When a reporter from the New York Journal contacted Mark Twain to find out whether rumors that he was seriously ill or perhaps even dead were true, Mark Twain told him that the rumors had confused him with his cousin who had been ill in London and had recovered. “The report of my illness grew out of his illness,” Twain explained. “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

The opposite is often the case with legalistic spiritual systems. They assume there is spiritual life in those who are actually dead in sins. This was the spiritual condition of the Colossians when the gospel came to them. “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ,” Paul reminds them in verses 13–14. “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Because Christ took upon Himself the penalty for our sins, we are not bound by any custom, observance, or regulation that claims to make us right with God. Even the regulations in the Law of Moses were only “a shadow of the things that were to come,” while the reality “is found in Christ” (v. 17). The appeal of many of these legalistic systems is that they offer the appearance of holiness with the rigor of their demands. But in reality, they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (v. 23).

When Paul tells us not to let anyone judge us in such matters, he means that we should not let them impose their practices and standards on us. For the Colossians, these were regulations about food, festivals, and observances. Righteousness is not earned by obeying rules.

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