“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:”
—Colossians 2:16.....I know there are a lot of people around who ‘quote’ the Bible and believe everything it expounds. But what the hell does that quote mean? A guy tells me he doesn’t like liver, he doesn’t like Yuengling, he don’t believe in the Easter Bunny, and says the moon is still the old moon, and WHAT is a sabbath day?
It was basically a statement by the Apostle Paul against the Judaizers who wanted to put the Christians back under the bondage of the Hebraic law. He was urging Christians not to let men judge them and put them back in bondage. For many in the early church, Christ wasn’t enough. For salvation they wanted to add adherence to certain aspects of Jewish law and custom (circumcision being a notable example) to faith in Christ, just as many continue to do this very day. But Christ fulfilled the law. He came to set men free. All those things required under the old law were mere types and shadows. They were things given that pictured various attributes of Christ and aspects of Christ’s work.
Salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. When we attempt to add law-keeping or good works to Christ’s atoning death on the cross we negate grace. Grace and works are antithetical.
And a sabbath day in Old Testament was a day of rest that pictured the Christian believer’s ultimate rest in Christ. A Christian lays everything down and looks to Christ alone for salvation.
Christs sacrifice on the cross meant an end to the Jewish legal system. The ceremonial laws concerning material things like ritual washing, meats and drinks were over. This was a bitter pill for the Jewish people (and especially their spiritual leaders) to swallow. They were the chosen people. There's even a verse (or two) exclaiming "All Israel shall be saved". It was even a SHOCK to them salvation was even available to the Gentiles! Things were changing. People don't always react well to change.
A day devoted to God. All people are to obey Gods laws and by that I mean the Ten Commandments which commands obedience to the 7th day Sabbath.
But there were additional sabbaths added for various reasons. Those are no longer valid. The first four of the Ten Commandments (KJV)relate to mans duty to God and the last six are mans duty to fellow mankind. It can be summed up in love God and love all mankind.
Beware the person who doesn't like Yuengling. :-)
There’s an awful lot of noise in the religious world that serve to take our eyes off the most important things. I’m a Baptist, a Calvinist, and a young Earth creationist out of biblical conviction. However, I also know that men are saved by Christ, not by a perfect understanding of doctrine. I’m not all that interested in convincing men to adopt all of my views, but I’m very interested in spreading the gospel of free grace. I want men to know Christ, the real Christ of the Bible who came to seek and save the lost, the Christ of the Bible who willingly gave His life for sinners like me. He went to that cross with my sin on His shoulders. He paid the penalty for my sin, something I couldn’t do in an eternity.
A lot of churches today simply aren’t preaching and teaching the gospel. All churches have some sort of gospel, but there’s only one that can save a man’s eternal soul. Here’s a link to a good solid explanation of that soul-saving gospel. This is a well-made short movie. I know one of the three men in the movie. He’s very hopeful many will see this little film and come to know the Lord.
Unpopular the Movie
https://youtu.be/97k4z6Qe7JM
Romans 1:16 says “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”