by David J. Stewart | March 2016
Colossians 2:14-17, “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. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 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; but the body is of Christ.”
The sinful world is woefully ignorant of
the holy Scriptures. It is very common for Hollywood, talk shows and
television shows to make light of the Holy Bible, pointing out alleged
inconsistencies in the Old Testament. They say such dumb things as, “If
homosexuality is an abomination punishable by death, then should we also
punish a person for lighting a fire on the Sabbath Day (Exodus 35:3)? Or,
“Is it OK today to sell a teenage daughter into slavery” (Exodus 21:7)? Or,
“Should we punish a person for wearing clothes made of different materials”
(Leviticus 19:19)? Without going into a ton of Scriptures, I'll give you the
simple Biblical answer.
There are three different types of laws God gave to man in the Bible:
(1) Moral Laws
(2) Ceremonial Laws
(3) Civil Laws
God's moral laws for man apply 24/7, every day of the year. Abortion is a violation of Exodus 20:12 not to kill the innocent. Abortion is murder!!! Homosexuality is a violation of God's law not to commit adultery, which includes all sexual immorality. Check the internet for statistics and you will discover that not a single homosexual has ever limited them self to only one sexual partner. In many cases, homosexuals have had sex with hundreds of partners, even thousands. Leviticus 18:22 forbids homosexuality. It is a matter of moral law.
In sharp contrast, God gave ceremonial laws only to the Jews, living only in the land of Palestine, only during the Old Testament. Our text Scripture passage from Colossians 2:14-17 teaches that all of the ceremonial laws were done away with when Christ died on the cross. The PURPOSE of the ceremonial laws were to teach spiritual truths to the Jews, a shadow of prophetic things to come:
Hebrews 10:1, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”
The is no Sabbath Day today, because it was a ceremonial law which pictured the coming Messiah, in Whom we completely rest for salvation (Hebrews 4:1-2, 10-11). Please notice again our text passage of Scripture:
Colossians 2:14-17, “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. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 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; but the body is of Christ.”
Notice again that the ceremonial laws were only a SHADOW of things to come, which have today come and gone.
And then thirdly, there are civil laws, which are a benchmark for all of humanity how to treat one another. If you borrow something and break it, you are expected to repay it. If you get into a fight with another man, and a pregnant woman gets hurt and loses her baby due to miscarriage, then those men shall pay with an eye-for-an-eye, and a tooth-for-a-tooth. If you have a roof where people walk, you are required by God to put up a railing to prevent others from falling and getting hurt or killed. Deuteronomy 22:8, “When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.” God is very ethical, doing the right thing always. God expects humans to treat one another with honesty, mercy and fairness. We will be judged according to how we judge others (Matthew 7:1-2).
So, even if you have a basic understanding of the Bible, it is plain to see that moral laws have NOTHING to do with ceremonial laws. In Deuteronomy 22:10 a Jew was prohibited to plow with different beasts. Deuteronomy 22:10, “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” To do so was a serious violation of God's law for the Jews! These laws have NOTHING to do with God's moral laws prohibiting homosexuality!!! It is woeful ignorance and/or willful negligence by the wicked world when they try to disregard moral laws on the basis of expired ceremonial laws. The average person is extremely naive of Biblical theology, yet the demonic newsmedia and Hollywood continually brainwash the public with homosexual propaganda, to further their ungodly agenda.
Of the Ten Commandments, nine are moral laws, but the Sabbath Day was ceremonial law. Colossians 2:14-17 plainly teaches that these ceremonial laws do not apply today, neither to Gentiles nor Jews. It's appalling that Biblically illiterate people, who know nothing about the truth of God's Word, speak boldly in their woeful ignorance against the moral laws of God!!!
