Why Christians Misuse ‘Let No One Judge You’ on Feasts and Sabbaths

All right, next question number three is Paul said that the feast days and the Sabbaths are only a shadow. Let's read it. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in question 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 the substance belongs to Christ. Now, the big question here is that we need to answer. And what you need to ponder as you're listening to us here is, is who's doing the judging and what are they judging the people for doing? Are they judging these Christians for keeping the Sabbath or for not keeping the Sabbath? And to answer that, I think what's really important is we need to get into the context to figure out who these people are doing the judging. I'll read a few more verses here. Colossians 2, 18. Let no one disqualify you. Insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you die to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you are still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teachings. These have indeed 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. David, this is a very common, very common argument. What would you say to someone who is saying, look, don't judge me. We shouldn't judge anyone for keeping any days, feast day, Sabbaths, new moons, anyone can do whatever they want, right?

So, yeah, I'm gonna spend a little bit of time on this one because this does come up a lot. And so there's a lot to get into here, but you set it up perf. And that, that is the right question. The, the question you asked earlier is who was doing the judging? And so the standard antinomian interpretation of this passage, and antinomian, it literally just means against law. It's the idea, it's a doctrine which states that Christians are freed from our obligation to obey the law of Moses. That's what antinomian, that's what the word means. And so the standard antinomian interpretation is that Paul is telling his readers who are predominantly Gentile believers, not to let people judge them for not keeping the Sabbath and festivals, because they are merely shadows. And now that the Messiah, who is the substance, has come, the shadows are pointless. Christ has come, and so we don't need the shadows anymore. And so that's a very common understanding of this passage. However, there's a growing number of New Testament scholars who challenge this antinomian reading. For instance, there is a really good paper that I would recommend people read. It's by Dr. Brian Allen, and it was published in the Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters. And the paper is titled Removing an Arrow from the Supersessionist Quiver. A post supersessionist reading of Colossians 2, 16, 17. And in this paper, what Alan demonstrates is that the Colossian believers, they were not being judged for neglecting the Sabbath and festivals, rather they were being judged for keeping them. And so the main question is this, why were Paul's readers in Colossians being judged? Was it for, as, you know, antinomian interpretation suggests, was it for neglecting the Sabbath and festivals, or was it, as Brian Allen suggests, was it for keeping them? Was that why they were being judged? Well, if you read the passage just by itself, without any context, you could literally go either way. So you kind of. The question is, do we have any good reason to prefer one interpretation over the other? And what I want to point out here is that the antinomian interpretation is based on two assumptions. Number one, the Colossian believers did not observe the Sabbath and festivals. That's the first assumption. The second assumption is that their critics were observing them. Hence, based on those two assumptions, it makes sense to interpret this passage as Paul telling his readers not to let critics judge them for neglecting the Sabbath and festivals. However, Brian Allen and other scholars completely undermine this reading by showing how these two assumptions are false. First, we have a ton of evidence in the New Testament itself that both Paul and the earliest Gentile followers of Christ observed the Sabbath and festivals. The Book of Acts repeatedly mentions Gentile believers attending synagogue services on the Sabbath alongside Jewish believers. In 1 Corinthians 5. 8, Paul explicitly instructs the Jewish and Gen Gentile believers at Corinth to celebrate Passover outside the Bible. We have historical sources that show that during the second century A.D. gentile congregations in Asia and Asia Minor and the church Colossae is in Asia, okay, they were still celebrating Passover at the time, at the same time that Jews celebrated it. So this is in the second century, and there's a You know, we see this in Eusebius, right? There is a big debate between the churches in the east and the west about when to sell, celebrate the Sab, when to celebrate Passover. Do we do it the same time the Jews do it or do we do it on the Sunday after the time that Jews do it after the 14th of Nisan? And so there's a ton of evidence that, that Jews and Gentiles were continuing to observe the, the festivals in the 2nd century. According to two 5th century church historians like Socrates, Scholasticus and Sozomen, almost the entire Christian world outside of Alexandria and Rome continued to keep the Sab as late as the, as late as the fifth century. So there is good evidence in support of the idea that Gentile believers in the first century, including the Colossians, would have observed the Sabbath and festivals alongside Jewish believers. So we shouldn't just accept the assumption that they weren't observing these things.

