History of the New Testament Church

Happy Sabbath, once again. In Part 1 of the history of the New Testament Church, we began to focus on why our beliefs are so different from others. The doctoral beliefs that we hold dear are a result of our faith in the validity of what's in this book, the validity of Scriptures over human tradition or secular human history. Many churches make the claim that their doctrines come from the Bible, but the early influence of Greek philosophy and the teachings of what eventually became known as the Roman Catholic Church, which soon dominated the Roman Empire, have influenced Christian doctrines more than they either know or more than they're willing to admit. The Church of God truly believes that the Scriptures say what they mean, and it lives by the principle that the Bible is valid and accurate, and that becomes more rare as each year goes by, because the majority of people today who even profess Christianity do not believe that the Bible is accurate or valid, beginning in Genesis 1. They don't even believe that the earth was created in seven literal days. And it gets worse from there as they go through Scriptures and they read things that they don't agree with personally or that our culture says is bigoted or wrong, and their minds have been distorted to the point where they don't even believe that this book really has any validity. Well, of course, we do. Last time, we did some background research on Luke, who is the author of two books. He wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts of the Apostles begins with the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven after spending approximately 40 days on earth. And about 28 chapters later, it ends with Paul's first imprisonment under house arrest in Rome for two years, around 61 AD. Luke records Paul's three missionary journeys, and even though many of them are not specifically mentioned in Acts, most of Paul's epistles were written during the time of the history that's recorded in the 28 chapters in the book of Acts.

To understand the book of Acts and read it without bias and with an open mind is to understand the early New Testament church. As I said before, there is no other history. Nothing else was written. A few statements, a few comments from others, but there is no other history of what the early Christians thought, what they believed, and how they worshipped, than looking right into the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

There is no other eyewitness source available to tell us what happened in the earliest days of the church. So today we're going to complete our examination of Acts. We ended last time around Acts, chapter 15. So we're going to complete that today. And then what we're also going to do, we're going to look at some statements from Paul in his epistles to see if these statements that are often used by others to teach doctrines that we do not believe are correct, to see if they support or contradict what Paul's example was and what he said in the book of Acts. And then next time, our final part, part three, we'll see what happened historically and theologically to the doctrines of the church upon the death of that first generation of apostles.

We'll see what happened to the church after that occurred. We'll see who replaced them. We'll see why, what the influences were of dramatic changes that came in and influenced the doctrines of the church. But before we get there, we need to finish today the book of Acts.

So let's go to Acts, chapter 16, and verse 9. And again, we're just doing highlights to understand some of the theology and the example of the apostle Paul and others. So Acts, chapter 16 and verse 9, we'll pick it up here today. It says, Now after he had seen the vision immediately, we sought to go to Macedonia. I just want to stop for one second, and I want you to notice that the dramatic change is taking place here.

You're going to see the word, We did this, we did that, we did this, and this is a dramatic change from the person who wrote the previous chapters. And then I'll explain why. Come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the vision immediately, we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

And therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neopolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony, and we were staying in that city for some days. And on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to go to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.

I want you to notice here, beginning in verse 10, the use of the word we a lot. So what has happened here? This event in Troas, which occurred about 50 AD, after the ministerial conference, is the time when Luke was converted and became Paul's traveling companion. The change from they, that you'll see in verses 6 through 8, and that transition of we beginning on Troas shows that Luke the narrator joined Paul's company.

And from this point on, Luke is recording his own first-person eyewitness of the events. Again, this is a year after the ministerial conference, and before then, how does Luke know what happened before then as he wrote an orderly account of the apostles? Well, he asked those for chapters 1 through 15. Paul, what did you say at the ministerial conference? Silas, what did you do when you came into this city? So he knew individuals who had been part of the church from Acts chapter 1 through 15, and that's how he got the information that he needed to create this orderly account.

But beginning here in verse 16, it's his own eyes that sees these events. He personally is witnessing what Paul says and what Paul does. So this is very important to point out. Again, this is a year after the ministerial conference, and here we see a Greek Gentile referring, in these verses, to the Sabbath day. Why doesn't he refer to just the seventh day of the week? If they were already beginning to observe another day of the week, as some would have us believe, why doesn't he say the first day of the week? No, he uses the Greek word sabaton, which means the seventh day Sabbath. Why would a Gentile like Luke say, on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside?

Some have said that Paul only preached on the Sabbath day because he would find an audience in a synagogue. Well, here's an example of Paul preaching by a riverside outside of a synagogue on a Sabbath day. Again, I want you to realize Luke doesn't record the seventh day of the week. That's not what he says. He doesn't say the first day of the week. He explicitly states the Sabbath. A Greek, sabaton. Again, rather a remarkable thing for someone who is a Gentile.

