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The
Jerusalem Council — A.D. 49/50.
The early
church had to decide if Christians were
required to keep the
Old Covenant law.
Acts 15:1-5
says, “But some men came down from
Judea and were teaching the brothers,
“Unless you are
circumcised according to the custom of
Moses, you
cannot be saved.” 2 And
after Paul and Barnabas had no small
dissension and debate with them, Paul and
Barnabas and some of the others were
appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the
apostles and the elders about this question.
3 So, being sent on their way by the church,
they passed through both Phoenicia and
Samaria, describing in detail the conversion
of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to
all the brothers. 4 When they came to
Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church
and the apostles and the elders, and they
declared all that God had done with them. 5
But some believers who belonged to the party
of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is
necessary to circumcise them and to order
them to keep the law of Moses.”
After some discussion, the
apostle Peter stood up and spoke about the
burden of trying to keep the Old Covenant
Law.
Acts 15:10-11
says, “Now, therefore,
why are you
putting God to the test by placing a yoke on
the neck of the disciples that neither our
fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11
But we believe that we will be saved through
the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they
will.”
The council’s
decision.
Acts 15:19-20 says,
“Therefore my judgment is that
we should not trouble those of the Gentiles
who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain
from the things polluted by idols, and from
sexual immorality,
and from what has been
strangled, and from blood.”
No one is required to keep the Sabbath or the other
ceremonial aspects of the Old Covenant law.
Colossians 2:13-17 says, “When you were
dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision
of your sinful nature, God made you alive
with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14
having canceled the written code,
with its
regulations,
that was against us and that
stood opposed to us;
he took it away,
nailing it to the cross. 15 And having
disarmed the powers and authorities, he made
a public spectacle of them, triumphing over
them by the cross. 16
Therefore do not let
anyone judge you by what you eat or drink,
or with regard to a religious festival,
a
New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17
These are a shadow of the things that were
to come; the reality, however, is found in
Christ.” (NIV)
No one has the
right to judge you regarding the days you
set apart for God, or the foods you eat.
Romans 14:5-12
says, “One person esteems one day as
better than another,
while another esteems
all days alike.
Each one should be fully
convinced in his own mind. 6
The one who
observes the day,
observes it in honor of
the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of
the Lord, since he gives thanks to God,
while the one who abstains, abstains in
honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7
For none of us lives to himself, and none of
us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we
live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to
the Lord. So then, whether we live or
whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to
this end Christ died and lived again, that
he might be Lord both of the dead and of the
living. 10 Why do you pass judgment on your
brother? Or you, why do you despise your
brother? For we will all stand before the
judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall
bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to
God.” 12 So then each of us will give an
account of himself to God.”
We labor in vain when we try to live
by the Old Covenant law.
Galatians 4:10-11
says, “You observe days and months and
seasons and years!
I am afraid I may have
labored over you in vain.”
The entire Old Covenant was abolished in
favor of the New Covenant.
Ephesians 2:11-18 says, “Therefore,
remember that formerly you who are Gentiles
by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those
who call themselves “the circumcision” (that
done in the body by the hands of men)— 12
remember that at that time you were separate
from Christ,
excluded from citizenship in
Israel and foreigners to the covenants of
the promise, without hope and without God in
the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you
who once were far away have been brought
near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he
himself is our peace,
who has made the two
one and has destroyed the barrier,
the
dividing wall of hostility, 15
by abolishing
in his flesh the law with its commandments
and regulations. His purpose was to create
in himself one new man out of the two, thus
making peace, 16 and in this one body to
reconcile both of them to God through the
cross, by which he put to death their
hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to
you who were far away and peace to those who
were near. 18 For through him we both have
access to the Father by one Spirit.” (NIV)
Christians live under a totally
different covenant than Israel lived under.
