Wasn’t the law nailed to the cross?

Indeed, a certain law was nailed to the cross. This was the ceremonial law of types and shadows that pointed forward to the death of Jesus and that has no further meaning beyond the cross. The apostle Paul said it is contrary to the Christian. The torn veil in the temple at the death of Christ (Matthew 27:51) indicated the end of that ordinance of animal sacrifices, and Ephesians 2:15 says that Jesus “abolished … the law of commandments contained in ordinances.”

This is why Paul wrote in Colossians 2:16, 17, that we are no longer judged by “food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths” because they are “a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” It is interesting to note that these ceremonial laws were handwritten by Moses on parchment and placed beside the ark, whereas the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God on stone and placed inside the ark. Think about it: Wouldn’t it be difficult to nail rock to the cross?

These yearly sabbaths (a small “s”) are not the weekly Sabbath (a capital “S”) of the Ten Commandments. They are shadowy sabbaths described in Leviticus 23:24–37. They fell on certain set days of the month—a different day of the week each year, yet they were called sabbaths. But note in verses 37 and 38 how they were distinguished from the weekly Sabbath: “These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day—besides the Sabbaths of the Lord” (emphasis added).

These ceremonial sabbaths were set apart from the weekly Sabbath in the moral law. Understanding this clears up the mystery of Colossians 2:16. The law of the yearly sabbaths was nailed to the cross, but the great Sabbath commandment was not affected.

Key Bible Texts

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; (Colossians 2:14 KJV)