I have been considering becoming a Seventh Day Adventist or other Sabbath keeper for quite some time. I am a bit confused on the issue still because I hear voices from both sides so lets see if some of my questions can be answered.
My first question is on Romans 14:5
One man esteemeth one day above another : another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
The key to Romans 14 is in the first verse, namely that the context of the chapter is about disputable matters of opinion, not the commands of God. They disputed opinions about how to keep the Sabbath, such which things counted as work, but they were not disputing whether to obey God by keeping the Sabbath. Where God has given no clear word, such as whether it is acceptable to eat meat when it is unknown if it has been sacrificed to idols, then each should be convinced in their own minds, but where God has given clear word, human opinion must yield. Meat that had been sacrificed to idols was often later sold on the market, so someone who was at a community meal who didn't know where the meat had come from might be of the opinion that only vegetables should be eaten (Romans 14:2). They were judging others and in turn being resented by them (Romans 14:3).
The only time that God commanded fasting was during the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29), but as a disputable matter of human opinion, it had become a common practice to fast twice a week or to commemorate certain events (Luke 18:12). Those who esteemed those days for fasting were judging those who didn't and were in turn being resented (Romans 14:5-6). Whether man esteems one day over another is very different from whether God esteems one day over another, and we are to keep the Sabbath not because man esteemed it over other days, but because God esteemed it, and blessed it, and made it holy, and commanded His people to keep it. So it was these sorts of disputes over human opinion that Paul was seeking to quell and he was certainly not saying that people could feel free to sin in disobedience to God just as long as they were convinced in their own minds that it was ok. So whether to fast on those other days was a disputable matter of human opinion, but whether to fast on the Day of Atonement is a matter of obedience to God. We must obey God rather than man, so we should be careful not to misinterpret something that is against obeying man's opinion as being against obeying God.
My second question is on Colossians 2:16-17
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Thank you for any input you can give on these verses.
The problem with Colossians 2:16-17 is that it can be ambiguous as to whether Paul was saying not to let anyone judge them for obeying God or not to let anyone judge them for
not obeying God. The key to determining which is in looking at the views of the people who were judging them:
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits[a] of the world, and not according to Christ.
Paul would never have referred to God's holy, righteous, and good commands as philosophy and empty deceit or according to human tradition. Saying that God's commands were not according to Christ would be pitting the Son against the Father. Paul went into more details about what these elemental spirits are later in the chapter:
Colossians 2:20-23 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
So the people judging the Colossians were teaching human traditions and precepts, self-made religion, asceticism, and severity to the body, and were judging them because they were eating and drinking and keeping God's festivals, as He had commanded. Paul was essentially encouraging them not to let anyone keep them from obeying God or from following Messiah's example of obedience. Again, we should be careful not to misinterpret something that is against obeying man's opinion as being against obeying God.
