Colossians 2:16-23: a reflection

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 warns the Colossians against those who would condemn them over rules about food, festivals, and Sabbaths, and against a kind of religion built on self-imposed severity: do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. Such regulations, he says, have an appearance of wisdom in their self-made religion and harsh treatment of the body, but they are of no real value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. They look rigorous and holy, and they do not actually change the heart.

Notice the diagnosis. Man-made rules and ascetic severity can look impressive, even wise, all that strictness, all those prohibitions, all that discipline of the body. But Paul says they are powerless where it counts: they cannot deal with the real problem, the heart. You can pile up rules, deny yourself sternly, master an elaborate religious discipline, and still be unchanged inside, because rules do not transform hearts.

And he points to the alternative: the substance belongs to Christ. These regulations are only shadows; the reality is Christ himself. Real change comes not from a harsher set of rules but from holding fast to Christ, being connected to him, growing from him as the body grows from its head. If you have tried to become holy by piling up rules and severities and found yourself unchanged inside, Paul's word is freeing. The answer is not more rules but more of Christ. Do not settle for the shadow of self-made religion; hold fast to the substance, who is Christ.

Lord, I can pile up rules and severities that look wise and rigorous but cannot change my heart. Free me from a religion of man-made regulations that has no power where it counts. Help me not to chase the shadow of self-made discipline but to hold fast to Christ, the substance, and to be changed from the inside by growing from him. Real transformation is in you, not in my rules.