Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Parallel translations
- WEB which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.
- BSB These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.
- NKJV which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
- NASB things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
- NLT For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Those observances were a shadow; the substance belongs to Christ. The realities they foreshadowed are found in Him.
Overview
The food laws and festivals were 'a shadow of the things to come,' true previews that pointed beyond themselves. 'But the body (substance) is Christ's'—He is the reality they anticipated. Once the reality has come, clinging to the shadow as if it were ultimate misses the point of the law itself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Heb 10:1For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
- Heb 8:5Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
- John 1:17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
- Heb 9:9Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
- Heb 4:1–11Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
- Matt 11:28–29Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The image of the invisible God, firstborn over creation, in whom all things hold together and all the fullness of God dwells bodily — supreme over every power.
How Colossians 2:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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