Throwing out circumcision is throwing out cutting of flesh. Throwing out feasts is throwing out celebrating and praising God. It is not the same thing.
Freedom Galatians 5:1
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The law is not the law. There are rules in stone that is law. There is natural law that governs the way the earth works. There is the spirit of the law, God's ways for mankind. There is the spirit of Christ that the law explains. There are laws God gave to help people understand God's law, like diet and circumcision.
Do you have scripture for this? In the Old Testament, you could only attend the feasts when you'd assured the circumcision of your household's males (e.g. Passover). So to do away with the mandatory requirement of circumcision was to do away with the mandatory requirement of the feasts. The Jewish Christians still practiced both for cultural reasons, and that was okay.
I don't think diet and circumcision were differentiated. If anything, there was sin offering for sinning in diet. For uncircumcision, one was cut off from Israel. So circumcision was more important.
No. You are wrong.
The feasts were celebrating the FUTURE Salvation of what God would bring His People.
To partake of a feast pretending that Salvation is in the future when you are Saved by Christ right now is kind of a farce. Its make-believe in order to try and follow a religion that has been done away.
Now we celebrate what the Lord Jesus has done for us directly, and not in a "mysterious" feast pointing to some future act by God that He has in fact already accomplished.
So you can be Christian and celebrate Christ or you can try to be Jewish and insult God by insinuating He still needs to send the Lord Jesus to do the things He has already done.
You want me to produce scripture telling the Israelites why the Lord told them to be circumcised? You want me to do your bible study for you? No. And the Lord did not give the feasts just as a jolly for Him, or as you say a "mandatory" idea. The feasts are celebrating the Lord's plan for our salvation. Not because there is a scripture saying "I give you this to show a plan of salvation". It so happens that they do this, from Passover celebrating Christ giving His blood for us, Pentecost giving us God's law, to the new heaven and new earth.
Scripture tells us how to celebrate this, it is for our pleasure. You can choose to do this or not. But it is not in any way like the cutting of flesh or choosing foods to eat.
Passover celebrates Christ, He is the Passover lamb. Pentecost celebrates the giving of the law both under the old and new covenants. These are not in the future. The Fall feasts are celebrating the future.
And it is the plan of salvation we celebrate, not prophecy.
And circumcision symbolised what was to happen in our hearts. Do you think that circumcision is/was not a celebration of belonging to God, and what He does in our hearts? As for the bible study, it seems to be me doing bible study for you, but to prove a point, see below. The Passover couldn't be kept until all your males were circumcised.
Exodus 12:43-48 And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.
In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.
All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
Are you saying the circumcision and diet is not for our pleasure/health also, at least, anymore than the feasts are? Why do you say this?
We are to be circumcised, except with the new covenant it is not done with cutting skin, it is done in our hearts. The same way with diet. They watched what they put in their bodies as a symbol of what they put in their minds. With the new covenant, we know that what goes in the body is just eliminated, but what we put in our hearts and minds stays. We still watch what we "eat" for our minds.
The feasts are a celebration, a praise. We can still praise and celebrate, but it is flat without the love and caring that a feast brings to it. There is scripture against the diet commands and the cutting flesh commands, but the only scripture about the feasts is when Paul told the Colossians that the Gnostics had no right to tell them they couldn't feast because God was only spiritual and feasting was literal.
Today's Christians use Paul's words to say not to celebrate the feasts because there is a certain date for the feasts and Paul told the Colossians not to celebrate with the winter solstice and spring festival as the pagans did. They celebrate Christmas on a certain date, but cancel feasts because it is dated.
The Only reason I can see for a Christian to partake in any of the Jewish feasts is if they are invited to do so by Jewish friends or family. Or if they converted from Judaism and they do it out of tradition.
Otherwise, it is too desirable for the slaves to slip back into slavery. Like a cigarette smoker, who has quit, telling you it is ok for them to smoke only 1 cigarette on the "holidays".... Maybe it wouldn't hurt a regular person. But the one inclined to cigarettes already it is just a major temptation. Probably one they don't want to even acknowledge because they are attempting to excuse it by just doing it on the "holidays".
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Kind of seems like celebrating the feasts would be the door one would enter in order to be entangled again in the Yoke of Bondage.
I do think Christians could receive blessing and knowledge from studying the feasts and understanding that they are Blessings we receive in Christ. However, they must be careful of the temptation of seeming to be "holier" or "more special" because they think they are following Gods Way. There is no way for us to be more Holy or more Righteous than we are in Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:29-31
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
What I am saying is that to be consistent, you must also apply this to the feasts. As you claim, the feasts are a celebration, a praise. Often Christians celebrate and praise on a Sunday.
