December 15, 2001, Vol.1,
No.12.
Two new articles every two weeks.
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us.
THIS ISSUE: "The
Ten Commandments, Part 7" (see below)
and "The Ten Commandments,
Part 6"
The Ten Commandments,
Part 7:
"Let No One Judge You In Sabbaths"
by Keith Sharp
The apostle Paul combated the inroads of human philosophy
among the brethren at Colosse (Colossians 2:8) by pointing them
to the fulness of Christ (1:19). As in His fleshly body dwelt
all the fulness of deity, He is our fulness (2:9-10). We must
not be led astray from Him by human philosophy (2:8) or religious
practices unauthorized by Christ (2:16-17).
What Christ Has Done for Us
"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven
you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements
that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken
it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Colossians
2:13-14)
As uncircumcised Gentiles, they had been dead by their trespasses
and "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world." (Ephesians 2:12) But God had made them alive
together with Christ (cf. Ephesians 2:4-7) by forgiving their
trespasses when they were baptized (2:11-12) and "wiping
out" (erasing) "the handwriting of requirements."
The apostle Paul refers to the law of Moses as written by hand
(2 Corinthians 3:1-8). This written law was against and contrary
to both Jew and Gentile, in that it excluded the Gentiles from
God's covenant (Ephesians 2:11-16) and imposed a burden of guilt
on the Jews they could not bear (Acts 15:10). Thus Christ took
away the law as an authoritative standard by His death on the
cross.
"Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made
a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it."
(Colossians 2:15)
When Jesus in death entered the hadean realm, He conquered
Satan and his forces who had bound mankind in the power of sin
and death (Ephesians 6:12; 2:1). His resurrection from the dead
and ascension on high was a triumphant victory procession in
which the Lord "led captivity captive" (Ephesians 4:8-10).
Satan used the law to bring mankind into captivity, but the Lord
Jesus Christ broke the bonds of sin and set the captives free.
What We Should Therefore Do?
"So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding
a festival or a new moon or sabbaths," (Colossians 2:16)
We must not submit to judgement by others over the Law's demands.
The Mosaic covenant imposed regulations concerning foods (Leviticus
11). Christ removes all such distinctions (1 Timothy 4:4-5).
The Old Testament forbid one who took the Nazirite vow to drink
anything from the grape (Numbers 6:1-3). The Law imposed a round
of annual, monthly and weekly "feasts of the Lord"
(Leviticus 23; Numbers 28-29). The Sabbath was the first feast
day Moses listed (Leviticus 23:1-3).
The Sabbath has been removed. Since the Sabbath is the fourth
of the Ten Commandments, this is conclusive proof that Jesus
removed the Ten Commandments as law.
Catholics, Protestants and Seventh Day Adventists unite in
rejecting this truth but clash in application. Catholics claim
the Pope by divine right changed the Sabbath to the first day
of the week, Protestants say Christ changed it to Sunday, and
Sabbatarians claim the Pope illegitimately changed the Sabbath
to Sunday and that we're still to keep the seventh day Sabbath.
They're all wrong. The Roman Emperor Constantine decreed Sunday
to be the day of rest in A.D. 321, almost 300 years before Pope
Boniface III was proclaimed the first universal bishop (Philip
Schaff, History of the Christian Church. 3:380) but over 200
years too late for divine authority. The Sabbath is the seventh
day of the week (Exodus 20:8-10), but the Sabbath is done away
in Christ.
All these religions try to negate this by asserting that,
since the word "sabbath" is plural in Colossians 2:16
and since the definite article "the"is not used before
it, the word does not refer to the weekly Sabbath but to the
monthly and annual feasts. But the plural "sabbaths"
is used (in the original Greek) to denote the seventh day Sabbath
(Matthew 28:1; Luke 4:16; Acts 16:13). And the seventh day Sabbath
is often denoted without the definite article in the original
(Matthew 28:1; John 5:9-10,16).
The apostle used the usual Jewish formula for all the Jewish
holy days in Colossians 2:16. They were annual ("festivals"),
monthly ("new moon"), and weekly ("sabbaths")
(cf. 1 Chronicles 23:30-31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 8:12-13; 31:3;
Nehemiah 10:32-33; Hosea 2:11).
No one really keeps the Sabbath today. The Sabbath was kept
by rest from labor (Exodus 20:10), a holy convocation (assembly)
(Leviticus 23:3), no fire in their dwellings (Exodus 35:3), and
the offering of two lambs in addition to the two offered daily
(Numbers 28:1-10). Anyone who violated the Sabbath was to be
put to death (Exodus 35:2; Numbers 15:32-36).
Shadow or Substance
"which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance
is of Christ." (Colossians 2:17)
The Old Testament, including the Sabbath, was to Christ as
the shadow cast by a body is to the body itself (cf. Hebrews
8:4-5). It was a dim outline of the real; whereas Christ is the
real substance of the heavenly things. Don't turn away from the
real to grasp a shadow.
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