Table of Contents >> Col. 2:16-17 - Let no one judge you.
While some translations have the word "but" in verse 17, the Greek δέ 1 should be translated "and" in this context:
Almost everyone agrees that Paul/Sha'ul was writing about the Biblical foods, festivals, new moons, and sabbaths. In saying that these foreshadow the Messiah, Paul was saying they teach and remind us something about Yeshua every time we participate. But here is a question we need to ask: was someone judging the Colossian believers because they weren't keeping them, or because they were?
Or perhaps because their observance wasn't done the "right" way, in someone else's eyes?
There are several clues in the text to help answer these questions. In verse 13 we read that prior to faith in Messiah the Colossians were dead in the uncircumcision of [their] flesh. So most of the believers in Colossae were from pagan rather than Jewish background. Their unbelieving family and friends still were pagans, who likely thought it strange (1 Pet. 4:4) that their loved ones no longer participated with them in the pagan rites of debauchery, and were criticizing them for it.
More clues can be found back in verse 8. Sha'ul/Paul warned the Colossian believers against philosophy, human traditions, and worldly principles. It's a list of the competing influences and idolatries in their society that were in opposition to the Word of God, e.g., Phrygian traditions, Greek philosophies, Gnosticism, Asceticism, the local mother goddess and moon god cults, and more.
In verse 11 the focus begins to shift from the criticisms and judgment by their pagan friends and family, to those by people who held Pharisaic doctrines (elsewhere called "Judaizers"). Whether believers in Yeshua or not, these held that a person must already be familiar with both the Torah of Moses and the Tradition of the Elders, take vows to observe both, and be physically circumcised, before it became safe and proper to have fellowship. They were scrupulous in their observance and required the same of others.
In verse 14 Yeshua "erased the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Some nonsensically claim this was the Torah and the Prophets, but in verse 22 they are called, "the commandments and doctrines of men" which is to say, not the commandments and doctrines of God. This writing by hands, rather than by the finger of God (Ex. 31:18, Deut. 9:10), is the set of extra-biblical requirements by which the religious leaders of Israel in that time placed themselves in the role of protectors and gatekeepers. Interaction between Jews and Gentiles was limited because of enmity (Eph. 2:15-16) and the concern that Jews might unwittingly be influenced to break an actual commandment of God. However, this also effectively delayed the Torah going forth from Zion (Isaiah 2:3, Micah 4:2).
Notice that Paul said the requirements were against us, not against just the Colossians or all Gentiles. Messiah's grace and truth reveal that any justification by rule-keeping is imaginary and futile. But along with wiping out that writing by human hands, faith in Yeshua also brings a circumcision,3 one not made by human hands (verse 11). Every person who truly experiences that circumcision will grow to love the word of God, will become curious and eager to learn His ways, and will find rest in humility at the privilege of being grafted, or re-grafted, in.
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1 Note that Sha'ul/Paul used δέ here (not ἀλλά, which is almost always an adversative). In the New Testament δέ appears more than 2,800 times, and is translated "and" approximately 42% of the time, depending on the critical source and translation.
2 The word "only" or "merely" does not appear in any Greek text, so it is omitted here.
3 Physical circumcision is a commandment of God, and this article in no way disparages it.