But to claim that feasts are necessary to celebrate is the same as to claim that diet must be followed to ensure our minds are pure, or foreskins must be snipped to ensure our hearts are clean.
The mandate for the feasts came in the Old Testament, the same as the laws for diet and circumcision. You can't drop the importance of the latter without dropping the importance of the former.
I think Paul says we do what we do by faith. In Galatians, Paul speaks against circumcision, as many Galatian Christians were believing that their males needed circumcision to be right with God. Today, many Christians circumcise their males with a clear conscience for health or cultural reasons. Physical circumcision isn't wrong (and Paul didn't forbid Christian Jews to continue to practice), but it is wrong to put faith in circumcision as making us holier or more righteous to God. The same with diet - some Christians adopt a biblical type of diet because it is healthier, but not because it makes us closer to God. I think the same applies with the feasts - if you want to celebrate them, that's up to your faith, but for those who don't want to celebrate them, the same as those who don't want to circumcise or diet - that's okay in Christ, also.
If you are a Christian you are an adopted Jew. A Christian listens to God, not to a Jew/gentile struggle. In your mind a feast is "Jewish". In the Lord's mind it is a celebration of His plan for salvation. Your life would be more truthful and in tune with the Lord if you would see the feasts as a praise of God's salvation, and not some Jewish idea with your "if the Jews do it, you must not do it".
Where do you come up with this stuff? Gentiles are graft into the Vine through Christ but they are always Gentiles. One cannot change their ethnicity. God does not change our ethnicity when we are given new life in Christ.
For the cause of Christ
Roger
Isn't it we who are Israel, who are the true Jews and have received the true circumcision?
Romans 2:28 - 29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
No we never become Jews. We are the wild olive that is graft into the Vine. We receive the blessings that are to the Jews because they rejected them at the cross. The verse you cite is speaking of Jews needing to receive Christ just like all other men. No special gospel for the Jews, no special privilege for the Jews.
Ethnicity has no bearing on salvation. Neither Jew nor Gentile all in Christ.
For the cause of Christ
Roger
But, the law remains intact and valid even today. That Jesus fulfilled the law does not mean we are not called to fulfil it ourselves. What changed is only the methodology of fulfilling the law.
Christ Jesus gave us a new commandment, to love one another because it is through love, the whole law of Moses is fulfilled. Even Paul in Romans 13: 8 - 10 tells us to love one another, for he that loves another has fulfilled the law. Continuing, he said, for this, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness. you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment , it is briefly comprehended in this saying , you shall love your neighbour as yourself. Love works no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
This is very straight forward.
Yes, actually, that is exactly what it means.
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Galatians 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
To sum up, it is the decision of the church that to celebrate Christ with a feast is out because it is Jewish. As Constantine wrote, anything the Jews do we are not to do because they are an evil people?
James told us that we are not obligated to do what is simply the custom of the Jews, and it has been decided (based on what?) that this is a custom of the Jews and not a celebration of God's plan of salvation.
I think you are missing out on a wonderful plan the Lord has for us that would add lots to your life. Following the Lord always does. The church has decided to substitute man's plan of Christmas and Easter, with its commercialism and bunny rabbits. They have lots of good in them, but they can't compare to the celebration plans God has for us.
James told us that we are not obligated to do what is simply the custom of the Jews, and it has been decided (based on what?) that this is a custom of the Jews and not a celebration of God's plan of salvation.
I think you are missing out on a wonderful plan the Lord has for us that would add lots to your life. Following the Lord always does. The church has decided to substitute man's plan of Christmas and Easter, with its commercialism and bunny rabbits. They have lots of good in them, but they can't compare to the celebration plans God has for us.
I sum it up this way. God has His plan of salvation. Men have their way of salvation. If you don't like God's way you will choose your own. Romans 1 speaks to this.
There is a way that seems right unto men but the end thereof is death.
Saved by grace wholly apart from works. Living in grace by the Spirit, Word of God.
For the cause of Christ
Roger
In other words, Roger, if God won't repay our praising Him and having a feast to celebrate Him with salvation then we'll show God what is what. We won't feast. That will teach God for suggesting a feast.
Perhaps, but I think better to say that the "yoke of bondage" is anything you do with your own hands to try to make yourself better before God.