Daily Lesson for Thursday 5th of March 2026

As in his epistle to the Galatians, Paul characterizes the concern over keeping Jewish ceremonies as “the basic principles of the world” (Colossians 2:8,20, NKJV; compare Galatians 4:3,9). In other words, like the earthly temple, these things belong to the earth, but our citizenship is in heaven. We need not be encumbered with the ceremonial law because it merely foreshadowed the reality that we now enjoy through Christ. That is, even though originally given by God, these ordinances, having served their function, are no longer needed.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

Because all these regulations were done away with at the Cross, as indicated by the divine hand rending the temple veil (Matthew 27:51; compare Daniel 9:27), Christians (including Jewish-Christians) are not subject to these regulations. By submitting to them, we would actually be identifying ourselves with this world, which is passing away, in contrast to the new world promised us in Christ.

After all, we look forward to “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13) and not merely a renovation of this old one.

Besides the fact that Pharisees and scribes had added additional human requirements on top of the Mosaic regulations (see Mark 7:1-13), the perpetuation of Old Testament ceremonies, which had been fulfilled by Christ, could no longer be considered divinely required, but only as humanly imposed duties. Indeed, it seems that they were becoming a burden to faith, as opposed to something that would enhance it. It’s so easy to start to look at doing all these things as not only making oneself superior to those who don’t, which is bad enough, but also perhaps even subtly as somehow being meritorious for salvation, a trap into which we don’t want to step.

Throughout Christian history, Bible experts have succumbed to the temptation to make religious pronouncements, usurping the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding believers as to what the text means. Christ Himself is the fountain from which springs the truth of the Scriptures as taught by Paul and the other Bible writers.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-10-commandments-of-men/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-10-commandments-of-men

Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, Dr. Clinton Wahlen, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson,

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/10-complete-in-christ-it-is-written-discussion-with-the-author/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-complete-in-christ-it-is-written-discussion-with-the-author

View an in-depth discussion of Complete in Christ in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.
Click on the image below to view the video:

With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 4th of March 2026

To this day, scholars do not agree on exactly what the issues were that Paul was addressing here. What we can be sure of is that Paul’s epistle itself provides quite a bit of information on what seems to have been a Jewish-Christian divisive influence on this predominantly Gentile church (Colossians 2:13). That is, the Jewish believers were pushing things that were not necessary for the members to follow.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing from GoodSalt.com

Clearly, Colossians 2:16 lists a number of regular Jewish practices that were apparently continued among some Jewish converts to Christianity. But even the elements in Colossians 2:18 fit the same context. Jesus criticized pretensions to humility among the religious leaders (for example, Matthew 6:1,5,7,16). From the scrolls of Qumran, we learn that angels featured prominently in some Jewish conceptions of worship. So, the problems that Paul was confronting in Colossae were most likely similar to those he confronted elsewhere.

Since Colossians 2:16 is so often misunderstood, it is important to consider it in greater detail. Notice these points:

Paul’s use of “therefore” (ESV) signals that this is a conclusion drawn from what he has already said. Previously, the need for literal circumcision was dismissed because it is the inward change of the heart that matters (Colossians 2:11-15).

“Food and drink” refer to the meal and drink offerings that the Israelites brought to the temple.

The specification of “a festival or a new moon or sabbaths” (Colossians 2:16, NKJV) apparently alludes to Hosea 2:11, where the same sequence of ceremonial days are referred to, which includes ceremonial sabbaths (see, for example, Leviticus 23:11,24,32).

Crucial to our understanding of this verse is Paul’s own interpretation: that these “are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:17, NKJV). These ceremonial days, like the sacrifices, pointed to the work of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Corinthians 15:23). The seventh-day Sabbath, in contrast, was instituted in Eden, before sin, and long before the ceremonial sacrifices of the sanctuary were adopted; therefore, it was not a shadow to be done away with after the Cross.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-10-shadow-or-substance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-10-shadow-or-substance

Daily Lesson for Tuesday 3rd of March 2026

How often have we seen these texts, especially Colossians 2:14, misused as an argument against the law and keeping the Sabbath?

To help understand these texts, two main interpretations have been proposed by Seventh-day Adventists: First, the “handwriting” nailed to the cross is the list of charges leveled “against us,” similar to the writing Pilate hung on Jesus’ cross (Matthew 27:37; John 19:19-20). Or, second, the ceremonial law written by Moses (see Deuteronomy 31:24-26) was nailed to the cross.

When we look at the verse in its larger context, we can see that it is clearly talking about the ceremonial law.

Image © Review and Herald Publishing Assn. Goodsalt.com

Paul also refers to “circumcision made without hands” (Colossians 2:11), that is, “of the heart” (Romans 2:28-29; compare Deuteronomy 30:16), in apparent contrast to fleshly circumcision, which was one of the most important stipulations of the ceremonial law (Leviticus 12:3; compare Exodus 12:48).

Paul then connects this inward change with “putting off the body of the sins of the flesh” and with baptism by immersion. With this baptism, we identify ourselves with Christ’s death and resurrection (Colossians 2:11-12).

This conversion experience is then likened to having been “dead in trespasses” and “made . . . alive” with Christ, who “forgave us all our trespasses” (Colossians 2:13, NRSV).

The word “ordinances” (Colossians 2:14) refers to legal decrees, whether secular (Luke 2:1, Acts 17:7) or ecclesiastical (Acts 16:4). This Greek word’s only other occurrence in Paul’s writings refers to the ceremonial law, which formed a wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:14-15).

Because Paul has already referred to the forgiveness of sins and the inner change symbolized by baptism, it is unlikely he would return to that topic again with a different metaphor not used anywhere else in Scripture. Rather, Paul seems to be emphasizing a similar point as made in Ephesians: that the Gentile believers in Colossae need not worry about keeping the ceremonial law, including circumcision, nor about the purity laws that went with such a commitment (compare Acts 10:28,34-35).

Clearly, Paul was not suggesting that the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross, not when elsewhere he defines sin as violation of the Ten Commandments (Romans 7:7).

<–Monday Wednesday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26a-10-nailed-to-the-cross/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26a-10-nailed-to-the-cross