Holy Days!
Traditional Church leaders have tried to find ways of convincing themselves and their flocks that Christians are not required observing the Sabbath and holy days. “Feasts and the worship day are not important,” I’ve heard yesterday from someone who spends a considerable part of his days on studying the Bible: “it is nailled on the cross!”. One of their favourite scriptural targets in this quest is Colossians 2:16-17. Some teach that a heretical group of “Judaizers” in the Colossian church was trying to enforce obedience to Jewish practices such as the laws of clean and unclean meats and of observing the holy days, “just as the Theocratics are traying to do today”.
A good friend eventold me that “as he says it, we are talking just like the JWs.” And they go ahead about the epistle of Paul to the Colossians, say that the Apostle is telling the Colossians that they did not have to do these things, and further, they did not need to be concerned about what others were judging and saying about them.
The distortion of this portion of Scripture stems in part from a misunderstanding of Colossians 2:14, from which many deduce that the law was done away and nailed to the cross. They reason that Paul is saying in verse 16, “Therefore [since the law is done away] don’t let anyone condemn you for eating unclean meats or not observing the Sabbath or holy days.” Consequently, they interpret verse 17 to mean that Paul lightly dismisses the Sabbath and holy days as unimportant symbols of future events, while emphasizing that the only truly substantive Christian need is belief in Christ. From this, they conclude that we should not concern ourselves about these days because, since Christ died, their observance is not required.
To understand these scriptures clearly, we must first consider the cultural and historical background of the people to whom Paul was writing. The Colossians had been significantly influenced by pagan philosophies that taught that perfection could be achieved through self-denial and abstinence from pleasure. As a result, Colossae tended to be an ascetic community which adhered to a religion of severity, and its citizens thought anyone who was religious should behave as they did. Many of the people who had come into the church had brought their pagan philosophies with them, and they soon began to have an adverse influence on the entire congregation at Colossae. Paul corrects the people in the church who were doing this in Colossians 2:20-23:
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—”Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Apparently, some of the people had begun thinking that this self-imposed asceticism could somehow contribute to their salvation and had begun turning away from trusting in Christ. They had more faith in their unchristian works. Paul warned them about this in Colossians 2:8: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”
God had called the people in the church at Colossae out of their pagan, ascetic way of life, and they had begun to learn how to enjoy life in a balanced manner as God intended. This included eating meat, drinking wine and enjoying food and fellowship when observing God’s Sabbath and festivals. Apparently, the people enjoyed getting together and fellowshipping so much that some even observed the new moons, festivals which God does not command to be observed but had become a tradition under the Old Covenant.