Well, David, how do you, how do you know that these people, these Christians were of the persuasion that they, that they are keeping the Sabbath? How do you know they're not a group? One of the groups that were breaking away were saying, no, we're not going to do that. You know, what would you say to someone who's saying that?

I would say prove it in the text. If you could demonstrate that in the text, that would be a good start. So far all you have is this verse in, you know, Colossians 2:16. But we've already established that that verse is ambiguous. It could go either way. But, but let's, let's talk about the second assumption. So I said the first assumption was that the Gentile believers were not keeping the, the Sabbath and festivals. And we've demonstrated that there are at least good reasons to doubt to that assumption. Okay, so even if you don't want to grant it outright, I think there's enough there to say there are good reasons to at least put that assumption in doubt. Okay, well, let's add to that what's wrong with the second assumption? The second assumption is that the critics did observe these commandments. But is that accurate? Did the critics who were judging the Colossian believers, did they observe the Sabbath and festivals? Not according to a growing number of New Testament scholars who identify these critics as cynic philosophers. And you can read the work of Troy Martin. He wrote a book on this called By Philosophy and Empty Deceit. Read the article I mentioned by Brian Allen and also A Day of Gladness by Harold Weiss. He also makes this argument, but basically Paul says That and Petey read it earlier. You read it earlier when he said the Colossians. The opponents, Paul's opponents in Colossians, they were promoting, quote, human precepts and teachings, okay? So they're pushing human precepts and teachings onto the believers. And when you look at how Paul describes these human precepts and teachings, they closely resemble those of the ancient Cynics. For instance, Paul says, let no one judge you in, quote, eating or in drinking. Okay, So a lot of translations, that's verse 16, a lot of translations will have in food or drink. This is probably more accurately translated as eating or in drinking, as the young's literal translation has it. And the ancient cynics would often criticize people for drinking wine and enjoying festive foods. The Cynic philosopher Krates, for example, he writes to his young disciples, he says, quote, accustom yourselves to eat barley cake and to drink water and do not taste fish and wine. So here you have that. Do not taste, right? Do not handle, do not touch. Paul quotes his opponents in the passage, the cynic philosopher says, do not taste wine and fish. Troy Martin writes, quote, cynics practice an extreme asceticism that not only forbids eating, but also touching or handling commodities not naturally produced. Cynics divide all consumer goods into durable and non durable or perishable commodities. Cynics reject non durable goods like wine, cakes and gourmet foods, as well as clothes, shoes and houses. Durable commodities permit them to drink water, eat natural foods, go barefoot, sleep on the ground, and wear only a single cloak. And so the idea is that since the Sabbath and festivals often involved drinking wine and drinking, eating festive foods, it makes perfect sense that the cynics who were opposed to those things would be critical of those activities. They'd be critical of the believers for their eating and drinking during the festivals, Sabbath, new moons, and so forth. Additionally, the cynics condemned the use of calendars. Here's another quote from Troy Martin. He says cynic sources contain few references to time because the cynics disregard time beyond the hours of the and these hours are only of relative usefulness. Instead of organizing their lives according to a system of time, they prefer to live day by day, contentment and happiness. For the cynic means ignoring temporal constraints. The anticultural cynic movement disparages the cultural phenomenon of time. This cynic attitude toward time promotes a pungent critique of the Christian regulation of communal life by a religious calendar. The cynic considers this practice a useless waste of effort that detracts from the true pursuit of morality and happiness. So there is much more that could be mentioned. And I would refer you to Troy Martin's book by Philosophy and Empty Deceit. But based on the evidence that Martin and others provide, Paul's opponents, if they were adherents to cynic philosophy, they would not be observing the Sabbath and festivals. In fact, they would think that celebrating these days was immoral. And they, they looked at especially because what. What does Paul later go on to say? He says that they are shadow of things to come. They are. They are point toward future, a glorious future time. It's pointing to the kingdom to come, the age to come. And. And so the cynics were against that because they thought of hope as a threat to happiness and contentment. You know, you're supposed to live day by day. You're not supposed to have hope for the future, because if you have hope for the future, there's a threat of being disappointed. And so that, you know, you can't be happy if you have hope. So that's what. Yeah. One of the reasons that Paul repeatedly emphasizes hope throughout the letter. Were you gonna say something?

