Dd-62. What are the SHADOWS in COLOSSIANS 2:17? DOWNLOAD to SAVE as a PDF Doc to read OFFLINE. Dd-62. What are the SHADOWS in COLOSSIANS 2:17? Let us begin this study in God’s word by reading Colossians 2:16,17 so that we can see verse 17 in at least a little context. I will emphasize some words and phrases so that you can see that some Christians were JUDGING other Christians. And thus, the whole point of these two verses of Scripture is for the Christians who are being JUDGED by other Christians is to not allow the words of those judging you to TROUBLE you and SUBVERT your souls. Colossians 2:16,17. “Let no man, THEREFORE, JUDGE you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy DAY, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: 17. Which are a SHADOW of things to come; but the BODY is of Christ.” Now, the PURPOSE of this study is to bring Christians into the UNITY of faith where we all speak the same things. So I am going to make this study as short and as SIMPLE as I can. Let us begin by closely looking at what the word “SHADOW” means. As a noun, the word shadow means a dark area or shape produced by a BODY coming between rays of light and a surface. In other words, a shadow is a dark shape that pictures the BODY that the shadow REPRESENTS when the body is between the LIGHT and a background that captures the image of the BODY that the LIGHT is shining upon. Another way to say this is that the BODY is the real or TRUE and the shadow is a PICTURE of the BODY that the TRUE is represented by. So then, we can VISUALIZE what is TRUE by looking closely at the SHADOW. In other words, the SHADOW points to the TRUE BODY which Colossians 2:17 clearly teaches is Jesus Christ. So then, plain and simple, a shadow TEACHES us WHO the Messiah is, which we as Christians all know is Jesus. And once a person knows that Jesus is the Messiah then there is no more need for the SHADOW. So then, the PURPOSE of the shadow is to point to Jesus who is the BODY that the LIGHT of the TRUTH of the Gospel of Jesus is shining upon casting a dark FIGURE on a CANVAS, so to speak. So the shadow is a painting or picture of Jesus, but some shadows are not always obvious of what they are picturing. Now that you know what a shadow is in relation to the Bible let us take a closer look at the four different shadows that Paul teaches us to NOT allow others to JUDGE us in those four areas of our faith in Jesus and the New Covenant. So let us read Colossians 2:16 again and I will add some more emphasis in parenthesis so you can see that there are FOUR different things that are called a SHADOW in verse 17. Colossians 2:16. “Let no man, THEREFORE, JUDGE you in (#1.) meat, or in drink, or in (#2.) respect of a holy DAY, or of (#3.) the new moon, or of (#4.) the Sabbath days:” Now, almost all Christians clearly see FOUR DIFFERENT things listed by the Apostle Paul except for the Seventh Day Adventist Christians which I will abbreviate as SDA Christians. In other words, it is only the SDA Christians who “INTERPRET” number 4 as being number 2. In other words, SDA Christians argue that #4 is #2 by claiming that the Sabbath days in #4 are referring to the YEARLY feast day Sabbath. But as you can see, Paul already listed the yearly Sabbath days in #2. So why would Paul list the YEARLY feast day Sabbath TWICE and NOT mention the WEEKLY Sabbath days at all? Well, to every other Christians except for the SDA Christians, we clearly see that the Sabbath days in #4 are the WEEKLY Sabbath days and NOT the yearly Sabbath days, because Paul already listed the yearly Sabbath days in #2. So then, all NON SDA Christians, including all other seventh day of the week Sabbath-keeping Christians clearly see and understand that # 4 is definitely referring to the WEEKLY Sabbath days. Now, the ONLY reason that the SDA Christians argue that #4 is not the weekly Sabbath days is because if they admit that #4 is referring to the WEEKLY Sabbath days, then their whole church doctrine of KEEPING the weekly Sabbath DAY Holy would fall apart. And thus, they MUST “INTERPRET” #4 as being any other Sabbath days other than the WEEKLY Sabbath days or they would have to repent and CEASE being a weekly Sabbath DAY keeper. Now, I already have an in-depth study on the SDA Christians “interpretation” of Colossians 2:13-17,20-22 called Dd-41. Is the WEEKLY SABBATH DAY A SHADOW? So I implore any and all seventh DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians to read that study. For you see even NON SDA Christians can learn for