PAUL A MAN OF CONTRADICTIONS—— WITH SABBATH KEEPING

 

PAUL AND SABBATH-KEEPING

by

Keith Hunt

 

SABBATH contradictions of Paul?

Did he Give, Take, and Establish, in one breath?

THE APOSTLE PAUL - AUTHOR OF CONTRADICTIONS ON THE WEEKLY SABBATH DAY? THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE SATURDAY 7TH DAY SABBATH OFTEN TAKE THE FORM OF USING THE WRITINGS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL. ONE ARGUMENT WILL USE THIS PASSAGE OF PAUL, WHILE ANOTHER ARGUMENT WILL USE ANOTHER PASSAGE OF PAUL. IT WOULD SEEM THE AUTHORS DO NOT SEE THAT THEY USE PAUL TO CONTRADICT HIMSELF. AND IF PAUL DID CONTRADICT HIMSELF, OR DID HAVE TWO OR THREE VARYING OPINIONS ON WHO SHOULD OBSERVE OR NOT OBSERVE A WEEKLY SABBATH DAY, AND THAT THE DAY WAS DONE AWAY WITH IN ONE WRITING, YET UPHELD AS SOME DAY IN ANOTHER WRITING, THEN TRULY, PAUL HAD A MIXED UP THEOLOGY, OR THEOLOGY FOR SOME PEOPLE OVER THERE, AND ANOTHER THEOLOGY ON THE SABBATH FOR ANOTHER PEOPLE OVER HERE. WE SEE THIS CONTRADICTION BROUGHT OUT IN TWO PASSAGES: (1) COLOSSIANS 2:16 AND ROMANS 14. COLOSSIANS 2:16 HAS OFTEN BEEN GIVEN AS PROOF THAT PAUL TAUGHT THE WEEKLY SABBATH WAS "DONE AWAY" AND NO PERSON SHOULD BE JUDGED ABOUT OBSERVING A SABBATH .... WELL THE OLD SABBATH OF THE 7TH DAY - SATURDAY, IS REALLY WHAT THEY WANT TO ARGUE AGAINST. MANY PEOPLE USE THIS PASSAGE TO SAY PAUL HERE TAUGHT THE WEEKLY 7TH DAY SABBATH WAS JUST A SHADOW AND WHEN CHRIST CAME THE SHADOW WAS GONE, ALONG WITH THAT OLD SABBATH COMMAND GIVEN ONLY TO ISRAEL. PAUL IT SEEMS IS TEACHING THERE SHOULD BE NO JUDGING CONCERNING HAVING RESPECT FOR SABBATHS. THEY ARE CLASSIFIED AS "RUDIMENTS OF THE WORLD" IN THE CONTEXT. IT WOULD SEEM ON THE SURFACE THE SABBATH IS BY PAUL BEING RELEGATED, TO PERISHING WITH OTHER THINGS GOING THE SAME WAY OF DECAY....AND THAT ARGUMENT CERTAINLY INCLUDED THE 7TH DAY SABBATH. SO, AS MOST CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANT THEOLOGIANS TEACH, COLOSSIANS 2:16 IS A VERSE PAUL USED TO "DO AWAY WITH" THE OLD 7TH DAY SABBATH. YET IN ADDRESSING THE CHURCH AT ROME (CHAPTER 14) PAUL SAYS "ONE MAN ESTEEMS ONE DAY ABOVE ANOTHER: ANOTHER ESTEEMS EVERY DAY ALIKE. LET EVERY MAN BE FULLY PERSUADED IN HIS OWN MIND. HE THAT REGARDS THE DAY, REGARDS IT UNTO THE LORD; AND HE THAT REGARDS NOT THE DAY, TO THE LORD HE DOES NOT REGARD IT....." (VERSES 5- 6). WE HAVE ANSWERED THE SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS OF THESE TWO PASSAGES BY PAUL IN OTHER STUDIES ON THIS WEBSITE. ALL I WANT TO POINT OUT HERE IS: WHY DOES PAUL NOT USE SIMILAR, IF NOT EXACTLY THE SAME WORDS AS WE HAVE SEEN USED IN