by John V. Cordaro

If you are among the millions of Christians who have been deceived into believing
that the Holy Sabbath of Almighty Yahweh no longer exists, read on. This literature
has been written in an attempt to restore the truth unto you as revealed in the Holy
Scriptures, for Yahweh seeks only those who worship Him in truth (Jn.4:23,24).

The fourth commandment of the "Ten Commandments" reads as follows;
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all
thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of Yahweh thy mighty one: in it thou
shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy
maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six
days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day: wherefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
(Ex.20:8-11).

Yahweh blessed only the seventh day of the week (Saturday). He set it apart from
the other six days as a day of rest from labor. The only person that has the
authority to change one of the Ten Commandments, written on tables of stone as
a sign of their immutability, is the writer himself, Yahweh. No such command from
Yahweh, His Son Yahshua, or the Apostles, exists in the Old or New Testament to
either change the Sabbath to Sunday (the first day of the week) or to abolish the
Sabbath altogether.

Why, then, do the majority of Christians worship on Sunday? Most do so because
the Messiah rose from the dead on that day. That, however, is not a valid reason.
It is a man-made tradition that causes people to break the commandments of
Yahweh and therefore worship Him in vain. "Howbeit in vain do they worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." "And he said unto them, 'Full
well ye reject the commandment of Yahweh, that ye may keep your own
tradition.'" (Mk.7:7,9).

There are those who believe they have scriptural grounds for no longer keeping
the Sabbath. They use three "Proof texts" to support their belief; Galatians 4:10,
Colossians 2:14-17, and Ephesians 2:15. Following is a true explanation of the
meaning and intent of the Apostle Paul's writings which, incidentally, the Apostle
Peter said are sometimes difficult to be understood. Many people wrestle with
them unto their own destruction (2 Pe. 3:16).


Galatians 4:10

Paul was writing to the Galatians who had been heathen worshipers of pagan
deities before their conversion to Yahshua. He says in verse 8," . . .when you
knew not God [Yahweh], you did service unto them which by nature are no gods."
In other words they were idolaters who neither served Yahweh nor walked in His
laws. They knew nothing of His commandments and laws except what they had
heard from Israelites living in their city. Verse 9 states that after they were
converted they began to be known of Yahweh, which prompted Paul's
question,"Why do you want to return to the way you were before you were
converted? Why do you continue to observe days, months, times, and years that
were ordained by pagans? Why do you wish to be slaves to the weak and
beggarly elements of pagan so-called holy days?

It would be equivalent to a Muslim converting to Christianity and yet, continuing to
observe Rammadan or make pilgrimages to Mecca. The holy days that the
Galatians were returning to are comparable to the false holy days we have today
such as Sunday, Easter, Lent, Christmas, Goods Friday, Holy Thursday, Ash
Wednesday, all of which were declared holy by the "mother church" in Rome and
not by Yahweh. Yahweh declared in Lev 23 which days were His holy days.

Think about it; Why would Paul tell us to keep the Feast of Unleavened in I
Cor.5:7,8 and then tell us not to keep any days in Gal.4:10? Why did he desire to
keep the upcoming feast in Jerusalem in Acts 18:21(KJV) and then tell the
Galatians that they were not permitted to keep any feasts? Why were the
disciples gathered together on the day of Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) in Acts 2 if
that annual Sabbath had been abolished? Consider also 1 Cor.16:8; Acts 20:6,16;
and Acts 27:9 (the fast was on the Day of Atonement, an annual Sabbath). Paul's
custom was to obey all of Yahweh's laws because he knew the law was not made
void through faith (Rom.3:31).


Colossians 2:14-23

These verses are used to prove that the weekly Sabbath as well as annual
Sabbaths have been nailed to the cross. This view is incorrect and is based on
several mistranslations, added words not found in any Greek texts, and poor Bible
exegesis.

Let's first determine the context of chapter two. In verses 4 and 8 Paul warns the
Colossians about deceivers. Then again, in verse 18, Paul gives his final warning
about these same deceivers. In what way were they trying to deceive the
Colossians? Verse 8 tells us that they were trying to exalt the traditions of men
over the Messiah (verses 8 & 19).

Notice carefully the context; the traditions of men in verse 8, 18, and 22. The
verses that occur between 8 and 22 must be understood based on the context of
the traditions of men.

