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 (Colossians 2:16-17)
Jesus Christ has disarmed the authority of the principalities and powers of the kingdom of darkness, who rule over fallen mankind. Jesus has spoiled principalities and powers and made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them when Jesus became the Substitute for fallen mankind and carried the sins of mankind upon Himself and became a curse at the cross, whereby Jesus entered Hades (hell) and rose as Victor from the dead and ascended on high and took place on the throne at the right hand of the Father.
The new man is justified in Jesus Christ and lives in the New Covenant
The sins, which separated man from God and reigns together with the death in the flesh, took Jesus upon Himself and carried in His flesh. The blood of Jesus Christ made atonement for the sins and iniquities of everyone, who by faith in Christ would be born again in Him and become a new creation.
The new man doesn’t live in the Old covenant, where the law of sin and death reigns in the flesh. But the new man, who has died to the flesh and whose spirit is raised from the dead, lives in the New Covenant, where the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus reigns
The new man is led by the Spirit instead of the flesh and doesn’t need all kinds of ordinances, sacrifices, rituals to satisfy the flesh and be justified and be saved.
The new man is justified by the blood of Jesus Christ and His redemptive work and not by the law. The flesh in which the law of sin and death reigns, has died in Christ.
As long as the new man stays in Christ, the new man remains saved (Read also: ‘Once saved always saved?’)
The law of Moses, the law of sin and death, whereby those, who belonged to God’s people (Israel), could be saved, no longer applies in the New Covenant, since the law of sin and death was meant for (the state of) the old man and his sinful flesh.
The only part of the law which still applies in the New Covenant is the will of God. The moral part of the law, what God considers good and what God considers evil, righteousness, and sin, which God has made known through His commandments shall always apply, since they already applied before the coming of the law of Moses. The law of God and righteousness and sin already existed before the law (Read also: ‘Did sin come by the law or did sin already exist before the law?‘)
But all the ordinances, holy days (feasts), sacrificial laws, food laws, drinking laws, rituals, etc. that were related to the flesh, for the satisfaction of the flesh, atonement, and salvation of the flesh, are no longer applicable, since the flesh has died in Christ.
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: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ (Colossians 2:16-17)
Paul warned the saints to stay in Christ and to let no man judge them in meat and in drink, or in respect of an holyday (feast), new moon, or the sabbath days, that were part of the Old Covenant and were meant for God’s carnal people, who belonged to the generation of the old creation, since they were just a shadow of things to come and pointed to Jesus Christ (a.o. Hebrew 8 and 10).
Paul wanted to prevent them from returning to the flesh and to the Old Covenant and becoming subject again to the rudiments of this world.
The old man was unspiritual and was separated from God and in his fallen state and with his fallen nature the old man needed precepts, sacrificial laws, food laws, feasts (holy days), and rituals to separate themselves from the world and walk holy and righteous in the will of God.
Because of the weakness of the flesh, which possesses a sinful nature, man was not able to fulfill the law of God, since the carnal mind is enmity against God because it’s not subject to God and His will. Therefore the flesh had to be dealt with. And God dealt with the flesh problem by sending His Son Jesus Christ in the flesh and by His redemptive work.
But the new man, who is no longer carnal but spiritual and has been made whole (healed) and has God’s nature and possesses the Holy Spirit, knows the will of God because it is written upon the heart of flesh of the new man. As long as the new man walks in Christ after the Spirit, the new man lives in the will of God.
The Body is of Christ
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:17-20)
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4)
Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law, since the law represented the nature and will of God. Therefore Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and those, who are born again in Him and belong to His Body, the Church, and Jesus Christ, the Messiah, High-Priest, and King, have been made free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and by walking after the Spirit, they shall fulfill the righteousness of the law, just like Jesus.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