Now, let's go to Acts 17, verses 1-3. Acts 17, verses 1-3. It says, Now, when they had passed through, Amphipolis, Apollonia, came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews, and Paul, as his custom was, went into them, and for three Sabbaths, reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, saying, This Jesus, whom I preach to you, is the Christ. So he said, all the prophets talked about the Messiah. All the prophets talked about that one who would come and ultimately restore Israel.

That is Christ, is what Paul is saying. He was the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah and many others. This is a message that Paul is preaching. I'm going to read this verse from the New Century version, verses 1-3.

Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. Paul went into the synagogue as he always did.

That sounds rather dogmatic to me, doesn't it? Does it sound that way to you? And on each Sabbath day for three weeks, he talked with the Jews about the Scriptures. He explained and proved that the Christ must die and then rise from the dead. He said, This Jesus, who I'm telling you about, is the Christ. So this is another eyewitness example, this time, personal eyewitness example of Luke, who is observing Paul keeping the Sabbath after the conference of 49 AD.

And he uses it, of course, as an opportunity to worship and an opportunity to preach the Gospel. All of it very, very important. Now let's go to Acts, chapter 18, verse 1. And let's see what he did in Corinth, how long he was there, and the example that he set in Corinth.

Paul traveled a lot, but this is a case where he actually was in one location. He settled down for a while, for a year and six months, or 18 months. But let's see what he did. Acts, chapter 18, verse 1. Again, this is the eyewitness now of Luke.

He's there. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. And he came to them. So because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for by occupation they were tent-makers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. Of course, Paul had no problem, as in his ministry, he worked with his hands.

And one thing, the beautiful thing about working with your hands is that you do feel a deep sense of accomplishment. Earlier in my career, I was an electrician, and I felt a deep sense of accomplishment when I wired a room, and at the end of the day, I threw a switch on and all the lights came on.

That was a real fulfilling feeling of accomplishment. When you work in more mind esoteric trades, you don't see detectable achievement. Sometimes you feel quite frustrated because it seems like you do so much and don't see any results or level of fulfillment from it. Paul obviously sensed fulfillment from being a tent-maker and realized that when he needed money, when he was on a missionary journey, when he couldn't go to an ATM machine and just hit the automatic $50 cash button, he had to support himself, and he had a skill, a highly desirable and talented skill.

So he was able to do that, and he obviously made a friendship here with Aquila and Priscilla. And it says, and he reasoned in the synagogue occasionally when he couldn't get a hall on Sunday? No, it said he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. So we see from these scriptures here, he observes every Sabbath with the Jews and Gentiles at Corinth. How long did he do this? Well, let's drop down to verse 11. Verse 11 says, and he continued there, speaking of in Corinth, a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them.

So verse 11 makes it very clear he was there for 18 months. So let me ask you this. If he reasons in the synagogue every Sabbath and he's there for 18 months, that means that about 70 Sabbaths he observed with the Corinthians. Now, if the Sabbath had been done away or replaced, what kind of confusing example would this be for the Gentiles and Corinth? If he's secretly meeting on Sunday, or if he's doing something on another day of the week, how confusing would this example be?

It would invite confusion, division in the Church of God, would it not? In verse 21, Paul stated this, and some of you might read this and say, well, my Bible doesn't say that. In verse 21 it says this, in the New King James and the original King James Version, I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem. How many have Bibles that don't say that?

How many of you have Bibles that do not say that? Okay, some of you will, because some of the more modern translations drop that out. Some of the earliest manuscripts have it in. Some of the earliest manuscripts do not mention it. But it's interesting, the statement here, I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem. Now, is that maybe just some special occasion? Well, let's go to Acts 20 and verse 6 and see what Luke wrote here. Acts 20 and verse 6.

The Gentile author of this book says, But we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread.

So let me ask the question I've asked before. Why would a Gentile like Luke, writing to another Gentile theophilus, refer to holy days unless they had special significance?

What we see here in Acts 20 is seven years after the Jerusalem Conference of 49 AD. Why did they wait until after the days of unleavened bread to travel? Because they chose to stop. They chose to observe the holy days in Philippi until they were completed.

And then they continued their journey again.

It's just that simple.

Acts 20 and verse 16.

What does it state here?

It states regarding Paul in Acts 20 and verse 16, For he, referring to Paul, was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

So again, what do we see Paul's example here? We see Paul's example. He says, I have to by every means keep the feast in Jerusalem. Later, he says, he's hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. Didn't Paul get the memo that the holy days are obsolete and done away in Christ and have been nailed to the cross?

