The Apostle Paul and the Holy Days

Paul’s epistles are often referred to by those who wish to teach the cancellation of the laws of God in general... and the holy days in particular. Among the commandments and laws of God the holy days are singled out for special attention due to three specific statements found in: Colossians 2:14-17, Romans 14:5-6, and Galatians 4:8-10.

Today we are going to carefully read our way through these statements and use their context to show that Paul's statements were not negatively targeting the observance of the annual holy days but rather:

1. The manner in which members of the church were keeping them
2. Humanly devised traditions they were elevating to the same level as God's commands.

When considering Paul's statements about observing days it is important to remember that Paul himself writes about keeping the Passover and days of unleavened bread himself with the Corinthian congregation [ 1 Corinthians 5, 11]. He offered that congregation a lot of correction regarding the manner in which they observed the biblical festivals... but never gave them any indication he wanted them to stop celebrating and observing them.

Paul's Approach to Law in General

The apostle Paul writes of "the law" in both positive and negative terms: he sometimes refers to the law as having been "abolished in Christ" [Ephesians 2:15], yet sometimes he refers to the commandments as "established through faith" [Romans 3:31].

Is Paul a type of Mr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde split personality? Sometimes pro-law, sometimes anti-law depending on what he had for breakfast? Not at all, his writings are consistent:

Paul’s negative comments refer to justification... atonement... the payment of sins penalty. No amount of future law keeping will pay the penalty for sins committed. The only way of atonement, justification, is the sacrifice of the life, either the life of the sinner or a substitute which is Jesus Christ.

Paul’s positive comments refers to sanctification... the process of living in, and learning the mind of God. Following God's law is the path to holiness. His commandments, judgments and statutes are the guideline for Christ-like/God-like thought and action.

Summary: Paul rejects the law as a method of justification but upholds it as a moral standard of Christian behavior. That is our teaching as well.

Colossians 2:16-17

The phrase "let no person pass judgment on you [condemn you]" is most often interpreted as Paul warning against holy day observance itself.

Paul’s warning is about those who presume to judge others concerning 5 practices mentioned: eating, drinking, feast days, new moons, and Sabbaths. The warning is not about the practices themselves but about the people passing judgment.

 If the warning was about not doing these practices… then does it also mean Paul is warning them against eating and drinking? No, its a warning about humanly devised regulations and superstitions that had become attached to eating and drinking… and in the same way  its a warning about humanly devised regulations and superstitions attached to Sabbaths, holy days.  This becomes more apparent as we read on…

Colossians 2:18-23

These human regulations were all about punishing [or making low] the flesh so the spirit can grow stronger. With regard to the holy days you could say the judge wants less feasting and more fasting. We need harder chairs so folks don't get too comfortable... turn off the heat or air conditioning so people can prove they are really serious about being here!

What the false teachers were actually promoting was pagan, Hellenistic type philosophy: the physical world is evil and the source of evil... spiritual existence is good... through punishing the physical body a person could become closer to a deity and receive divine revelation / knowledge / gnosis. This is why Paul referred to the whole mess as human philosophy read verse 8.

There would be a lot of dietary taboos, ritual fastings [hence the reference to eating and drinking], forbidden activities, restrictions, vigils and stuff like that.  These are not derived from God's word they are the teachings and commandments of humans re-read verse 21-23. Paul considered these as subjection to and worship of the cosmic forces of the universe [stochia]. We will see these sames basic principles of the universe mentioned in Galatians 4:3.

Summary: the precept of holy day observance in obedience to God is not nullified by Paul's condemnation of the crazy manner in which it was being twisted, perverted, and added on to with misleading human traditions.

Shadow of the Reality Verse 17

A shadow is an outline, a silhouette, a representation of something. A very fat man will cast a shadow that tells you something about the actual person... he's very fat... but the shadow is not the man. The man's body is what casts the shadow.

In this verse Paul says we learn something from the shadow but the body casting the shadow is Christ. We have the bread, the wine, unleavened bread, fasting [on the day of atonement], and lots of feasting at tabernacles... as per God's instructions. But it is Jesus' life in the body, death in the body, and resurrection in the body, and His return with a body of glory... that give us understanding about the things the holy days point to:

3. prophesied events in human history where God is at work through Christ,
   1. some already passed [the death and resurrection of Jesus, the coming of the spirit]
   2. some still yet to come [the return of Christ, the rule of God on earth]
4. the progressive plan of salvation, sanctification, and resurrections God is performing in you powered by the life and death of Jesus

Perhaps the false teachers were promoting the idea that their strict regulations and rules were the better way to access the meaning, the fullness, and reality of the holy days... a way to draw closer to God and receive revelation from His angels. Whereas, Paul asserts that the fullness is found in Christ in bodily form... read verse 2:9.

The Church of God keeps the holy days of God. We understand and teach their meaning according to the life, death, resurrection, and future return of Jesus Christ.

