Doug, Israel was given to the Jews should Germans move in and claim it too?
God ordained a plan that the saviour of men would come to the world through the seed of Abraham. He led and protected and disciplined and gave prophecy and signs to them about this special privilege. God is God of all things, but he did not ordain to send Jesus as a Roman.
Those Holidays were remembrances of Gods work in THE NATION OF ISRAEL, signs that he loved them and he had elected them as His people.
Read that Doug, you are not a Jew, that is not your history, Those holidays even today are a remembrance to them
You just show what low esteem you have for the work of Christ, HIS work was for men of all races and nations. That is the thing that we have to celebrate. That He had sheep from other flocks . The Jew 1st and then all mankind. You demean the gift of Christ as Saviour by needing to add to it the legalism of the Pharisees
Christ kept them BECAUSE HE WAS A JEW. Jesus was without sin, failing to observe the laws would have been sin.
Christ kept them because he is God. They are God's feasts therefore Christ kept HIS own feasts, the feasts he created:
Did Luke keep the Jewish feasts? What of Stephen the man chose as the first martyr?
Is there ANY RECORD that they were told or taught to observe the Jewish law.
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Ane He has absolute right to do as he wills with what he creates.
"One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observed the day, to the Lord he does not observe it." (Romans 14:5-6a).
"So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ . . . 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." (Col. 2:16, 20-22)
Doug, Jesus was a Jew, He was "under " Jewish law as a man . As sinless and perfect He kept the law as it was given by His Father.
That was the OT time and the OT laws . He himself heralded the beginning of the NT by celebrating the feast of Passover and changing its meaning. READ it Doug
1. There is no record that Paul ever taught that the feasts of our Lord, Jesus Christ, were ever done away with. If he had we would see a controvery as great as the controvery they had over circumcision. 2. I've cited passages in another post that specifically show that early Christians observed the feast days of Christ. 3. There is absolutely no injunction saying that Christians can not and should not observe the holy days that Jesus Christ created.
Those Holidays were given to the Jews, remain a sign to the Jews. I did not say they were " done away with" .
Point 2
The "Christians" that observed them were the JEWISH Christians , not the Roman or greek Christians.
Read the words of Paul again
"So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ .
Point 3
I did not say there was an injunction , that Christian may not celebrate them. We have Christian liberty we are free to do that , but it is no spiritual benefit. It is not a command, it is not even suggested in scripture. It (law keeping) adds not one thing to our standing before God. Christ is the righteousness of the Saved believer. We have and can earn no righteousness on our own
Rom 10:4 For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
First of all they are not holidays. They are HOLY days. They are holy because they are imbued with the presence of the Lord.
Secondly, these holy days were not "given" to anyone. These days, as I keep stating, are God's Holy days:
Lev 23:4 These [are] the feasts of the LORD, [even] holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
You can talk around this fact, try to rationalize it away, or ignore it...but it won't go away because it's the truth...scripture can't be broken.
You just show what low esteem you have for the work of Christ, HIS work was for men of all races and nations. That is the thing that we have to celebrate. That He had sheep from other flocks . The Jew 1st and then all mankind. You demean the gift of Christ as Saviour by needing to add to it the legalism of the Pharisees
On the contrary, God's holy days are for the benefit of all mankind. In the future, when Christ returns, all nations will celebrate the holy days that Christ created. The evidence of this is in the prophechies of Zechariah - :
Zec 14:16 And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. Zec 14:17 And it shall be, [that] whoso will not come up of [all] the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
Zec 14:18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that [have] no [rain]; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zec 14:19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
When Christ returns I pray that you are still not hard hearted about this issue and will keep his feast days Terry. Why wait until then though? Why not now?
Did Luke keep the Jewish feasts? What of Stephen the man chose as the first martyr?
Of course they did. These days were part of the culture and life of their society at the time...just like holidays in the United States are to most people today.
"One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observed the day, to the Lord he does not observe it." (Romans 14:5-6a).
The problem with using this verse in support of NOT observing Christ's holy days is that it doesn't mention the holy days. The NT when referring to God's Holy days uses the word:
heorte
Of uncertain affinity; a festival: - feast, holyday.
This word, or variations, occurs close to 30 times in the new testament and always refers to God's holy days.
In contrast, "day" in "observes the day" in Romans 14 is the word:
hemera
Feminine (with G5610 implied) of a derivative of ημαι hemai (to sit; akin to the base of G1476) meaning tame, that is, gentle; day, that is, (literally) the time space between dawn and dark, or the whole 24 hours (but several days were usually reckoned by the Jews as inclusive of the parts of both extremes); figuratively a period (always defined more or less clearly by the context): - age, + alway, (mid-) day (by day, [-ly]), + for ever, judgment, (day) time, while, years
Hemera is used 387 times in the NT but is never used to refer specifically to a holy day. I urge you to research this usage on your own.
Those Holidays were given to the Jews, remain a sign to the Jews. I did not say they were " done away with" .
Holy days Terry, holy days. If they were not done away with then they are still holy. Your creator and mine still have feast days that they made holy.
The "Christians" that observed them were the JEWISH Christians , not the Roman or greek Christians.
I think the burden of proof is on you for this. Paul specifically tells "jewish" christians and gentile christians alike to celebrate at least one holy day:
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast (heortazo), not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth.
"So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ .
That does not mean what you think it means. Explain this: Paul wrote this, by most scholars estimates, over 20 years after the death of Christ. Yet Paul says that the feast days ARE...not WERE...ARE a shadow of things to come. ARE a shadow. Why does Paul believe, 20 years after the death of Christ, that the feast days ARE a shadow of things yet future, things yet to come? The answer of course is that they are. Christ will return...the fall feasts picture the return of Christ and the millenial kingdom.
did not say there was an injunction , that Christian may not celebrate them. We have Christian liberty we are free to do that , but it is no spiritual benefit.
On the contrary I've found that observing God's feast days have great spiritual benefits. That's why God made them. God does nothing in vain.
You should study on this topic some more. Try reading God's Holy Day Plan . I know that you've already rejected the celebration of Christmas as being a non-Christian tradition. This is the same. Man by his tradiiton has usurped the wisdom of God and made God's holy days irrelevent to most Christians. That's shameful.