Under grace, the believer’s life is not about keeping the law. Instead, for members of the Church, the Body of Christ, life is lived in a personal relationship with our living Head, Jesus Christ, and in the freedom we have in Him.

Chasing Shadows

“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 of things to come…” (Col. 2:16-17a).

“Therefore” introduces a conclusion that stems from the context of believers being “complete in Him” (v. 10), and Christ “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross” (v. 14).

In light of these truths, Paul teaches the church under grace to “Let no man therefore judge you.” Since the Colossians were complete in Christ and free from the law, they were to let no one sit in judgment of them for living by grace and in their freedom from the law. They were not to allow anyone to have power over them concerning keeping the law, nor permit such mistaken opinions and beliefs to influence their conduct.

Paul was reminding the church that we are not responsible to man for our conduct but to the Lord. No person has a right to impose the law on us as a burden when Christ has made us free from it. Our salvation is all Christ by grace, and so is our spiritual growth and walk. Our salvation, spiritual growth, and walk are not by Christ and the law, but in Christ alone by grace.

When Paul told the Colossians not to let any person judge them “in meat, or in drink,” he was referring to the prohibitions concerning food and drink within the dietary regulations of the law of Moses. Under Jewish law, God declared certain foods to be clean or unclean (Lev. 11:1-47).

Under grace, however, there are no such prohibitions on food. We are free from the law’s restrictions concerning food. God has cleansed all food today (Acts 10:9-16), and the dietary regulations of the law are no longer in force under grace. We should “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink” today, because “every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused” (1 Tim. 4:4).

Paul continued, “Let no man therefore judge you…in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” Here Paul refers to the annual, monthly, and weekly observances and celebrations commanded under the law.

“An holyday” refers to the festivals of Israel, one of the seven annual feasts of the Lord under the law (Lev. 23:1-44): the Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks or WaveOffering (Pentecost), Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Tabernacles (Sukkot). These feasts are still observed by those who practice Judaism today, and the days are noted on some calendars.

“The new moon” refers to the observances and sacrifices on the first day of each month in accordance with the law (Num. 28:11-14). “The sabbath days” refers to the weekly observance of the seventh day, in which they refrained from all work (Ex. 20:8-11), plus the special sabbath days associated with the feast celebrations.

Christ has blotted out all these observances that were once mandatory under the law and has taken them out of the way. It is unnecessary and even wrong for us to observe these things under grace.

These things of the law “are a shadow of things to come” (Col. 2:17), and, as the writer of Hebrews notes, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things” (Heb. 10:1). A shadow is not the real thing and has no substance. It is an image cast by a real object of the same form. The reality is what makes the shadow.

David Dykes told the following:

“When I was growing up in L.A. (Lower Alabama), we usually had four or five dogs and cats to claim as our pets. By virtue of being the oldest child, my older sister, Judy, demanded the right to name all our pets…We had a dog that was part German Shepherd which Judy named Rex. While Rex was a ferocious looking dog, he was a big chicken at heart. He was scared of everything. None of our pets ever came inside; they were ‘yard pets.’ But once when it thundered, Rex was so frightened he broke through the screen door and came in and hid under the table!

“His bark wasn’t worse than his bite, because he seldom barked…and he never bit. However, there was one thing that could make Rex bark. Sometimes when a bird or a flock of birds flew over on a sunny day, Rex often chased their shadows on the ground. I can recall watching as one bird flew around in a circle with Rex chasing the circling shadow on the ground, barking the whole time. Poor Rex—he never figured out the shadow wasn’t real.

“Sadly, there are many wellmeaning Christians who are doing the same thing. They are chasing shadows.”¹

Paul didn’t want the Colossian believers chasing the shadows of the law or to be influenced to prefer Jewish observances over Christ. For both the believing and the unbelieving, it is a tragedy to substitute the shadows of ritual and religion for Christ while missing Christ Himself. Paul did not want believers, under grace, complete in Christ, and delivered from the law, to be influenced to live by the past observances and ordinances of the law. These things were merely “a shadow of things to come,” when we have the reality.

“…but the body is of Christ” (Col. 2:17b).

Christ is the “body” (Col. 2:17) or the substance of the shadow; He is the reality casting the shadow. Christ is the One to Whom the shadows pointed. The shadow of the law and its ceremonies prophesied, by way of type, many things about Christ’s person and work before His first coming, and He fulfilled those things perfectly as the body, substance, and reality of the shadow.

