Biblical Holidays 1

The Biblical Holy Days:

An Examination of Their Continuance for Christians Today

Brian Hoeck

Biblical Holidays 2

The Days of the Christian Liturgical Calendar

Most professing Christians today believe that Christmas and Easter are the most important Christian holidays in existence. Curiously however, not a word of these two days is ever mentioned in the Christians’ guide to virtuous living: the Holy Bible. The Scriptures are absolutely silent about their being observed by the early church. One would think if they were held in the high esteem they are today that they would be recorded in the Bible. Instead of Christmas and Easter, we find in the pages of Scripture a church observing the Biblical holidays such as Sabbath, Passover, and Pentecost.

This realization may cause confusion to rise in one’s mind. In modern orthodoxy, the Sabbath and Feasts are regarded as bondage—their observance by Christians as tantamount to sin. Many believe that the Biblical holy days were nailed to the cross with Christ and therefore abolished. The object of this paper is to illustrate that such beliefs are not Scriptural. Jesus and the early church all kept the appointed times of God, and their observance should yet be held by Christians today.

The Biblical Holy Days and Their Significance to the Church

The Biblical holy days are the Feasts of YHVH—they were set apart by Him and belong to Him (Leviticus 23:1,2,4,37,38,44), not just to Israel or the Jews.

The appointed times of God are rich in symbolism for the Body of Christ. They reveal God's plans for the faithful believer, depicting significant events—past, present, and future—in God's plan of salvation.

  • The weekly Sabbath (Leviticus 23:3) is a memorial of creation (Gen 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11), as well as of the Creator—for it is the sign of God’s identity (Exodus 31:13,17). It also serves as a memorial of redemption (Deut 5:12-15). The Sabbath foreshadows the millennial rest of the saints with Christ (Hebrews 4).
  • The Passover (Leviticus 23:5) set forth a picture of the Lamb that God would later provide the children of Abraham. An unblemished lambwas sacrificed on the 14th

Biblical Holidays 3

day of the first month of the year (Passover) to redeem the first-born of Israel, and to provide deliverance from certain death through its shed blood (Ex 12). Christ, the sinless Lamb of God, was sacrificed for our sins on the Passover (Matt 26:2; John 19:14; I Cor. 5:7) in a fulfillment of this day. His blood has covered us from death.

  • The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6-9) is a memorial of Israel's exodus from bondage of Egypt. All leaven and leavened products are removed from the property, and all people partake of unleavened bread daily for seven days (Ex 13:1-10). Leaven is depicted in Scripture as symbolic of pride (1 Cor 4:18; 5:2), hypocrisy (Luke 12:1), and other sin, erroneous doctrines (Matt 16:12; Gal 5:9), and corrupt persons (1 Cor 5:1-11). This Feast serves to remind the people to put all such things completely away from our lives, and to daily partake of the unleavened bread of Christ and God’s word.
  • Although it is not rightfully a holy day (as no Sabbath rest or holy assembly is decreed this day), the Wave Sheaf day (Leviticus 23:10-14) contains an explicit portrait of Christ. The first cut sheaf of the barley harvest is elevated (Lev 23:10) on the first day of the week during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was a picture of the resurrected Messiah (John 20:17), the first of the Firstfruits (I Cor 15:20,23), who was also elevated as He was raised to the Father on the first day of the week that occursduring the Days of Unleavened Bread (John 20:1,19; Mark 16:19).
  • The Feast of First Fruits (Leviticus 23:15-21), also known as Pentecost, provides more insight for the Body of Christ. Two loaves of leavened bread of the firstfruits were elevated (Lev 23:17). This serves as a picture of the resurrection of the living and the dead in Christ at His return.
  • The Day of Trumpets(Leviticus 23:23-25) serves as a call to repentance before the coming judgment. The trumpets proclaim a gathering for worship, to herald thearrival of the King,but is used also to warn/signal of war (Num 10; Jer 4).
  • On the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26-32), the high priest entered the most holy place—the only day in each year—to offer atonement (Ex 30:10). Two goats were chosen, one to be sacrificed for transgressions of all the people, and one to have the sins confessed over it that it might carry the sins away from the people (Lev 16; Ps 103:12). Jesus, our High Priest, offered as our atonement only once (Hebrews 9, 10; Romans 5:10,11) and removed our sin from us (2 Cor 5:21).
  • The Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:33-43) is a memorial of the children of Israel as they sojourned in tents in the wilderness for 40 years prior to entering the Promised Land (Leviticus 23:39-43).Tabernacles means "temporary” or "perishable" dwelling. Although an eight-day festival, the requirement to stay in booths only applies to the first seven days (Leviticus 23:42). Compare to us living in these temporary fleshly tabernacles (2 Cor 5:1-4; 2 Peter 1:13) until we put them off (2 Peter 1:14) and enter the Promised Land in our new incorruptible spirit bodies.
  • The Eighth Day (Leviticus 23:39) is the completion of the Feast of Tabernacles, and a picture of the end of our tabernacling. It pictures the putting off of the tent off our bodies—that is, the resurrection.

