Colossians 2:17

Colossians 2:17. Which are a shadow of the things to come. All the matters spoken of in Colossians 2:16 are referred to; the whole system of prohibitions and festivals has a typical significance, pointing to ‘the things to come,' namely, the new dispensation. Meyer limits this to the future kingdom of Christ after the Second Advent, but this deprives the next clause of its proper meaning.

The body is Christ's, belongs to Him; the reality of these observances is found in the new dispensation. In this substantial reality there is a place for the Lord's Day, which is ‘now to be a season of loftier joy, as it commemorates a more august event than either the creation of the universe, or the exodus from Egypt' (Eadie). On the thought in its details, comp. Hebrews 8:1-5; Hebrews 10:1-18.