”La derfor ingen dømme dere for mat eller drikke eller med hensyn til høytider eller nymånedager eller sabbat! Dette er bare en skygge av det som skulle komme, men selve legemet hører Kristus til.” (Kolosserne 2:16-17)
Before examining what Paul meant when he mentioned the “sabbath” in verse 16, we want to establish first why this “can’t” be the seventh day Sabbath of the moral law of 10 Commandments that he is referring to here. There are two reasons why the mention of the “sabbath” in verse 16 is not a reference to the seventh day Sabbath of creation:
Reason 1: The context does not support it.
We saw how Paul is addressing the ceremonial law, and not the moral law of 10 Commandments. That there is a difference between these two was already seen in Hebrews 9:1 where Paul’s use of the words “had also” indicating that they were separate, and not the same.
Reason 2: The seventh day is not a shadow.
The following verse says that those ordinances mentioned in verse 16 are… “a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” –verse 17. Now a shadow points to something, whether forward or backwards. Which way did the seventh day Sabbath point? Take a look:
Exodus 20:11
(11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
The Sabbath points backwards, and not forward. It was set up in creation week as a memorial of creation, showing all living inhabitants of the earth that it was he who made all things and is the true God. It was not a shadow… “of things to come” as verse 17 says, but rather of things past… the creation. That the Seventh day of creation week is the same Sabbath day of the fourth commandment is made crystal clear in the article The Sabbath in Genesis, available at this website free for all seekers of truth.
Some have felt that the Sabbath was indeed instituted in creation week, but as a shadow pointing forward to redemption from sin. But this poses a problem with the worry-free state that Adam and Eve were in before they sinned. If this were true, that the Sabbath was a constant reminder to Adam and Eve that they were going to disobey their maker, violate his law and die the death, why then was he not justified in his rebellion? He could have easily pointed to God as the one who through the sign of the Sabbath put into his mind the fact that he was not going to actually live forever. Is it reasonable to believe that Adam in his joyous holy state knew, through the Sabbath institution, that he was one day going to violate God’s precept and die? God’s warning to Adam against the eating of the tree makes this theory an impossibility:
Genesis 2:16-17 (16) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Why would God tell him that “if” he ate of this tree he would die, yet then turn arou