the ERRORS of “interpretation” made by the SDA Christians, including other seventh DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians who know full well that #4 is referring to the WEEKLY Sabbath days. So then, since other seventh day of the week Sabbath-keeping Christians know full well that #4 is indeed speaking of the WEEKLY Sabbath days, then WHY do they continue to keep the weekly Sabbath day Holy by RESTING for 24 hour from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday as described under the Law of Moses? Well, they “INTERPRET” Colossians 2:14-17 in different ways depending on which group of Sabbath DAY keeping Christians you are talking to. There are four main Sabbath DAY keeping “INTERPRETATION” which I will list below. Sabbath DAY “INTERPRETATION” #1. The Sabbath DAY keeping Christians in group number 1 are the SDA Christians who “interpret” the Sabbath days in Colossians 2:16 as being the YEARLY Sabbath days. And the REASON that they “interpret” the teachings of the Apostle Paul differently than NON Sabbath-keeping Christians is so that they can prove that they are right and all NON Sabbath-keeping Christians are WRONG. And thus, they JUDGE all NON Sabbath DAY keeping Christians as living in SIN by their claiming that we are disobeying the FOURTH commandment. Please read at least one of the following studies. But preferably, I highly implore you to read ALL five of these studies that focus on the question of why it SEEMS that non Sabbath DAY of the WEEK Christians are breaking the FOURTH commandment. Dd-8. Why do Christians NOT KEEP the SABBATH? Dd-9. Christians MUST Keep the TRUE Sabbath! Dd-10. Must we KEEP the FOURTH Commandment? Dd-11. Is KEEPING the TRUE Sabbath Mandatory? Dd-12. Why Only NINE of the TEN Commandments Sabbath DAY “INTERPRETATION” #2. The Christians in group number 2 are other seventh DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians who know full well that the Sabbath days in Colossians 2:16 are indeed speaking of the WEEKLY Sabbath days. And thus, they “interpret” the ORDINANCES that Jesus nailed to the cross in Colossians 2:14 as being our SINS written by God in a book that were against us. And the REASON that they “interpret” the teachings of the Apostle Paul differently than NON Sabbath-keeping Christians is so that they can prove that they are right and all NON Sabbath-keeping Christians are WRONG. And thus, they JUDGE all NON-keeping Christians as living in SIN by their claiming that we are disobeying the FOURTH commandment. Please read at least one of the following studies. But preferably, I highly implore you to read ALL five of these studies that focus on the question of why it SEEMS that non Sabbath DAY of the WEEK Christians are breaking the FOURTH commandment. Dd-8. Why do Christians NOT KEEP the SABBATH? Dd-9. Christians MUST Keep the TRUE Sabbath! Dd-10. Must we KEEP the FOURTH Commandment? Dd-11. Is KEEPING the TRUE Sabbath Mandatory? Dd-12. Why Only NINE of the TEN Commandments Sabbath DAY “INTERPRETATION” #3. The Christians in group number 3 are other seventh DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians who know full well that the Sabbath days in Colossians 2:16 are indeed speaking of the WEEKLY Sabbath days. And they ALSO know full well that the ORDINANCES that Jesus nailed to the cross were the ordinances written by the hand of Moses in the Law of Moses under the Old Covenant. And thus, they “interpret” the SHADOW in Colossians 2:17 as being FUTURE. In other words, they “INTERPRET” the phrase “Which are a shadow of things to come” to mean that Jesus has not yet FULFILLED the ordinances contained in the Law of Moses. And thus, they wrongly conclude that ALL of the Law of Moses is still binding on Christians under the New Covenant. And the REASON that they “interpret” the teachings of the Apostle Paul differently than NON Sabbath-keeping Christians is so that they can prove that they are right and all NON Sabbath-keeping Christians are WRONG. And thus, they JUDGE all NON-keeping Christians as living in SIN claiming that we are disobeying the FOURTH commandment. Please read at least one of the following studies. But preferably, I highly implore you to read ALL five of these studies that focus on the question of why it SEEMS that non Sabbath DAY of the WEEK Christians are breaking the FOURTH commandment. Dd-8. Why do Christians NOT KEEP the SABBATH? Dd-9. Christians MUST Keep the TRUE Sabbath! Dd-10. Must we KEEP the FOURTH Commandment? Dd-11. Is KEEPING the TRUE Sabbath