Thursday 9-5-24 5th. Day Of The Weekly Cycle, Elul 1 5784 77th Summer Day
1-8-15
Ultimately, one more question is prevaling in their hearts, "Should I be ..... Let us see if we can validate this claim of Paul keeping the Feasts as a Christian.
What festivals did the early apostolic church observe?
What you are probably wondering is if the disciples observed the Feasts after Christ's death and resurrection. Let us take a look. What did the Church do immediately after Jesus' resurrection/ascension?
Acts 2:1 And when the DAY OF PENTECOST was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
No hint of a change here! The disciples are shown to have been keeping the Feast after the death, resurrection, and ascension of their Lord!
How about Paul -- didn't he do away with the law even if Christ did not? Yet we read Paul's own writing in Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Notice what Paul preached in the New Testament churches. "And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening" [Acts 28:23]. When Paul preached about Christ he did so directly out of Old Testament law.
Paul said, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" [1 Cor. 11:1]. Did Christ keep the Holydays? Yes, we have already seen it with our eyes and handled it in faith. So would Paul, being one who followed Christ, keep the Holydays? The answer is, of course, a resounding "Yes!" Let us see if we can validate this claim of Paul keeping the Feasts as a Christian.
Acts 20:16 For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the DAY OF PENTECOST.
Acts 18:21 But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
Paul declares here, quite unequivocally, that he MUST BY ALL MEANS KEEP GOD'S FEAST! The word "Keep" is from the Greek word "poiesai" which means "to keep, to celebrate" (Analytical Greek Lexicon, by Harper, 332). Likewise, in the letter to Corinth, he exhorts these gentile brethren to "Keep the Feast" (I Cor 5:7).
It has been noted by many scholars down through the ages that Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was written at the time period of the year of the Passover/Feast of Unleavens. It is evident by Paul's many allusions to the Festival. Note: Five times Paul writes of being "puffed up" (which is what leaven does--it puffs things up). You will find these in I Cor 4:6,18,19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4. He goes on to write:
1Cor 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore LET US KEEP THE FEAST, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Note that Paul, in an address to gentile Christians, refers to keeping God's Feast days. In verse 6, there is a seeming contradiction that has caught the eyes of many scholars. Herein Paul tells them to purge out leaven, yet he also says that they are already unleavened. What is one to make of this?
"If we take 'as you are unleavened' in a metaphorical sense, it is scarcely consistent with the previous 'cast out the old leaven'; for the passage would then amount to saying, 'Be you free from leaven (metaphorically) as you are free from leaven (metaphorically)'; whereas, on the other hand, St.Paul says, 'Be free from leaven (metaphorically) as you are free from leaven (literally).' There seems to be no difficulty in supposing that the Gentile Christians joined with the Jewish Christians in celebrating the Paschal feast after the Jewish manner, at least to the extent of abstaining from leaven in the love feast. And we see St. Paul still observing the 'days of unleavened bread' at this period of his life, from Acts 20:6......" (Conybeare and Howson, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, pp.389, 390)
Love, Walter And Debbie
1-8-15
Ultimately, one more question is prevaling in their hearts, "Should I be ..... Let us see if we can validate this claim of Paul keeping the Feasts as a Christian.
What festivals did the early apostolic church observe?
What you are probably wondering is if the disciples observed the Feasts after Christ's death and resurrection. Let us take a look. What did the Church do immediately after Jesus' resurrection/ascension?
Acts 2:1 And when the DAY OF PENTECOST was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
No hint of a change here! The disciples are shown to have been keeping the Feast after the death, resurrection, and ascension of their Lord!
How about Paul -- didn't he do away with the law even if Christ did not? Yet we read Paul's own writing in Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Notice what Paul preached in the New Testament churches. "And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening" [Acts 28:23]. When Paul preached about Christ he did so directly out of Old Testament law.
Paul said, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" [1 Cor. 11:1]. Did Christ keep the Holydays? Yes, we have already seen it with our eyes and handled it in faith. So would Paul, being one who followed Christ, keep the Holydays? The answer is, of course, a resounding "Yes!" Let us see if we can validate this claim of Paul keeping the Feasts as a Christian.
Acts 20:16 For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the DAY OF PENTECOST.
Acts 18:21 But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
Paul declares here, quite unequivocally, that he MUST BY ALL MEANS KEEP GOD'S FEAST! The word "Keep" is from the Greek word "poiesai" which means "to keep, to celebrate" (Analytical Greek Lexicon, by Harper, 332). Likewise, in the letter to Corinth, he exhorts these gentile brethren to "Keep the Feast" (I Cor 5:7).
It has been noted by many scholars down through the ages that Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was written at the time period of the year of the Passover/Feast of Unleavens. It is evident by Paul's many allusions to the Festival. Note: Five times Paul writes of being "puffed up" (which is what leaven does--it puffs things up). You will find these in I Cor 4:6,18,19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4. He goes on to write:
1Cor 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore LET US KEEP THE FEAST, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Note that Paul, in an address to gentile Christians, refers to keeping God's Feast days. In verse 6, there is a seeming contradiction that has caught the eyes of many scholars. Herein Paul tells them to purge out leaven, yet he also says that they are already unleavened. What is one to make of this?
"If we take 'as you are unleavened' in a metaphorical sense, it is scarcely consistent with the previous 'cast out the old leaven'; for the passage would then amount to saying, 'Be you free from leaven (metaphorically) as you are free from leaven (metaphorically)'; whereas, on the other hand, St.Paul says, 'Be free from leaven (metaphorically) as you are free from leaven (literally).' There seems to be no difficulty in supposing that the Gentile Christians joined with the Jewish Christians in celebrating the Paschal feast after the Jewish manner, at least to the extent of abstaining from leaven in the love feast. And we see St. Paul still observing the 'days of unleavened bread' at this period of his life, from Acts 20:6......" (Conybeare and Howson, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, pp.389, 390)
Love, Walter And Debbie