Do Not Be Judged

 “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”

(Colossians 2:16-19 ESV)

If there’s one accusation that’s routinely lobbed against the church, it’s that we’re judgmental. And, while this accusation is sometimes false, while it’s often thrown out in response to our belief in the truth of God’s Word, it can also be very true. And it most often plays itself out among our fellow church members.

In fact, Christians can be more judgmental toward one another than we are toward anyone else. We judge one another’s faithfulness based not on clear matters of right and wrong. We do so based upon issues that aren’t even addressed in Scripture. And we judge one another based upon ideas that we read into Scripture. 

In the above passage, Paul tells the Colossians that they’re to let no one pass judgment on them in questions of food and drink, a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath. While it’s possible that some of these customs had Gentile roots, it seems that most of them flowed from the ceremonial law that was observed by the Jews. And this would be consistent with the struggle we observe in other New Testament churches as well.

The Jews observed laws that stated which foods were clean and which were not. In short, they were forbidden to eat certain things. They had various festivals that they were required to observe, in remembrance of God’s deliverance and provision. And they had all kinds of laws that defined what they could and couldn’t do on the Sabbath day.

However, the Colossians were to allow no one to judge them in such matters.  And they weren’t to do so because these were a shadow of the things to come. They weren’t to do so because the substance was found in Christ.

Paul was telling them that all of these ceremonial practices and principles merely pointed the people to Christ. They had revealed to the people, in Old Testament times, that the Christ was coming and what he was to accomplish. And, for this reason, they’d been fulfilled in Jesus.

In other words, they would not be saved by following them. They were not the means by which the people received God’s blessing. All of this was received only in Jesus.

Paul also said that they were to let no one disqualify them, insisting on asceticism, which is a strict self-denial, or the worship of angels. The source of this teaching was not Christ, but the prideful and sensual minds of those who brought it. And it couldn’t contribute in any way to their growth in Christ.

This tells us that, as believers, we’re not to allow others to judge us in these ways. Nor are we to let them lead us astray. We must not do so because it’s in Christ alone that we are saved.