Various Scriptures Used To Say The Dietary Instructions Are No Longer Valid

I am not going to address Act 10 since I have written a lengthy blog about that already but I am going to look at these little verses in the Bible that seem to specifically talk about food that I have also used to justify doing away with YAHWEH's dietary instructions. 

Math 15:1-3,11

Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
"Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves also break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 

It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth, that defiles the person.

I find it works best for me not to approach any passage in the Bible with the assumption that somewhere else the Bible clearly explains that God's Torah has been done away with, but to just take each passage on its own. In the passage where Jesus says that its not what a man eats that makes him unclean the topic in question is ritual washing of hands. The Pharisees ask about a Rabbinical law, the ritual washing of hands before eating , which is not found in God's Torah, and Jesus response corrects then and through out the chapter he constanly rebukes them for obeying man made rules instead of obeying God's Torah.

In context I cannot find any way to use this passage to say that Jesus taught we are not supposed to follow God's Torah, especially since He even affirms it by telling the Pharisees not to break it. Jesus statement about not being unclean in context is saying that eating with unwashed hands does not make you unclean. For me to make it say more than that is to insert my own predetermined beliefs.

Col 2:16 

Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day--

Repeating my mindset, I cannot apporach this passage with a predetermined view that somewhere else in the Bible there is a clear teaching that Torah has been done away with. What is this letter and passage about. Also since this is a letter from Paul it is helpful to know what is Pauls mindset toward the Torah

Here are just a few references of Paul’s attitude toward the Torah

Acts 21:24“...Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself [Paul]  are living in obedience to the Torah.”

Acts 24:14.Paul testifies he agrees with everything in the law and the prophets as mentioned in  “... I believe everything that agrees with the Torah and that is written in the Prophets,”

Paul’s writings were deep (very deep), so much so that they created confusion for many. In fact, he was falsely accused of preaching against Moses, of which Paul in Acts 24 went out of his way to disprove.

Acts 21:21 They have heard that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to that prescribed by law (ethos) .

 An accusation that is still being spread about Paul today.  In 2 Pet 3, Peter warned against those who misrepresent Paul to mean lawlessness, so I want to be careful before I accuse Paul of opposing the Torah. 2Pe 3:16-17 ..in all his letters,.., in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore,  you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.

So now I want to go through the train of thought in this chapter

Col 2:14-23 

having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken 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 are to come; which the reality,  is found in the Messiah. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:  "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?  These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Having the whole context of this passage I do not think that Paul , (who kept the Sabbaths and the Festivals) would classify YAHWEH's instructions as rules belonging to this world, taught by those who worship angels, human commands. There no clear teaching in this passage that the Torah is done away with or why. It is more likely and consistent that Colosse being a very large very pagan city, Paul is encouraging the minority believers to not feel bad if you are riducled for following the the Torah. As Jews/Believers were riducled all through time.  Yes the Sabbath and the Festivals are shadows of things to come. They are given to us to teach us and forewhasow what is to come. In the Messiah we find the reality and taste of the future age. In some ways Jesus took the future and started invading our present with the future. But the fullfillment of the Sabbath's and the Festivals is not yet come. 

Rom 14:14  

I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of food (broma), you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your food (broma) destroy someone for whom Christ died.

That verse by itself does not teach against the Dietary laws. The greek word for food - broma is never used to describe animals that are forbidden so there is no reason to assume that is what it means here. For the intended audience of this letter food  would be what God’s Word already defines as food according to Leviticus 11. There would be no reason for these believers to all of a sudden to start eating what God has not described as food in His word and the context of this letter clearly shows that the argument that was going on in Rome was eating food that had been sacrificed to idols. The argument was not over eating beef or pork. In order to make that argument I would have to come to this passage with the assumption that somewhere else in the Bible there was a clear teaching that said Gods' Instructions have been done away with and I would expect Paul to reference it or restate and explain the reasons to the Romans. Otherwise I am just making these verses say whatever I want them to say. 

The debate that happened here in Rome and at other places in the scriptures was always about someone trying to twist that what God's Word said we could eat had somehow become unclean, either by not washing your hands or where you bought it from or the cups or plate were not clean, or you will be more spiritual, etc. Also, at the beginning of this chapter Paul clearly said he was going to address arguments over opinions or doubtful matters. I do not believe Paul would put YAHWEH's Instructions in that category. 