Romans 14:5

There is no mention of feasts or holy days here. The "preference of days" refers to self imposed days of ritual fasting, not to feast days. Ritual fasting was a very common practice among the Jews and carried over into the first century church by all the Jews who became followers of Christ in the first few decades.

The Didache - a second century manual of spiritual discipline for Christians [dated some time not too long after all the apostles were dead] recommends Christians fast on Wednesdays and Fridays instead of Mondays and Tuesdays like the Jews do... in order to maintain a level of differentiation from the Jews.

Romans 14:1-4 we are presented with two sets of people: those who are spiritually strong and those who are somewhat weak. The strong are urged to not look down on the weak because the weaker members feel bound by humanly devised rules about eating and drinking. The weak insist on a stricter vegetarian style diet... and avoid wine/alcohol [see verse 21].

Romans 14:5-6 the statement about considering certain days more special than others is presented to us in the context of dietary restrictions being imposed on special days... eating or not eating on those days… in other words, fasting on certain days.

Paul says do not condemn, or pass judgment on one another, over disputable matters. They are disputable because they are not addressed in scripture. There is no biblical instruction about vegetarianism, nor is there any command to observe a regimen of special fast days throughout the year.

Note: fasting is commanded only once a year: on the day of Atonement. The bible talks about fasting above and beyond this command, as a matter of spiritual discipline but it is left up to you to determine when or how often.

If you want to be a vegetarian is personal matter… it is neither right nor wrong… truth or false doctrine... the disputes and condemnation that arise from such matters are what are wrong.

Galatians 4:8-11

The correction offered in Galatians is not about "disputable matters", it is about truth and error.

As in Colossia, false teachers were promoting the importance of physical rituals and observances. But, this time the false teachers were promoting Jewishness [rather than Hellenistic philosophy]. Furthermore, they were teaching that these physical rituals were essential to be justified before God [rather than for enhanced spirituality and hidden knowledge like in Colossia]. The means of justification is not a disputable matter: acceptance of Jesus death as a complete and final payment for the penalty sin is the only option, it is not up for dispute, or opinion, or conscience.

The primary concern of Galatians is the rite of circumcision [an act which is part of God's covenant with the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]. Some in the Galatian congregation had performed circumcision on themselves [verse 6:10]. They were not physical descendants, they had no need to circumcise themselves. They could go directly into the new and better covenant which is marked by baptism and the receipt of the holy spirit... not circumcision. They had already been baptized, they had already received the spirit. What were they thinking!

In the midst of all this we get an obscure reference to: days, months, times [occasions], years. And this obscure reference is often used to teach against observance of God's holy days.

Points to Consider:

I called them obscure references because, if Paul was trying to make a point about holy day observance [or Sabbath] why didn't he specifically refer to them as such... like he did in Colossians 2:14?

Paul didn't mention, feast days, or Sabbaths because he was actually talking about something quite different.

The Galatians previously been pagans. In their former lives they had subjected themselves to principles [stochia] of the of pagan worship, and thought. Stochia can refer to the unseen forces of the universe like karma, and it can also refer to the celestial bodies: stars, planets, sun, moon, etc.. The celestial bodies were in turn seen as regulating the unseen forces. Previously their lives were regulated by subjection to the sun, moon, stars, astrology, omens, auspicious times, premonitions, generally seeking guidance from the stuff of the created universe rather than the creator.

Now they were once again revering days, times, times, and years they were going backwards and subjecting themselves to the same stuff they had supposedly left behind.

Is Paul, the man who says "the commandments are holy, right, and good"… who said “I delight in the law of God in my heart”… is this same man saying God's commanded feast days as bad as pagan practices, calling them weak and worthless? I think he would be appalled to hear such words put in his mouth.

The simplest answer is that the Galatians were going back to their former pagan practices of venerating days, months, years and times.

There is another possibility but its a bit more complex. The gentiles were responding to the pressure to become more Jewish [some even went so far as to circumcise themselves]. They had probably noted the Jewish veneration of days. For example, the special days of ritual fasting. However, they were also  interpreting what they observed through the lens of pagan thinking. They were adopting the Jewish veneration of days but interpreting them as subjugation to the basic elements of the universe... getting themselves in sync with the movements of the sun, moon,stars, and special times when they lined up in certain ways. 

Either way there is no mention of Sabbaths or holy days in Galatians… only days, weeks, times and years… Paul does not tell us what they actually were… However, what evidence there is in the context points away from these being references to the commanded holy days of God.

Conclusion:

Paul's attitude toward the holy days cannot be determined from these 3 verses… plucked out of context… and used to say things contrary to the example of Jesus and of Paul himself.

In all three instances Paul was offering warning and correction about heretical and superstitious practices people had adopted.  He was not denouncing the holy day observances commanded by God.

Paul’s attitude towards the holy days should be based on his overall attitude towards the laws of God:

For justification: law keeping is of no value

For sanctification: the law of God is our standard and the code of behavior we follow