To what does the "shadow of things to come" (note the future aspect of these words) refer? A close parallel verse can be found in 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.
We should note here that by context the laws that are being referred to here is not the Ten Commandments but rather the ceremonial laws relating to sacrifices. These sacrifices were truly a shadow pointing to the reality (Christ) which confirms the understanding of "sabbatwn" as being a reference to ceremonial sabbaths.
Wood refers us to Barnes who observed:
No part of the moral law-no one of the ten commandments-could be spoken as 'a shadow of good things to come.' These commandments are, from the nature of moral law, of perpetual and universal application.1
Walker claims that "the grammar makes a very decisive case for, not against, Christian observance of these occasions, not to "earn salvation" (which is impossible) but to foreshadow events yet to unfold in God's master plan ..."2
Note further on the future aspect of these "shadows": Is it "future" relative to when they were given? This would lead to mis-translating what Paul had written to: "a shadow of things that were to come."3 Reportedly, the New Century version has changed the text to read: "what was to come". Likewise, Thompson renders it: "these are no more than a shadow of what was to come."4 Or, is the shadow relative to the "future" to when Paul wrote? Hess' comments on this are that the OT laws pointed to Christ; this seems to eliminate the latter option.5 But, this seems to me to be an odd way for Paul to write.
1. Wood [ibid., page 340]; Barnes A Popular Commentary on the New Testament. 7:267. Back to text
2. Walker [ibid., page 4]. Back to text
3. Brinsmead [ibid., page 6]. Back to text
4. Thompson [ibid., page 147]. Back to text
5. See also Moule [C. F. D. The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians and to Philemon. Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary (Cambridge, 1958): pages 102-3]. Back to text
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