Paul on Sabbath Observance Pt. 2

“But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father. So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as children. And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 

“However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again? You observe DAYS, months, seasons, and years. I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you.

“I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong, but you know that because of weakness in the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time. That which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn’t despise nor reject; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What was the blessing you enjoyed? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.  So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

 

^“They zealously seek you in no good way. No, they desire to alienate you, that you may seek them. But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you—but I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.” Galatians 4:1-20 – Cf. Col. 2:8, 14-23 

^“Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman. However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

“For it is written, ‘Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you who don’t travail. For the desolate women have more children than her who has a husband.’ Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. However, what does the Scripture say? ‘Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.’ So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.” Galatians 4:21-31

“Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me. I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you.  

^“But from those who were reputed to be important—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me, but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised—for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles—and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, those who were reputed to be pillars, gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision. They only asked us to remember the poor—which very thing I was also zealous to do. 

“But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, ‘If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do? We, being Jews by nature and not Gentile sinners, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law. 

“‘But if while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!’” Galatians 2:1-21 

“Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified? I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain? He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Even so, Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.’ Know therefore that those who are of faith are children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you all the nations will be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. 

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.’ Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ The law is not of faith, but, ‘The man who does them will live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,’ that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

“Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, ‘To descendants’, as of many, but as of one, ‘To your offspring’, which is Christ. Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.

“Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law. 

“But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed. So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 

^“For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:1-29

“Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law. You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision amounts to anything, but faith working through love.

“You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little yeast grows through the whole lump. I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed. I wish that those who disturb you would cut themselves off. For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants to one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.” Galatians 5:1-15 

“See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand. As many as desire to make a good impression in the flesh compel you to be circumcised, just so they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even they who receive circumcision don’t keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, so that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel. From now on, let no one cause me any trouble, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus branded on my body.” Galatians 6:11-17

“I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different ‘good news’, but there isn’t another ‘good news.’ Only there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Good News of Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed. As we have said before, so I now say again: if any man preaches to you any ‘good news’ other than that which you received, let him be cursed. For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:6-10 

4:10 This verse can be read either as a statement of fact (NIV), “You are observing special days,” or as a question, “Are you beginning to pay attention to special days?” In either case, Paul probably was reacting to a report he had received concerning the inroads made by the agitators among the Galatian believers. It may be that the special observances mentioned in this verse were a first step in the “higher life” program of the Judaizers. Once they had persuaded the Galatians to submit themselves to such calendrical rituals, then the decisive step of circumcision could be imposed more readily. This interpretation is reinforced by the present tense of the verb paratēreisthe (“you are observing”) together with the fact that Gal 5:2 indicates that the Galatians had not yet accepted circumcision. 

Paul linked four measurements of time, each of which likely refers to certain aspects of the Jewish system of religious feasts. Thus days could refer to the weekly Sabbath observance as well as to other feasts celebrated for only a day; months, to the new moon rituals mentioned in Num 10:10; seasons, to the great annual feasts such as Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (cf. 2 Chr 8:13; Zech 8:19); and years, to the Year of Jubilee, the Sabbatical Year, and the New Year celebrations. Burton probably is correct in claiming that the four terms without mutual exclusiveness cover all kinds of ritual celebrations and calendar dates the Jews observed at that time.

Some Christians have found in this verse a general prohibition against any special observances or regular religious festivals including the annual celebrations of Christmas and Easter as well as other seasons of the Christian calendar. For example, when the Pilgrims came to America, they refused to celebrate Christmas in any special way, regarding it merely as another workday of the year. However, for Paul, just as circumcision was neither good nor evil in itself, so too the observance of special feast days and holy seasons was neither mandatory nor inherently blameworthy. In Rom 14:5–6 he observed: “Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord.”

Obviously Paul was concerned that the Galatian believers would be drawn into a religious system where adherence to certain cyclical celebrations was regarded as obtaining or maintaining a favorable standing with God. This is a recurring temptation for believers in all ages of church history. In medieval times Roman Catholics were taught that the ritual of annual confession and Easter communion was a minimal requirement for being a member of the church in good standing. Today in many evangelical churches thousands of “nonactive” members throng to worship services at Christmas and Easter assuming that such semiannual pilgrimages are all the Lord requires of them. Whatever the context, a religion of “days, months, seasons, and years” can never lead to liberation from the weak and beggarly elemental spirits whose grasp can only be escaped through faith in the one who came “in the fullness of time.” (Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary [Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994], pp. 316–318)

