Lewis has replied with a lengthy 4 parts essay where he raises many questions that need to be addressed. At this moment I do not have the time to respond to all his comments, because I am working on several projects, including several lectures I will be delivering in few days at an INTERNATIONAL SABBATH CONFERENCE that convenes in Sydney, Australia from July 5 to 9. At this time I will limit my response to some of Lewis's arguments about Col 2:14-17. After my return from overseas I plan to respond to the rest of the questions.

Dear John:

Thank you for the time you have taken to respond to my analysis of your first affirmation that the New Testament enjoins Sundaykeeping as the new day of worship. Before addressing some of your arguments about Col 2:14-17, I would like to make a general observation. First of all call me by my first name "Sam," so that you do not have to mispell my last name so many times. Everybody calls me "Sam." that is much easier. On my part I will continue to call you by your first name "John."

In reading your lengthy response, I get the impression that you are very concerned about the technicalities of the debate. Let me state at the outset that I am not interesting in debating with you for the sake of winning a debate. Such an endeavor can only boost egos, while antagonizing participants and spectators.

Biblical truths are not defined by majority vote of who won or lost a public debate, but by a painstaking study of the Word of God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. My concern, John, is to engage you in a responsible analysis of those Biblical texts and historical documents that have been traditionally used to support the apostolic origin of Sundaykeeping. What this means is that if the discussion of a particular text or document requires several exchanges, we must be prepared to take the time needed to do justice to the discussion.

A second suggestion is that we open the discussion to all interested parties. Several have complained that it is not fair for us to post our discussion on various news organizations, without giving readers the opportunity to interact with us. These organization are interactive and we need to respect they way they operate.

Another suggestion, John, is for you to send me any material that you or your Church of Christ have produced on the Sabbath/Sunday question. On my part I have sent you a complimentary set of my three books on the Sabbath. If both of us have on hand the studies that we have produced on the relevant Biblical and/or historical material related to the Sabbath/Sunday question, then we can save much time and space by concentrating on the analysis of the methodology used to reach certain conclusions. As you know, John, the credibility of any research, whether scientific or Biblical, is largely determined by the validity of its methodology. It is this kind of critical analysis of our respective methodologies that can greatly benefit those who are reading our exchanges. I do hope to receive soon from you some of your material so that I can submit my analysis of the methods you have used to reach your conclusions.

In this initial response I wil examine your analysis of Colossians 2:14 consists of only three paragraphs. I am sure that these few paragraphs do not reflect your best scholarship. I wish I could have a longer study of yours. At this point I can only respond to what you have posted.

I submitted two reasons why the "handwritten document-cheirographon" that was nailed to the Cross (Col 2:14), is not the law in general or the Sabbath in particular. First, the word law-nomos, which is fundamental to Paul's discussion of salvation, does not occur a single time in the whole epistle of Colossians. Second, this interpretation detracts from the immediate context (v.13) which deals with God's forgiveness and not with His law.

You responded to my arguments saying: "True, the word "law" is not mentioned specifically in Colossians; but both the immediate and remote context indicate that Paul is discussing the Mosaic law itself in Colossians 2:14. Even Sam admits that the "Colossian heresy" was a mixture of both "Hellenistic and Jewish elements." (The Sabbath in the New Testament, p. 109). You cannot have it both ways, Sam! Paul mentions "circumcision" and "uncircumcision" (Col. 2:11-13). That's sound like law of Moses language to me. He mentions "festivals" "new moons" and "sabbaths." (2:16) which are a "shadow of things to come." (2:17). "Shadow" is used two other times in a figurative sense in the book of Hebrews. In both of these cases it makes reference to the law of Moses (Heb. 8:5; 10:1). Therefore, the immediate context of Colossians 2:14 indicates that Paul is discussing the law of Moses being nailed to the cross."

I will devote the rest of my two parts response to an analysis of this paragraph. Let me briefly point out four major fallacies in your argument.

(1) The Colossian heresy is the overall context of the epistle and not the immediate context. By immediate we mean what immediately precedes and follow the text and not the overall discussion. The latter is the broader context. Your argument that the handwritten document nailed to the cross is the Mosaic law, because the immediate context is the Colossian heresy which contained Jewish elements, is unwarranted. The immediate context, as we shall see, is God's forgiveness. Whatever Jewish elements there were in the Colossian heresy, they are part of the large context, and consequently they are not determinative for the meaning of "cheirographon-handwritten document."

