Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Colossians 2:16

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day:" — Colossians 2:16 (ASV)

The false teachers at Colosse laid down rigid restrictions with regard to eating and drinking and with regard to the observance of the religious calendar. “Therefore” shows that this and the following warnings grow out of what Paul says of Christ’s complete sufficiency in vv.10–15. He is particularly thinking of Christ’s removal of the law and his triumph over the forces of evil (vv.14–15). In light of what Christ did, the Colossians were to let no one “judge” their standing before God on the basis of their observance or nonobservance of the regulations of the Mosaic law. In such matters the principle of Christian liberty comes into play (cf. Galatians 5:1). The Christians at Colosse should assert their Christian liberty in the face of the errorists’ attempts to undermine it (though see also Ro 14:13– 21; 1 Corinthians 8:7–13).

“What you eat or drink” is probably a reference to the dietary rules in the Mosaic law about clean and unclean food, though it could also refer to the peculiar ascetic tendencies of the Colossian heresy that may have required abstinence from such things as meat and wine. The reference to “Sabbath day” points clearly to the Jewish calendar, for only Jews kept the Sabbath. That being the case, “religious festival” and “New Moon celebration” undoubtedly point to the ritual calendar of the Jews. Paul’s thought is that the Christian is freed from obligations of this kind (cf. v.14; Galatians 4:9–11; Galatians 5:1). No one, therefore, should be permitted to make such things a test of piety or fellowship (cf. Romans 14:1ff.).