LET NO MAN THEREFORE JUDGE YOU IN MEAT

Our two verses list five things concerning which believer is free from judgement. The first two relate to our daily requirements, the next three to annual, monthly and weekly religious observance of so called special occasions.

While the child of God may find health benefits from dietary restrictions, it is clear no such spiritual restriction should ever be put on God’s people today. However, the question of the observance of religious festivals is much more common. We still have annual so-called ‘holy days’ or holidays such as Easter, and Christmas. Likewise, many groups in Christendom have monthly ‘communion’ and some seem to think weekly observance of a ‘Sabbath’ is required, albeit often transferring the requirements from the seventh day to the first day of the week.

Many of the annual religious festivals so called have an historical origin prior to Christianity and their roots are in paganism. As such and in the light of our verses, true believers would be committing a serious error in any spiritual observance of them and it would most certainly have no merit whatever. However, they do present opportunities to reach people with the gospel, and we should use them wisely without imitating Christendom. Likewise in our family life, each should be careful to balance the need to raise our children differently in a perverse world without making them unnecessarily isolated.

Perhaps the issue of the weekly sabbath in verse 16 has caused greater problems to God’s people. This is the only mention of the sabbath in twenty-one Epistles and the subject is the only one of the ten commandments not repeated in all the New Testament. As such, we must conclude that there is no requirement to observe the sabbath today. However, there is a God-given principle that man needs a day of rest and that for believers the first day of the week has a special significance. It marks the Lord’s resurrection and is to be used in remembering Him. In our society, where we have the opportunity, we can still seek to make this day separate for God’s glory and our rest from the legitimate things of life. But it is beyond mere legal observance.