Understanding Colossians 2
Colossians 2
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of MEN? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. [emphasis mine]
Those who rightly divide the Word, who submit to the plain truth of the Bible, know that Colossians was speaking of both pagan Gentile and strict Jewish criticism of the Church of God for keeping the biblical Sabbath and biblical festivals in spirit and in truth.
I encourage those who are interested in what the Bible really teaches, and who love the plain truth more than the idolatrous traditions of apostate Christians, to check out:
Colossians 2:16-17 by Larry J. Walker
Colossians 2:16-17: Are God's Laws Obsolete?
Colossians 2:16 Shows Gentile Christians Kept the Holy Days
Furthermore, it is making reference to the commandments and doctrines of MEN - not the dietary laws of God! How do so many manage to read right over that? They're wearing traditional blinders!
Unclean Christianity vs. Peter's Vision
Jesus Upheld the Biblical Dietary Laws
Is All Animal Flesh Good Food?