Colossians 2:16 and the Sabbath

Here we will deal with Colossians 2:16. First the text is mistranslated¹ in the usual bibles to say what they want it to say. Here is the correct translation:
.

Do not let anyone judge you in eating and in drinking,

either in part of a new moon, or a feast, or sabbaths.

. This instruction concerns eating and drinking in the first part of the sentence. The second part of the sentence is present to show at what times eating and drinking is not to be judged. The truth is that the Colossians were celebrating the new moon days, and the holy days, and the Sabbaths as instructed in the first part of the Bible, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch. They were Messianic believers and were having feasts on those days. They were putting out their best food and drink. But they were being judged for this. For in Colossae there was an ascetic cult.
Notice that we have literally translated the Greek word

which means 'part.' Idiomatically this can be rendered 'sharing,' or 'partaking' (cf. TDNT).

1. The usual mistranslations are in essence, "Do not let anyone jugde you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a new moon, holy day, or sabbath." The Nestle-Aland Greek text (21st Edition) reads, "eating and in drinking" (), rather than the "meat, or in drink" of the King James Version. The key difference is the Greek word which means "and" rather then the Greek word which means "or" when used to coordinate two elements of a clause. When this fact is observed, it then becomes evident that the normal method of translating the remaining eta's () in the verse can be followed and make good sense. Observe the Greek text and see the sequence ... ... within the verse. According to Liddell and Scott, this sequence is to be translated "either ... or ... or". Thayer's Lexicon and BAG also state the same.

2. An "ascetic" practices "ascetism," which is basically religious self denial, "Touch no; taste not; handle not" (Colossians 2:21). An ascetic indulges in "neglecting of the body" (Colossians 2:23) for what he thinks are religious duties to God, but which are really, "commandments and doctrines of men" (Colossians 2:22).

4. The Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich entry is [1b], "- either-or Mt. 6:24; 12:33; Lk 16:13. -- either-or-or (Philod., . col. 22, 41 Jensen) 1 Cor. 14:6 ( four times as Libanius, Or. 28 p. 48, 15 F., Or. 31 p. 130,7) ...."