Having Christ, our walk under grace is not in keeping the external rules of the law, which were a shadow of Christ, but having an inner relationship with Christ Himself by grace. That relationship is carried out in our freedom from the law, being guided and led by Christ’s grace instruction for the church, which is found in Paul’s epistles. The law has been taken out of the way, and Christ alone is sufficient for our Christian lives.

Hold Your Head Up!

“Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
“And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God” (Col. 2:18-19).

The first problem Paul dealt with was preferring the shadow of the law over the reality of Christ. The second problem was preferring inferior beings over the Head.

In Colosse, men who had a “voluntary humility” were leading believers astray and away from Christ. Voluntary humility refers to humility in an ironic sense—an artificial, selfimposed form of modesty. Their false humility was expressed in the “worshipping of angels.” In other words, in their feigning humility, believing themselves unworthy to appeal directly to God, they were instead worshipping angels and appealing to God through them.

In their attempts to establish support and authority for themselves, it seems clear that these men claimed to have seen visions of angels or from angels. However, Paul set the record straight by writing that they were “intruding into those things which he hath not seen” (Col. 2:18), meaning that they had not really seen anything. Like they faked their humility, they had fabricated the accounts of their visions. And while they made a show of humility, Paul says, they were actually “vainly puffed up” by their fleshly minds, engaging in self-aggrandizement.

In their pride and false teaching concerning the worship of angels, these false teachers were “not holding the Head” (v. 19). Christ is the Creator and Lord over all angelic ranks and orders (1:16-18). He “is the Head of all principality and power” (2:10).

Christ is supremely worthy of our worship, not angels.

Previously in this epistle, Paul wrote, “And He is the Head of the body, the church” (1:18). To worship angels is to misunderstand the Headship of Christ over the church. We must not substitute anything for Him. As our Head, Christ is Lord over the church. He alone is the One we worship, serve, and hold fast to in the Body of Christ. He is held in His rightful place when He is held supremely above all. We are in our rightful place when our relationship is directly with Him.

We cannot live the Christian life without the Head. If we do not hold fast or cling to the Lord in our personal relationship with Him, we will lack what Christ supplies in our Christian lives. But as we do hold fast to Christ, we cling to the One, “In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3), the One in Whom “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (2:9).

Paul tells us the Head is that “from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God” (2:19).

God the Son supplies His Body, the church, with spiritual nourishment, life, and strength. He knits together and nourishes the bonds between members of the whole Body. Paul’s mention of “the joints and bands [ligaments]” demonstrates the connection of the members of the Body to one another and how the members work and move together in coordination and depend on each other.

It is through Christ that the Body “increaseth with the increase of God.” Spiritual nourishment and growth come to the church, not from the law, but from our Head and our connection with Him. As we hold fast to Him, and the closer our walk and relationship is with Him by faith, the greater will be our increase and growth in becoming more like Him.

Elementary, My Dear Watson

“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
“(Touch not; taste not; handle not;
“Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
“Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh” (Col. 2:20-23).

“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world,” being “dead with Christ” refers to our spiritual baptism (Rom. 6:3-4) and that we were crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20), while “the rudiments of the world” refers to the law of Moses. In Galatians 4:3, Paul wrote, “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.” The word “elements” in Galatians and “rudiments” in Colossians 2:20 are translated from the same Greek word, and both usages refer to rule- and ceremony-based religion. The Mosaic law is definitely that and is rudimentary and elementary compared to living for Christ under grace.

The law governed Israel through a system of commandments, rules, rituals, observances, and requirements that she attempted to keep through her own efforts but continually failed to uphold. Under grace, our lives are governed by grace, faith in Christ, our freedom in Him, the internal strength of the Holy Spirit, and the written Word of God, rightly divided.

In Colossians 2:20, Paul reminds the church that, when we died with Christ, we died to the law (Rom. 7:4,6). We are free from the law, and that being so, Paul wondered, “why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances…?” To submit to the ordinances of the law does not sanctify our Christian lives under grace; Christ does that. We should not go back to the law when we are dead to it in Christ. Holding fast to Christ in our relationship with Him is how we increase and grow spiritually under grace.

Speaking of the ordinances, Paul wrote that these ordinances of the law say, “Touch not; taste not; handle not” (Col. 2:21). This sounds like a parent’s refrain with young children! Don’t touch that. Don’t put that in our mouth. Don’t handle that. “Do not, do not, do not” is the refrain of legalism.

