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vs. 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the op-
eration of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

vs. 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

vs. 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

vs. 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing
over them in it.

vs. 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the
new moon, or of the sabbath days:

vs. 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. . .

vs. 20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

vs. 21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;

vs. 22 Which all are to perish with the using:) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
(emphasis mine).

A Third Kind Of Law Appears

We must now analyze the Colossians passage above by the "rightly dividing" process
which Paul exhorted Timothy to do (II Tim. 2:15):

First: the word "spoil" in verse 8 means "rob." In other words, let no man rob you of
something. The whole text is based on someone being robbed of something by and through (1) phi-
losophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men (vs. 8); and (2) being subject to ordinances, i.e.
'rudiments of the world'. . after the commandments and doctrines of men (vss. 20-22). Keeping the
sabbath holy is God's command, not men's.

Second: many of Paul's letters are based on controversy surrounding circumcision of the
flesh, just as the above passage in Colossians. (verses 11-13). This is because of problems the lo-
cal ekklesia were having with the "Judaizers," as recorded in Acts 15:

vs. 1 And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be
circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

Those men of Judah were robbing the uncircumcised 'gentile-ized' House of Israel of "re-
demption" i.e., restoration from their alienated (divorced) condition to fellowship with the 'cir-
cumcised' during the sabbaths, new moons, holy days (Col. 2:16). These were all instituted by

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