COLOSSIANS 2:16? IF COLOSSIANS IS DOGMATICALLY TEACHING THAT "DAYS" - ESPECIALLY DAYS OF THE OLD COVENANT - ARE "DONE AWAY WITH" THEN WHY DOES PAUL ALLOW THE CHRISTIANS AT ROME TO DECIDE PERSONALLY WHICH DAYS TO REGARD OR ESTEEM OR OBSERVE? SURELY IN PAUL ALLOWING THIS FREEDOM, HE MUST HAVE KNOWN SOMEONE WOULD THEN CHOOSE TO ESTEEM AND OBSERVE THE SABBATHS AND NEW MONTH DAYS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. SO THE CONTRADICTORY TEACHING OF MANY IS THAT PAUL GIVES CONTRADICTORY ALLOWANCES. TO THE ONE SET OF CHRISTIANS PAUL IS MADE OUT TO SAY "DAYS" OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ARE WEAK SHADOWS THAT ARE ABOLISHED IN CHRIST. WHILE TO ANOTHER SET OF CHRISTIANS, PAUL SAYS THEY CAN PERSONALLY ESTEEM AND REGARD "DAYS" AS THEY PERSONALLY CHOOSE. SOME WOULD THEN HAVE CHOSEN THE SABBATHS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, AND PAUL GIVES NO SUCH WORDS TO THEM AS, "BUT DO NOT CHOOSE OLD TESTAMENT SABBATH DAYS AS THEY ARE SHADOWS OF WEAK ELEMENTS, WHICH ARE DONE AWAY IN CHRIST." PAUL DOES NOT GIVE ANY SUCH QUALIFYING REMARKS TO THE CHRISTIANS AT ROME, HE SIMPLY GIVES THEM THE CHOICE AS TO THE DAYS TO ESTEEM, WHILE SUPPOSEDLY (AS MANY TEACH) HE WAS FORBIDDING THE CHRISTIANS AT COLOSSAE TO OBSERVE THE SPECIAL DAYS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, SUPPOSEDLY EVEN CALLING THEM "RUDIMENTS OF THE WORLD" AND "THE COMMANDMENTS AND DOCTRINES OF MEN" (THE CONTEXT OF COL. 2:16). PAUL IS THEN TAKING AWAY WITH ONE HAND FROM THE CHURCH AT COLOSSAE WHILE GIVING BACK WITH THE OTHER HAND TO THE CHURCH AT ROME. STRANGE THEOLOGY INDEED IF THIS IS WHAT PAUL IS DOING. THEN, WE CAN ADD A THIRD CONFUSION FROM PAUL (I SPEAK WITH TONGUE IN CHEEK) AS FOUND IN HIS ADDRESS TO THE HEBREWS IN HEBREWS 4:9. PAUL (SOME THINK IT WAS SOMEONE OTHER THAN PAUL WHO WROTE HEBREWS - IT DOES NOT MATTER TO THE THEOLOGY STANCE HERE) TALKS ABOUT THE 7TH DAY IN THE PREVIOUS VERSES AND THEN SAYS: "THERE REMAINS THEREFORE KEEPING OF SABBATH (SEE KJV MARGIN) TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD" (VERSE 9). DO YOU SEE WHY PETER HAD TO WRITE THAT SOME THINGS PAUL WROTE WERE HARD TO UNDERSTAND, THAT SOME WHO WERE UNLEARNED AND UNSTABLE TWISTED TO THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION (SEE 2 PETER 3:15-16). YOU NEED TO FIND THE STUDIES ON THIS WEBSITE THAT WILL EXPLAIN THESE PASSAGES OF PAUL CORRECTLY. PAUL NEVER CONTRADICTED HIMSELF. THE WORD OF GOD DOES NOT CONTRADICT ITSELF. YOU NEED TO HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND AS JESUS PROMISED, YOU SHALL BE FILLED!! ........................ Keith Hunt, June 2009