please read Romans 14:5 ...One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.,....10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written,
As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:6 (the whole verse) "He that regardeth the day, regardeth [it] unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard [it]. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks."
There is nothing to suggest that Paul is speaking of the Sabbath or the 4th commandment here. There is also little to suggest that he is not speaking of the sabbath. However, in the context of Romans and what Paul has earlier said about the 10 commandments (Romans 3) I find it hard to believe that he was speaking of the sabbath of the 10 commandments rather than ceremonial observances that the Jews had kept and passed down through the generations. Many would agree that Paul is here speaking of the Jews fasting on certain days. There is nothing commanded in the 10 commandments regarding fasting, however, there is nothing wrong with fasting either; it would probably be beneficial to a person's spiritual life. But, one should not require a personal conviction such as fasting on a certain day to everyone else, as the Jews did.
One could also view these verses as speaking of the ceremonial feast days: This is the view taken by Matthew Henry in his commentary on Romans....
"Concerning days, v. 5. Those who thought themselves still under some kind of obligation to the ceremonial law esteemed
one day above anotherkept up a respect to the times of the passover, pentecost, new moons, and feasts of tabernacles; thought those days better than other days, and solemnized them accordingly with particular observances, binding themselves to some religious rest and exercise on those days. Those who knew that all these things were abolished and done away by Christs coming esteemed every day alike. We must understand it with an exception of the Lords day, which all Christians unanimously observed; but they made no account, took no notice, of those antiquated festivals of the Jews."
At any rate, one cannot use these verses to justify the nullification of the Sabbath. There is just not enough there to do so.
along with what Paul carried back from Jerusalem to Antioch....Acts 15:19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
If you are using these verses to justify the nullification of the sabbath, then you must also use it to nullify all the commandments that are not SPECIFICALLY stated in these four! Was it still wrong for the gentiles to lie, steal, murder etc? Of course, this does not nullify the 10 commandments, these can be equated with the apostles as judges determining how the law should be applied in a specific people and culture, as Moses did in Deutoronomy.
amother thingy..paul many times over in his mail mentions who would not inherit the kingdom(we all know the list(s) and not even once does he mention sabbath breakers.even the good-deeder James never mentions sabbath breaking.
and anoooother lil' thingy....whenever a meeting on a sabbath is mentioned it usually paul trying to "persuade" the jews and God-fearers in some quaint out of the way rustic synagogue that Jesus was in fact the messiah that was to come.i cannot remember any actual christian sabbath gathering (on this i could be wrong)
Acts 13:42-44 "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God."
It is very interesting that Paul did not say to the gentiles, "there is no need to wait till next sabbath! We can meet tomorrow on the Lord's day"
Was Paul not preaching during the week? Was Paul not preaching on Sunday and partaking of the "Lord's Supper"? There is a lot of questions that stem from these verses that don't harmonize with what you appear to believe about the sabbath.
The assertion is that Paul only worshipped on the sabbath because the Jews met that day in the synagogues and that was the best time and place for him to proslytize them. Is this what happened in Acts 16?
Acts 16:13 "And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted [thither]. "
Phillippi was a pagan city/colony. There was no synagogue. They had to go out of the city to pray becasue they did not want to worship God where the Pagans worshipped their gods. Why did they do this on the Sabbath? Why is the scriptures specific about which day they did this?
Acts 18:2-4 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome
and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks."
Here Paul is said to be persuading Jews AND greeks in the synagogue on the sabbath. It mentions nothing of another day that he spent preaching the gospel, why? Is it because it wasn't important? Or because the other days he was busy making tents to support his ministry? Further on in the chapter...
Acts 18:11 "And he continued [there] a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them."
Paul continued on reasoning in the synagogue on the sabbath a full year and a half. That is 78 sabbaths that Paul apparently kept! How many times in the new testament is there a reference to the "first day" as a day to worship on? ONCE, 1 time in the whole new testament! To me that is proof enough!
and yes Ro. 14:5 "contradicts the 10 commandments" as you put it
As I said above, you must first prove Paul was speaking of the sabbath before it could contradict the 4th commandment, and you will have a hard time doing that! I am sure you can reason it away in your mind, but can't we do that with anything?
