Title: Foreign Religion/Colossians 2:16~19
Content Foreign faith/Colossians 2: 16~19
4. Foreign faith (2:16~19)
Verse 16: Therefore, let no one judge you for the new moon or the sabbath for eating and drinking or for feasts.
From now on, he will permeate the Church of Colossae and point out the false lessons one by one that we need to eat certain plants and keep holy days to be saved, and explain how not to lose the Christian freedom acquired through Jesus Christ and to be strong until the end.
First of all, “Eating and Drinking” is a law that stipulates what is unclean for the Jews.
(Leviticus 7:11-18). Thus, those who were pious in their own way lived a life of abstaining from alcohol and even meat.
However, the center of Christian life is not eating and drinking, but faith in Jesus Christ, and food is only secondary.
The following “feasts, new moons, or sabbaths” mean the holy days for the Jews to God. As for the feasts, there are three major festivals in the Jewish nation, the Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Num. 28:11).
The Sabbath is the day when God works from the first to the sixth day and rests after finishing all the work on the last seventh day. (Genesis 2:1~3)
However, the observance of feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths cannot be equated with faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Apostle Paul instructs the Colossians not to be slaves to the law any longer, but to live as free men and enjoy that freedom in Christ. .(Romans 14:5,6)
Verse 17: These are shadows of things to come, but the body is Christ's **********
The various provisions of verse 16 are nothing more than the shadows before the coming of Jesus Christ. Now that Jesus Christ, who is the body, has come, the meaningless shadows must disappear. Therefore, Christians should not be bound by the law and live a life of faith according to various regulations that are shadows, but Jesus Christ, who is the body of the shadow, should be the standard of faith.
Verse 18: Let no one take away your prize because of humility and the worship of angels on purpose***
This verse points out superficial beliefs and warns us not to be tempted by false beliefs caught in this form and hypocrisy.
The second is - angel worship.
The false teachers say that we humans are too helpless before God, so we need a mediator, and we must recognize and worship the mediator angel accordingly.
As such, they reject the mediatorship of Jesus Christ.
But we must make it clear that Jesus Christ alone is our savior and the object of worship.
By what he saw, he pursued his heart, exaggerating in vain**
Here, we expose the attitudes of false teachers of heretical ideology.
At that time, the Mystery Religion allowed only those who received a certain education to participate in the ceremony and was not open to the public.
Thus, the false teachers deceived many people with vain exaggerations instead of humility that they received direct visions and revelations from God in the sanctuary.
But the truth of God can be realized through Jesus Christ
Therefore, the center of our Christian faith should not depend on the visions or revelations received by others, but must be rooted in the revealed Scriptures.
Verse 19: Not holding on to the head, but the whole body being fed by the joints and tendons from the head, and united in unity, it grows with the increase of God.
The Apostle Paul emphasizes again that the subject of Christian faith is Jesus Christ.
First, he points out that the problem with heresy is that it is not rooted in Jesus Christ.
The community of Christ can be united with Jesus as head
Also, God's power and life can be supplied only through Jesus Christ.
If the community of the church is cut off from the relationship with Christ, it has consciousness and form, but the inside is empty and the life force of God disappears. Therefore, we Christians must live a life of faith that grows day by day according to the growth of God centering on Jesus Christ.