It’s about 60AD. 

The community is currently a melting pot of:

• Jews
• Jews who believe in Jesus 
• Proselytes (Gentiles who became legally Jewish)
• God-fearers (Gentiles)
• God-fearers who believe in Jesus

For the most part, it seems like “church” still happened at the synagogues, with everyone all together and house meetings on the side happening perhaps mostly among Believers (similar to how today’s Bible studies form). The surrounding culture is Roman — highly pagan and polytheistic. 

Throughout Paul’s letters and messages, he’s driving home “his gospel”: That Gentiles can be saved through their faith in Yeshua and don’t need to take on Jewish identity (formal conversion) to be part of the faith community. The Jews are worried that Gentile inclusion (coming from all their pagan traditions) will dilute the Jewish community and lead them away from their identity. There’s also a concern that they’re no longer special-special and set apart, but that’s less relevant to this discussion. 

Certainly their concerns had validity — Jesus Himself had said He came only for the Jews (Matthew 15:24). And Paul’s claiming to bring his own gospel was a red flag, as any “new gospel” should be.

However, Paul has prophecy to confirm his share of the message that God’s plan is for all nations to experience His redemption (Isaiah 66:23, Matthew 28:16, below). Peter, too backs him up at the Jerusalem Council: 

Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us, and He made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? [Meaning: keeping Torah doesn’t save you.] But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.

— Acts 15:6-11

Back to Colossae. We have some really strong cultic and ascetic practices exerting their influences on the church, as more and more Gentiles flood in, some simply adding Yahweh to their list of favored deities, others becoming legally Jewish to enjoy legal protections from Rome. Ascetism seemed to be a particular temptation for some of the Jewish religious community. 

Enter Colossians 2:16-23:

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism…”Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” [ascetic practices]…. according to human precepts and teachings? 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.

Colossians 2:16-23

If we ask “what’s going on here” of this passage, the OPPOSITE of the typical approach seems to be true: What we actually see here is Paul saying to the church “Celebrate! Rejoice! Gather! Ascetism will not bring you godliness! Enjoy what you have been given.” 

Feasts, festivals, Sabbaths, and new moons were far from being burdensome or pathetic practices — they were rich, God-given traditions that created opportunities to come together, bless God, and tell His story. While he calls them a “shadow,” we can think of that like a foretaste of the kingdom to come — the usage of “shadow” doesn’t mean that they’re not worthwhile. The sun may be a shadow of God’s glory until His light fills the earth in the coming kingdom, but we sure need it until then and can think about His coming glory when we’re soaking it in.

Consider also that there were only two calendars in play at that time and in that place: The Roman (pagan) calendar, and the Biblical calendar. Paul was in no way encouraging Believers to take on the pagan calendar and abandon the Biblical calendar. In fact, we can know that God still keeps His calendar by looking at prophecy:

From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.

Isaiah 66:23

Diverging a bit, like most of us probably, I’m a big fan of the Solas, though I strive and argue for a right understanding of each one… In terms of Sola Fide, yes, God saves us through our faith — however, somewhere along the way we ripped apart the word “faith” and divorced the concepts of “believe” and “obey,” somehow setting them at odds with each other. (Shema = to hear and to obey.) 

Has the Enemy hamstrung our discipleship and our witness in this? 

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:16-20

Here we have Jesus telling His disciples to go into all the nations (beyond Jewish boundaries) and to teach the Gentiles what they (as Jews) have been commanded. Now, Paul’s message is clear that that doesn’t mean Gentiles should take on Jewish identity, so we can maintain those distinctions. 

As far as commandments go, remembering the Sabbath is one of the written-in-stone commandments. Likewise, many of the feasts & festivals were also commanded to the Jewish people and those who joined in their midst. Each of them uniquely points to Jesus and anticipates the Kingdom to come.

We can pull in some prophecy again to confirm that the commandments and calendar of God still have value to God at the end of this age: 

Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.

— Isaiah 66:17

I don’t fully understand this verse or most prophecy, but clearly there are things that repulse God. This verse makes me tremble: 

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 5:18-19

What if people can’t see Jesus because we’re not following in His dust? What if the Jews don’t believe He’s their Messiah because we don’t look like any sort of disciple of Yeshua and we condemn the very things God commands? What if we’re not giving the world a picture of God’s holiness? 

If you love Me, obey My commands. 

— John 4:10