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The early
church held a Church-wide council to decide if Christians were
required to keep the
Old Covenant law.
The
Jerusalem Council (A.D. 49/50).
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.” 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.
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. 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. 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 addressed the
council.
Acts 15:7-11
says, “And after there had been much debate,
Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers,
you know that in the early days God made a
choice among you, that by my mouth the
Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. And God, who knows the heart,
bore witness to them, by giving them the
Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he
made no distinction between us and them,
having cleansed their hearts by faith. 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? But we believe that
we will be saved through the grace of the
Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
The council’s
decision.
Acts 15:22-29
says, “Then it seemed good to the apostles
and the elders, with the whole church, to
choose men from among them and send them to
Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent
Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading
men among the brothers, with the following
letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and
the elders, to the brothers who are of the
Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia,
greetings. Since we have heard that some
persons have gone out from us and troubled
you with words, unsettling your minds,
although we gave them no instructions, it
has seemed good to us, having come to one
accord, to choose men and send them to you
with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who
have risked their lives for the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent
Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell
you the same things by word of mouth. For it
has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us
to lay on you no greater burden than these
requirements: that you abstain from what has
been sacrificed to idols, and from blood,
and from what has been strangled, and from
sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves
from these, you will do well. Farewell.’”
Notice that it was the Holy Spirit that
made these requirements, and the Apostles
were careful to say that “no greater burden”
was to be laid upon the Gentiles than these
four requirements. The Church leaders made
it clear to all the churches that they would
never place the burden of keeping the Mosaic
Law upon the new converts.
The four requirements were:
1)
That you abstain from what has been
sacrificed to idols;
2) from blood;
3)
from what has been strangled; and
4) from
sexual immorality.
Those were the
only restrictions placed upon the new
converts. Nothing is said about keeping the
Sabbath, or the dietary restrictions from
the Law of Moses. It is also important to
note that the controversy in Acts 15 seems
to be concerned with Jews and Gentiles
coming together for fellowship and meals.
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, 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. And having
disarmed the powers and authorities, he made
a public spectacle of them, triumphing over
them by the cross.
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. These are a shadow of the things that were
to come; the reality, however, is found in
Christ.” (NIV)
False teachers in the
Colossian church were evidently insisting on
abstinence from certain foods and the
observance of certain days, contrary to the
gospel. Paul said that those things were
only shadows of what was to come and have
been made obsolete by the coming of Christ
(Heb. 8:13). Shadows are not solid or
permanent, they only exist because some
physical object has cast the shadow. The Old
Covenant ceremonies were types and shadows
pointing forward to Christ, He is the
substance. Now that he has come, the
ceremonial aspects of the Mosaic Covenant
have no further use because they were
fulfilled by Jesus Christ (Col. 2:16-17;
Heb. 8:5; 10:1). No one has the right to
judge anyone regarding those issues.
The phrase “a festival or a new moon or a
Sabbath day” refers to the annual, monthly,
and weekly holy days of the Jewish calendar
(1 Chron. 23:31; 2 Chron. 2:4; 31:3; Ezek.
45:17; Hos. 2:11). The weekly seventh day
Sabbath is clearly meant because Paul had
already mentioned the ceremonial festivals
and new moons and would have no reason to
repeat himself.
No one has the
right to judge you regarding the days you
set apart for God or the types of food you eat.
Romans 14:5, 12, 13
says, “One person regards a certain day
above the others, while someone else
considers every day alike. Each one should
be fully convinced in his own mind. . .
So then, each of us will give an account of
himself to God. Therefore let us stop
judging one another. Instead, make up your
mind not to put any stumbling block or
obstacle in your brother’s way.” (BSB)
We labor in vain when we try to live
by the Old Covenant law.
Galatians 4:8-11 says, “Formerly, when you
did not know God, you were slaves to those
who by nature are not gods. But now that you
know God, or rather are known by God, how is
it that you are turning back to those weak
and worthless principles? Do you wish to be
enslaved by them all over again? You are
observing special days and months and
seasons and years! I fear for you, that my
efforts for you may have been in vain.”
(BSB)
The entire Old Covenant was abolished in
favor of the New Covenant.
Ephesians 2:11-18 says, “Therefore
remember that at one time you Gentiles in
the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by
what is called the circumcision, which is
made in the flesh by hands— remember that
you were at that time separated from Christ,
alienated from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers to the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were
far off have been brought near by the blood
of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who
has made us both one and has broken down in
his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by
abolishing the law of commandments expressed
in ordinances, that he might create in
himself one new man in place of the two, so
making peace, and might reconcile us both to
God in one body through the cross, thereby
killing the hostility. And he came and
preached peace to you who were far off and
peace to those who were near. For through
him we both have access in one Spirit to the
Father.” (NIV)
Paul used the strong transitional phrase
in Ephesians 2:13 that said, “But now in
Christ Jesus” to point the Gentiles to their
new relationship in Christ. The Gentiles
were no longer in their alienated state.
They could know Christ personally, take part
in God’s covenant blessings and have
complete fellowship with God (1 Jn. 1:3;
John 17:21-23; 2 Pet. 1:3-4).
Christ
abolished the dividing wall by fulfilling
it, and removing the law’s condemnation for
all those who believe (Matt. 5:17-19; Acts
15:1-29; Rom. 8:1-4; Heb. 9:11-14; 10:1-10).
When we are in Christ, we become a new
person, part of a new human race made in the
image of Christ, the second Adam
(1 Cor. 15:45, 49; Eph. 4:24).
Christians live under a totally
different covenant than Israel did.
Hebrews 8:13-9:4 says, “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.
Now
even the first covenant had regulations for
worship and an earthly place of holiness. 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. Behind the second curtain
was a second section called the Most Holy
Place, 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. Such is the
confidence that we have through Christ
toward God. Not that we are sufficient in
ourselves to claim anything as coming from
us, but our sufficiency is from God, 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.
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, will not the
ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
For if there was glory in the ministry of
condemnation, the ministry of righteousness
must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this
case, what once had glory has come to have
no glory at all, because of the glory that
surpasses it. 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 are
blind guides who have a veil over their
hearts and minds!
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
says, “Therefore, since we have such
a hope, we are very bold. 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. 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. Even to this
day when Moses is read, a veil covers their
hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the
Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the
Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is freedom. 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.”
The rest God wants us to enter into is the
rest of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
The New Covenant
rest that God promises us is the assurance
of salvation in Christ Jesus alone. Just as
God rested after his work of creation, we
too can find physical and spiritual rest
when we stop working to earn our salvation
and trust completely in the eternal life
that Christ has already given us (Heb.
4:9-10; Matt. 11:28; John 3:16; 5:24; 17:3;
Rom. 6:23; 1 Jn. 2:25).
The New
Testament explicitly teaches that
Sabbath-keeping along with all of the other
ceremonial requirements of the Old Covenant
Law are not required for Christians under
the New Covenant (Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8;
Acts 15:1-28; Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11;
Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-18; 2 Cor. 3:3-11;
Heb. 3:7-4:13; 8:6-9:4; 10:23-25).
Every
day is a Sabbath rest for those who put
their faith in Jesus Christ alone for their
salvation!
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