Is Paul saying it is wrong to observe New Moon celebrations, Sabbath days or religious festivals?
Paul is not denouncing the practices of those who continued to observe such things. Rather, he is denouncing their attitude of superiority over those who dont join in their observance. The error is not in the festival, but in the binding of the festival observance on others as law. How are such things a shadow of things to come? How is Christ the reality? Do we properly define reality and shadow today? We often associate reality with the things that we can identify with our physical senses. Paul defines reality here – not as observable rituals or dates on a calendar – but as the person of Christ – whose lives in our hearts. We are to be grounded in the reality of the spiritual – and the illusion of the physical. C. S. Lewis in his ground-breaking story, The Great Divorce, describes a mythical trip to heaven. Upon arrival, the people exit onto a great grassy plain that lies before a range of snow-capped, cloud-enshrouded mountains. As the travelers begin walking, they cry out in pain as
