There is really no other way to read it,is there?
Just correctly.
If we read it your way,then we are to presume one can worship angels.No getting around the context .
If you read verse 18 in context Paul identifies the judgmental and what they do. Simple stuff.
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels (the judgmental) disqualify you for the prize. Such a person (the judgmental) goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
What Was the Colossian Heresy? - Here a little, there a little - Commentary
In verse 16, Paul comes to the primary point he wants to make. He tells the Colossians
not to let anyone (including the Gnostics)
judge them in eating or drinking, or in the observance of festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths.
This passage is widely misunderstood because most scholars begin with the assumption that the Sabbath, new moons, and Holy Days mentioned in verse 16 are among the false teachings Paul is combating. They assume that the Gentile Colossians were not keeping these days, but the heretics (who are usually labeled "Jewish Gnostics") were trying to force them to observe them. Two points discredit this theory.
First, Paul calls the Gnostic teachings the "tradition of men" (Col. 2:8) and the "commandments and doctrines of men" (Col. 2:22). Regardless of how Paul felt about the observances he lists in verse 16, being a Pharisee trained in the Law (Acts 22:3; 23:6; 26:5; Phi. 3:4-6), he would
not have called them the "traditions of men." They are clearly defined in the
Torah (Exo. 16, 20; Lev. 23; Deu. 16) as
divine commands the Israelites were to obey.
Furthermore, it's clear that the heretics' teaching involved strict ascetic regulations (Col. 2:21-23). Yet asceticism is the
opposite of feasting. You don't promote asceticism by
encouraging the observance of feast days. Instead, you elevate asceticism by
criticizing the way someone is keeping a feast, or by
condemning the fact that they are celebrating a feast at all.
Because of an anti-Jewish bias which can be traced back to the early Catholic church, almost all scholars have misunderstood the meaning of Paul's statement in these verses. For the Gnostics to be judging the Colossians regarding the manner of observance of the Sabbath, new moons, and Holy Days, they obviously had to be
keeping them!
The phrase "in food or in drink" does not accurately convey the meaning of the original text. The Greek reads "
en brosei kai en posei" and refers to the
acts of eating and drinking. The strict Gnostics were substituting an ascetic philosophy (Col. 2:8, "human tradition") and "doctrines of demons" (see I Tim. 4:1-3) for the truth that had previously been taught to the Colossians. They were evidently quick to find fault with anyone who did not follow their teaching of denying oneself food and drink.
The text shows that the Gnostic teachers were also condemning the Colossian Christians for their observance of the Sabbath, new moons, and Holy Days. The Gnostics' reason for judging the Colossians in these matters goes hand in hand with their criticism of "eating and drinking." Jews in the 1st century (as well as early Christians) treated the Sabbath as a weekly feast day, and fasting was forbidden on the Sabbath. In his book
From Sabbath To Sunday, Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi writes:
. . . For the Jews the Sabbath was anything but a day of fast or of mourning. Even the strictest Jewish sects objected to fasting on the Sabbath . . . That the early Christians adopted this Jewish custom is implied, for instance, by Augustine's rhetorical remark, when referring to the Sabbath, he says: "Did not the tradition of the elders prohibit fasting on the one hand, and command rest on the other?" Further support can be seen in the opposition to the Sabbath fast by Christians in the East and in some important Western areas, such as Milan at the time of Ambrose (d. A.D. 397), and in certain churches and regions of North Africa. (pp. 187, 188)
Furthermore, during most of the annual festivals (with the exception of Atonement), God commanded his people to rejoice and enjoy food and strong drink (Deu. 14:23-26, Neh. 8:10,12). This most certainly would have conflicted with the Gnostics' ascetic outlook.
Because of the view that Paul was condemning the observance of the Sabbath, new moons, and Holy Days in verse 16, nearly all scholars have misunderstood verse 17. Most try to connect the first part of the verse ("which are a shadow of things to come") with the last part ("but the substance is of Christ") to form a complete thought. To accomplish this, they translate the last part of the verse
to ("the")
de ("but")
soma ("substance is," "substance belongs to," "reality is")
tou ("the")
Christou ("of Christ").
As you can see above, the phrase "substance is" comes from the single Greek word
soma. This word is used 74 times in the
Textus Receptus version of the New Testament; 72 times the
NKJV translates it as "body" and once it is represented as "bodies." Nowhere else is it rendered "substance is," "substance belongs to," or "reality is," as most modern versions of the Bible translate it in verse 17. In reality, these renderings of
soma are unjustified
interpretations, not translations.
The literal translation of the Greek in the last part of verse 17 is "but the body of Christ." In Greek, verses 16 and 17 say: "
Consequently, let no one judge you in eating or in drinking with respect to a festival or a new moon or sabbaths (which are a shadow of things to come) but the body of Christ."
The phrase "body of Christ" should not be confusing, for Paul uses it several other times in the letter to the Colossians (1:18; 1:24; 2:19; 3:15), as well as in some of his other epistles (Rom., I Cor., and Eph.). In these instances it is a figurative reference to the Church.
Therefore, the phrase "which are a shadow of things to come" was intended by Paul to be a parenthetical statement. It was added to give the Colossians additional insight into the festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths. However, it was not necessary to complete the thought. Even if Paul had left that phrase out, his admonition would have been understandable: "
Let no one judge you regarding eating and drinking (at these times) . . . but the body of Christ."
Paul is plainly saying here that the Church was to be the Colossians' only guide on eating and drinking, as these things related to Sabbath, new moon, and festival observances. They were not to let the Gnostics force ascetic practices on them, especially during these holy times (which are a shadow of the good things coming in the future - cf. Heb. 9:11, 10:1).
This grant of power to the Church is not unique in the writings of Paul.
While he clearly condemns Christians who judge one another in questionable matters (Rom. 14), Paul gave the Corinthian Church the power to judge and expel those brethren who were openly sinning (I Cor. 5, 6). When combined with the earlier admonitions to hold fast to the teachings they had received previously (Col. 1:23; 2:6, 7), verses 16 and 17 clearly show that Paul expected the Colossian Church as a whole to enforce the original
true teachings brought to them by Epaphras. Evidently those true teachings included the observance of the weekly and annual Sabbaths, new moons, and annual festivals.
One last point about verse 17; the word translated "are" is the Greek verb
esti. This verb is in the present tense; Paul is saying the annual Holy Days and the Sabbath
ARE currently shadows of things to come. Paul does
not say that they
were shadows that were fulfilled at the coming of Christ. From this we know that the events they foreshadow have not been completed yet; therefore, the shadows still have relevance. Instead of doing away with God's Sabbath and the Holy Days, this passage of Scripture, when understood correctly, affirms them and shows that the Colossian Church was actually keeping them.
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