Here is a study on this from one of my old teachers, Frank Holbrook...
"....Colossians 2:14-17 the apostle Pauls only direct reference to the seventh day Sabbath has long been used as evidence that Paul abolished the observance of the biblical Sabbath. In view of the nature of the fourth precept of the Decalogue and the weight of evidence drawn from the entire Bible, Seventh-day Adventists reject this position. In recent years, however, some ministers who have left the Adventist ranks for various reasons now argue that the Sabbath command functioned as a ceremonial type to foreshadow the spiritual rest we may now have in Jesus Christ. Consequently, the observance of the Sabbath is no longer obligatory. The textual support for their argument is essentially Col 2:14-17 and Heb 4:1-11.
Moses deposited the tablets of the Ten Commandments in a golden ark that stood in the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary (Exod 40:20). Israel regarded the ark with the Ten Commandments, its mercy seat lid, and attached cherubim as a symbol of Gods heavenly throne (cf. 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; Ps 80:1; 99:1). From this perspective it is easy to see why the ark with its contents of the moral law was the hub to the wheel of Israels ritual services. The Decalogue (including the Sabbath precept) served as the foundation of the Creators throne, defining His will and His standard of righteousness. On the other hand, the gospel rituals taught Israel the divine way to find forgiveness and pardon when they realized their sinfulness and transgression against Gods will. In this manner the moral law, that is, the Decalogue and the gospel rituals, were joined together into one plan of salvation.
When the typical rituals of the gospel came to their end as type met antitype, the Ten Commandments, the foundation of Gods rule and an expression of His character naturally continued to function. Gods will for mankind doesnt change. This fact can be seen in the central vision of the book of Revelation (Rev 11:19, 14:20). The scene is introduced in this manner: ‘Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.’ (Rev 11:19). This heavenly scene indicates that the final events will focus on Gods fulfillment of His covenant with His people and their fulfillment of the covenant they swore in return, represented by the Ten Commandments (the contents of the ark), and that the following references in the scene to Gods commandments are dealing with the Ten Commandments (Rev 12:17; 14:7; 14:12) and thus include the Sabbath precept.
It is only natural that with the coalescing of the Ten Commandments with the ritual portrayals of the gospel into one system, that the Sabbath would take on some aspects of the rituals. For example, in addition to the daily morning and evening sacrifices, the priests offered two extra lambs (Num 28:9). Probably because the Sabbath became a day of assembly and worship, it was sometimes listed with the ritual days of assembly. The arrangement of the Israelite sanctuary that combined the moral law of the Ten Commandments with the rituals into one system did not thereby turn these precepts into temporary rites, nor did the obligation to obey the Ten Commandments cease when the system ceased. The system illustrated the great themes of the Godheads plan of salvation and offered spiritual rest experientially right then in OT times. Nevertheless, it is important to note that both the moral law and the ritual rites also had a forward-looking perspective. The moral law convicted the sinner, while the gospel rituals, faithfully entered into, assured him of forgiveness. This faith stood in the place of faith in the coming Redeemer typologically represented in the rites, ‘for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.’ (Heb. 10:4).
According to the apostle Paul, ‘the law’ (the whole Jewish system) had a definite historical purpose. It functioned as a ‘tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith’ (Gal 3:24). Naturally, this historical function ceased with the advent of Christ the Antitype of the gospel rituals. The temple and rituals fell away as Christs atoning death and subsequent priesthood in the heavenly sanctuary took their places (Heb 8:1, 2). But the Ten Commandments never ceased to be the foundation of Gods rule and authority in the earth, expressing His will and being a transcript of His character.
The Sabbath and the Colossian Heresy:
The apostle Pauls letter to the Colossians (written during his first imprisonment in Rome) did not address the more common problem of grace versus works that troubled the churches of Galatia and Rome. The apostle himself had not worked in the area of Colossae. Apparently, Epaphras, one of the apostles helpers, had been instrumental in developing a group of believers in this location (1:7; 4:12, 13). He had now come to Rome to request Pauls help in dealing with a heresy troubling his church.
The ‘Colossian Heresy’ has been described as ‘an early and simple form of Gnosticism.’ The expression (derived from the Greek word for ‘knowledge,’gnosis) alludes to an erroneous system of belief that early invaded the Christian church. Salvation could be obtained only through a mystical knowledge of certain secret beliefs. Up until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi or Chenoboskion ‘library’ of Gnostic writings in Egypt (1945), most of the information about these beliefs came from the writings of the post-apostolic church fathers. It is now known that many systems or sects of Gnostic thought functioned in the second and third centuries. All were syncretistic in nature, combinations of ideas drawn from many different sources, such as Greek, Jewish, Parsic, philosophies, religions, theosophies, mysteries, etc.
Gnostic speculations about origins concluded that all matter was evil; hence, gnosticism perverted even the elements of Christianity it adopted. Christ is not the Savior who saves His people from their sins, and who gives them unceasingly, through union with Himself, deliverance from the power of sin. He is only one of the aeons [semi-divine beings mediating between God and man], though the highest of them [some said the lowest]. He is an originated being, not God. Thus Gnosticism has no place either for the creation of the universe by God, or for the incarnation and work of Christ. Once the essential evil of matter is granted, the possibility of Christs having assumed a true human nature is excluded, simply for the reason that the world and human nature are originally and necessarily evil. Thus, as already seen, a form of Docetism is being espoused.
