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COLOSSIANS 2:16
Let no man therefore judge (condemn) 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 of things to come.
What does Paul
mean by this statement?
Paul as an apostle to the gentiles Rom 11:13 was writing to the Colossians. These
people were gentiles (non Jews) who had never kept the biblical sabbath, or holydays or biblical standards of diet.
If these things were no longer binding, then why criticize them, for not doing what they had never done anyway, since
they had never observed these things? The truth is, that they were now doing these new things which they had never done
before and were encountering persecution from friends, family and neighbours, because they were now observing new things that
they had never observed before Heb 10:33. Almost everyone who has been converted from general society has encountered
such persecution. Paul was writing to encourage them not to allow others to condemn them for now starting to keep God's
commandments.
These things are shadows of things to come, they are prophetic and reveal many things about God's
plan which cannot be understood by those who do not observe them properly. They are also, or will be when fulfilled,
memorials of things fulfilled. Memorials of the mighty deeds that God has done for us.
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