Colossians 2:16
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: 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:
The verse speaks of the Jewish ceremonial system, with its requirements about meat and drink, holydays, new moons and sabbath days, its outward rites and ceremonial days, its circumcision, and its other restrictions and divinely appointed services. Those ceremonies were types and shadows and figures pointing forward to Christ the substance, especially through sacrificial offerings that prefigured the death of the Son of God and witnessed to His work and mission. At the death of Christ type met antitype, fulfilling what the sacrifices and ceremonies had foreshadowed. That system was therefore abolished, and its divinely appointed ceremonies and sacrifices became valueless and are no longer binding, and Christianity must not connect itself with them, so that the national peculiarities that kept the Jews distinct disappear among those who embrace the gospel. Gentile converts to Christ are therefore not required to accept circumcision and the Jewish restrictions, ceremonies and services in order to be saved, and must not be judged for not observing them.
The ending of the Jewish sacrificial laws at Christ's death must not be extended to the Ten Commandments, for His death did not abolish God's moral law, which remains binding. Paul himself continued to keep the Ten Commandments in letter and spirit, and the gospel gave the ancient rites new meaning by revealing what they had pointed to. The verse does not mean that Christ's death made the Sabbath null and void, for the Sabbath was not nailed to the cross. His death instead confirms that God's law is changeless, and the seventh-day Sabbath remains binding on the human family as long as heaven and earth remain.
The spiritual and eternal meaning of the ceremonies had been obscured by human theories, interpretations and inventions that perverted them, until ceremonial religion displaced true worship and obscured Christ. Clinging to the type while rejecting Christ as antitype and substance led into error and hindered sound understanding and practical godliness. Such outward performances cannot cleanse the heart or take the place of inward religion. The verse calls believers to true self-denying and self-sacrificing service that keeps individual holiness and consecration in view, so that through sanctification of the truth they abound in works of benevolence for the uplifting of others. The passage containing the verse sets the true moral standard of the gospel that must not be perverted, calling for knowing whether wheat or tares is being sown, learning sincere love for Christ and gratitude to Him who gave His life from a deep sense of ruin, refusing to harm the flock of God by precept or example, and living closely to the example of Christ in humility and humbleness of mind.