(2) Circumcision and uncircumcision are indeed mentioned in the immediate context (vv.11-13), but metaphorically to illustrate the work of Christ in the life of the Colossians, and not literally to negate the validity of the law. The discussion is not about the law in general or the circumcision in particular, but about what Christ has done for believers in forgiving and cleansing their sins. To illustrate the extent of God's forgiveness, Paul uses two metaphors. First, the metaphor of the circumcision and then that of the record book of sins. Through the metaphor of the circumsision Paul illustrates the experience of "putting off of the body of flesh" by being buried with Christ in baptism and risen with Him to a new life (vv.11-12). He mentions also the "uncircumcision" as a metaphor of their previous sinful condition, namely, "dead in trespasses and uncircumcision of the flesh" (v. 13). This allegorical use of circumcision/uncircumcision sounds to you John "like law of Moses language," but it does not sound to me like a condemnation of the law of Moses. If anything what the metaphor condemns is not circumcision but uncircumcision.

What you fail to see, John, is the connection between verses 13 and 14. Note that verse 13 closes with the affirmation "having forgiven us all our trespasses." Verse 14 builds upon verse 13 by explaining and expanding the extent of God's forginess. The verse opens with the aorist participle exaleithas "having cancelled," which is intended to tell us by what means Christ forgave our sins. This Christ did by nailing to the cross, not the ceremonial law as some Adventists still believe, nor the whole law of Moses, as you John believe, but the cheirographon, a term which occurs only in Colossians 2:14.

As I told you in my previous response, the meaning of cheirographon has been clarified by its occurrence in apocalyptic literature where it is used to designate the "record-book of sin" or the certificate of sin-indebtedness but not the moral or ceremonial law. By this daring metaphor Paul affirms that through Christ, God has "cancelled," "set aside," "nailed to the cross," not the law of Moses as you believe John, but "the written record of our sins which because of the regulations was against us."

John, please note what Prof. D. R. De Lacey has written on this text. He is one of the seven contributors to the symposium FROM SABBATH TO THE LORD'S DAY, produced by seven American and British scholars who worked together on a doctoral project at Cambridge University, in England. The symposium, which is largely a response to my research, is edited by D. A. Carson and was published by Zondervan in 1982. This book is regarded by far the most scholarly defence of Sundaykeeping in recent times.If you take time to read this 440 pages research, you will be surprised to find out among other things, that, contrary to what you think John, these scholars conclude that first-day Sunday observance "cannot be easily understood as a phenomenon of the apostolic age or of apostolic authority at all" (pp.135-136).

Regarding Col 2: 14 Prof. De Lacey wrote: "Bacchiocchi lays great stress on the fact that the term nomos [law] is entirely absent from Colossians, and although his own interpretation at times fails to convince, he is SURELY RIGHT IN HIS CONCLUSION THAT THIS PASSAGE CANNOT BE INTERPRETED AS STATING THAT THE MOSAIC LAW ITSELF WAS 'WIPE OUT' IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST" (p. 173, upper case supplied). John, I like to dialogue with scholars like Prof. De Lacey because, though they do not always agree with me, they tend to be open minded and are willing to accept what makes sense to them.

(3) Your argument that Paul's reference to "'festivals' 'new moons' and 'sabbaths' (2:16) which are a 'shadow of things to come.' (2:17) . . . indicates that Paul is discussing the law of Moses being nailed to the cross," reflects a fundamental misinterpretation of this text that has been perpetrated throughout Christian history. The statement "Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you . . ." has been traditionally interpreted as a Pauline condemnation of the five mentioned practices: eating, drinking, feasts, new moons and Sabbaths. This popular interpretation, which you accept, is totally wrong because in this passage Paul is warning the Colossians not against the observances of these practices as such, but against "anyone" (tis) who passes judgment on how to eat, to drink, and to observe sacred times.

Note should be taken of the fact that the judge who passes judgment is not Paul but Colossian false teachers who impose "regulations" (2:20) on how to observe these practices in order to achieve "rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body" (2:23).

I would urge you again John to read the symposium FROM SABBATH TO THE LORD'S DAY. Regarding Col 2:16, Prof. De Lacey rightly comments: "the judge is likely to be a man of ascetic tendencies who objects to the Colossians' eating and drinking. The most natural way of taking the rest of the passage is not that he also imposes a ritual of feast days, but rather that he objects to certain elements of such observation" (p. 182). Presumably the "judge" wanted the community to observe these practices in a more ascetic way ("severity to the body"-2:23, 21), to put it crudely, he wanted the Colossian believers to do less feasting and more fasting.

By warning against the right of the false teachers to "pass judgment" on how to observe festivals, Paul is challenging not the validity of the festivals as such but the authority of the false teachers to "judge," that is, to legislate on the manner of their observance. The obvious implication then is that Paul in this text is expressing not a condemnation but an approbation of the mentioned practices, which include Sabbathkeeping. To put it differently, what Paul is condemning is not the practices per se, but the perversion promoted by the false teachers.

