which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
Parallel translations
- WEB which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.
- KJV Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
- BSB These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to 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 the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.
- Heb 8:5who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.”
- John 1:17For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
- Heb 9:9which is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshiper perfect;
- Heb 4:1–11Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
- Matt 11:28–29“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, 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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