Scripture Daily

Context No. 315 of 4322 · Colossians

Context · Reflection

Colossians 2:16-23: in context

16Let no one therefore judge you in eating or drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, 17which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s. 18Let no one rob you of your prize by self-abasement and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth. 20If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances, 21“Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch” 22(all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men? 23These things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, humility, and severity to the body, but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Paul is warning the Colossians about a certain kind of religious pressure, the kind that comes from people eager to judge you by what you eat and drink and which holy days you keep. Do not let anyone condemn you over food or festivals or new moons or sabbaths, he says, because these things were only a shadow of what was coming. The substance, the body that cast the shadow, is Christ. His point is not that the old observances were bad but that they were a silhouette of a reality that has now arrived, and it makes no sense to cling to the outline when you have the person.

Then he turns to something more subtle and harder to see through: rigorous self-denial dressed up as holiness. There are teachers, he says, pushing rules like do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, along with a show of humility and severe treatment of the body. And Paul concedes these things have an appearance of wisdom. They look impressively spiritual. Self-imposed religion, false humility, and harshness toward yourself all photograph well as devotion. But then he delivers the verdict: they are of no value at all against the indulgence of the flesh. The stricter list does not actually touch the thing that is wrong inside. You can keep every prohibition, punish your body, and remain exactly as proud and self-centered as before. Worse, the discipline can quietly feed the pride.

The warning cuts against a reflex most religious people know well, reaching for a tighter set of rules and a harder self-punishment in order to feel holy. It looks like wisdom and does nothing to the real problem, which is only ever dealt with by holding on to Christ himself. Have I been trying to fix what is wrong in me by adding stricter rules and harsher self-denial, mistaking their impressive appearance for actual power they do not have?

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