Mandatory? Dd-12. Why Only NINE of the TEN Commandments Sabbath DAY “INTERPRETATION” #4. The Christians in group number 3 are other seventh DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians who know full well that the Sabbath days in Colossians 2:16 are indeed speaking of the WEEKLY Sabbath days. And they ALSO know full well that the ORDINANCES that Jesus nailed to the cross were the ordinances written by the hand of Moses in the Law of Moses under the Old Covenant. And thus, they “interpret” that Paul is ACTUALLY teaching us to not all NON Sabbath DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians to JUDGE them for KEEPING the weekly Sabbath DAY Holy as God clearly teaches in the Old Testament. And the REASON that they “interpret” the teachings of the Apostle Paul differently than NON Sabbath-keeping Christians is so that they can prove that they are right and all NON Sabbath-keeping Christians are WRONG. And thus, they JUDGE all NON-keeping Christians as living in SIN by their claiming that we are disobeying the FOURTH commandment. Please read at least one of the following studies. But preferably, I highly implore you to read ALL five of these studies that focus on the question of why it SEEMS that non Sabbath DAY of the WEEK Christians are breaking the FOURTH commandment. Dd-8. Why do Christians NOT KEEP the SABBATH? Dd-9. Christians MUST Keep the TRUE Sabbath! Dd-10. Must we KEEP the FOURTH Commandment? Dd-11. Is KEEPING the TRUE Sabbath Mandatory? Dd-12. Why Only NINE of the TEN Commandments Sabbath DAY “INTERPRETATION” #5. The Christians in group number 5 are other seventh DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians who know full well that the Sabbath days in Colossians 2:16 are indeed speaking of the WEEKLY Sabbath days. And they ALSO know full well that the ORDINANCES that Jesus nailed to the cross were the ordinances written by the hand of Moses in the Law of Moses under the Old Covenant. And thus, they “interpret” that Paul is a FALSE teacher and a FALSE self appointed Apostle. And thus, they WRONGLY conclude that the ONLY words that can be trusted in the New Testament are the word of Jesus ONLY that are found in the four gospels and in the Book of Revelation. Therefore, they conclude that the weekly Sabbath DAY must be kept Holy as God clearly teaches in the Old Testament. And the REASON that they “interpret” the teachings of the Apostle Paul differently than NON Sabbath-keeping Christians is so that they can prove that they are right and all NON Sabbath-keeping Christians are WRONG. And thus, they JUDGE all NON-keeping Christians as living in SIN by their claiming that we are disobeying the FOURTH commandment. Please read at least one of the following studies. But preferably, I highly implore you to read ALL five of these studies that focus on the question of why it SEEMS that non Sabbath DAY of the WEEK Christians are breaking the FOURTH commandment. Dd-8. Why do Christians NOT KEEP the SABBATH? Dd-9. Christians MUST Keep the TRUE Sabbath! Dd-10. Must we KEEP the FOURTH Commandment? Dd-11. Is KEEPING the TRUE Sabbath Mandatory? Dd-12. Why Only NINE of the TEN Commandments But for now, let us take a look at HOW the dietary laws written in the Law of Moses contained in ORDINANCES are a SHADOW that point to Jesus as being the Messiah. I mean “how” does eating and drinking PICTURE Jesus? Well, when when take a closer look at the VISION that God gave to the Apostle Peter in Acts chapter 10, then we understand that the UNCLEAN meats under the Old Covenant written in ordinances in the Old Testament REPRESENT the UNCLEAN Gentiles that God CLEANSED through the sacrifice Jeus made on the cross. You can read Acts 10:1-48 on your own to see for yourself that the UNCLEAN meat REPRESENTS the UNCLEAN Gentiles. So then, the dietary law written in ORDINANCES in the Law of Moses are a SHADOW of Jesus being the Messiah to ALSO save the GENTILES. In other words, the SHADOW is a SCHOOLMASTER teaching us that things contained in the law of commandments were written to lead us to Jesus as being the REASON for WHY those ORDINANCES in the law were given in the first place. And that is why the Apostle Paul teaches us in Galatians 3:21-26 that we who BELIEVE in Jesus to be under God’s NEW Covenant are no longer UNDER the SCHOOLMASTER which is the LAW of commandments contained in ORDINANCES. Please read Galatians 3:21-26. “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given, which could have given LIFE, verily RIGHTEOUSNESS should have been by the law. 22. But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the PROMISE by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23. But BEFORE faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be REVEALED. 