It’s been said well that “The essence of legalism is trusting in the religious activity rather than trusting in God. It is putting our confidence in a practice rather than in a Person. And without fail, this will lead us to love the practice more than the Person.”² This is the true danger of legalism.

Some of the Colossian believers were following the law and applying its restrictions to what they should eat, touch, or handle. But Paul said that these things, under grace, “all are to perish with the using,” or they fail in their purpose, even as we try to comply with them. To deny ourselves things in accordance with the law does not restrain the flesh and does not have the value it might appear to have for one’s sanctification.

The Colossians were being persuaded to subject themselves to the ordinances of the law “after the commandments and doctrines of men.” Bad teaching was leading the Colossians astray, causing them to follow the law when they were under grace. To live by the law is to operate completely contrary to the grace of God that is the rule of life during the dispensation of grace.

There is a lot of bad teaching today that puts people under the law, but we need to take our stand on the fact that, having died with Christ, we are free from the law. And in our freedom from the law, we are to live by grace through faith in Christ.

Paul then gave a strong indictment against legalism in verse 23: “Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.”

As to one who tries to follow the law and practices rigid self-denial, Paul wrote, “Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom,” meaning that they have an outward appearance of wisdom and spirituality. But it is just the appearance of wisdom and not real wisdom. They do this through their “will worship.” Will worship is self-imposed, fleshly worship and the attempt to serve God through one’s own willpower in an attempt to keep the law. It is not worship of God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24), according to God’s truth for today.

In their “will worship” and in the “neglecting of the body,” they have “a shew of…humility.” People who deny themselves in this way give the appearance that they are humble and pious. They have a show of humility, but it is only a show. It is not genuine humility. It’s pride.

Lastly, Paul says that all of this is “not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh,” meaning that it has no value in truly controlling the flesh. Believers often try to be spiritual or to appear spiritual through outward things. The thought process is that the more they deny themselves, the more they impress God and other believers.

However, spiritual growth and maturity come through faith in Christ and living by grace in the power of the Spirit. As we keep our focus on the Lord and the grace of God, the ways of legalism fall away. Our freedom under grace today is about living in the glory and blessing of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

<sup>1. David Dykes, “When I Was Growing Up In L.A. (Lower Alabama) We…” Sermon Central, October 9, 2006, https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/29263/when-i-was-growing-up-in-l-a-loweralabama-we-by-david-dykes.
2. Jack Deer, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1993), p. 151. https://sermons.logos.com/</sup>

There’s an old saying that says that Christians should always get their theology from the Bible and not from Christian hymns. In our day and age, we need to add that it is likewise a bad idea to get your theology from Christian novels and films. I say this because most fictional works about the Tribulation portray Paul’s gospel as the salvation message that will go forth in that day, and his gospel of salvation by grace through faith apart from water baptism is not the message that God will want preached in the Tribulation.

If you are wondering how I can be so sure of this, it is because Peter reminded his readers that “baptism doth also now save us” (1 Pet. 3:21), and he was writing to Jews who would have entered the Tribulation had the dispensation of the mystery not interrupted God’s prophetic program for Israel. This is the reason grace believers often refer to Peter’s epistles as Tribulation epistles, along with the rest of the epistles from Hebrews through Jude. We believe and teach that Tribulation Jews will look to these epistles for information that is specific to them, the way members of the Body of Christ look to Paul’s epistles for information that is specific to us in the present dispensation of grace.

An Outline for the Ages

We see this reflected in the positioning that God has chosen to give the Hebrew epistles in the Bible. You see, the books of our New Testament do not appear in chronological order. That is, Matthew was not written first, then Mark, and so on.

These books, rather, appear in a logical order that reflects the flow of the ages. If this line of thinking is new to you, consider the following.

The Four Gospels come first in the New Testament because they chronicle our Lord’s announcement to the people of Israel that their kingdom was “at hand” (Matt. 4:17). The Book of Acts comes after the four gospels because it records Peter’s offer of that kingdom to the nation (Acts 3:19,20), and her rejection of that offer with the stoning of Stephen.

Acts then goes on to document the raising up of Paul, whom God used to introduce the mystery of the Body of Christ and the dispensation of grace. This is why the Book of Acts is followed in the Bible by Paul’s epistles. The Pauline epistles provide the specific information that members of Christ’s Body need to function in the dispensation of grace, so God made sure they appear in our Bibles right after the introduction of the age of grace in the Book of Acts.