Now we can understand the key word in Col.2:14, "ordinances." The Greek word
for ordinances here is a form of the root word "dogma" which means man-made
rules, laws, commandments, precepts, etc. Paul is not talking about Yahweh's
ordinances in this verse. He is talking about man's ordinances or traditions. This
same word is used in Col.2:20 pertaining to the doctrines and commandments of
men; in Lu.2:1 pertaining to a decree from Caesar Augustus; in Acts 17:7
pertaining to a decree from Caesar; and in Eph.2:15, which we will look at later. It
always pertains to man's commandments, not Yahweh's. Compare the word
dogma with the Greek word that pertains to Yahweh's ordinances, "dikaioma."

This word dikaioma was used in Lu.1:6 pertaining to the ordinances of Yahweh
and in Heb.9:1,10 pertaining once again to Yahweh's ordinances. Therefore, Paul
is saying in verse 14 that the traditions and commandments of men are the issue,
not Yahweh's laws. But what was nailed to the cross? The Greek construction
shows that the "handwriting" was nailed, not the ordinances. The handwriting or, in
Greek, the "cheirographon" was a certificate of debt. Whenever a man sins
against Yahweh his sin is imputed against him (Rom.4:7,8). When men exalt the
traditions of men over the commandments of Yahweh, as the Pharisees did, for
example, they sin against Yahweh. The Messiah became sin for us and when He
was nailed to the tree so were the sins that were imputed against us. Yahweh's
holy ordinances were not nailed to the tree, the certificate of debt resulting in our
death sentence was nailed to the tree. That is why Paul said the Colossians were
"dead in your sins" in verse 13. The principalities and powers of verse 15 caused
the people to sin by their man-made laws but Messiah was victorious over them.

This brings us to the crucial verse 16. It was the deceivers of verses 4,8, and 18
that were judging the Colossians regarding the things mentioned in verse 16. They
had been imposing their man-made commandments and traditions upon the
Colossians. Paul told them not to allow anyone to judge them concerning those
matters. An important addition was made in the KJV that does not appear in any
Greek manuscript. The word "is " in verse 17 was added, which changes the
meaning of Paul's statement. That is why it is written in italics. Retaining the word
"is" implies the thought of shadow vs. reality. In other words, Messiah fulfilled the
shadow of the things mentioned in verse 16. However, if you remove the added
word "is", it implies that we should not let any man outside the body of Messiah
judge us in respect to these things. Indeed that is in line with the context of Paul's
previous statements. Notice Col.1:18 & 24 and Col.2:19, all of which teach us that
the body of Messiah is the church or all true believers.

There are several other points worthy of mention concerning verses 16 & 17.
Verse 17 states that these things "are" a shadow of things "to come" not that they
"were" a shadow that was now fulfilled. Paul wrote this epistle approximately 30
years after
Messiah's death and resurrection and yet he still spoke of them as unfulfilled
shadows of something in the future.


Ephesians 2:15

The final "proof text" to be considered is Eph.2:15. Again we see the Greek word
"dogma" (ordinances) meaning man-made commandments. Having that in mind
let's begin in verses 11-13. Paul explains that before one accepts Messiah as his
Savior he is separated from the commonwealth of Israel, he is without Yahweh,
and he is uncircumcised. However, once he accepts Messiah he becomes an
Israelite, circumcised in the heart, and at one with Yahweh. Notice what is
abolished in verse 15. It is the enmity or the hatred between the Israelite and the
Gentile that was abolished. This hatred was caused by the commandments and
traditions of men. For example, Paul alludes to a "middle wall of partition" between
Jew and Gentile. This was a literal wall that Paul uses in a figurative sense to
make his point. The Jews decreed,( they made a dogma), which stated that if a
Gentile crossed over the wall separating the Court of the Jews from the Court of
the Gentiles surrounding the temple, that they would be immediately killed. This
was not a commandment of Yahweh. In fact, Yahweh never even commanded
such a wall to exist. That dogma created a hatred between the two peoples which
Messiah destroyed creating one new man and so, making peace.

I cannot impress upon you enough the importance Yahweh places on the
observance of all His Holy days. Each has a very special meaning, for example,
not only does the Feast of Unleavened picture the putting away of sin (leaven)
from our lives, but it is also a memorial of Yahweh's great deliverance of Israel
from Egypt. Can we, with a clear conscience, say that such a great event no
longer needs to be memorialized by observing it in honor of Yahweh's great
mercy? Do we no longer need to memorialize the creation of the heavens and the
earth by resting on the seventh day as the Creator gave us example?

The Sabbaths of Yahweh were given as a perpetual covenant and are a sign
between Him and His people so that they will know who it is that sanctifies them
(Ex.31:13-17). They will continue to be observed after the new heavens and the
new earth are created (Is.66:22,23), so why not begin now?
What Ever Occurred To The Sabbath?