Heb 9:9-10 

"This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings--external regulations applying until the time of the new order."

Hebrews chapter 9 is all about the sacrifice of the Messiah fulfilling the symbolism of the temple sacrifices. YAHWEH's dietary instructions are not the topic and this is clearly not a teaching that YAHWEH's instructions about food has been done away with. 

Heb 13:9 

Do not be misled by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

Immediately I feel that Paul would never classify YAHWEH's words as "varied and strange teachings". 

Chapter 13 Paul is summarizing things he talked about in his letter. This obviously refers back to people twisting God's words. There is no way to make this into a clear teaching that YAHWEH's Instructions about food have been done away with.

These next versus about food I think a very self expanatory. None of them consititute a clear teaching that YAHWEH has changed His mind on what He wants His creation to eat.  

1Co 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.

1Co 8:13  

Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

1Ti 4:3 

They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.

I examined Acts 10 in a seperate blog and found it was not a teaching about changing what is food we should eat. I cannot find a clear teaching anywhere in the Bible that does that. I think the reason I thought YAHWEH had changed His mind about His dietary instructions comes from the my larger assumption that YAHWEH had changed His mind about all of His Instructions (Torah). I know that seems very inconsistent and contradictory to the same belief I carried that YAHWEH is the same yesterday, today and forever. But I have not yet found a clear teaching that the Torah has been done away with. I have found clear teachings that the curse of breaking the Torah has been done away with. I have found clear teachings that trying to keep the Torah will never save me. I do find in Ezekial (11:19-20 and 36:26-27)  that the new covenant will give me a new heart that will make me want to keep YAHWEH's Torah and I do read scriptures that say if I love YAHWEH,  I will keep His commanments, not for salvation but in the ways a child obeys their parent because they love and trust them. 

This is the journey I am on, to determine if the assumption in Christianity, that I was born into and have held all my life,  has any Biblical basis and where is this assumption clearly taught in the Bible. This assumption was so strong that I never once questioned it. No preacher at any Chruch I have ever been to has ever questioned this assumption. This assumption is woven so deep into my brain and life and environment that even questioning it makes me nervous and makes those around me think I have gone off the deep end. But once I began to sincerely question that assumption and put real effort into studying God's word, that assumption has began to crumble and I am beginning to see God's word in a whole different much more consistent way. Stories and themes from the Old Testament mesh and open up whole new understanding in the New Testament. Its a great jopurney and I invite you to participate with me, with your insights and questions and comments. 

Shalom

YAHWEH bless you, and keep you  Num 6:24

 

Shabbat

 

Because of the stories about Jesus and having conflict with religious leaders over how to do the Sabbath, there has been an unfortunate reflex, unintended I think by the gospel authors, that cast a negative atmosphere over the Sabbath and the guidelines for observing it as being legalistic or rule-oriented instead of God-oriented. And that's totally wrong. In Biblical history, it's so beautiful what the Sabbath means. YAHWEH’s instructions about the Sabbath are worthy of being followed just like parents establish guidelines for how we work as a family in our house should be followed: we don't yell at each other, we say "please", we share things. Those are rules, and it would be totally missing the point to call those rules legalistic?". So, to call YAHWEH’s instructions of how we should do family with Him “legalistic” misses the point.

 

YAHWEH says the Sabbath day is His Day. Six days I live (pretend I am) as master of my fate, in control of my own time. One day a week YAHWEH says I am to do that day the way He says do it. But it’s not for His good, in the end its for my good.

 

There's something beautiful when I stop the hustle and bustle, I stop acting like I’m the center of the universe or that my work is the center of the universe, or that my striving and work is keeping everything glued together and I simply dwell with my family and God.

 

Sabbath in the Hebrew Scriptures means a lot of things, but at its most basic is that “I stop”. The word Sabbath (“Shabbat”) means "stop". In Hebrew there are other words for rest. Like in English we think of laying down and relaxing and being rejuvenated. To do those things you have to Shabbat. But the word Shabbat, its basic meaning is to cease from, to stop.