Biblical Holidays 4

Although these festivals are depictions of Messiah and/or His bride, the mainstream churches have rejected them. Bacchiocchi (1995) writes that this was initially due to anti-Judaism in the early years of the Church’s existence (pp. 102, 103), but although many professing Christians have moved away from an anti-Judaic stance, the vast years of disregard of God’s Feasts, as well as modern Scriptural misinterpretations, have the Biblical holy days yet pushed away in disdain.

Driver (1988) noted the Scriptures that he believed teach the abolishment of the holy days of God:

As regards the apostles, the Sabbath is mentioned by St. Paul, directly in Colossians 2:16f…and inferentially in Galatians 4:9-11, where the observance of ‘days and months and times and years’ is described as a return to the ‘weak and beggarly elements,’ and Romans 14:5f., where it is implied that it is a matter of indifference whether one day is esteemed above another, or whether every day is alike…The meaning of these passages clearly is that the Jewish Sabbath, like other Jewish ceremonial observances,…or Jewish sacred seasons,…was a matter of indifference to the Christian, and was abrogated under the Christian dispensation (p.322).

These are the three main passages of Scripture from the apostle Paul that are misunderstood in this regard. These three texts will all be examined below. As Driver admits, only Colossians mentions the holy days by name while the other two passages have the holy days of God read into them as he illustrated above. We will also briefly consider Jesus’ teaching and example concerning God’s appointed festivals.

Did Christ Abolish the Law?

Many mainstream practitioners of Christianity erroneously believe that Christ abolished the Law of Moses. This notion flies in the face of His own pronouncement (Matthew 5:17-19). As one born under the law (Galatians 4:4), Jesus kept all of God's Torah, including the annual holy days and the weekly Sabbath. If Christ broke the law it would constitute sin (1 John 3:4) and we would have no worthy Savior.

Biblical Holidays 5

In spite of this generally acknowledged truth, some still misinterpret Gospel portions in an antinomian (that is, lawless) fashion. Hasel (1992) offers correction in this regard:

At times Jesus is interpreted to have abrogated or suspended the Sabbath commandment on the basis of the controversies brought about by the Sabbath healings and other acts. Careful analysis of the respective passages does not seem to give credence to this interpretation. The action of plucking ears of grain on the Sabbath by the disciples is particularly important in this matter. Jesus makes a foundational pronouncement at that time in a chiastically structured statement of antithetic parallelism: ‘The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath’ (Mark 2:27). The disciples act of plucking the grain infringed against the rabbinic halakhah of minute casuistry in which it was forbidden to reap, thresh, winnow, and grind on the Sabbath (Sabb. 7.2). Here again rabbinic Sabbath halakhah is rejected, as in other Sabbath conflicts. Jesus reforms the Sabbath and restores its rightful place as designed in creation, where Sabbath is made for all mankind and not specifically for Israel… (p. 855)

Gerstner (1986) concurs with Hasel—arguing that Jesus in no shape, form, or fashion abrogated the Sabbath. Further, he asserts that the Sabbath is for all mankind and it continues to be a requirement on the part of the Christian:

Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mk. 2:27f.). Although many regard this teaching as tantamount to a rejection of the Mosaic law, Christ actually affirmed the Sabbath by saying it was made not just for Jews, but for mankind, and was not for one time but for all time, presumably. He observed the Sabbath, worshiping and teaching in the synagogue. His conflicts with the scribes and Pharisees concerned His doing good on the Sabbath, which He said did not violate the law (3:2; Lk. 13:14). Since the Sabbath was made for people and not vice versa, people cannot determine or use it as they please. It would then cease to be the Sabbath and become a day that people, not God, define. …If people form the Sabbath in their own image, it does not carry the utility and meaning that Christ attributes to the true Sabbath of God. Thus, in this statement that Christians commonly take today as liberating them from Sabbatical law, Christ actually bound His followers more tightly to it (p. 86)

Indeed, an examination of Jesus’ practice and teaching leaves present day Christianity no excuse for their lack of observance of the Biblical holy days. Jesus upheld the Law and walked in all its precepts.

Let us also assess the practice and doctrine of the church. Did they continue in Jesus’ example?

Biblical Holidays 6

The Example of the Early Apostolic Church

After Christ's death and resurrection, His disciples continued in the Sabbath and the Feasts of the LORD. For sake of brevity, only a short overview will be offered here to provide evidence in this regard.

As the Lord was entombed, the women who came with Him all rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment (Luke 23:56). They and other members of the church did not believe that the holy day was nailed to the cross with Christ. The book of Acts records time and time again the Sabbath observance of the church. Hasel (1996) notes:

The Sabbath is mentioned in connection with the establishment of churches in Pisidian Antioch (13:13-52), Philippi (16:11-15), Thessalonica (17:1-9), and Corinth (18:1-4)…Paul, as Jesus before him, went to the synagogue on the Sabbath “as his custom was” (Acts 17:2; cf. 24:14; 28:17). There is silence on the subject of Sabbath abolition at the Jerusalem Conference (15:1-29). There is also no evidence for the abrogation of the Sabbath after the Jerusalem Conference in the apostolic age or by apostolic authority in the early church…Early Jewish and non-Jewish Christians continued to worship on the seventh day as far as the evidence of the book of Acts is concerned (p. 855).