Yeah, yeah. That this mindset, you know, David, it's not actually that foreign even today in different. Not at the same level necessarily, but there are even people who are Christians today who have a certain slant of pleasure is evil or comfort is evil. Now there's danger. And if pleasure or comfort becomes your idol, it takes you away from God or if it's sin. Right, of course. But the asceticism that's been spoken of here, like if you just Google that word and anyone can Google this, you know, I just did. It says it's a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Right. So this idea that anything that's comfortable or has pleasure is bad for my spiritual growth. That's why even in Yeshua's day, you know, he was being criticized for, you know, wine, bibber and you know, certain things that he allowed pleasure to a degree in certain. Like he attended a wedding, he turned water into wine. And then you have the father in Deuteronomy 14:26 with the Feast days, which. Right, that's this whole topic right now. He's saying, and spend the money for whatever you desire, oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice you and your household. So the. One of the core things that God has behind the feast is rejoice, have pleasure involved when you Rejoice before me for, well, what the Father has done for us. But if your mindset is like you just described of the Cynic philosophers, that any pleasure, any feasting, any community, thing like that, that is actually not, that's inhibiting spiritual growth, you can now see how these people would be the ones that Paul's talking about pointing the finger at people keeping biblical feasts, saying, don't do that, that is not helping your spiritual growth. And Paul is saying, don't let them judge you because these are things the Father has given us.

Yeah, that's beautifully put. Yeah. And just to add another reference to that, Isaiah talks about the age to come, the coming kingdom. It says, on this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And so, and then it goes on to talk about, let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. So, yeah, that's a picture of the age to come. That, that's what, that's how Isaiah describes the coming kingdom is. It's going to be, you're going to have gourmet food, you're gonna be, you're gonna be enjoying, you're gonna be rejoicing, you're gonna be, yeah, you're gonna be, you're gonna be drinking the best wine. Right? And so the, it makes sense for Paul to call the festivals and Sabbath a shadow of things to come because the, the coming kingdom is going to involve eating and drinking. It's going to involve celebrating and rejoicing. In Colossians 2:16, Paul's opponents would be judging his readers for keeping the Sabbath and festivals for, for enjoying and celebrating and rejoicing and eating and drinking during the Sabbath and festivals. That is why they were being judged, they were neglecting them. But for observing them and celebrating real quick, just that note on A shadow of things to come, many make this, many take this to mean that the Sabbath and festivals, they are symbols that point to Christ's work on the cross, right? He, he came, he died on the cross, he fulfilled these things. And so now they're, they're no longer important. And it's true, festivals do point to Christ's work on the cross, like Passover is a perfect example of this. But that doesn't seem to be Paul's point here, number one, because he says things to come. So this indicates that these are things that have not yet occurred for the Colossian believers. The Sabbath and the festivals, then they, they point to future events. They're not pointing backward to Christ's work on the cross. They're pointing forward to the age to come. If we say that these observances point to Christ as the substance, the Sabbath and the festivals, they point to Christ, he's the substance of the shadow. That would include, that would have to include not just his past work on the cross, but also his future work in bringing about God's kingdom. Because it's future tense. We are still waiting for Christ to bring the full substance of his kingdom into the world. And so we can't say that, oh, he fulfilled these things already. They're, they're irrelevant. Like, no, Paul says they're, you know, he, he gives them value. He says, you know, they're, they point to things to come and, and Christ is ultimately going to bring all the things to come. He's going to bring the full substance of that. It's the same as, as Hebrews 4, as we were talking about earlier. This, this is a way of expressing the value of the Sabbath and festivals. You should keep the Sabbath and festivals because they glorious things to come.

Well, if, if the Sabbath and the feast days, if all of these things are pointing to the Messiah, that's really their design purpose, to teach us about him, to grow in relationship with Him. Then the fact that he has ascended and said, I'm going to come back and I'm leaving your Holy Spirit. And now we've, you know, this has been 2000 years. These things continue to draw us and others near him. And they still hold an important role because we still, we are not face to face, as Paul writes, we see dimly right now, but then face to face. And so for now we have all of these things that the Father has left us, that for at least for now and likely into the next age, will continue to play that role in telling the biblical story and timeline and gospel and everything the Lord has done and will do. So. Yeah. Thank you, David. That was beautiful. I really appreciate you breaking that down for us.