Col. 2:16-17
Here's a brief piece I wrote published in the Reformed Baptist Theological Review.
The OT clearly prophesies the abrogation and cessation of ancient Israel’s Sabbaths. It does so in Hos. 2:11, which says, “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her New Moons, her Sabbaths--all her appointed feasts.” We will make several observations that bear this out. First, Hosea’s prophecy is dealing with the days of the New Covenant. The phrase “in that day” (vv. 16, 18, 21) is used prophetically of New Covenant days in Is. 22:20. Revelation 3:7 quotes Is. 22:22 and applies it to Christ. The prophecy in Is. 22:20 mentions the Lord’s servant, who is Christ. Isaiah 22:20-22 says:
Then it shall be in that day, that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah; I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt; I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. (Is. 22:20-22)
Revelation 3:7, quoting Is. 22:22, says:
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, “These things says He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.” (Rev. 3:7)
The phrase, “in that day,” refers to the days of Christ–the days of the New Covenant. Paul references Hos. 1:10 and 2:23 in Rom. 9:25, applying them to Christians. “As He says also in Hosea: ‘I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved’” (Rom. 9:25). Peter references Hos. 1:9-10 and 2:23 in 1 Pet. 2:10 and applies them to Christians as well. He says, “who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Pet. 2:10). Hosea is clearly speaking of New Covenant days. According to the NT usage of Hosea, he is speaking of the time in redemptive history when God will bring Gentiles into a saving relationship with Jews. Much of the NT deals with this very issue.
Second, Hos. 2:11 clearly prophesies the abrogation of Old Covenant Israel’s Sabbaths, along with “all her appointed feasts.” Hosea uses a triad of terms (“feast days, New Moons, Sabbaths”) that is used many places in the OT (1 Chron. 23:31; 2 Chron. 2:4; 31:3; Neh. 10:33; and Is. 1:13-14). Clearly, he is speaking of the abrogation of Old Covenant ceremonial laws. When the Old Covenant goes, Israel’s feast days, New Moons, Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts go with it.
Third, the NT confirms this understanding of Hos. 2:11. It uses this triad of terms in Col. 2:16, which says, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths.” In the context, Paul is combating those who were attempting to impose Old Covenant ceremonial law on New Covenant Christians. So Col. 2:16 is clear NT language that sees Hosea’s prophecy as fulfilled. It is of interest to note that Paul uses the plural for Sabbath in Col. 2:16 (sabba,twn). It is not too hard to assume that Paul had the OT triad in mind and Hosea’s prophecy while penning these words. The NT announces the abrogation of the Old Covenant in many places. For instance, 2 Cor. 3:7-18; Gal. 3-4; Eph. 2:14-16; and Heb. 8-10 (cf. esp. 8:6-7, 13; 9:9-10, 15; 10:1, 15-18) are clear that the Old Covenant has been abrogated.
But now He [Christ] has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant [the New Covenant], which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant [the Old Covenant] had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. (Heb. 8:6-7)
In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Heb. 8:13)
It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience--concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. (Heb. 9:9-10)
And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Heb. 9:15)
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. (Heb. 10:1)
But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. (Heb. 10:15-18)
The Old Covenant and all its ceremonies are obsolete and have vanished away (Heb. 8:13). Taking these passages and Col. 2:16 together, they clearly teach that when the Old Covenant goes, the triad of Col. 2:16 goes as well.
>>>>>>>>>
Having said that, I also believe that the Old Testament prophesies the perpetuity and continuation of the Sabbath under the New Covenant. But that's beyond the scope of this thread.
