I considered this. But what I see is the whole issue seems to have to do with eating, not sabbath days.
Paul appears to be addressing those who argue that people should only eat certain kinds of foods (v.v. 2-3), while also addressing those who think fasting should be designated for certain days (v.v. 4-6). That's what I see here.
Where do you see fasting in those verses? Fasting is never mentioned.
Like I said, Paul is addressing a dispute over what foods can be eaten, and not a dispute over fasting, which is the complete opposite:
“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.” -- (
Romans 14:1-2).
It's a dispute about eating, and not about fasting.
I don't see any proof that Paul is saying the Sabbath is no longer applicable to Christians.
The proof is in the entirety of Paul's writings, not just one verse.
The story goes something like this:
God established a covenant, or agreement, with the nation of Israel. This covenant was based on the rules of the Ten Commandments:
"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.' Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten Commandments." -- (Exodus 34:28).
This Ten Commandment covenant, which included the Sabbath day rule, was the standard by which the righteousness of Israel was judged, a righteousness that was based on the works of the Ten Commandment law.
Judgement by this old covenant law was a very strict judgement, any failure to obey any of these ten rules resulted in instant death:
"For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death." -- (Exodus 31:15).
Since this Ten Commandment covenant was impossible for Israel to obey and it produced instant death, God made this old covenant obsolete by introducing a new covenant:
"For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: 'The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt'…By calling this covenant 'new,' He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear." -- (Hebrews 8:7-13).
The Ten Commandment covenant which was originally intended to bring righteousness and life, actually brought suffering and death because of Israel's inability to obey it. This is why Paul said:
"Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death." -- (
Romans 7:9-11).
Since the letter of the old covenant was impossible to obey and only resulted in sin and death, for this reason, God abolished this old covenant letter and introduced the new covenant of the Spirit:
"But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the letter." -- ( Romans 7:6).
Christians are called to minister according to the new covenant, according to the new way of the Spirit, and not according to the old way of the letter which was engraved on stone tablets:
"He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory...will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?" -- (
2 Corinthians 3:6-8).
The ministry that brought death was established on the Ten Commandments which was engraved in letters on stone tablets. It brought death because it was impossible to obey and only resulted in sin and death. But the ministry of the Spirit, which brings righteousness and life, is established on faith alone in Christ alone, who alone is our righteousness:
"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe." -- (Romans 3:21-22).
"Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified...For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God...I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, then Christ died for nothing!" -- (Galatians 2:16-21).
"Yet indeed I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." -- (Philippians 3:8-9).