Shadows and Realities

Im in my third year of Greek classes right now, and currently we're translating our way through Colossians.  Our passage from today was Colossians 2:14-19.  In verse 15, Paul talks about these "powers and authorities."  Dr. Breuhler explained that in the ancient world, it was commonly thought that there are levels of heaven and that different spiritual beings rule over various domains.  It is these authorities and rulers that Christ "disarms" (apekdusamenos).  We don't know if that means that these authorities do exist, but we no longer have to worry about them or if that means that Christ dispelled the myth of their existence.  Either way, it's the same result.  They're no longer a factor.  Paul goes on to say that Christ made a public spectacle of them (deigmatidzo), and that because of this, the Colossians should let no one judge them on account of what they eat or drink or which festivals they celebrate (such as the New Moon Festival which has nothing to do with vampires and Twilight).

Now we get to the interesting part, or at least I find it interesting.  Paul then says in verse 17 that those things, festivals and foods and drinks, are simply "shadows of things coming but [literally in the Greek] the body is of Christ."  The word for body/flesh in the Greek is sowma.  I have an 1100 page Greek Lexicon.  Exactly one line of text is dedicated to an obscure use/meaning of the word sowma.  This line gives the meaning, "the thing itself, the reality."  What follows is one and only one verse where this meaning is used.  You guessed it, Colossians 2:17.

So what is interesting about this?  Well, think about that meaning of the word in the context of the verse in which it is used.  We have this contrast between a shadow (skia) and a reality (sowma).  The shadow is the silhouette or outline of something that is real.  You can't see the details of that which is casting the shadow just by looking at the shadow.  You get a skewed reality that is highly unreliable.  But, Paul says, Christ is the reality.  There are no powers, no authorities, that are separate from him.  There is no condemnation for simple things.  There is no bypassing judgment based on what I eat or drink.  Christ is the only way now.  That shadow that was skewed has come to earth and made itself manifest.  Jesus is the real deal.

I remember a friend telling me that he believes that most religions are ways to the same God.  That Christians have it right, but that all the other religions are acceptable in God's eyes.  He believed that God (YHVH) is the God of all the other religions.  This friend of mine is a religion student preparing for ministry here at IWU.  This concerns me.  I mean, what do you do with "I am the way, the truth and the light.  No one [NO ONE] comes to the Father except through me?"  Besides that, we have Colossians 2:17.  There are skewed realities and other religions that aren't spot on.  This causes people to do different things in order be pious or to be saved.  But the shadow isn't good enough.  Christ came in the flesh to demonstrate the reality.  He shed light on the shadow.  We now know the source, and nothing other than passage through life with the reality, with Christ, nothing else will suffice.