THE APOSTLE PAUL - AUTHOR OF CONTRADICTION
ON THE WEEKLY SABBATH DAY?
by Keith Hunt
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
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