Holy Days and Celebrations
Dan Ford, 10-2013
The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 2:16-17:
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or
of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come: the body is of Christ.” (KJV)
• In this passage Christ’s Church is confirmed to be free from observing Jewish ceremonial holy days.
• Christians were freed in respect to calendared holy day observances such as the feasts of Passover,
Tabernacles, and Pentecost that were major holy days in which Jewish men were obliged to appear
publicly before the Lord. These are fulfilled in Christ, and Christians have also been freed from the
ritualistic meals particular to various Jewish Sabbath celebrations in families or at synagogues.
• The holidays were never binding upon the Gentiles, and Christian Gentiles under the Gospel had no
obligation. Believing Jews were also freed from them as having their accomplishment in Christ.
• Holy days were not to be imposed upon Christians, nor were they condemned for neglecting any.
“In Respect” The Greek word for the phrase “in respect” literally means “in any part” or “in division.”
• Some take Paul’s meaning to be that no one should judge or condemn Christians for not participating
in any part of a Jewish holy day since we are not obliged to observe them at all.
• Others regard it as having no obligation to the holy days as they are divvied up on the calendar.
• Others take it as freedom from any part of a public or private observance of holy days. The sense
is to let no one condemn your church’s or your family’s non-observance of days, new moons, or the
various Sabbath feasts in any capacity. Paul’s inclusion “of the Sabbath days” did not mean the weekly
Lord’s Day which is kept holy to the Lord; he meant the Jewish sixth-day observance, the jubilee
Sabbath that was one year in fifty, and the Sabbath of the land that was one year in seven. These were
peculiar to the Jewish people and have never been binding upon the body of Christ.
Thoughts and Applications
• God, not man, authorizes all holy days unto Him. Publicly at church, “holy days” (regarded as such
by either a Jewish calendar or a non-Jewish calendar) are not to be imposed. It was the sense of the
Jews themselves that Gentiles were not obliged to publicly or privately keep such days, and the New
Testament punctuates that point for Jewish converts as well as Gentile Christians.
• Since only God authorizes holy days, Christians at home are by no means obliged to observe any
imposed by the church. No “days” should be imposed on private families other than an observance of
the weekly Lord’s Day that should be kept (publicly and privately) holy unto the Lord.
• We don’t have seasonal “holy days” as such either privately or publicly. For example, July 4 th is a
seasonal day celebrating God’s blessing rather than a day that is more “holy” than any other.
• Families are free to commemorate or celebrate whatever days we want as long as the occasion is
not repugnant to our faith in Christ, but we are discouraged from thinking of them as special holy
days. In public or private we can get together to honor any historical or otherwise blessed event, or to
respect any notable person or number of people with feasting appropriate to the occasion. This includes
everything from familial birthdays and civic anniversaries to showers, receptions, and distinctly
Christian festivities, but not in competition with or distraction from the one day held holy by the Lord.