It's obvious by his example, brethren. If you're honest and open-minded, without a bias, that Paul is observing the seventh-day Sabbath over and over and over again, and that he's observing the holy days, each and every one of them. Let's go to one more scripture in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 27. A little background. He's under arrest. He's being sent to Rome for trial. Luke is with Paul, and that's why he uses the word we in this particular episode as they get on a ship. Acts 27. It says, when we had sailed over the sea, which is off of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Elisha. There a centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board. When we had sailed slowly many days and had arrived with difficulty in Snittis, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmoni. Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens near the city of Lecia. Now, when much time had been spent and sailing was now dangerous because the fast was already over... Now, if you have a translation like mine, the word fast is capitalized. The fast was already over. Paul advised them, saying, men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but of our lives also. Here's what the very Bible note says about this verse. The fast was already over. Only one fast was prescribed by the law, and that was on the day of atonement. And they refer to Leviticus 16, verses 29-34. Continuing, they say, if this was the year 59 AD, the fast was on October 5th. The sail this late was very hazardous. This means that Paul left Caesarea in August or September and did not arrive in Rome until the following March. So what does this tell us here in chapter 27? At least 10 years after the Jerusalem Conference in Acts 15. Almost 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and everything has been nailed to that cross that is ever going to be nailed to it. We see Paul and Luke fasted, and they observed the day of atonement, perhaps even on a ship. So what kind of example do we have here that is being brought to us by them? Why would a Gentile like Luke even refer to the fast? Unless it had significant meaning to him as an individual.

So we've seen and reviewed some key points of the only eyewitness historical encounter in the earliest days of the Church. So with that kind of background, now let's look into some of Paul's epistles. And we'll see, unfortunately, that sometimes his statements are distorted because scholars and Bible students, people who write commentaries, want to ignore the simple history that we just took a little bit of time to walk through together. And they come up with distorted concepts because they have a biased agenda. They're looking at theology, they're looking at the Church from the perspective of an organization that exists a thousand years later, who has taken over the Church from the capital city of Rome, in the Roman Empire. Let's take a look at a few Scriptures. Let's go to Galatians 4 and verse 1. If you'll turn there with me, Galatians 4 and verse 1. Paul writes here in the book of Galatians, Even so, he's drawing an analogy here, obviously, even so when we were children in bondage under the elements of the world, that means when we were in bondage to sin, carnal human nature, our own undisciplined passions and desires, when we were in bondage to the elements of the world, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law. Now, being under the law is a judgment. If you're like Jesus Christ and you live perfectly, then the judgment of being under the law is you're righteous.

If you're like everyone else on earth, including yours truly, being under the law, the judgment is up. You've sinned only a few hundred thousand times. Therefore, you're guilty of death.

So he was saying, of course, that Jesus Christ came, who was under the law and lived it righteously and was perfect, came to redeem those whose judgment is not positive, whose judgment is death, continuing that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are his sons, he sent forth his spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. So he makes it possible for us to have an intimate, very close relationship with God the Father. Verse 7, Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, an heir of God through Christ. How powerful is that? That God makes us an heir of God. What does it mean to be an heir of God through Christ? It means you're going to inherit the universe as his child, eternity, immortal life, world to craft and design and create, and an existence and a purpose that is fulfilling and abundant. An heir of God through Christ, per se. But then indeed, when you, notice he just went from saying we to you, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods, but now after you have known God or are rather known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bond? Did you observe days and months and seasons and years? I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. Now, what is the typical commentary, say, about the verses that we just read? I'll read from the reary Bible notes. Often I read from the reary Bible notes and they're spot on. But like anything created by human beings, sometimes some individuals who worked on reary Bible notes have their own agenda.

And here's what their notes say about the verses we just read here. Quote, influenced by the Judaizers, meaning those who believed in the Jewish culture and faith, some Galatians had begun to observe the festivals of the Jewish calendar. So in this case, reary Bible notes says that Paul is correcting them for observing the festivals of the Jewish calendar.

You mean like the festivals that Paul observed over and over again in the book of Acts? You mean like those kinds of festivals? And again, the majority of Bible commentators and scholars say essentially the same thing as this. They just rephrase it a little bit. Does this make sense to you that the same man who personally observed so many Sabbaths and Holy Days according to Luke would correct the Galatians for doing what he did?

Would he correct them for doing what he taught the Corinthian church to do in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 8 regarding this bring Holy Days, let us therefore keep the feast?

Galatians was written about at the same time within a few years of 1 Corinthians. So what on the way, is he like an American politician, like I said last time? Does he change his message depending on who the audience is that day?

