Colossians 2:16–17 is frequently cited out of context by those who do not keep God’s Sabbath and holy days in an effort to support their belief that they are “done away” or “nailed to the cross.” Regrettably, such reasoning is based on poor scholarship and misleading translations from the original wording of Paul’s instructions.

Paul wrote to the Christians in Colosse to counter a local Gnostic heresy (Colossians 2:8). These Colossian heretics introduced various man-made prohibitions—such as “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle” this or that (verse 21)—against the enjoyment of physical things. These outsiders were not keeping God’s commanded holy days and judged and ridiculed those who did! They especially objected to the pleasurable aspects of God’s festivals—the eating and drinking aspects—that are commanded in the Scriptures (Deuteronomy 12:17–18). These false ascetic teachers— those who taught that all worldly pleasures were evil—had influenced the congregation in Colosse, attempting to persuade them to direct their worship toward angels (Colossians 2:18), and neglect their own bodies (verse 23). No such distorted ideas are taught anywhere in the Scriptures! Paul was actually validating the importance of God’s holy days to Christians. He explains these things were still, at that time—after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ—foreshadows of “things to come” (verse 17).

Colossians 2:16–17 reads, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow [or foretype] of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” This passage is often misinterpreted. What does it really say?

Notice that the word “is” in verse 17 is in italics, meaning it was not in the original Greek, but was added later by the translators. (This is not discernable in the paraphrased NIV.) Without this added word, the verse reads correctly, “but the body of Christ.” In other words, don’t let any man judge or condemn you, but let the body of Christ—the church—determine it. These verses are not “doing away” with anything; THEY ARE CLEARLY SAYING THAT WE SHOULD NOT LET ANY MAN JUDGE US FOR KEEPING GOD’S SABBATHS AND HOLY DAYS!

Putting plain impossible-to-be-misunderstood scriptures first, Christ plainly said, “Think not [do not even entertain the thought!] that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil [fill to the full]. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17–18).

Quick! Look out your window! Have heaven and earth passed away? No? Then neither has God’s laws or holy days! That should settle the matter. In this vein, get your Bible and also look up Matthew 19:17; 24:35; Luke 16:17; 21:33; and Revelation 22:14; along with Romans 7:1, 7, 12, 14, 16, 22, 25.

With this in mind, Colossians 2:14 plainly states exactly what was “nailed to the cross.”

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it [the handwriting of ordinances] out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” The handwriting of ordinances simply refers to the debt, or record of our sins, each of us have incurred. Clearly, the context of Colossians 2 is referring to this record of our sins, not to the Ten Commandments.

Our individual, personal sins have separated us from God and demand the death penalty (compare Isaiah 59:2 with 1 John 3:4 and Romans 6:23). This certificate, or debt of sin, is what Paul said was “against us” and “contrary to us” (Colossians 2:14), because it—this debt of sin—would prevent us from being in God’s Kingdom. Compare Galatians 5:19–21with Revelation 21:8.

Anciently, a criminal’s list of crimes—or, in our case, the citation of our sins—was often nailed to the stake with the criminal to cite the violations he was being punished for (as was the sign placed over the head of Jesus when He was falsely accused of saying He was a king in place of Caesar—Matthew 27:37). Thus, all the believers’ sins were put to Christ’s account. He, being innocent of all sin, paid our debt for us—in our stead. Only two things were nailed to the cross: 1) the body of Christ, and 2) the record of our sins. No laws of any kind were nailed to the stake!

Paul’s whole point in Colossians 2 is that Christ’s sacrifice alone is all that is necessary. Nothing else—no work of man, no ritual, no angel, no pagan gods, no traditions, no principality—can save us. Christ is our Savior, and Christ in us through His Holy Spirit is our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Only Christ, with His sacrifice, is able to nail every person’s spiritual debts, or sins, to the stake.

Rather than “doing away” with God’s laws or holy days, Paul’s comments in this passage confirm the Colossian Christians were indeed OBSERVING the weekly Sabbath and holy days of God more than 30 years after Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection!

Had they not been observing these days, the heretics would have had no basis for their objections to the eating and drinking aspects—the feasting portion—of the Sabbath and the holy days.