“One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”
It is nearly inevitable, when discussing the spiritual truths of the Father’s Sabbaths with christians, for Romans 14:5 to be brought into the discussion; and in that context, it is always used falsely.
It’s often as if all a christian needs to justify a particular position is a single phrase in an English translation of scripture, regardless of the context of what is actually being stated in the text. So, they see Romans 14:5, and claim that it means that it doesn’t matter what day of the week someone chooses for weekly assembling of believers.
In other words, many in christianity use the verse in a corrupt, dishonest way to prove an unscriptural point.
First, what is Paul even discussing in Romans 14? The entire chapter is dealing with fasting and eating. Where fasting is concerned, Paul is addressing the fact that different groups of people chose different days of the week, month, and year to fast for spiritual reasons. There were Jews who fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), and some who fasted in the fifth and seventh months (Zechariah 7:4-7).
Paul was dealing with groups who would look down on others because they either didn’t fast, or they chose different days for their fasting. Each group declared their days were the proper days, even though there is nothing about any day that makes fasting a requirement, for the penalty and perfection (details) of the law of Moses (ordinances, precepts) were nailed to the tree.
Paul states, then, that whatever day one chooses to fast, let him be convinced in his own mind of WHY he is FASTING, or NOT FASTING, on any particular day, week, or month, as fasting is a matter of personal conscience, not of ordinance or commandment.
So, christians just lift the verse out of its context, and claim that it removes any significance from any holy day, whether ordained by the Father or not. Of course, that is not at all what Paul says there.
Moreover, they choose to make days associated with pagan worship significant and “spiritual” (like SUNday assembling, christ-mass, easter/ishtar, — all of which come from Babylonian sun worship), and they falsely think that what is “in their hearts” suffices as the arbiter of truth. That is pure carnal foolishness!
Think about it for just a moment—the argument christians make has to do with the weekly Sabbath being no more, and that the first day of the week is the proper day for assembling because Messiah rose again on the first day of the week.
Really? Let’s imagine that the day of the week that was ordained from creation, and is actually named in the Ten Commandments (which were a foreshadow of the Holy Spirit’s seal), and is shown as “set apart” from the other days of the week throughout all of scripture, was actually changed from the seventh day to the first day.
Wouldn’t it be likely that, if Paul were discussing that significant level of change in Romans 14:5, he would have stated, “Some assemble on the Sabbath, and some assemble on the first day of the week . . .”?
That’s not what Paul said because that’s not what Paul was discussing. The entire chapter deals with fasting and eating. Period. Paul is not addressing anything whatsoever to do with the weekly Sabbath.
Sadly, though, with many christians, when the true meaning and context of Romans 14:5 is explained to them, it doesn’t even matter. Some will continue claiming that the verse lifts all significance from the Father’s Sabbaths, and leaves it up to individuals to determine what day of the week the Father acknowledges as His. What foolish arrogance!
In fact, that same dishonesty exists with two other passages of scripture. In the entirety of the New Testament, the phrase “first day of the week” appears a total of eight times. Six of those instances have to do with Messiah’s resurrection, which occurred on the Feast of Firstfruits during the night, as the days all began and ended at sundown.
So, other than the resurrection itself, there are only TWO other references in all of the New Testament to “the first day of the week.” The first is in Acts 20, where Paul is on a journey, and those whom he was teaching there all got together after the Sabbath had ended (at sundown), and had a meal together. Because Paul was leaving in the morning to walk 24 miles to catch a ship, he took a final opportunity to teach those who were following him.
His teaching went very late into the night after they had eaten an evening meal, but in the morning (what we call “Sunday morning”), Paul took off on his 24-mile trek. So, this passage has nothing whatsoever to do with the weekly assembling of believers; it was a singular event that happened at night.
The only other passage that mentions “the first day of the week” is 1 Corinthians 16, where Paul is asking the Corinthians to “lay by and store” gifts for the believers in Jerusalem who were suffering through a drought. To “lay by and store” means to put aside at home—it had nothing to do with the common christianese practice of passing an offering plate.
In fact, Paul tells the Corinthians to select some representatives who would go around to the various homes to collect the gifts and then to meet up with him to take them to Jerusalem. If Paul had been talking about taking up an offering at a weekly assembly, he would not have mentioned anything about the multiple representatives who were necessary to go around and gather the gifts to then be taken to Jerusalem.
Also, the first day of the week was always a work day, not a day of rest. Messiah rose again on the Feast of Firstfruits, which is the first day of the barley harvest. How could it be that the first day of a harvest (that has vast prophetic meaning) was also considered a day of rest and holy convocation (assembling)? It couldn’t. The entire premise used in christianity is a lie.
There is not a single passage of scripture ANYWHERE in the whole of scripture that states anything about ANY of Yah’s Sabbaths (weekly and feasts) EVER being changed or done away with. And, that’s why christianity must dishonestly pervert the meanings of specific passages to make them state something they never say.
So, let me ask you this: if christianity lies about this specific doctrine (which it does), and you have believed christianity’s teachings, what else have you believed from christianity that is not true? What else have you believed without understanding, or even questioning, what is actually stated in the scriptures?
You see, christianity makes the apostle Paul out to be a liar and a hypocrite—a false teacher—because there are numerous scriptures that show Paul observing the Sabbaths and teaching them to the Gentile converts. How exactly could Paul do one thing, but teach something that wholly contradicts what he did, and still be regarded as an apostle?
The answer is—he couldn’t. So, either Paul is to be regarded as a faithful teacher of the Holy Spirit’s truths, or christianity is. Both cannot be true.
So, will you believe what the scriptures actually state, or will you continue blindly following a false belief system—a counterfeit of the true faith that wasn’t invented until after the New Testament writers had all died, and wasn’t codified until the 4th century by a pagan, sun-worshiping emperor—a belief system that is an unholy mixture of spiritual truth and outright paganism and sun worship?
There is no eternal life in a counterfeit, and christianity is a counterfeit. In matters of eternal significance, truth is essential, and what is taught by christianity is a perversion of truth.
For more information: Saturday or Sunday? Does It Even Matter?