24. Wherefore, the law was our SCHOOLMASTER to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by FAITH. 25. But after that FAITH has come, we are no longer UNDER a schoolmaster. 26. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Paul is talking to both the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. And Paul is focusing on the Judaizing Jewish Christians who are troubling other Jewish Christians and the Gentiles Christians by subverting them to KEEP the Law of Moses. So Paul is teaching all of the Seventh DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians that the LAW was just a SCHOOLMASTER to lead those UNDER the Law to Jesus so that they could be saved by FAITH in Jesus for RIGHTEOUSNESS. Paul said if the LAW was able to make the children of Israel RIGHTEOUS then they would not have needed Jesus and FAITH in God’s NEW Covenant to be saved and to receive eternal LIFE. But since the LAW could NOT give eternal LIFE to the children of Israel UNDER the LAW is the reason that God CONCLUDED all people to be under sin so that by FAITH in Jesus all who BELIEVE can be saved. Now, all NON Sabbath DAY of the WEEK keeping Christians clearly know and understand that Paul is teaching is that the LAW is a SCHOOLMASTER or a school teacher teaching us that Jesus is God’s salvation through FAITH in His Son Jesus. And once FAITH has come in a person to BELIEVE in Jesus to enter into God’s NEW Covenant then they are no longer under the LAW that led them to Jesus to be saved. This interpretation of Galatians 3:21-26 agrees perfectly with the CORRECT interpretation of Colossians 2:13-7,20-22, and Ephesians 2:8-15 which is that Jesus ABOLISHED the law of commandments CONTAINED in ORDINANCES. And therefore, it is actually a SIN to KEEP that which Jesus ABOLISHED and nailed to the cross. So, all seventh DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians who are trying to PLEASE God by keeping the OLDNESS of the LETTER of the fourth commandment to PLEASE God are actually DISPLEASING God and His Son Jesus. Please read the study Dd-5. What Does Contained in ORDINANCES Mean?, and the more in-depth study on Colossians 2:14-17 called Dd-3. What COLOSSIANS 2:14-17 TRULY MEAN? I could go on to explain all of the errors of “INTERPRETATION” made by all of the seventh DAY of the WEEK Sabbath-keeping Christians in this study, but I am trying to make my newer studies shorter by focusing on specific interpretation that cause DIVISIONS in the body of Jesus Christ. So if I did not explain enough in this study, then I implore you to read ALL of the studies under the heading >>>Dd-0. What is the TRUE Sabbath?<<< Thanks for reading and may God bless you richly as you continue to read ALL the studies that I gave links to throughout this study concerning this subject on Sabbath TRUTH. My heartfelt prayer is that all Christians RETURN to the TRUE FOUNDATION of the church that is taught by the very Apostles of Jesus in the first century. So let us all come into the UNITY of the faith and return to what Jesus and his Apostles taught us in SIMPLICITY in the New Testament.
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If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me. My contact email is MarkatAMatterOfTruth@Gmail .com. Some Sabbath-keeping Christians CLAIM that the early church kept the Sabbath as the Jews, but I assure you that the early first-century church was accustomed to gathering together BEFORE the light of daybreak on the FIRST day of the week that THEY called the Lord's day. Please read all the studies linked within this study and all the studies linked below. This study was just the TIP of the iceberg of exposing the ERRORS of interpretation made by the Saturday seventh day of the week Sabbath-keeping churches, and the Sunday first day of the week Sabbath-keeping Christians. All of the studies listed under the subject heading >>>Dd-0. What is the TRUE Sabbath?<<< And also read Dd-20. Did The Early Church KEEP the Sabbath day to learn the truth of what the early church believed. Thanks again for reading and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the truth of the whole word of Almighty God.
Your Brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, Brother Mark.
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