How About the 10 Commandments?

How about the Ten Commandments?

The 10 Commandments is to be observed under the New Testament as well.

The only question is about the Sabbath Commandment because some believers oberseve it, some don’t, while others observe it on a Sunday instead of a Saturday!

God didn’t change the Sabbath from a Saturday to a Sunday.

However, there is a singular verse which puts to rest all arguments for & against the Sabbath observation under the New Testament. Here it is:

“Let no one, then, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of the coming things, and the body [is] of the Christ;” (Colossians 2:16 – 17)

The inspiration of the Holy Spirit to pen those words by Paul is astounding to the last word written.

Why?

Notice ‘what the verse doesn’t say’ namely,

(i) Should Paul intended to say, ‘not keeping the Sabbaths is a sin’, he would have written that. He did not.

(ii) Should Paul intended to say, ‘it is not necessary to keep the Sabbaths anymore’, he would have written that instead, similarly. Again, he did not.

What did he write & mean then in the verse above?

All I can see is that by the 10 Commandments, one must keep the Sabbaths. However, Colossians 2:16 allows “no” one to “judge you” as to whether you keep it or not especially as a Gentile believer.

In other words, keeping or not keeping the Sabbaths, as a Gentile believer (like me, to whom the letter is addressed to), I can do either way & “not” be judged by anyone who ridicules my keeping or not keeping of the Sabbaths. That is, God’s Word protects you from Judgment with regard to keeping or not keeping these particular things mentioned in this passage especially the Sabbaths.

Thus, a Gentile believer has a freedom to keep it or not as he is “convinced in his mind” (the verses below say that God accepts both who observe that special day & those who don’t) agreeing also to these set of verses below as ‘observing a special day’ certainly includes (but is not limited to) the “Sabbaths” as well.

“One doth judge one day above another, and another doth judge every day [alike]; let each in his own mind be fully assured. He who is regarding the day, to the Lord he doth regard [it], and he who is not regarding the day, to the Lord he doth not regard [it]…” (Romans 14:5, first part of verse 6)

“Thou — who art thou that art judging another’s domestic? to his own Master he doth stand or fall; and he shall be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” (Romans 14:4)

(iii) No Judging others with regards to these things ‘only’:

It is judging another believer for not observing or for observing it is ‘what Scripture condemns’ as it is written too:

“let not him who is eating despise him who is not eating: and let not him who is not eating judge him who is eating, for God did receive him.” (Romans 14:3)

“And thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or again, thou, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand at the tribunal of the Christ;” (Romans 14:10)

All that matters is what we meant when we observe or do things for the Lord in a certain way (e.g. the style of worship I wish to do):

“so, then, each of us concerning himself shall give reckoning to God;” (Romans 14:12)

(iv) The ‘one who is judging’ is the one primarily mentioned in the verse below to put a ‘stumbling or offense’ to the ‘one doing it for the Lord in his way’ (and not the other way around) as it is written:

“no longer, therefore, may we judge one another, but this judge ye rather, not to put a stumbling-stone before the brother, or an offence.” (Romans 14:13)

(v) Romans 14 and Colossians 2:16 agree perfectly (Context).

Each subtopic mentioned in Colossians 2:16 is explained in greater detail in principle in Romans 14 such as with regards to “food and drink”, “observance of special days” and even “Sabbaths”.

In short, the meaning is:

For these things (food and drink, observance of feasts and even Sabbaths) ‘only’ either way of living to “observe them or not observe them is allowed” by God  —-> meaning implied by ‘let no one Judge you’.

Among these things mentioned in the verses quoted, only the ‘Sabbath’ is from the Ten Commandments. So, though we are to keep ‘all’ the Ten Commandments, God has ‘decided’ NOT to Judge any “Gentile” (Context of Colossians 2:16) with regards to “Sabbath Observance” and hence commanded ‘no one to Judge us’ based on these things especially in regards to the Jewish Way of observing these.

A common Fallacy is to apply Colossians 2:16 and Romans 14 to things NOT mentioned in these passages and say that ‘there is NO Law’ to observe contradicting ‘other Laws’ for Gentile believers which exist to be observed such as it is written in Acts 15:29, Acts 15:19 – 20, 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Corinthians 11 etc.) as it is ‘commanded by our Blessed Lord to the Gentiles through apostle Paul’ (1 Corinthians 14:37). Judgment for it is 1 Corinthians 14:38.

The Laws to be observed by Gentile believers such as Acts 15:29 are mentioned in the context of being Saved by Grace and these complement each other as Acts 15:11 clearly implies.

(vi) Can I do extra obedience to God by observing more Laws from the Law of Moses as a Gentile Believer?

No! and teaching others such doctrine is rebuked by Holy Scripture!

“Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” – apostle Peter (Acts 15:10)

So, by ‘claiming’ extra obedience (say by keeping the tithes law or circumcision law which pre-dates the Law of Moses but are enforced through this), one actually ends up “putting God to the Test” instead of ‘pleasing God’ more. We are to ‘obey’ ONLY  what is written in the New Testament verses and NOT add/remove anything from it as the burden of ‘which part of the Law to observe and not’ are already decided by God through His Apostles as Acts 15:22 – 23 clearly reveals too. We do NOT need any new manipulations to ‘what is written’ and obey it ‘as it is written’ (Acts 15:24 – 25).

Scripture writes that this is the ONLY conclusion regarding the ‘which Law of Moses part’ that the Gentiles must obey which is ENDORSED (‘seem Good’) to the HOLY SPIRIT of God (Acts 15:28). Let us be cautious to please the Holy Spirit of God by obeying it too likewise.

How about topics not mentioned in New Testament Scripture such as Cigarettes?

You may decide it for your own selves which is right as Scripture didn’t discuss these things back then simply because these things were non-existent or were not practiced by the believers at that time (hence such issues are not discussed and we may exercise our wisdom rightly in such things and be held accountable for it later during ‘Judgment’):

“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?” – Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 12:57)

Example, for me:

Nothing is unclean in itself (e.g. worshipping God in a rock way in the Lord Jesus if we wish to do it, only wrong when we worship Satan for example using that music genre); to quote, “knowing this”:

“I have known, and am persuaded, in the Lord Jesus, that nothing [is] unclean of itself, except to him who is reckoning anything to be unclean — to that one [it is] unclean;” (Romans 14:14)