Exegetical study of the term σαββάτων in Colossians 2:16 and pastoral implications for lay preachers in Central Ghana Conference

Abstract

This thesis re-examines the meaning and referent of σαββάτων (sabbatōn) in Colossians 2:16 within Paul’s wider paraenetic argument (Col 2:6-23). It evaluates the theological and pastoral implications of the passage for lay preaching in the Central Ghana Conference. The study addresses a persistent interpretive dispute in which Colossians 2:16-17 is often deployed either to annul weekly Sabbath observance or to restrict Paul’s warning to “ceremonial” days, often without sustained attention to the practical demands of congregational instruction. Methodologically, the thesis employs a historical-grammatical approach integrating lexical-semantic analysis, syntactical and structural observation, and intertextual comparison with Old Testament and Second Temple patterns that illuminate Paul’s calendrical triad (“festival, new moon, sabbaths”). Particular attention is given to the rhetorical function of Colossians 2:16 as a conclusion flowing from Paul’s christological claims about fullness in Christ and the invalidation of “ordinances” as grounds for spiritual status, as well as to the socio-religious pressures facing a mixed congregation exposed to ritualism, ascetic regulations, and mystically inflected spirituality. The study argues that the anarthrous sabbata in Colossians 2:16 operate within a stock calendrical formula whose Old Testament usage is repeatedly embedded in sacrificial contexts, thereby supporting the conclusion that Paul’s target is the cultic-ceremonial complex of sacred times, together with the food-and-drink regulations and offering practices associated with them, functioning as “shadows” now eclipsed by the christological “substance.” On this reading, Paul’s polemic is directed toward ritualised and judgment-producing features of sacred-time observance rather than toward the creational and covenantal rationale of the Decalogue’s Sabbath command. The thesis further contends that Paul’s instruction is simultaneously functional, addressing a concrete Colossian crisis of condemnation, and normatively enduring in its theological principles: Christ’s sufficiency, the rejection of ritual criteria for spiritual hierarchy, and the incompatibility of judgmentalism with the gospel. Finally, the thesis distils pastoral directives for lay preachers, emphasising disciplined contextual exegesis, Christologically framed Sabbath teaching that avoids both legalism and antinomianism, and practical strategies for public apologetics and interdenominational engagement in Ghana’s contested Sabbath discourse.