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The Modern Judaizers and Pharisees In the first church council they wrote a decision to the gentiles who were being saved in great numbers Acts 15:5-6 “But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter .”And we should consider their response. V:10"Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? What was this yoke? We are told in specifically in V:23-24. At the end of their letter, “we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, 'You must be circumcised and keep the law'-- to whom we gave no such commandment”Who were these who came and taught this addition of the old covenant to the new? Today there are those who mix the old covenant laws with grace. We are either under law of the old covenant or under grace the new covenant. Gal 2:4-5 “And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage),to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” Who are the false brethren and what kind of bondage were they trying to bring to the Galatians? Why did Paul called the law keepers (Judaizers) false brethren? Paul did not allow the ritualistic practices or laws of Judaism under the Old Covenant be carried over into the new covenant as a requirement (but he allowed them as individual choice). Days of worship such as the Sabbath, Feast days, or foods that were unclean were now up to an individual choice. these are two different covenants, OLD and New. They cannot be combined. The new covenant replaces the old, it is Christ Jesus himself. Moses law was temporary until the messiah came (Galatians 2-3). He came to take away the first to establish the second (Heb.10:9). Heb .8:13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Heb. 8:13 partially quotes Jer. 30:31 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete, growing old ready to vanish away. Who made it obsolete? God himself did. How? By a New covenant. Lets look at the two main words. 1) Obsolete: Greek- palaioo - decayed; to make (passively, become) worn out, or declare obsolete:2)vanish away: Greek is aphanismos - 1) disappearance 2) destructionHeb 8:13 Perfect active indicative of palaiooo (NT:3774), an old verb from palaios (NT:3772) (in contrast with kainos (NT:2502), fresh, new), to treat as old and out of date. (from Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament) Heb 8:13 Is ready to vanish away engus (NT:1435) afanismou (NT:848 a). Literally, "is nigh unto vanishing." Afanismos (NT:848 a), "vanishing," occurs only here in the New Testament. Often found in the Septuagint. … The whole statement indicates that the writer regarded the Sinaitic covenant, even in Jeremiah's time, as obsolete, and that Jeremiah himself so regarded it. When God announced a new covenant he proclaimed the insufficiency of the old, and the promise of a new covenant carried with it the promise of the abrogation of the old. (from Vincent's Word Studies of the New Testament) underline mine The Pharisees saw the Sabbath as the Queen. This is one of the reasons why they challenged Jesus about it and he refuted them so often on what it meant. When the Pharisees gathered in synagogue they would all look to the door as evening transpired to welcome in the Sabbath. To them it was the greatest of all commandments. The Pharisees added 100’s additional rules and regulations for each of the 613 commandments; but for the Sabbath they added more than 1,500 rules and regulations showing what they revered the most. Paul was a Pharisee who did not stay under the Mosaic law and this one of the reasons he did not recognized Christ. This is why the simple people recognized Christ before the Pharisee’s, they didn’t practice all these extra laws. The most ignorant misinformed people on the Sabbath are the legalists (Modern day Judaizers; the hyper legalist are like the Pharisees) that tell you the Sabbath is a requirement or that worshipping on Sunday is the mark of the Beast or sun worship (So is Saturday worship worshipping Saturn because of its name?) Israel worshiped on the first day of the week (called at times the 8th day Lev. 23:36,39; 2 Chron. 29:17; Neh.8:18) the first day These people have a firewall just like the Jehovah Witnesses do; that is, they demonize anyone who worships on any day but the Sabbath. They don’t care that it was a day of rest to Israel; they don’t care that they do not keep the command the way it was written, to work 6 days instead of 5, all they want to do is make themselves superior by telling you a non biblical interpretation of God’s word. As they are in bondage they too want to bring you along with them. This is why Paul said “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage .” (Gal 5:1)The don’t care that the Bible says the old covenant (which is the Sabbath) is not required for a believers in Christ (Galatians 3:24-25). The bottom line is they don’t care for the truth for their own soul to be set free in Christ. They do not want to have a Biblical discussion and look with you on what the Bible actually says to all on this topic. The other voices they have heard have misled them and they are not ready to hear the simple truth found in the New Covenant. At this point all one can do is pray for them that their eyes would be open to the wonderful new covenant that will give them liberty.
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