Concerning the annual Biblical holy days, immediately after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, Luke records that the church was gathered for the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1). In Acts 20:16, it is seen that Paul himself hasted be at Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost. In fact, Paul is recorded as stating, “I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem” (Acts 18:21). Paul declares here, quite unequivocally, that he must by all means observe God’s Feast!

Martin (1996) noted: “The portrayal of Paul in Acts supplies clear evidence that Christians mark time by segments of festivals and Sabbaths” (p. 109). It should be of significance to its readers that this book utilizing God’s ordained Feasts as markers of time was written by a gentile (Luke) to a gentile (Theophilus). If the church did not continue the festivals, why did Luke make so many references to them in it?

Biblical Holidays 7

Paul, in the first letter to Corinth, exhorts these gentile brethren to "keep the Feast" (1 Cor 5:7). Conybeare and Howsen (1894) admit that the brethren in Corinth were indeed keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

There seems to be no difficulty in supposing that the Gentile Christians joined with the Jewish Christians in celebrating the Paschal feast after the Jewish manner, at least to the extent of abstaining from leaven in the love feast. And we see St. Paul still observing the 'days of unleavened bread' at this period of his life, from Acts 20:6 (p. 390).

Likewise, Martin (1996) states:

The references to time in Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians exclusively reflect the adoption of a Jewish calendar. Even in a place like Corinth, Paul speaks of the first day from the Sabbath (kata mian sabbaton; 1 Cor 16:2), and not of the day of the sun. He builds an elaborate argument based upon the festival of Passover and unleavened bread (1 Cor 5:6-8) in order to exhort the Corinthians, “Let us keep the festival” (1 Cor 5:6-8). Although the temporal references in Paul’s letters are sparse, 1 Corinthians provides strong evidence for the Pauline adoption of Jewish practice that marked time by festivals and Sabbaths (pp. 108, 109).

Fallow (1910) noted that the Church continued in the festivals of God and did not seek to create new days of worship or memorial:

The sanctity of [new humanly-appointed] special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians, who continued to observe the Jewish [i.e., God's] festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus the Passover, with a new conception added to it of Christ, as the true Paschal Lamb and the firstfruits from the dead, continued to be observed (Fallow, 1910, p. 828).

Didn't Paul Do Away With The Holydays?

Many of the seeming contradictions in some of Paul's letters are due to either translation errors or biased misinterpretation. We will investigate the three main arguments that have sprung from these personal interpretations of the Scripture that are most used to try to contradict the fact that Christ and His disciples, including Paul, all kept the Holydays—the texts found in the letters to the Colossians, the Galatians, and the Romans.

Biblical Holidays 8

Colossians 2:16

Paul addressed the brethren in Colosse, advising them, "Do not let anyone then judge you in eating or drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbaths"(Col 2:16). What sorts of people were condemning the brethren there, and for what cause? Was it due to Jewish influence—a strong-arm attempt to make the Colossians observe these days as orthodoxy generally asserts? Let us dig deeper.

What was the problem affecting the Church at Colosse? Reading the chapter in context will give you some insight into the situation they were in. Therein Paul writes of men with “enticing words” (v. 4) bringing in “philosophy and vain deceit,” “tradition of men,” “rudiments of the world” (v. 8), “voluntary humility,” “worshipping of angels” (v. 18), and “neglecting of the body” (v. 23), having “fleshly mind[s]” (v. 18), forbidding to touch, taste, or handle (v. 21)—all “commandments and doctrines of men" (v. 22). None of these issues are derived from Torah, so why should we then suspect that these men would be pushers of Mosaic Law who condemned the church for not keeping the Sabbath, New Moons, or Feast days?

According to Zodhiates (1991), Gnostics were bringing in their false doctrines that included, among other things, asceticism on one hand (with a complete denial of sexual and other bodily appetites) and unrestrained indulgence of the body on the other (p. 662). Burdick (1995) stated in a similar manner that "since the body was considered evil, it was to be treated harshly. This ascetic form of gnosticism is the background of part of the letter to the Colossians" (p.1905).

De Lacey (1993) determined that the judgment was not from Judaizers seeking to enforce Feasts upon the Church, but rather from those who took exception to particular aspects of the church’s practice of observing God’s holy days:

Biblical Holidays 9

The “judgment” seems to be criticism of the Christians' present practice, apparently of eating and drinking and enjoying Jewish festivals [i.e., God's festivals (Lev 23:2, 4)], in contrast to those whose watchword was 'do not handle, do not taste, do not even touch' (Col. 2:21) (p. 403).

De Lacey (1982) ascertained that:

The judge is likely to be a man of ascetic tendencies who objects to the Colossians’ eating and drinking. The most natural way of taking the rest of the passage is not that he [the ascetic judge] also imposes a ritual of feast days, but rather that he objects to certain elements of such observation (p. 182).