 

The Sabbath command is repeated twice. The Bible gives different reasons for why I Shabbat, stop. They're not contradictory, but they're different. The Bible doesn't try to be an exact handbook on how to observe Shabbat. It's more interested in teaching me the meaning of Shabbat. Which is why the meaning of Shabbat is introduced on page 1 of the Bible. And in true meditation literature style, it doesn't come right out and tell me the meaning of Shabbat. It keeps developing. Its not until I am 70 chapters into the Torah, that I get a command about the Shabbat, by then If I have been reading and paying attention I already know a lot about what that seventh- day rest means. I have been very educated by Exodus 20. The Scriptures does tell me about the development of the Shabbat practice within the storyline of the Old Testament, but the practice of Shabbat is just one way to think about it, there's something way bigger going on, which is about this design of time all culminating in a seventh day, which is bigger than just what I do on Friday night. What I do on Friday nights is one of many symbolic narrative pointers to a larger theological idea.

 

The practice of the Friday sundown to the Seventh day sundown (Sabbath) as its described in the Scriptures is just one of the  ways that the Sabbath idea is explored and talked about and developed.  A little confusing is that Sabbath (Shabbat) word is also used to describe all Holy days. There are many Sabbaths (Lev 23) and there are many ways and words that the “all culminating seventh-day” concept gets developed. First, what do I mean by the “all culminating seventh day” concept. Well, that concept starts with the first Sabbath in the Bible, the one in Genesis 1.  There is so much going on in Genesis 1. In many ways Genesis 1 tells the whole story or outlines the whole story of the gospel. But that is such a large topic I am going to save that for another blog.

 

At the moment I am looking at only the Sabbath day in the creation story. In the creation story, every day is defined by “there was evening and there was morning” except for the seventh day is not defined that way. There is not a stated "evening and morning" for the seventh day.  It’s as if the seventh day never ends. Right at the beginning, the concept of eternally being with God is tied in with being the seventh day. Of course, humans blow it and we lose the chance for that to continue and everything else in the course of the Bible is to bring us back to the garden of Eden to dwell with God for eternity. I am given several different reminders of this and several ways to experientially practice this anticipated restoring of what we lost. The seventh day as the culmination of history. A theme unifying the whole storyline of the Bible. And the weekly seventh day Shabbat points to it, but so does the Year of Release and so does the Jubilee as do all the Feasts.

 

Another interesting thing is the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments (actually “Ten Words”) but it’s the one commandment that Christianity explicitly overlooks. Western Christianity repeatedly affirms the other nine but the one about the Sabbath gets completely ignored or in some Christian traditions replaced by another day (Decree of Constantine in 321AD, 336Ad according to Catholic Catechisms)¹  or reinterpreted as simply an allegory. When Christianity does that, it loses the deep meditation and theological revelations that the Bible brings through the Sabbath.

 

The 10 Commandments (Words) appear twice in the Bible, Exodus 20 and Deut 5. Both say "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." (set apart with honor). How do I remember it? I keep it. And as I keep it, I am remembering it. But there's a little difference. In Exodus 20:11, it says do to it because YAHWEH did it, then in Deut. 5 it says "do it and remember that I was in slavery and also so that my male servant and my female servant may rest along with me." Paul talks about being slaves to sin. That whole identity of slavery is super crucial from Exodus narrative on. As the Sabbath concept develops through the story of the Bible, I discover in different stories that there are different ways and angles and facets that reveal so many important principles and tie together the whole Bible. One of the main facets is the fabric of creation as leading towards a great goal, where humans imitate God and join Him in ceasing from work and labor. But there's going to be another facet that's all about being enslaved to our labor and slaves to something. So, the seventh day is the time to celebrate our liberation from slavery so that we can rest with God. There is also themes of learning and demonstrating trust. Throughout the Bible, God sends little tests to His people to see if they will trust Him. Gather manna six days a week but even though you are in the desert with no water and no food do not gather on the 7^th day. This is before the Sabbath instructions have been given but the rhythm of 7 that started in Genesis is given to the newly rescued Israel. A test, will I inconvenience myself and cease from my labor and thinking I am the center and cause of all and instead practice recognizing one day a week that YAHWEH is my true provider and practice and demonstrate I can trust Him.

