The Judges at Colossae

Anyone who has taken part in a conversation about the Sabbath or the feasts has probably heard this verse. It is often the first one quoted, and for many people it is the last word:

Colossians 2:16 Therefore no one is to krino κρίνω kree'-no(judge) you in regard to food or drink or in respect to heortes(festival) or new moon or sabbatons(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23);

At a quick glance, it seems clear enough. Food, drink, feasts, new moons and Sabbaths no longer matter, so the Colossians should not let anyone make them feel guilty for leaving them behind. On this reading, Paul is giving them permission to stop.

That reading is sincere, and it is widespread. But it rests on an assumption that is seldom checked: it assumes we know who was doing the judging, and why. The verse itself does not name them, though Paul describes them in the verses around it. Before we decide what Paul was telling the Colossians to ignore, we should find out whose voice he was telling them to ignore.

What the Grammar Says

In Greek, “therefore no one is to krino(judge) you” is me oun tis hymas krineto (μὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω). The verb is a command in the third person. Paul is not speaking to the judges, and he is not telling the Colossians to stop doing anything. He is telling them how to treat someone else’s verdict: let no one pass judgment on you. Put simply, they are not to accept that ruling.

So the verse does not say, “Stop keeping these days.” It says that someone is condemning them over these things, and that they must not let his condemnation stand. The whole chapter turns on one question: who was doing the condemning?

The Voices in Colossae

Paul had already warned the Colossians about such people:

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the stoicheia(elementary principles) of the world, rather than according to Messiah.

“Philosophy and empty deception … the tradition of men … the stoicheia(elementary principles) of the world.” Paul is not describing Moses here. He is describing teaching that comes from human tradition and from the principles of the world, “rather than according to Messiah.”

Shortly after verse 16, he quotes the very rules these teachers were pressing on the believers:

Colossians 2:20-23 If you have died with Messiah to the stoicheia(elementary principles) of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees: "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) — in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of sophia σοφία sof-ee'-ah(wisdom) in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” Those are not lines from the Torah. Paul calls them “decrees,” and he tells us where they come from: “the commandments and teachings of men.” He also describes the spirit behind them: “self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body.”

That is the teaching Paul was answering, and none of it came from Moses.

An Old Phrase

“The commandments and teachings of men.” Paul did not invent that phrase; it goes back to Isaiah:

Isaiah 29:13 And my Lord (Adonai) said: Because this people draws near with its mouth, and with its lips they honor me, but its heart it has put far from me, and their fear of me has become a commandment (mitzvah מִצוָה mits-vaw') of men (ish אִישׁ eesh), learned by rote,

“A commandment (mitzvah) of men (ish), learned by rote.” God was rebuking a people whose religion had become a set of human rules repeated out of habit, while their hearts were far away. Yeshua took up the same words when the Pharisees criticized His disciples for not walking according to the tradition of the elders:

Mark 7:7 But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'"

“Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” So when Paul calls the Colossian rules “the commandments and teachings of men,” he is using a phrase with a long history, and it has always meant the same thing: rules made by people and laid on top of God’s word. It has never meant God’s own commandments.

Look at What They Were Judging

Now we can put the pieces together and read verse 16 again. These teachers were judging the Colossian believers “in regard to food or drink or in respect to heortes(festival) or new moon or sabbatons.” That tells us something important.

Picture a family holiday dinner. The table is full of roast lamb, bread, wine, and pie. At one end sits a relative who has lately taken up a strict diet, and he shakes his head at everyone’s plate, saying that sugar is poison and wine is poison. The others may smile and let it pass. But one thing is clear: he is criticizing their plates because there is food on them. No one is lectured about a pie he is not eating.

The same logic holds in Colossae. Severe teachers who believed the body should be denied were condemning believers over eating, drinking, feast days, new moons and Sabbaths. They would have had no reason to do so unless the believers were eating and drinking and keeping those days. No one judges a person over a feast he is not keeping.

So the verse that is so often read as permission to stop keeping the feasts is, in its own setting, evidence that the believers in Colossae were keeping them. These were believers in a city far from Jerusalem, celebrating God’s appointed times, and someone was condemning them for keeping those times. Paul’s answer was that they should not accept the verdict.

What Paul Was Protecting

Read this way, the rest of the chapter falls into place. Paul is not protecting the Colossians from the Torah. He is protecting them from “the tradition of men,” from “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,” and from a religion that looks wise but only treats the body harshly. In this passage the feasts and Sabbaths stand on the side of the believers, and the human rules stand on the side of the judges.

This changes how the verse should be heard. If someone quotes this verse to say that the Sabbath no longer matters, the honest reply is that Paul wrote it to people who were keeping the Sabbath.

But Paul’s sentence does not end with verse 16. He goes straight on to call these days “a shadow of what is to come.” Many take that to mean they were bound to disappear once the real thing arrived. A shadow, however, says something quite different.