold sway, and that of course settles all such questions for us in a very decisive way.

How strikingly, by contrast, the New Testament brings out the great importance of the body! It declares, for instance, that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is most important. It is itself the effect of redemption, and it is the true ground of Christian morals. "Present your members to God as instruments for righteousness"; "present your bodies as a living sacrifice," and so on.

These rules made by men do have an appearance of wisdom in the eyes of the world. It seems wise to avoid things that people are likely to misuse — things that harm the body when they are misused.

Worship that springs from the will of man and satisfies the flesh. Rules commanded by man belong here, even though the worshippers may think that keeping them pleases God.

It is not the power of the Spirit of God opening up the things of Christ. It is something to do with self, and mostly negative… This is not God's will. It is man inventing ways to please Him out of his own head. The whole thing dresses itself in what looks like great humility, and it prizes harsh treatment of the body.

With all its convincing appearance, what does the apostle call it? "Will-worship." It may have a great reputation for humility, but before God it is the most definite and terrible pride. It does not look like pride. It looks like putting the flesh to death and holding it down.

You deny the body certain foods on certain days. You treat the body harshly. This feeds the flesh with the feeling that you have done something praiseworthy.

Harsh treatment of the body, as the apostle shows here, does not subdue and kill the flesh. It satisfies and lifts up the flesh instead. So we are taught a most important truth — the difference between the BODY and the FLESH. Neglecting the body, hurting it, and giving it no honour or respect may help to swell the flesh. The BODY may be set apart for God, fed and used for God, and may glorify God. The FLESH never can be.

We are urged, for example, to "put to death the deeds of the body," but never to put the body itself to death. The body belongs to the Lord, and we are to care for it… harsh self-denial tends to starve the body and feed the flesh.

Let me paraphrase the last part, since it is quite different from what our translation gives: "These things are not of any value; they are only for the satisfying of the flesh."

He applies the principle of death to all the rules, and to the harsh self-denial that treated the body as something evil in itself, which ought to be rejected. Then (Col. 3:1) he uses the resurrection to lift their hearts into a higher place, and to bring them back to Christ by looking up, since they have died as far as the old nature is concerned.