Question on Colossians 2:16 - Therefore do not let other judge you what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day

Below are a recap of text messages among Terrence, Tony and Eric.  Hope it helps when the same argument is raised again.

Terrence : For Colossians 2:16 it says about don't let other judge you in meat etc. I understand he's trying to say dont let others influence us by following our religious festivals and not the other way around. But how do you know who he's talking to?

Tony:
It's hard to tell exactly what he's talking about and what those believers are being judged for. I have a few thoughts..⁠⁠⁠

The book is written to believers in Colossae, which is basically Turkey/Greece. Those people are gentiles who did not keep the festivals, new moons, sabbaths before. As you can see in 1:27 they are called gentiles.
Now a few things to note in chapter 2. Verse 8 - Paul warns them not to follow traditions of men, but rather after Christ. Clearly the law including feasts and sabbaths is not traditions of men.

Verse 14 - the language is very similar to Ephesians 2:15, which is about abolishing ordinances that separated the gentiles from the Jews, such that gentiles are no longer strangers and can be fellows with the Jews who believe in Yeshua/Jesus.
Now if you read verse 16-17 in YLT, the meaning can change a lot - Col 2:16-17: "Let no one, then, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of the coming things, and the body [is] of the Christ;"

So these are a shadow of comings things and the body is of Christ. Contrast that with things in verse 18, false humility, worshipping of messengers, things not seen, and vanity by the fleshly mind -- which have nothing to do with Christ.
Verse 21-22 - do not touch, taste, handle -- these are commands not found in God's law. As evident in verse 22 this is talking about doctrines of men, which is the opposite of God's law.
So the overall theme is, don't follow traditions of men, and because of Christ they are forgiven their sins and no longer separated as gentiles. They can be fellows with the Jews - so what do they do? They adopt their diet and keep the feasts and sabbaths - which are of Christ.


Eric:  Colossians were not Jews. They were pagans in a pagan society. No one would give a rat's ass if they don't observe God's feasts. It's only after they believed God and started to observe. That's when they would be criticized by friends and families. Very much like what believers who start to observe the feasts, go through today. The reason Paul said: don't let anyone judge you but the body of Christ. In other words, the body of Christ i.e. your fellow believers should tell if someone does not obey God's commandments.