Introduction

Last time we dealt with Col. 2.9-15 in which Paul stresses the supremacy of Jesus’ death and what he accomplished for us through it. In the final portion of the passage Paul claims that Jesus’ death, far from being an occasion of defeat, was one of ultimate victory because by means of his death Jesus exposed every other possible claimant to authority as being a defeated foe. Now Paul continues his correspondence with the Colossian church with some more warnings.

Festivals and Sabbaths

From the mention of sabbaths in v. 16 it is once again evident that the challenges the Colossians were facing came from Jewish quarters. This might not have been so evident if Paul had only mentioned festivals and new moons. All religions—including Christianity—have festivals. Many religions observe special days linked to the phases of the moon. Easter, for example, is celebrated on the first Sunday after the vernal full moon. However, the reference to sabbaths clearly indicates a Jewish challenge. Of the Jewish festivals, the Christians probably celebrated only the Passover, now transformed to the Lord’s Supper. Moreover, the Christians did not observe the sabbath but rather observed Sunday as the Lord’s day. In response to this, some Jews were probably telling the Gentile Christians at Colossae that they were inferior because true religion was to be found in the Jewish observances. What Paul says, however, is that Jesus is the one in whom reality is to be found—the Jewish observances being only a shadow or foretaste of things to come.

Personal Piety

What the challengers were also saying was that their observance of all the Jewish rites demonstrated their humility and submission to God. Moreover, they probably were involved in regular fasts and vigils during which they treated their bodies harshly.

Now the phrase “worship of angels” is ambiguous. Does this mean, as most often understood, worship directed toward angels by people? Though this interpretation is very common, it is probably not the case. As we have seen, the challenges faced by the Colossians were thoroughly Jewish in character. If there were hints of pagan challenges, we might conclude that worship directed toward angels might be what is meant. However, there is no strand of Jewish thought that advocates worshipping angels. There is, however, a strand of Jewish thought that advocates certain rituals in order to be able to join the angels as they worship God.

One such strand of thought also advocated seeing visions of heaven and of God. This branch of Jewish mysticism was known as Merkabah mysticism. Merkabah is the Hebrew word for chariot and this branch of mysticism gets its name from Ezekiel’s vision of God riding on a chariot. In this branch of Judaism, visions were very important and strict observances of various festivals and sabbaths had to be maintained if a person was to hope to be graced with such a vision. Paul says that focussing on these things and not holding on to Christ who is the head and life of his body is to have a fleshly mind—that is, a mind that is incapable of grasping true spirituality and true faith.

Mortification or Liberation

Paul goes back briefly to Jesus’ death. Now he does not say that the Colossians died to the elemental forces of the world or to the basic principles of the world as the NIV has it. The Greek construction does not use the preposition “to” but “from”. This once again seems to indicate that Paul wants the Colossians to focus on Christ. The issue is not that the Colossians individually died to the basic principles when they became Christians but rather that in his death Christ has freed all who believe from captivity to these basic principles. This makes more sense of the fact that Paul repeats the Greek word stoicei`a, that he used in v. 8.

Dying to these basic principles carries the notion of self-discipline or asceticism, exactly what Paul denounced in v. 18 when he refers to self-abasement or false-humility. Dying from these basic principles, though a difficult phrase, carries the notion of liberation from their power.

Religion Via Negativa

Now Paul reveals what these basic principles are. They are regulations such as “do not touch”, “do not taste”, and “do not handle”. These most probably refer to the observances related to the Jewish purity laws where contact with anything unclean rendered a clean person unclean. Now the role of these regulations had become that of maintaining the purity of the Jewish people. Initially, however, they were given as a sign that the Jewish people were chosen by God. Paul says that these negative regulations could not maintain the purity of God’s people—Jewish or Christian. After all, that is not what they were intended to do in the first place!