But the Hebrew epistles come after Paul’s epistles because they are written to the people who will come after us, the Jews in the Tribulation period. We know that the Epistle of Hebrews was written to Hebrews, of course, and James says that he too was writing to Jews (James 1:1).¹ And we know that these Hebrew epistles were written to Jews with the Tribulation in mind because of the kinds of works that James says are required for salvation.

Tribulation Salvation

James told his readers that faith alone couldn’t “save” them (James 2:14), they had to demonstrate their faith by feeding the hungry and clothing the naked to be saved (James 2:14-17). That’s because when the beast issues his mark in the Tribulation, and people are unable to buy food or clothing without it (Rev. 13:17), many of God’s people will be hungry and naked. I believe God knew that when that day comes, people will be hesitant to share their provisions, so He made it part of the very plan of salvation that they must share their provisions to be saved.

This is how the Jews to whom James wrote demonstrated their faith back in his day (Acts 2:44,45; 4:32-37),² and it is what Jews will have to do again to be saved in the Tribulation.

Gentiles who want to be saved in that day will also have to bless God’s people in Israel with food and clothing (cf. Gen. 12:3), for the Lord made it clear that the determination of their eternal destiny will be based on whether or not they fed and clothed His brethren in Israel (Matt. 25:31-46).

So, it is clear that the Hebrew epistles were written with the Tribulation in mind. It is true, of course, that these epistles were primarily written to Jews who were alive at the time that those epistles were penned. But remember, those Jews would have entered the Tribulation had God not interrupted His prophetic program with the dispensation of the mystery. And so when Peter reminded his readers that “baptism doth also now save us,” it is clear that the Jews to whom he wrote those words were saved by the work of water baptism (cf. Mark 1:4; 16:16; Acts 2:38), and it is just as clear that baptism will again be required for salvation when God’s prophetic clock resumes ticking after the Rapture.

Preparations for the Priesthood

Once the Tribulation begins, God will again begin to prepare the people of Israel to be the “kingdom of priests” that He means for them to be in the kingdom of heaven on earth that will follow (Ex. 19:6). This is why Peter told his readers, “ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9). The Jews to whom he wrote were destined to be “kings and priests” (Rev. 1:6; 5:10) in the kingdom, and priests had to be baptized (Ex. 29:1-4). But when the people of Israel rejected their kingdom by rejecting their King and His prophet Stephen, God put the kingdom program “on hold,” so to speak, and ushered in the dispensation of the mystery.

But once the last trump sounds and the Rapture brings a close to the present divine interregnum, God will raise up a new generation of Jewish believers to be kings and priests in the kingdom. When that happens, they too will need to be baptized with water to initiate them into the priesthood in accordance with Exodus 29:1-4. And since God likes His priests to be saved, water baptism will also be required for salvation, just as it was in time past (Ezek. 36:25,26).

Grace believers are sometimes puzzled as to why God will revert to insisting on water baptism as a condition that must be met to be saved in the Tribulation. After all, as we have seen in our answers to previous questions, the cleansing of water baptism was just a symbol of the cleansing of men’s souls by the blood of Christ (cf. Rev. 1:5). And as we have also seen, now that members of the Body of Christ already have the cleansing that His blood affords us, we stand in no further need of the symbol of that cleansing in water baptism. So why will God again require the symbol of that cleansing in the Tribulation? Why will He demand the “shadow” of something of which we now have the substance (Col. 2:12-17) when the Tribulation begins to unfold?

Symbolism with Substance

The answer is that in our program the substance of Christ replaces the symbols of Him that were found in Israel’s religion, but in Israel’s program God always required the symbol with the substance.

For instance, believers in time past were saved by the blood that Christ shed “for the remission of sins that are past” (Rom. 3:25), but they still had to offer the symbol of that blood by sacrificing animals. Similarly, God required all male Hebrews to be circumcised to be saved, but this was only an outward symbol of the spiritual circumcision that God also required of them to be saved (Jer. 4:4). In other words, they had to have the substance of heart circumcision along with the symbol of physical circumcision. In the same way, Tribulation Jews will have the substance of the cleansing of the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7), but they will be required to be washed with the symbol of that cleansing in water baptism to be saved (1 Pet. 3:21), just as in time past.

Tribulation believers will, however, finally understand how water baptism saves. A fuller quotation of the verse we referenced earlier from Peter’s epistle reads,

“…baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 3:21).

In the Tribulation, they will understand that ultimately they are saved “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” just as His resurrection saves us (Rom. 4:25). Water baptism will just be “the answer of a good conscience toward God,” just as it was when Peter wrote those words to his Jewish readers.³ That is, if God says you have to be baptized to be saved, a good conscience answers by being baptized!

