Grace Bible Church Gillette, Wyoming

1. The “rulers and authorities” is the same expression that Paul used in Col 1:16 to refer to the hierarchies in the angelic world, specifically fallen angels.

a. Christ created them before they fell (Col 1:16).

b. They are in subjection to Christ (Eph 1:21-22)

c. Here, in Col 2:15, we learn that Christ disarmed them, made a public display of them, and triumphed over them.

2. In the Gnostic viewpoint, aeons, angelic beings, and intermediaries can overturn the grand scheme of their Invisible god. But not so with our sovereign Christ. He created, ruled, and disarmed them.

3. Perhaps the Colossians were troubled with the whole idea of spiritual warfare in regard to false teaching. Perhaps they struggled with what appeared to be Satan’s victory over the Colossian church (Eph 6:12).

4. In either case, Paul encouraged them with the fact that Christ, “disarmed” (apekduomai - to strip off or render an enemy helpless) the enemy of its power (Heb 2:14; 1Jo 3:8).

5. Paul’s imagery of Christ is that of a heroic Roman General who publicly “shamed” (deigmatizō - expose, make an example of; as a warning make a (public) example of someone, publicly disgrace, Mat 1:19) his defeated enemies, parading through the streets of Rome. The moment of their public shamed was when Christ was displayed on the cross (Rom 3:25).

B. Triumphed over Angelic Authorities

1. In fact, through Christ’s death and resurrection, God “triumphed over” (thiambeuō - Roman triumphal procession, used for Roman festival to worship Bacchus, the Roman god of crops, wine, and fertility) these angelic rulers and authorities.

2. 1Pe 3:18-20 most likely refers to a context with such a victorious proclamation. Christ, sometime between His death and resurrection went to the odious fallen angels spoken of in Gen 6 and Jude 6 to proclaim (kêrrusō) their ultimate defeat. The cross reference of Col 2:15 is perhaps its strongest argument.

3. Between Christ’s death and resurrection, His living spirit went to the demon spirits bound in the abyss and proclaimed that, in spite of His death, He had triumphed over them (See note on Col. 2:14, 15). [The] “spirits in prison” … refer to fallen angels (demons), who were permanently bound because of heinous wickedness. The demons who are not so bound resist such a sentence (cf. Luke 8:31). In the end, they will all be sent to the eternal lake of fire (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10). (MSB).

II. DO NOT BE FALSELY JUDGED (Col 2:16)

A. Legalism Defined

1. Paul was in essence telling the Colossians that because they were complete in Christ, that is, were spiritually circumcised, spiritually baptized into Christ death and resurrection, made alive with Christ, forgiveness of sin and cancelation of the debt of sin, united in Christ who triumphed over all rulers and authorities (because of these things), they were not to allow anyone to judge them in matters of salvation and sanctification.

2. In other words, since they were complete in Christ and had true salvation, they were not to allow these false teachers to persuade them that they needed something more than Christ.

3. Some of the false teachers troubling the Colossians were legalistic. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11^th edition) defines legalism as strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code. The Oxford English Dictionary 1888 gives as its first definition a theological explanation. It states, [The term legalism is] applied reproachfully to the principles of those who are accused of adhering to the Law as opposed to the Gospel; i.e. the doctrine of justification by works.

4. Legalism is observing laws or regulations for salvation as opposed to faith alone in Christ alone.

a. Legalism undermines the gospel by insisting that we must add our obedience to Christ’s work in order to be justified (MacArthur, Biblical Doctrine).

5. Legalism can also be defined as observing laws or regulations for spirituality or sanctification.

B. Response of Colossians

1. Paul’s response to all this was that they were not to let anyone act as their judge (pres. imper. - krinō - lit. you must continually keep others from judging you).

2. This is specifically in regard to legalistic intimidation that attempts to pull someone away from grace either in salvation or sanctification. This is not a reference to obeying God’s Word, rather it is reference for following rules for the sake of salvation or to make one in a higher spiritual class.

C. Rituals Explained

1. Paul is specifically referring the Law’s requirements for “food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.” The believer has freedom in Christ, is no longer under the requirements of the Old Covenant, and is not to forsake grace and submit to the Law (Gal 5:1-4).

2. Food - Dietary regulations in the Law described clean and unclean foods (Lev 11:1-47; 20:25-26 cf. Rom 14:17; 1Ti 4:2-3).

3. Drink - It is doubtful that this is a reference to the drink offering. Instead it most likely was a prohibition against strong drink (Lev 10:9)

4. Festival - The Jews had annual celebrations, such as Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Lights (cf. Lev 23).

5. New moon - Sacrifices accompanied observances of the new moon, or first day of the month (Num 28:11ff).

6. Sabbath day - God, having created the Sabbath as the day of “rest,” also incorporated it into the Mosaic Law as a day of observance and worship (Exo 35:2-3).

a. Believers are not required to worship on the Sabbath day because they are not under the Old Covenant of the Law (Heb 8:6-7; Rom 7:4; Col 2:14).

b. NT believers worship on the first day of the week (Sunday) because:

1) No command to worship on Sabbath in NT.

2) No compulsion on Gentiles by apostles to observe the Sabbath (Act 15).

3) Paul warned Gentiles of worshipping on Sabbath (Gal 4:10-11; Col 2:16).

4) Christ rose on that day (Luk 24:1; Joh 20:1).

5) The church met on that day (Act 20:7; 1Co 16:1-2).

III. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE THE SHADOW FOR THE SUBSTANCE (Col 2:17)

A. Shadow of the OT

1. Paul explains the believer’s viewpoint toward the things under the Law. They are mere shadows.

2. “Shadow” is the Greek word skia and literally means shade (Mar 4:32) or a reflected image (Act 5:15). Skia also becomes the antithesis of a spiritual realities (Heb 8:5).

3. Skia also refers to the prophetic foreshadowing of what is to come. I believe Paul’s idea was “Who” was to come, Who had already come, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ.

B. Substance in Christ

1. Paul spells it out that the “substance” (sōma - body, total body, body of reality) or reality of those shadows is Christ Himself.

2. The writer of Hebrews alludes to Christ (Heb 10:1) but Paul definitely spells it out. The OT was only a shadow of the things to come but Christ is the reality. Christ was concealed in the OT but revealed in the NT. Paul teaches of the superiority of the person and work of Christ.

3. The OT pictures Christ in all its various aspects:

a. In regard to the food that is ceremonially clean, Christ is the bread of life (Joh 6:51).

b. As for as the drink in the OT, Christ is the living water (Joh 7:37-38).

c. As for the Feasts and the meaning and the offerings Christ fulfills every one of them (1Co 5:7; 1Pe 1:18-19).

d. Christ is the believer’s sabbath rest for in Him we rest from all of our works and rely upon Him alone for salvation (Mat 11:28-29; Heb 4:9-11).

IV. OBSERVATIONS AND APPLICATIONS

A. Do not fear spiritual warfare.

B. Do not allow false teacher to intimidate you

C. Do not substitute the shadow for the substance.

Grace Bible Church · 4000 E. Collins Rd · PO Box #3762 · Gillette, WY · (307) 686-1516