Or is he a man of integrity? Or maybe are some commentators imputing things to Paul and applying things to him that obviously would contradict what his actual example would be?

Let's take a look at something here. Again, I want you to notice that Baal changed from we, for example, in verse 5, that we might receive the adoption of sons to you, verse 8, when you did not know God. As a matter of fact, I'm going to read verse 8 from the Living Bible just to point out something to you. Here's what it says. Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that it did not exist. So even the translators of the New Living Bible understand the audience went from we, collectively, to all of those of us who share our commonality, to you. That is, you who are of Gentile culture and background. The context here is Paul correcting the Gentile believers. He states that they're going back to the weak and beggarly elements.

He says that. But, brethren, you can't be referring to the Sabbath or Holy Days because they never kept the Sabbath or Holy Days before their calling.

You can't go back to something you never did before.

The Mosaic law did not have religious months and times and years except the Jubilee year, which there's no record of its observance. So when he says here, he observed days and months and seasons and years that obviously cannot apply to the Hebrew Holy Days because they're days. There are no holy months in the Hebrew calendar. It's not like the month of Ramadan. There's nothing like that in the Hebrew celebrations. There's nothing like celebrating seasons or years. I know an organization that declares a holy year once in a while, but it's not the Church of God. It's a church whose headquarters is in Rome that has lots and lots of religious days during the year and holy seasons like Lent and declares holy years occasionally.

So the pagan Greek-Roman religions did have numerous religious days and months and seasons and holy years, but not the Hebrew calendar. Now, I want you to notice that Paul does not refer to these as Sabbaths or Holy Days because they're not his subject. He has no problem, as we're going to see when we go to the Book of Colossians, he has no problem saying Sabbaths and festivals are Sabbaths and Holy Days. That's what his intention is. He does not say that here. This is a classic example of why knowing the actual history of the New Testament Church is so vital. Most other Bible scholars and students read bias into Paul's epistles and end up distorting Scripture because they have actually discarded the actual history of the early church as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. That's why it was so important to remind ourselves what that one and only history that exists tells us in contrast to the opinions and the ideas of men. And they have replaced what happened in the Acts of the Apostles with religious agenda that was created hundreds of years later to support an idea or a conclusion that they came to.

Let's take a look at another example. We are going to go to the book of Colossians, chapter 2, if you'll turn there. I need to give you a little bit of background so you understand what Paul is dealing with here. And the background is going to come from a paragraph I'm going to read from Scofield's notes on Colossians, chapter 2 and verse 18. This was, again, a commentary. Scofield was a theologian. His notes on Colossians, chapter 2 and verse 18.

He says, the error against which Paul warned the Colossians later developed into a heresy called Gnosticism from the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge. This false teaching assigned to Christ a place subordinate to the true Godhead and undervalued the uniqueness and completeness of his redemption work. It insisted that between a holy God and earth, a host of beings, angels, etc., formed a bridge which hosts Christ as a member. So they believed that to gain this knowledge, almost like various steps, you had to go on these various steps and get increased knowledge and wisdom. And that Christ wasn't really part of the Godhead. He was just at the upper part of this ladder or this chain.

So I'm going to continue here. It says, it insisted that between a holy God and this earth, a host of beings, angels, etc., formed a bridge of which hosts Christ as a member. The system included worship of angels and false asceticism. For all these errors, the Apostle Paul had one remedy, a knowledge, or full knowledge, of the fullness of God in Jesus Christ.

Paul is not afraid of wisdom or knowledge and refers to them frequently, but he does insist that the knowledge be according to divine revelation.

His devastating answer to this false teaching is in chapter 1 and verse 19 and chapter 2 and verse 9, in which the Lord revealed as the one in whom, quote, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form, the word fullness is the very word, Gnosticism, used for the entire host of intermediary beings between God and man. Continuing the last sentence, the incarnate Lord crucified, risen, and ascended is the only mediator between God and man. And they refer to 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5. In our next sermon, we'll talk more about Greek philosophy and the influence that it had in the church. But this is kind of the beginning of changes in what's going on in the Church of God and influencing the Church of God. So with that background, now we can go to Colossians chapter 2, beginning in verse 13, and see what he says, what Paul says, and how it is distorted by some who want to imply that Paul is correcting the church for observing the Sabbath and the festivals.

Chapter 2 and verse 13.

