Colossians 2 Confusion

[hikingchick77]

13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[b] God made you[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[d]


16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

The scripture above confuses me, and confuses me in the context of how the sermon I listened to on Sunday provided it. Well, does this mean that works are dead? Does this mean that we throw out the OT? The minister basically said only follow God's codes, and reject all the codes/rules/regulations of the world. In the next breath said that we should not say "I am not going to hang with my worldy friends, or smoke or drink", and basically saying it is ok because otherwise we are falling into the trap of legalism. However, isn't the love of food and drink (gluttony) sinful? Shouldn't we be taking care of our bodies? Also, what is wrong with trying to abstain and fast...isn't that evidence of faith?

So, I am confused with the sermon and the way it went, and I was wondering if anyone can shed some light for me based on the above three paragraphs...thanks!

 

[oldsage]

13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[b] God made you[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[d]


16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

The scripture above confuses me, and confuses me in the context of how the sermon I listened to on Sunday provided it. Well, does this mean that works are dead? Does this mean that we throw out the OT? The minister basically said only follow God's codes, and reject all the codes/rules/regulations of the world. In the next breath said that we should not say "I am not going to hang with my worldy friends, or smoke or drink", and basically saying it is ok because otherwise we are falling into the trap of legalism. However, isn't the love of food and drink (gluttony) sinful? Shouldn't we be taking care of our bodies? Also, what is wrong with trying to abstain and fast...isn't that evidence of faith?

So, I am confused with the sermon and the way it went, and I was wondering if anyone can shed some light for me based on the above three paragraphs...thanks!

What most preachers try to do is extrapolate a lesson from these passages and at times they really don't go together.

Now the problem at Colossae can be confusing if one doesn't know who is involved. The Colossians are Christians and are being influenced by what I think are Asthetic Christian Jews with a gnostic bent. They don't teach Christ alone for salvation but you have to go through "rituals" and prayers to certain angels and such. They hold up your sins against you to guilt you into doing things.

verses 13-15 is basically saying God took away your recorded of sin and blotted it out, He took it out of the way so no one can use it against you. God disarmed those who would use such things against you.

verse 16 is speaking about not letting them judge you in how you eat or drink or keep your religious days. Verse 17 I would not have the terms "were to come" but "are to come" because that is what the passage does say. Something yet to happen. The rest of the passage basically tells you not to follow those who appear godly but are not following the way of Christ, stay within the teachings of the church and let the church guide you. Keep in mind at the time of this writing there was no New Testament text, the gospels have yet to be written or at least complied, mostly you have James and Paul's writings and the Old Testament text, so the church was the guide at this time.

Chris

 

[Frogster]

I think it means that we have died to externals..that dont do much to give us new life.

Col 2:23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

 

[we are called]

You can't reject man's law. it says in Romans (Can't remember the chapter/verse right now) that you shall obey the law of the governers (or something close to that). something else to remember is that in the western world, most law is Biblicly based, and serves to protect us from each other (remember the Great Commandment: love God as he loves you, love each other as you love God), you won`t find a criminal law that doesn`t support that position.

 

[christandisrael]

No, your works are not dead. Look in James 2. It says that you cannot have works without faith. Also, the Old Testament is not dead. The Pentateuch was there to show them what sin is. Also, you can learn from the Israelites, so don't throw away the Old Testament, yet.