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INTRODUCTION <\/p>\n
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As Pastor Sumpter pointed out last week, Israel\u2019s calendar was part of her pedagogy. <\/span> But Paul says that we are now full-grown sons (Galatians 4:1-7) and appears to associate observing days and seasons with reversion to childhood (Galatians 4:10-11; Colossians 2:16-17, 20-21). <\/span> Is recognizing a church calendar an act of Judaizing? <\/p>\n <\/p>\n THE TEXT <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBeware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. <\/span> For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily . . . .\u201d (Colossians 2:8-23). <\/p>\n <\/p>\n JUDAIZING <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Colossians, as in Galatians, Paul addresses the problem of Christians reverting to the old covenant patterns of life and worship. <\/span> He reminds Gentile Christians tempted to seek circumcision that they are already circumcised in Christ (2:11-12). <\/span> He warns about inappropriate adherence to the Jewish festival calendar (2:16). <\/span> He warns them not to conform to the elementary commands about food and impurity (2:20-21). <\/span> Jesus grants everything Judaism promised; and what isn\u2019t in Christ was shadow anyway (2:17). <\/p>\n <\/p>\n THE FULLNESS OF DEITY <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The transition from old to new, Paul says, depends on the work of Jesus. <\/span> Colossians includes some of the richest statements about the incarnation and work of Christ in the New Testament. <\/span> Jesus is the \u201cimage of the invisible God,\u201d the \u201cfirstborn of creation\u201d (1:16). <\/span> \u201cFirstborn\u201d doesn\u2019t mean that Jesus is created or made, but that He fulfills the role of a firstborn, administering the Father\u2019s things and carrying on the Father\u2019s name; as firstborn, He has first place in everything (1:18). <\/span> In Him dwells the \u201cfullness\u201d (1:19), and that fullness of God dwells in Him in a bodily form (2:9). <\/span> He has come to reconcile everything in heaven and earth \u201cthrough the blood of His cross\u201d (1:20) and to be the \u201cbeginning, the firstborn from the dead\u201d (1:18). <\/span> Jesus\u2019 work focuses on the law. <\/span> The law is an indictment, and by His death Jesus removes the indictment and frees us from the law\u2019s condemnation (2:13-15). <\/span> Jesus\u2019 death brings us, as Paul says elsewhere, from the ministry of condemnation and death into the ministry of righteousness and life (2 Corinthians 3:9). <\/p>\n <\/p>\n DEATH AND FREEDOM <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 death is a liberating death, but it also means we have died to the \u201celementary principles\u201d (2:20), the childhood ordinances of Israel. <\/span> What does this mean about keeping a calendar? <\/span> In Galatians 4:9-11, Paul seems to condemn keeping a calendar per se, but elsewhere his emphasis is on our freedom. <\/span> Because Jesus delivered us from the indictment of the law, we are not to judge, or let ourselves be judged, by adherence to festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths (2:16). <\/span> In Romans 14:5-6, whether or not we observe days and dietary laws is left to our own conscience. <\/span> In all these passages, Paul has specifically Jewish regulations in view. <\/span> Christians of the first century are not to identify the boundaries of the people of God by circumcision, food laws, or Sabbath-keeping. <\/span> The same principle applies to us. <\/span> Observing a calendar is a matter of freedom. <\/span> Some Christians observe Advent, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. <\/span> Others don\u2019t. <\/span> And that\u2019s just fine. <\/span> We are not to let food or days or seasons become occasions for strife or division. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" INTRODUCTION As Pastor Sumpter pointed out last week, Israel\u2019s calendar was part of her pedagogy. But Paul says that we are now full-grown sons (Galatians 4:1-7) and appears to associate observing days and seasons with reversion to childhood (Galatians 4:10-11; Colossians 2:16-17, 20-21). Is recognizing a church calendar an act of Judaizing? THE TEXT \u201cBeware […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-colossians"],"yoast_head":"\n