The Sabbath (Shabbat) is a beautiful and big theme. The Sabbath Rest is the idea that all of history will culminate in a time where humans and God will rule together on earth and rest in peace. The weekly Sabbath, the weekly celebration to recognize that this reality is coming and it’s the heartbeat behind all of the festivals in the Biblical Calendar.  Jesus started his ministry on the Sabbath day reading from the scroll of Isaiah  saying the ultimate Sabbath, the ultimate Jubilee would come through Him, and slaves will be set free and debts forgiven. In Mathew 12 Jesus calls Himself the Lord of the Sabbath. He is claiming that He is the one who brings us back into fellowship with God and the ultimate rest and will lead God's people to the ultimate Jubilee., the Sabbath day that will last forever. 

 

Is the weekly Sabbath inconvenient? Yes, but as Bible scholar Dr. Tim Mackie says, it’s the most basic building block for understanding time and space and the rhythm of YAHWEH’s universe. And at some point, the Sabbath’s, all of them, become a source of joy and reflection and meditation and revelation. It’s a physical practice that develops my spiritual muscle of trust and dependence.

 

There is so much more to explore about YAHWEH’s Sabbath’s, but I hope these initial thoughts will give you reason to reconsider YAHWEH’s Sabbath and help you find why He commanded it.

 

Shalom.

 

NOTES

1. About 100 years before Christianity, Egyptian Mithraists introduced the festival of Sunday, dedicated to worshiping the sun, into the Roman Empire. Later, as Christianity grew, church leaders wished to increase the numbers of the church. In order to make the gospel more attractive to non-Christians, pagan customs were incorporated into the church's ceremonies. The custom of Sunday worship was welcomed by Christians who desired to differentiate themselves from the Jews, whom they hated because of the Jews' rejection of the Savior. The first day of the week began to be recognized as both a religious and civil holiday. By the end of the second century, Christians considered it sinful to work on Sunday.

The Roman emperor Constantine, a former sun-worshiper, professed conversion to Christianity. Constantine named himself Bishop of the Catholic Church and enacted  the first civil law regarding Sunday observance in A.D. 321.

“On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrate and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however, persons engaged in agricultural work may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain growing or for vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.” - Schaff's History of the Christian Church, vol. III, chap. 75.

Four years later, in A.D. 325, Pope Sylvester officially named Sunday "the Lord's Day," and in A.D. 338, Eusebius, the court bishop of Constantine, wrote, "All things whatsoever that it was the duty to do on the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) we (Constantine, Eusebius, and other bishops) have transferred to the Lord's Day (the first day of the week) as more appropriately belonging to it."

In the Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 

Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday....

Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.

Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her!
- Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50.

In Catholic Christian Instructed,

Q. Has the Church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God?
A. ...Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God's worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.

- The Catholic Christian Instructed in the Sacraments, Sacrifices, Ceremonies, and Observances of the Church By Way of Question and Answer, RT Rev. Dr. Challoner, p. 204.

In An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,

Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.

Q. How prove you that?
A. Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the Church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest of the feasts by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.
- Rev. Henry Tuberville, D.D. (R.C.), (1833), page 58.

In A Doctrinal Catechism,

Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her. She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.
- Rev. Stephen Keenan, (1851), p. 174.

In the Catechism of the Council of Trent,

The Church of God has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday.
- p 402, second revised edition (English), 1937. (First published in 1566)

In the Augsburg Confession,

They allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's day, contrary to the decalogue, as it appears; neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, they say, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the ten commandments.
- Art. 28.

"For centuries millions of Christians have gathered to worship God on the first day of the week. Graciously He has accepted this worship. He has poured out His blessings upon Christian people as they have sought to serve Him. However, as one searches the Scriptures, he is forced to recognize that Sunday is not a day of God's appointment... It has no foundation in Scripture, but has arisen entirely as a result of custom," Frank H. Yost, Ph.D. in The Early Christian Sabbath.

 God, "with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning"
James 1:17

For I YAHWEH do no not change
Malachi 3:6 

 "My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips"
Psalm 89:34.

 "I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it"
Ecclesiastes 3:14.

 "The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness"

Psalm 111:7-8.

 
The gospel writers record Jesus and the apostles going to the synagogue on Sabbath as their practice (Luke 4:16 ). Jesus said, "I have kept My Father's commandments" (John 15:10). The women who went to anoint His body after his death "rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56).

 'And he will speak against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law;
Dan 7:25