by Leonard V Johnson
Our Lord Jesus and the apostles certainly kept and celebrated the Sabbaths, along
with all the God-ordained holy days. So, why do the overall majority of professing
Christians not keep them?
While social pressure and the outright twisting of Scripture do play a role, the reason many overlook or do not see is that there are a few passages in God’s living word that have been intentionally mistranslated.
And sadly, because of religious traditions, and unrighteous deception among those
who perish ── they have not the love of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10), most
people who are professing Christians simply do not care.
More than any other Scripture in God’s living word that I have personally heard
quoted as “proof” that the feasts of the LORD have been done away is Colossians
2:16-17.
Here is the most popular translation of this passage ──
“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon
or sabbaths, 17) which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of
Christ.)” – Colossians 2:16-17, NKJV.
The passage has an added word. This rendering suggests that the LORD's feasts were
nothing more than “a shadow of things to come” and that now the substance is Christ.
As in, the feasts of the LORD have no substance. Yet, this is not what the Apostle
Paul was saying.
Let’s look at two other translations of this same passage ──
“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: 17) Which are a shadow of things to come;
but the body is of Christ.” – Colossians 2:16-17, KJV.
“Let no one then, call you to account for what you eat or drink or in regard to a
festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17) These are a shadow of things to come, but
the substance is of Christ.” – Colossians 2:16-17, Challoner-Rheims.
Both the above translations are closer than the New King James Version, yet they
both have an added word that is not in the original Greek version.
The added word is “is.” Accurate translations do not have the word “is.” Let’s
examine The Interlinear Bible in regards to verse 17 ──
3739 (ha), 1510 (estin), 4639 (skia), 3588 (tōn), 3195 (mellontōn), 3588 (to), 1161 (de), 4983 (sōma), 3588 (tou), 5547 (Christou)which are a shadow the things coming the however body [is] – of Christ
It should be noted that 3588, original word: ὁ, ἡ, τό, is most often translated as “the.”
Notice that 3588 in the Strong’s Concordance is translated as “the” in Romans 7:4;
1 Corinthians 10:16; 12:27; and Ephesians 4:12.
“ … the body of Christ, …”
Therefore, if all the translators were truthful and honest and consistent, they would
all have translated Colossians 2:16-17 as ──
“Therefore, do not allow anyone to judge you in eating or in drinking, or with
regard to a festival, or new moon, or the Sabbaths. 17) Which are a foreshadow of
the things that are coming, but the body of Christ.” – the New English Translation.
In other words, let no one outside the body of Christ (the Church of God) judge you
regarding the feasts of the LORD or the Sabbaths, but only the Church herself. The
Apostle Paul is not saying that the feasts of the LORD have been done away with!
Sadly, because most people don’t take the time to fervently study God’s living word
and prove what it does or doesn’t say, those in the Roman Catholic Church and her
daughter churches have been easily misled in regards to Colossians 2:16-17.
Also, notice 1 Corinthians 5:8 ── the Apostle Paul writing to the Church in Corinth, who were Gentile converts ──
“Therefore let us keep the feast [the Feast of Unleavened Bread], not with old leaven,
nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth.”
Certainly, instructing the true Christians that we are to continue keeping the feast,
not under the rituals of the Old Covenant, but rather to keep the feast with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The true meaning of the Days of
Unleavened Bread is that for seven days we are symbolically showing that we are
eating the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, the unleavened bread which
represents Jesus Christ at the Passover. And we are acknowledging – we need that
BREAD OF LIFE to come into our being!
Another so-called “proof” text that Roman Catholics and their daughter churches
tend to use is Galatians 4:8-10 ──
“But then, indeed, when you [speaking here to likely mostly Gentile converts] did
not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9) But NOW after
you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you TURN AGAIN
to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10)
You observe days and months and seasons and years.”