Hebrews 8:6-9:4 says, “But as it is,
Christ has obtained a ministry that is as
much more excellent than the old as the
covenant he mediates is better, since it is
enacted on better promises. 7 For if that
first covenant had been faultless, there
would have been no occasion to look for a
second. 8 For he finds fault with them when
he says: “Behold, the days are coming,
declares the Lord, when I will establish a
new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah, 9
not like the
covenant that I made with their fathers on
the day when I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt. For
they did not continue in my covenant, and so
I showed no concern for them, declares the
Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after
those days, declares the Lord: I will put my
laws into their minds, and write them on
their hearts, and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. 11 And they shall
not teach, each one his neighbor and each
one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me, from the least
of them to the greatest. 12
For I will be
merciful toward their iniquities, and I will
remember their sins no more.” 13
In speaking
of a new covenant, he makes the first one
obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and
growing old is ready to vanish away.
9:1 Now
even the first covenant had regulations for
worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2
For a tent was prepared, the first section,
in which were the lampstand and the table
and the bread of the Presence. It is called
the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain
was a second section called the Most Holy
Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense
and the ark of the covenant covered on all
sides with gold, in which was a golden urn
holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that
budded, and the tablets of the covenant.”
The Old Covenant was a ministry
of death.
2 Corinthians 3:3-11
says, “And you show that you are a
letter from Christ delivered by us, written
not with ink but with the Spirit of the
living God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of human hearts. 4 Such is the
confidence that we have through Christ
toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in
ourselves to claim anything as coming from
us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6
who
has made us sufficient to be ministers of a
new covenant, not of the letter but of the
Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit
gives life. 7
Now if the ministry of death,
carved in letters on stone, came with such
glory that the Israelites could not gaze at
Moses’ face because of its glory, which was
being brought to an end, 8 will not the
ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
9 For if there was glory in the ministry of
condemnation, the ministry of righteousness
must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in
this case, what once had glory has come to
have no glory at all, because of the glory
that surpasses it. 11
For if what was being
brought to an end came with glory, much more
will what is permanent have glory.”
Those who preach law-keeping have a
veil over their minds and hearts, they are
blind guides.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
says, “Therefore, since we have such
a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like
Moses, who would put a veil over his face to
keep the Israelites from gazing at it while
the radiance was fading away. 14
But their
minds were made dull, for to this day the
same veil remains when the old covenant is
read. It has not been removed, because only
in Christ is it taken away. 15
Even to this
day when Moses is read, a veil covers their
hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the
Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the
Lord is the Spirit,
and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we,
who with unveiled faces all reflect the
Lord's glory, are being transformed into his
likeness with ever-increasing glory, which
comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
(NIV)
There is no command in
the New Testament for Christians to keep any
day of the week holy.
Christians were expected to follow the moral
teachings of Christ and His apostles which
were based on the moral principles taught in
the Torah, but the Sabbath was not made a
requirement for the New Covenant Church. The
Apostle Paul wrote over one-third of the New
Testament and gave instruction on everything
the Church needed to know about living the
Christian life but never even once told
anyone they had to keep the Mosaic Law, or
the seventh day Sabbath. None of the other
apostles did either.
The Old
Covenant is obsolete. Christians live under
the New Covenant with Jesus Christ as our
rest.
Matthew 11:28-30 says,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am
gentle and lowly in heart, and
you will find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light.”
Everyone can enter into God’s rest through
faith in Christ Jesus, “Today.”
Hebrews 4:6-12 says, “Since therefore it
remains for some to enter it, and those who
formerly received the good news failed to
enter because of disobedience, 7
again he
appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying
through David so long afterward, in the
words already quoted, “Today, if you hear
his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For
if Joshua had given them rest, God would not
have spoken of another day later on. 9
So
then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the
people of God, 10
for whoever has entered
God’s rest has also rested from his works as
God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive
to enter that rest, so that no one may fall
by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the
word of God is living and active, sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing to the
division of soul and of spirit, of joints
and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts
and intentions of the heart.”
Every
day is a Sabbath rest for those who put
their trust in Jesus Christ alone for their
salvation!
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