10. It is not certain whether the ‘elemental spirits’ of verse 9 (or ‘elements’) are actually identified by Paul with these months and seasons, now being observed in Galatia, or whether such customs are only an example of slavery to these elements by ‘returning to the infants’ class’ in the religious world, which seems preferable. The days and months and years could refer to the liturgical calendar of orthodox Judaism, with its sabbaths, ‘new moons’ and ‘sabbatical years’,³⁵ and in view of the situation in Galatia, this would suit best. They could equally well of course refer to the quasi-magical observances that we know to have been rife in Ephesus and, presumably, in other parts of Asia Minor too (Acts 19:19). Heterodox Jews as well as pagans certainly practised these arts, as we see from Acts 19:13. In inter-testamental days, the Jews displayed immense interest in the calendar, probably considered from this aspect of ‘lucky days’: pseudepigraphical books like Jubilees give examples. It is not essential to see Jewish influence in these observances, though it is likely; in all forms of paganism, there is some form of ‘casting horoscopes’, with consequent ‘lucky’ and ‘unlucky’ days. However, if there is a direct reference to the observance of Jewish festivals, then this is yet another demand made by the Judaizers, in addition to their insistence on circumcision. We have seen that 2:12 probably refers to insistence on the observance of food laws as well: that would make three demands.

³⁵ An obvious and immediate application would be to the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, presumably now for the first time introduced as an obligation. Paul seems to be referring to this in Romans 14:5–6. The Sabbath was obviously not observed universally among the early Christians, outside of Palestine at least. (R. Alan Cole, Galatians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 9, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989], pp. 164–165)

Why Are You Returning to Slavery? (4:9–10) It must have come as a shock to the Galatian Christians to read these words. After all, they had no intention of returning to their former way of life in paganism. On the contrary, they were attempting to make progress in their new spiritual life by learning and observing the Mosaic law, which prohibited pagan idolatry. Yet now Paul is asking them why they are turning back to those weak and miserable principles. Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? he asks. 

Paul’s words all over again raise the alarming possibility that turning to the observance of the Mosaic law after conversion to Christ is actually comparable to taking up a pre-Christian position of pagan worship. Furthermore, Paul’s use of the phrase those weak and miserable principles to describe both the Galatian believers’ observance of law after their conversion and their pagan religious experience is parallel to his use of “the basic principles of the world” to describe the pre-Christian condition of the Jewish people under the law of Moses (v. 3). The only way to understand Paul’s equation of observing the law and pagan worship is to recognize that whenever the observance of law takes the place of Christ as the basis of relating to God, it is as reprehensible as pagan worship.

Pagan religions are weak and miserable principles. They are weak because they do not have the power to overcome the guilt and power of sin; they are miserable, poor and impotent because they cannot impart a new life. In the same way the Mosaic codes are weak and miserable principles. The Mosaic law “declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin” (3:22), but it is powerless to set anyone free from the chains of sin. And the Mosaic law is not able to impart life (3:21). Therefore to substitute observance of the Mosaic law for complete reliance on Christ is just the same as returning to pagan worship. 

An illustration of the weak and miserable principles to which the churches in Galatia were turning is given by Paul in verse 10*: You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! Evidently the Jewish calendar had been instituted in the Galatian churches. They were planning to observe the regulations for weekly sabbath days, monthly new moon festivals, annual festivals like Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, and the sabbatical years. They must have been led to believe that their observance of these holy days and festivals would draw them closer to God. What foolishness! How could people who have already received adoption as children of God and are praying “Abba, Father” in the Spirit, people who know God and are known by him, start to depend on the observance of holy days for their relationship with God? Isn’t this obviously a return to those weak and miserable principles that characterized their lives in paganism?

My Chinese colleagues at Trinity Theological College in Singapore have recently been expressing their concern that some Chinese churches are sounding more Confucian than Christian. Their point is that Chinese Christians are in danger of turning their faith into a version of Confucianism, which was what they followed before their conversion to Christ. In their Confucian background they maintained high moral standards. But they were not able to enter into a personal relationship with God by their moral achievements. In fact, they experienced unresolved guilt for not being able to live up to their own standards. When they first met Christ, they focused on their newfound personal relationship with God the Father, which they enjoyed through faith in Christ by the presence of his Spirit in their lives. But slowly their center of attention changed. They put more and more emphasis on the high moral standards of their Christian faith. They began to lose sight of what God had done for them in Christ and began to concentrate on what they must do to inherit “the good life.” They were especially drawn to the Old Testament’s legal codes. Then they formulated those moral laws in the familiar terms of their own Chinese cultural background. So my colleagues shake their heads with concern when they say of some fellow believers, “I’m afraid they sound more Confucian than Christian.” (G. Walter Hansen, Galatians, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), Ga 4:9–10)