Week 47 Colossians 2
A pretty practical bible-reader’s question came into my mind today.
It started with Paul talking about specific OT religious things – food laws & celebrations & the Sabbath day. Then he referred to them as being: a mere shadow of what is to come…The substance belongs to Christ
Another version called them: a shadow of the…reality…found in Christ
Another: shadows of the real thing (which is) Christ himself.
So my question was that if those things in the OT were ‘shadowy’ were they the only shadowy things? Or were there others?
I figured it like this…if reality came when Christ appeared then reality appeared in the NT. Which sounds like the OT is in the Pre-Reality Shade. There’s the OT Shadowy Section. And the NT Reality Section.
Which means that if Paul is discriminating between the two big sections of the bible then that has a pretty significant outcome for me reading the bible. It pushes me in the direction of another question: do I even have to read the (shadowy) OT?
Let’s say I asked 1000 people this question: if you were restricted to reading only one of the testaments for the rest of your life which one would it be? Nobody would say the OT. Not even one.
But a bible-reader’s question isn’t just a matter of preference. It’s something more like this: do I think I’ll get enough out of the Great Shadow Section to make reading it worth my while?
Note: quote from Colossians 2:17 (NASB NIV NLT)