two things I want to point out to you in Col 2:16 it uses the word meat or food as the greek word Broma which is a definition as ritually clean or unclean and you'll notice "in respect to a holy day" respect being very important and holy also being very important as show that we are expected to show it holy.
Hi unkern , and all ,
I was aware of the old English usage of the word " meat " as meaning food in general . So basically , Paul was saying - " Let no man judge you in food and drink " . Where he wrote , " or in respect of a holy day " , the word respect here is being used to say - on behalf of ;
not in reverence of . From the Greek -
G3313
μέρος
meros
mer'-os
From an obsolete but more primary form of μείρομαι meiromai (to get as a section or allotment); a division or share (literally or figuratively, in a wide application): - behalf, coast, course, craft, particular (+ -ly), part (+ -ly), piece, portion, respect, side, some sort (-what).
In other words , Let no man judge you in food , drink or regarding the observance / non observance of holy days .
Romans 14 is talking about veganism
Which the passage from Romans 14 agrees ... it addresses not only the choice of vegetarianism , but also being omnivorous , " eating all things " . Also it describes some as esteeming certain days above others , and others esteeming every day alike , and that this is a matter of our own persuasion , one we should not be judged or despised over . And this theme is repeated several more times in The New Testament .
In Acts Ch. 10 , Peter had a vision in which The Lord instructed him not to think of others as being unclean because they ate differently .
In Galatians Ch. 2 , Paul rebuked Peter for fearfully withdrawing from eating with Gentiles , when other Jews arrived .
To those in Corinth Paul wrote -
Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:
For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. <-----> 1st Corinthians 10:25+26
To Timothy ( who was half Jew / half Greek ) Paul wrote -
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. <-----> 1stTimothy 4:4+5
This echos Jesus' declaration -
Not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. <-----> Matthew 15:11
And again -
Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them.... <---> 1st Corinthians 6:13
This is not to say we should eat foolishly , or live irreverently ; it is to say that our choice of physical food or persuasion of esteeming days is not the big religious issue , some seem bent on trying to make it .
Matthew 5:38-39: is not dogma, it is however a chance for us to show the Rabbi's up and defame them, even though we are still allowed to do the same back, just like the woman at the well, she should be stoned but if no viable (without sin) witnessess are there you cannot do it.
Matthew 5:31-32: he is asking us to spare her from becoming and adulteress, but we still have that right to divorce.
Mark 2:23: is not Dogma either, it wasnt against Torah, it was against Rabbinic law
Oddly , my questioning of New vs. Old was not to suggest that the New was akin to " religious dogma " ... but rather that , some of the old is - As it is written :
The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. <-----> Matthew 19:3-8
If the Torah was nailed to the cross than that would mean the law is abolished. But what did Messiah say?
Galatians Ch. 3 spells it out rather well .
Link to Galatians Chapter 3
As does Acts Chapter 15 .
Link to Acts Chapter 15
It is the spirit of the law , which we are compelled from within to now follow . And not the letter of the law via external pressure .
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives?
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. <-----> Romans 7:1-6
So now , instead of being dictated to by words set in stone , we have the opportunity to learn to walk in Christ's Spirit , where God writes His commands upon our hearts , so that we are transformed from within , which allows for a new and better way , where obedience is not an effort to comply that is born out of a sense of necessity or obligation ( mistakenly thinking we can unfailingly measure up); but where obedience comes from being won over through receiving the undeserved abundance of mercy , goodness , kindness , + love , which inspires us to embrace being likeminded with Christ , in the Spirit of Grace .
For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. <-----> Hebrews 7:19
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away. <-----> Hebrews 8:7-13
Thankyou Lord Jesus !
wm
because they are immature. Babies will hold their hands over their eyes and think no one can see them in much the same way.