The second chapter of Colossians teaches that the handwriting of ordinances has been blotted out and nailed to the cross. Many produce this scripture as proof that the ten commandments are abolished. We inquire, therefore, Is the handwriting of ordinances the ten commandments? Let the following facts answer:— 1. The handwriting of ordinances is here represented as having been blotted out by the shedding of Christ's blood. If this handwriting of ordinances is the ten commandments, it follows that the blood of Christ was shed to blot out the prohibition against other gods; the prohibition of graven images; the prohibition of blasphemy; the commandment to hallow the sanctified Rest-day of the Lord; the first commandment with promise; and the prohibitions of murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and covetousness! Would the infinite Law-giver give his own Son to die for such a purpose? 2. But to teach that Christ died to blot out the moral law, is to deny the plainest facts. Because that the law of God which was holy, just and good, condemned the whole human family, and showed that all mankind were sinners, and under its just sentence, God provided a method of redemption by which he could be just, and yet could justify him that believeth in Jesus. This did not consist in sending his Son to destroy the law of the Father; but it consisted in this, that the Son of God should take upon himself human nature, and offer up his own life a ransom for many; thus making the great propitiation through which guilty man may come to God and find pardon for the transgression of his holy law. Rom. 3:19–31; Matt. 20:28; 1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:10. Having done this he returned to his Father, and became a great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary before the ark containing his Father's law. Whoever, therefore, repents of his transgression, and comes to God through this "Advocate with the Father," may find pardon for all his sins. This view of man's redemption is based on the plainest facts of scripture, and presents the character of God in a light in which mercy and truth meet together, and righteousness and peace kiss each other. Ps. 85:10, 11. Well might Paul exclaim when presenting this great subject, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." 3. But what is it that is abolished in consequence of the handwriting of ordinances being nailed to the cross? We answer, Meats, drinks, feast-days, (for this is the literal rendering of the word,) new moons, and sabbaths, (plural.) Thus upon the very face of this text is found the most decisive evidence that Paul was not referring to the ten commandments. For it is absurd to believe that Paul should speak of the abolition of the ten commandments, and as the consequence of that abolition, should speak of certain unimportant things as having been done away, which, by the way, were never contained in the decalogue. It may be objected, that the decalogue contained the sabbaths (the word is plural) which are here abolished. We answer, Not so. The decalogue contained but one Sabbath of the Lord. But besides the Sabbath of the Lord, embodied in the fourth commandment, the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus presents four annual sabbaths, associated with the feasts and new moons of the typical system. The Sabbath of the Lord "was made for man," but these sabbaths connected with the new moons, &c., are said to be against him. Mark 2:27; Col. 2:14. It is not the Sabbath (singular) associated with the precepts of the moral law, that is here referred to, but the sabbaths (plural) associated with their feasts and new moons. Lev. 23:24, 32, 37–39. The one was made at creation, and the others in the wilderness of Sinai. 4. But while it is plainly stated in Col. 2, that the handwriting of ordinances, or shadow of good things to come, is abolished, it is elsewhere in the New Testament plainly stated that the royal law, embodying all the ten commandments, is yet in full force. No one can deny this who will carefully read James 2:8–12. And the fact is distinctly stated that the violation of one of the commandments makes the transgressor guilty of all. It follows, therefore, that the handwriting of ordinances, and the royal law of ten commandments, are two distinct codes. The reasons presented demonstrate the fact that the ten commandments are not referred to in Col. 2. But those who seize this scripture to prove the abolition of the decalogue, generally point with triumph to the expression, "holy day," which occurs in verse 16. "If the term, sabbath-days," say they, "refers to the ceremonial sabbaths [Lev. 23:24–39], the term, holy day, must certainly designate the Sabbath of the fourth commandment." The fact that some, who have the means of knowing better, have applied this expression to the Sabbath, renders it proper that this perversion should be exposed. The word translated "holy day" in this text is heorte. It occurs twenty-seven times in the Greek Testament. Twenty-six times it is rendered, in our common version, feast, and once, viz., Col. 2:16, it is rendered holy day. We present every text in which this word occurs, with the word which is its translation in italics. It will thus be seen how it is rendered in our version, every time. Those who will examine this list may satisfy themselves what kind of holy day Col. 2:16 refers to; viz., that it is a feast day. Matt. 26:5. they said, Not on the feast day,
27:15. at that feast the governor was
Mark 14:2. they said, Not on the feast day,
15:6. Now at that feast he released unto
Luke 2:41. at the feast of the passover.
42. after the custom of the feast,
22:1. the feast of unleavened bread
23:17. release one unto them at the feast.
John 2:23. at the passover in the feast day,
4:45. at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
5:1. there was a feast of the Jews:
6:4. a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
7:2. the Jews' feast of tabernacles was- Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast.
- went he also up unto the feast.
- Jews sought him at the feast,
- about the midst of the feast.
- that great day of the feast,
11:56. he will not come to the feast?
12:12. were come to the feast,
20. to worship at the feast:
13:1. before the feast of the passover,
29. need of against the feast;
Acts 18:21. by all means keep this feast
Col. 2:16. or in respect of an holy day, It is thus rendered by several Lexicons:
"Heorte, a feast or festival holiday." Liddell and Scott. Robinson's Lexicon gives the same.
"A solemn feast, public festival, holy day." Greenfield. The text in question is thus rendered in different versions:— "Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths."—Douay Bible. "Wherefore, let no one judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a festival, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths."—Macknight. "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect to a holy day, or the new moon, or the sabbaths."—Whiting. "Let none therefore judge you in meat, or drink, or in respect of a feast day, or of the new moon, or of sabbath days."—Wesley. "Let no one therefore call you to an account about meat and drink, or with respect to a festival, or a new moon, or sabbaths."—Wakefield. Note of A. Clarke on Col. 2:16.—"Let no man judge you, in meat, or in drink. The apostle speaks here in reference to some particulars of the handwriting of ordinances, which had been taken away, viz., the distinction of meats and drinks, what was clean, and what unclean, according to the law; and the necessity of observing certain holidays or festivals; such as the new moons and particular sabbaths, or those which should be observed with more than ordinary solemnity; all these had been taken out of the way, and nailed to the cross, and were no longer of moral obligation. There is no intimation here that the Sabbath was done away, or that its moral use was suspended, by the introduction of Christianity. I have shown elsewhere, that Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy, is a commandment of perpetual obligation, and can never be superseded but by the final termination of time." It is therefore manifest that the apostle used this word to designate the Jewish feasts—the abolition of which he here teaches. The sabbaths and the feast days of the Jewish ritual expired with that ritual; but the Sabbath of the Lord, hallowed before the fall, abides, with the other precepts of the moral law, throughout duration.
J. N. A.