The ancient Galatians were heavily influenced by Roman culture and religion in the
1st century A.D. Comparatively little is known about Galatian religion, but it can be
assumed that it was similar to that of most Celts. 1 Galatians practiced Celtic
divination, which included augury, drawing lots, interpreting dreams and natural
phenomena, and studying entrails.
Cybele, the Great Mother, was the major goddess cult in Anatolia that the Galatians
were involved with. In the 1st century BC/AD, the son of a Galatian tetrarch was
made high priest of the indigenous Anatolian goddess, Ma, at Comana Pontica by
Augustus, where he ruled the temple state. 2
“In a severe admonition, Paul warns them that they were in dire spiritual danger, because instead of obeying God, they were reverting back to their former pagan ways and blending their former pagan observances with their newly learned Christian Way of life. In so doing, they were beginning to turn their backs on God the Father and Jesus Christ. Paul strongly rebukes them. … It was readily apparent that the problem was not that the Galatians were forsaking Sunday and holiday-keeping and reverting back to keeping the Sabbath and holy days, as Orthodox theologians and ministers claim. In fact, quite the opposite was happening, …What were they reverting to? They were going back to “observing [for themselves] days, and months, and times and years.” … it is not possible to take this phrase [verse 10] to mean that they were returning to the observance of God’s Sabbath, feasts, and holy days──or that they were following traditional Judaism. The phrase can only refer to pagan days, months, times, and years, which they had formerly observed before they were converted.” 3
Here is another mistranslation. The NKJV improperly translates Hebrews 4:9 ──
“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.”
And, because of this mistranslation, as well as many others, some do not properly understand that God’s living word does indeed command the
keeping of the Sabbath weekly.
Since some claim that the holy Sabbath has been “nailed to the cross,”
notice ──
“There remains, therefore, Sabbath-keeping for the people of God.” – NET.
“Because of this erroneous translation, and Protestant hostility against the seventh-day weekly Sabbath──the Fourth Commandment──in preference to Sunday, this verse is almost universally misinterpreted and misunderstood. …Today, mainstream ‘Christianity’ teaches that Christians are no longer required to observe the seventh-day Sabbath, because they deliberately misconstrue this verse to mean, “Christ has given them ‘rest’ (or, as some say, a ‘release’) from commandment-keeping. …The phrase ‘shall ye keep your sabbaths’ is translated from the Greek phrase, sabbatieite ta sabbata ── which literally means, ‘you shall sabbathize the Sabbaths.’ The form of the Greek verb sabbatizo is the second person plural sabbatieite, which means, ‘ye shall keep’ ── ‘you all,’ meaning everyone shall keep the Sabbath.” 4
So… God’s living word is clear that our Lord Jesus and His apostles kept the weekly
Sabbath – the seventh-day of the week – along with the feasts of the LORD, preached
on the Sabbath, and that he indeed wrote, “There remains, therefore, Sabbath
keeping for the people of God.”
Under divine inspiration, the Apostle Peter has warned ──
“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him
in peace, without spot and blameless; 15) and consider that the longsuffering of our
Lord is salvation ── as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom
given to him, has written to you, 16) as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of
these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and
unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the
Scriptures.” – 2 Peter 3:14-16.
Sadly, far too many rely on mistranslations, and thus can be considered as one of the
“untaught” that our beloved Apostle Peter speaks of. Brethren, those who are diligent
can see through their mistranslations, their twisting of Scripture, and see and hear
what God’s Spirit says – the living word of the Eternal One. □
1) Wikipedia contributors. "Galatians (people)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 24 Jun. 2025. Web. 16 Sep.
2025.
2) The Ohio University, The Herodotos Project - Ethnohistory of the Ancient World, OSU.EDU, Retrieved 16
Sept. 2025.
3) Coulter R. F., The Holy Bible In Its Original Order A New English Translation, Galatians 4:8-10 Correctly
Explained, York Publishing Co., © 2009, pp. 1377, 1378.
4) Ibid. (3) The True Meaning of Sabbatismos, pg. 1319.
No comments:
Post a Comment