With our present understanding of its nature, we can see the beginnings of this strange perversion growing in the apostolic age. For example, near the close of his life, the apostle Paul warned his successor, “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and vain babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge [gnosis] by professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith" (1 Tim 6:20, 21).
A few years later the apostle John warned the churches not to receive the Gnostic doctrine of docetism. ‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits. . . . Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God’; (1 John 4:1Ð3; cf. 2 John 7).
A third, more detailed reference to this heresy is given in Colossians. It consisted of a Hellenistic ‘philosophy . . . according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ’ (2:8). This ‘philosophy’ involved a worship of angels and other astral powers (2:15, 18-19), although such worship was forbidden by the Scriptures (Exod 20:2; Matt 4:10; cf. Rev 22:8-9). In addition, it adopted a very strict code of asceticism (2:20-23). The severity of these practices reflected the beginnings of the notion that the material body was evil and needed to be mortified and punished. ‘These tendencies were identical with the more fully developed Gnosticism of later days.’
In Colossae, the false teachers also added to their mix the Israelite sanctuary system. The apostle mentions circumcision and ritual eating and drinking, summarizing the worship system in an admonition: ‘Therefore let none judge you in food or drink, or regarding a festival, or a new moon or sabbaths’ (vs. 16-17). ‘The Gnostics would take any doctrine that they found valuable, without any regard for its origin or for the context from which it was taken.’ In this case the typical shadow system of worship was out of date, ‘obsolete’ (Heb 8:13). The Saviour had already atoned for human sin and had ascended to heaven years before. When the apostle stated that the Israelite sanctuary system was ‘a shadow [skia] of things to come, but the substance [soma] is of Christ,’ he seems to be describing to these Gentile Christians Gods original intention for the sanctuary system, namely to prepare His people to recognize the function of the coming Saviour (cf. Heb 10:1). But their heresy misused the system and degraded the Christ.
This latter fact may be clearly inferred by the apostles strong polemic to uphold Christs supremacy, "that in all things He might have the preeminence" (1:18). Note the following passages:
‘He [the Father] has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins’ (1:13-14).
‘He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God. . . . For by Him [Christ] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist’ (1:15-17). ‘For in Him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power’ (2:9-10).
‘[H]olding fast to the Head from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase which is from God’ (2:19).
‘If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God’ (3:1).
By the light of this background we can see that Paul is referring to the misuse of the outdated sanctuary system. As we have noted earlier, the moral law of the Ten Commandments functioned as the driving force behind the gospel rituals. The precepts and principles of the Decalogue convicted sinners of their sins; the sacrificial rites showed them how to find forgiveness and change of heart through faith in God and helped them feel sure they had received it. Thus, the Decalogue specifying the moral precepts of God's will and the typical rituals demonstrating the plan of salvation in type were combined together in one sanctuary system.
The Sabbath precept always belonged to the Decalogue as its seal. It had an important place in a system of typological shadows, but it was not itself shadowy, but the thing itself. Always it drew the believer back to creation. After humanitys fall, it took on the nuance of a sign not only of faith in the Creator, but also as a sign of God as the believers Sanctifier or Saviour.
Because it became one of Israels special days for assembly, it was only natural that the Sabbath came to be listed with the ritual assemblies and to have extra offerings attached to its observance (see the list of nine OT passages cited above). We may infer from these listings that the expression (festival, new moon, sabbath, or the reverse) formed a common ‘shorthand’; to summarize Israels worship system. Thus, in a few words the apostle could refer to the Jewish cultus:
‘Let no one judge you in food or drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ’ (2:16, 17).
The apostle is not attempting to classify all elements of the sanctuary worship as shadows. The Ten Commandments were amoral code, the adaptation of Gods will for the moral guidance of the human family. It was never intended to be a code of temporary shadows. Pauls argument is that the sanctuary system, as a system, was ‘a shadow of things to come.’
Moreover, in the light of the growing heresy, we can see that in Col. 2:16-17 Paul is referring to the Gnostic misuse of the outdated sanctuary system. It is not the true use of the sanctuary, but the Gnostic misuse of it. It is not the true observance of the Sabbath, but the Gnostic misuse of it, that the true Christian need not be concerned about. Let no man judge you about not observing the Gnostic Sabbath. When the sanctuary shadow system ended and the gospel ritual types met their antitype in Christ, then the whole system ceased from its historic function. The moral Law of the Ten Commandments remained, however, to define the Creator's will in the New Covenant (cf. Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:8-12). Thus, the seventh-day Sabbath continues to be obligatory. For the Christian believer, as a spiritual Israelite (Gal 3:25-29; 6:15, 16), it too is a double sign of Gods creative power/authority and saving grace..."
http://www.atsjats.org/publication_file.php?pub_id=51&journal=1&type=pdf
