Counterfeit Spirituality - Part 2 - A Warning Against Legalism

Paul’s first warning in Colossians 2:16 was about being judged concerning your diet. The false teachers were saying if you really want to be spiritual you have to return to the Old Testament dietary laws. When Jesus came He abolished dietary laws. He said to the Pharisees who were offended by His eating and drinking habits: “Are you so dull?. . . Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach and then out of his body”, (in saying this Jesus declared all foods “clean” (Mark 7:18-20; Matt.15:1-20). Peter’s vision settled it for him. He saw a sheet lowered from heaven with both clean and unclean food and God spoke. “Then a voice told him, ‘Get up Peter kill and eat!’, ‘Surely not Lord!’ Peter replied, ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean’. The voice spoke a second time, ‘Do no call anything impure that God has made clean!’” This happened 3 times (Acts10:13-16). The next day he went to Cornelius’ house (a Gentile) and spoke to a large crowd of people, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean” (Acts10:28). This breaks down all barriers of racial prejudice. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:8— “But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do”. The New Testament tells us all food and drink is lawful. We are not to judge others or allow anyone to pass a religious judgment on us in regard to food and drink.
Paul’s second warning was about days. The Jews had their special feast days (Lev.25) and their “new moon” celebration (Isa.1:13) and their Sabbaths (Ex.20:9-11). When Christ came He fulfilled them all. We no longer celebrate the Sabbath because we now worship on the “Lord’s Day”. Here’s 10 reasons Christians are not required to worship on the Sabbath.
1. The Sabbath was the sign to Israel of the Old Covenant (Ex.31:16-17; Neh.9:4; Ezek.20:12) we are no longer required to keep the sign of the old covenant.
2. The New Testament nowhere commands Christians to observe the Sabbath.
3. The New Testament church meets on Sunday the first day of the week (1Cor.16:2; Acts 20:7).
4. Gentiles in the Old Testament were not expected to keep the Sabbath nor were they condemned for failing to do so.
5. No one kept the Sabbath before the law of Moses.
6. The Jerusalem council did not impose Sabbath keeping on Gentile Christians (Acts 15).
7. Paul warned the Galatians against many sins but never about breaking the Sabbath.
8. Paul rebuked the Galatians for thinking God expected them to observe special days— including the Sabbath (Gal.4:10-11).
9. Paul taught keeping the Sabbath was a matter of Christian liberty (Rom.14:5).
10. All the early church fathers taught that the Old Testament Sabbath had been abolished and that the first day of the week was when Christians should meet for worship.