Basic Christian Apologetics

Has the New Covenant abolished dietary laws, the Sabbath, and feast days?

Keywords- Torah- law/teaching Gentile- Non-Jews, 

Dietary laws -Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 

Sabbath- Exodus 20:8-11

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 

Feast days- Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 15

Many people believe that Paul teaches in Romans 14 that God doesn't care if believers follow the Torah's holy days and dietary laws. They claim that those who follow these rules have weak faith since they are unnecessary. We don't pass judgement on each other or make each other stumble over these concerns.

Paul, as we know, wrote letters to specific regional locations, addressing congregational issues that had been brought to his attention. That could be the assumption if we read this chapter in isolation. However, this view contradicts the rest of Romans and what we know about Paul elsewhere in the New Testament.

Paul observed the Torah;

♣ The book of Acts documents Paul regularly attended and participated in the synagogue services on the Sabbath. (Acts 13:14,44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4)

♣In Acts 20:16, we see Paul expressing an urgent desire to be Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost.

♣ In Corinthians 5:7-8, Paul instructs his readers on how they were to observe Passover.

♣ These references to Paul observing and teaching these commandments are what we would expect from someone who believed the Torah's holy days still ought to be observed.

In Romans itself, Paul affirms the Torah's enduring validity;

♠He declares that our faith does not overthrow but rather establishes the Torah. (Romans 3:31)

♠He teaches that sin is defined by breaking the commandments of the law (Romans 7:7) and admonishes believers not to continue in sin. (Romans 6:1-2)

♠ He calls the law holy righteous and good. (Romans 7:12)

♠He calls the Torah spiritual (Romans 7;14) and says he delights in it. (Romans 7:22)

♠ He says the Holy Spirit writes the Torah on the hearts of believers, empowering them to keep it. (Romans 8:2-4)

♠These types of statements are not what we would expect from someone who believed the Torah's holy days and dietary laws were no longer important.

♠ When he spoke to the local Jewish leaders in Rome, we read that he assured them, "I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers." (Acts 28:17)

♠The Jewish believers in Rome admit, "We have received no letters from Judea about you and none of the brothers coming here has spoken any evil about you." (Acts 28:21)

If Paul truly taught the Roman Christians that they were free to ignore the Sabbath and dietary laws, the Jewish Christians in Rome would have known about it. If Paul did teach what many modern Christians accuse him of teaching, he would be obviously lying in Acts 28:17.

Romans 14:1- "Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarrelling over disputable matters."

Scholars generally consider the strong to be gentile believers, whereas the weak are primarily Jewish believers. When everyone in Paul's time recognised the laws as real and authoritative, how to keep certain Torah commandments were not simple opinions on debatable subjects. The oldest evidence of Christians forsaking the Torah is from the second century, much after Paul's time.

There are two types of conflict listed in Romans 14:

1)Conflict over food- Romans 14:2,14