It is noteworthy that even Prof. De Lacey reaches a similar conclusion, in spite of his view that Paul did not expect Gentile converts to observe the Sabbath. He writes: "Here again (Col 2:16), then, it seems that PAUL COULD HAPPILY COUNTENANCE SABBATHKEEPING . . . Here again we have an echo of Paul's attitude to the law in his more pisitive moments. . . . However, we interpret the situation, Paul's statement 'Let no one pass judgement on you,' indicates that no stringent regulations are to be laid down over the use of festivals" (pp.182-183, upper case supplied).

Isn't it surprising, John, that this text which has been traditionally cited as the deathknell of Sabbathkeeping in the NT, now is regarded by Sundaykeeping scholars as reflecting a Pauline approbation of Sabbathkeeping. This is why I accepted to dialogue with you, John, hoping that you also will show the same openmindness. I have seen scholars abandoning traditional interpretations, when confronted with facts that had been ignored or overlooked. I have reasons to believe that the same will be true in your case, if you take time to read with an open mind this research material.

In the light of these observations, Paul's references to festivals, new moons and Sabbaths, can hardly interpreted as the nailing of the law of Moses to the cross, because Paul is not condemning these practices, but the regulations about their observance imposed by the Colossians heretics. A PRECEPT IS NOT NULLIFIED BY THE CONDEMNATION OF ITS PERVERSION.

(4) You interpret Col 2:17 "these are the shadow of what is to come" in the light of Heb 8:5 and 10:1 and conclude that "In both of these cases it makes reference to the law of Moses" which was nailed to the cross. Your interpretation ignores the two different contexts. In Hebrews (8:5 and 10:1) the term "shadow-skia" is used to establish a vertical correspondence between the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary, the earthly serving being a "shadow" and "type" of the heavenly. In Col 2:17, however, the antecedent of "shadow" is not altogether clear. The text reads: "These are the shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ" (Col 2:17). To what does the relative pronoun "these" (ha in Greek) refer? Does it refer to the five practices mentioned in the previous verse or to the "regulations" (dogmata) regarding these practices promoted by the false teachers?

In my dissertation FROM SABBATH TO SUNDAY I argued for the former, suggesting that Paul places dietary practices and the observance of days "in their proper perspective with Christ by means of the contrast 'shadow-body.'" Additional reflection has caused me to change my mind and to agree with Prof. E. Lohse that the relative pronoun "these" refers not to the five mentioned-practices as such, but rather to the "regulations" regarding such practices promoted by the false teachers (A Commentary on the epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, Philadelphia, 1971, p. 116.)

This conclusion is supported by two considerations. First, in verse 16, Paul is not warning against the merits or demerits of the Mosaic law regarding food and festivals, but against the "regulations" regarding these practices advocated by the false teachers. Thus, it is more plausible to take "the regulations" rather than the actual practices as the antecedent of "these."

Second, in the verses that immediately follow, Paul continues his warning against the deceptive teachings, saying, for example, "Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement . . ." (2:18); "Why do you submit to regulations, 'Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch'" (2:20-21)?

Since what precedes and what follows that relative pronoun "these" deals with the "regulations" of the Colossian "philosophy," we conclude that it is the latter that Paul describes as "a shadow of what is to come" (2:17).

Presumably the proponents of the Colossian "philosophy" maintained that their "regulations" represented a copy which enabled the believer to have access to the reality ("fulness" 2:9). In such a case, Paul is turning their argument on its head by saying that their regulations "are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ" (2:17). By emphasizing that Christ is the "body" and the "head" (2:17, 19), Paul indicates that any "shadow" cast by the regulations has no significant value.

In the light of the above indications, I conclude that what Paul calls a "shadow" is not the Mosaic law or the Sabbath but the deceptive teachings of the Colossian "philosophy" which promoted dietary practices and the observance of sacred times as auxiliary aids to salvation.

You will notice John, that this two segments reply deal with only one paragraph of your four parts response. What this means is that it will take me several weeks, if not months, to deal responsibly with all your arguments. At this point I am wondering if it is worth my time and effort. Much depends on your response. If I see that you appreciate my effort to help you see issues from a broader scholarly perpective, I will be glad to take time to continue this dialogue when I return from overseas. On the other hand, if I see that all my efforts are in vain, then there is no point for me to continue the dialogue because it would be a waste of time.

It is my fervent hope and prayer that you will read this response and the three books I have sent you, with an open and receptive mind. On my part I promise to do the same. If you submit some compelling documents or arguments, I am prepared to reconsider my views.

I shall be waiting to hear from you. May the Lord continue to richly bless your life and ministry with His wisdom and grace.

Christian regards

Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D.,

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