But the water of water baptism cannot wash away the filth of the sins committed by the flesh of men, as Peter is careful to explain. Baptism’s power to save will lie in what happens when God takes those who believe and are washed with water and washes them in the blood of Christ in response to their faith (Rev. 1:5).

The Obedience of Faith

This is always how water baptism saved. It is what the Bible calls being “obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). The “faith” that the priests in Acts 6:7 were obedient to was the faith that Peter had preached a few chapters earlier at Pentecost, that of “repent, and be baptized… for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). So when Acts 6:7 tells us that these priests were obedient to the faith, that means they repented and were baptized.

Whatever God says to do to be saved, in any dispensation, men must always respond by obeying His instruction by faith. In time past, the obedience of faith always involved works like bringing an animal sacrifice to be accepted by God (Gen. 4:7). When the New Testament dawned, water baptism was added to what was required for the obedience of faith. That’s because men were still under the law, “shut up unto the faith that should afterwards be revealed” to Paul (Gal. 3:23), the faith of salvation without works like water baptism.

Even at Pentecost, Peter called upon the “men of Judaea” and the “men of Israel” and “all the house of Israel” (Acts 2:14,22,36) to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins (v. 38). In other words, he called upon the one nation of Israel to be obedient to the faith. But in speaking of the obedience of faith in the present dispensation of grace, the Apostle Paul wrote,

“…we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name” (Rom. 1:5).

Had the people of Israel been obedient to the faith as a nation, the kingdom gospel could have gone out to all nations for the obedience of faith. Someday it will, as Tribulation Jews carry the kingdom gospel to “all the world” (Matt. 24:14), giving all nations the opportunity to be obedient to the faith of “Repent, and be baptized…for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). But during the present dispensation of grace, Paul was given “grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations.” And his gospel of salvation by grace through faith without water baptism (1 Cor. 1:17) is the gospel that is required to be believed for the obedience of faith today.

So today, the answer of a good conscience responds to God by choosing not to be baptized to be saved. But after the Rapture brings an end to Paul’s apostleship among the Gentiles, water baptism will again be required for the obedience of faith in the Tribulation.

The Assurance of Obedience

In submitting to water baptism, Tribulation believers will be able to have the same assurance of salvation that we have when we trust Christ without water baptism. We see this expressed in yet another Tribulation epistle, where the writer says to his Hebrew readers:

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22).

When a believer submitted to water baptism under God’s program for Israel, he could have “full assurance” that God would sprinkle his heart from an evil conscience in response to the faith he expressed in having his body washed with the pure water of baptism. This was the case in time past, as we see in Hebrews 10:22, and it will be the case again in the Tribulation, when the kingdom program resumes after the Rapture.

It has always been God’s desire in every dispensation that His people be able to rest in the assurance of sins forgiven, and He has always made this possible through the obedience of faith. Today, we can have “all riches of the full assurance of understanding” (Col. 2:2) by understanding that salvation in this dispensation is by grace through faith without works (Rom. 4:5; Eph. 2:8,9; Titus 3:5). In time past, however, performing works like water baptism and feeding and clothing God’s people brought this assurance (Heb. 10:22; 1 John 3:17-19). And so it will be again in the Tribulation.

Having said that, there have probably always been believers who struggled with their assurance even after performing the work that God required for salvation, just as there are believers today who struggle with their assurance at a time when salvation is by faith without works. But this doesn’t change the fact that God has always made it possible for believers in every dispensation to enjoy the assurance of eternal security that He longs for them to have.

If you are not sure of your eternal destiny, I would encourage you to immerse yourself in a study of the Scriptures. Since “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17), the “full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:22) in any dispensation can only come by hearing more of the Word of God, and allowing it to sink down into your soul.

<sup>1. Here it helps to remember that James, Peter, and John, the authors of most of the books that follow Paul’s epistles, gave Paul their word that they would confine their ministry to the circumcision (Gal. 2:9). They would have had to break their word to write epistles to Gentiles.
2. Ananias and Sapphira demonstrated their lack of saving faith when they refused to obey the Lord’s command to “sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor” (Luke 18:22) “to inherit eternal life” (v. 18).
3. We know that Peter wrote to Jews, for it would have made no sense for him to tell his readers to have their “conversation honest among the Gentiles,” if he were writing to Gentiles (1 Pet. 2:12).</sup>