When Jesus lived on earth, He received some of the most critical threats to His personhood and ministry because of how He taught and experienced the weekly Sabbath and annual festivals. He performed healings and good works that were unacceptable under the regulations of the Pharisees in His day, and claimed that He was the ultimate authority for the interpretation and expression of these sacred times (Luke 6:7; John 5:16; Mark 2:27-28).

Under a pending threat of arrest for healing someone on the Sabbath, Jesus “stood up and cried out,” on the Eighth Day following the annual fall festival, known as the Feast of Tabernacles, and said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37-38, English Standard Version). Amazement and rage filled the crowd because “no one ever spoke like this man” (verse 46).

Likewise, in the New Testament we see that the early Church and apostles of Jesus celebrated these Sabbaths and festivals, and regarded them as having a higher spiritual reality found in Jesus (Acts 18:4; 13:42-44; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8). So, how did these sacred festivities get lost to the traditional practices of the Christian faith? Beginning with Paul’s day through the end of the ante-Nicene church fathers, let’s examine some of the biblical and historical texts to see how their philosophical and political movements reshaped the heritage of Christianity.

Paul said, “don’t judge me.”

Just a few decades after Jesus’ resurrection, the apostle Paul wrote to a predominantly non-Jewish (a.k.a. gentile) congregation in Colossae that they were not to let anyone “pass judgment on [them]…with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath” (Colossians 2:16 ESV). This quotation from Paul is often taken to mean that a Christian shouldn’t be concerned about these special times and seasons, because they are no longer relevant for believers today. However, this interpretation of Paul’s letter to the Church is rather presumptuous and clumsy, because the context of Paul’s message wasn’t in regard to whether these festivals were necessary for a non-Jewish Christian, but rather how a Christian should treat these festivities.

The gnostic teachings in Paul’s time supposed a myriad of beliefs about our inferior physical bodies and how they should relate to the spiritual world. In one vein of gnostic thought, it was believed that you could only discover hidden spiritual mysteries in the world by denying the basic needs of your physical body (a practice known as asceticism). In this view, the physical enjoyment of festivities, especially in regard to food and drink, were entirely wrong for a believer and Paul was pleading adamantly against this gnostic practice entering the Church.

In A.D. 50 Philo, a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, described some of the ascetic practices of a religious sect throughout Egypt and Greece like this:

They “perform all the mysteries of a holy life, bringing in nothing, neither meat, nor drink, nor anything else which is indispensable towards supplying the necessities of the body.” They replace their physical body’s needs with studying “the laws and the sacred oracles of God enunciated by the holy prophets, and hymns, and psalms…”

For “six days, each of these individuals [retire] into solitude by himself” and “will scarcely at the end of six days taste even necessary food.” “But on the seventh day they all come together as if to meet in a sacred assembly...No one of them may take any meat or drink before the setting of the sun, since they judge that the work of philosophizing is one which is worthy of the light, but that the care of the necessities of the body is suitable only to darkness…and they eat nothing of a costly character, but plain bread and a seasoning of salt…” (Philo Judaeus On Ascetics, c. 30 CE, as reproduced by Ancient History Sourcebook).

So, in A.D. 60, Paul wrote to the Church in Colossae and on to the surrounding gentile areas: “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit…let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but [their] substance belongs to Christ…[Therefore, regulations such as] ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch’ [have] an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:8, 16-17, 20, 23, ESV).

He took this even further, and said that just as the Church (a.k.a. the Body of Christ) is “nourished and knit together” by Jesus as the head of the spiritual body, so also can we celebrate the festivals with food and drink physically (verse 19). Ironically, rather than intending to teach a disregard for the Sabbaths, new moons and festivals for Christians, Paul was making a case for these non-Jewish congregations to enjoy them thoroughly—judgment free.

Physical shadows and spiritual realities

What’s also fascinating about what Paul wrote to this gentile congregation is that he made an appeal for these special times and seasons using philosophical imagery that they could understand. When he said that the festivals of God were a “shadow” of things to come, he was pointing out that these physical celebrations had a greater spiritual reality.

So, when Paul said that the “substance” of these things had a higher existence in Christ and that they are still “shadows’’ of things to come, He meant that Jesus demonstrated the meaning of the Sabbath days and shed light on their future prophetic fulfillment as well. And, to those who respond to Jesus’ cry—to hunger and thirst after Him—He will satisfy their needs, fill them with His Spirit, and bring them to God’s ultimate rest (John 7:38-39).

So, now that we’ve briefly explored the earliest perspectives of Paul in regards to the Sabbaths and festivals, as well as the practices and teachings of Jesus, let’s look at the glimpses of history to see how these festivals were left behind by the early Church, and see what traditions became adopted by Christianity as substitutions for these sacred festivities. Join me for Part 2!

If you’d like more information on how Jesus fulfilled the meaning of these days, in the past and for the future, read our free study aids, Sunset to Sunset: God's Sabbath Rest and God's Holy Day Play: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind. You can continue reading about this topic in part 2 of this article.

References

Internet History Sourcebooks Project. “Philo Judaeus: On Ascetics, c. 30 CE.” Ancient History Sourcebook, Jun. 1993, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/philo-ascetics.asp?fbclid=IwAR3bMT7UoyKndXIrMzuqE59led6w0r9PORlKOmg_tikLEPQCRmtGyQ2psUU