And he has taken it out of the way and nailed it to the cross. These handwriting of requirements is the sentence of death. The written law of God, when it's broken, condemned us and put us in debt to God because of our sins. It's a death sentence. With God's grace, this death sentence is canceled out by nailing it to the cross of Jesus Christ. The shed blood of Jesus Christ cancels out. It wipes away. It's taken out of the way so that it no longer hangs over our head. Christ has made full payment. The law hasn't been taken away or wiped out. The trespasses have been taken away or wiped out. Recently, the President of the United States has been issuing pardons for individuals. When he issues a pardon, it doesn't do away with the original crime. It doesn't say the crime now is no longer a crime. It says that the guilt that they have for breaking that law will no longer be held against them. That they're forgiven by the government. And they can get on with their life and go their way. The law that was originally broken still is there. It still remains. It's the requirement of eternal death for sin that was taken out of the way again, not the law. Verse 15, having disarmed principalities and powers, and this is of the dark side of the evil world. As a matter of fact, Ephesians 6 through 12 mentions spiritual hosts of wickedness. Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them. During his ministry, he cast out demons. He demonstrated authority. He told the demons how far they could go and what they were allowed to do. So he made publicly, in front of all kinds of people, a spectacle of the demon world. So he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it. And ultimately, though they manipulated humans to crucify Jesus Christ, he was resurrected from the dead. He's king of king and lord of lords. So he triumphed over the evil world. But here's what we want to focus on. Verse 16. So let no one judge you in food or drink regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. I'm going to read this, verse 15, from God's Word for today. Therefore, let no one judge you because of what you eat or drink about the observance of annual holy days, new moon festivals or weekly worship days.

These are a shadow of things to come, but the body that cast the shadow belongs to Christ. Now, I'm going to read you again from Rurie Bible notes, which oftentimes is spot on. But here again distorts because they have an agenda, an agenda formed by something else that happened later on, and then trying to justify that. They have an agenda. Here's what it says.

Here's the next sentence. I love this. The command to observe the Sabbath is the only one of the Ten Commandments not repeated after Pentecost. End of quote. What?

Have they ever bothered to read the Book of Acts? Over and over and over again? What example did we meticulously see Paul doing throughout the Book of Acts? So what do these verses really tell us? Don't ever forget, by the way, the personal example as recorded in the Book of Acts. Well, if you look at these Scriptures closely, some were judging the Church in eating, drinking, and observance of the Holy Days. It was the judging that Paul is correcting. He's saying don't allow anyone to judge you for what you're presently doing. Some say Paul is correcting the Church because these religious days are now obsolete. They say it's the whole Hebrew Holy Days and the Sabbath, and Paul's condemning them for observing these days. Well, if that line of reasoning is true, then Paul is also saying that eating and drinking is now obsolete. Because that's included in the list. That doesn't even make sense. Well, obviously, there's an Gnostic influence going on here, and the Gnostics were ascetics, meaning they felt that if I just deny myself of physical things because physical things are inferior, pleasure—oh, inferior. It's physical. Joy, celebration, tasting food, seeing beautiful things, touching—oh, that's physical. That is beneath me. I'm a Gnostic. I'm above mere physical pleasures and desires. That was their mindset. That's where they were coming from. This scripture implies that this Gentile church in Colossae was actually observing the Holy Days and was feasting almost 30 years after the death of Christ. When you realize that he's condemning those judging these people for doing that, and you get beyond that bias of him condemning people for keeping these days, he's condemning those who are judging people for keeping these days, you realize that here's an actual example of a Gentile congregation keeping the Holy Days 30 years after the death of Christ. So, in effect, this scripture actually endorses the observance of the Sabbath and Holy Days. I want you to also notice that Paul calls these religious days a shadow of things to come, not a shadow of the past. Does that seem like an unusual phrase to you? He doesn't say, and you are observing, you're eating and drinking, and you're observing festivals and new moons and Sabbaths, which, after all, are a shadow of the past. He doesn't say that. He says they're a shadow of things to come. Why? Because they all picture God's plan of salvation and the future kingdom of God on earth. They're a shadow of future events that will be fulfilled by Christ. They look forward, not backward. Something isn't obsolete when you're looking forward to it. Verse 18, let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, including into those things which he has not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly minds. Paul comments here on two heresies. This is all tied into these verses and helps us to understand what Paul is really talking about here. Two heresies which appeared righteous on the surface but were really very carnal and vain. He's going to talk about two of them. First of all is false humility. This was a Gnostic influence. The Gnostics were aesthetics, and they felt that everything physical is bad, like good food, like celebration, like having good drink, like keeping a Sabbath and having a smile on your face, like actually enjoying life, was somehow the lower level of existence. When you get up here where I am, you are beyond the need of physical pleasures. This was self-denial. It was asceticism. It was false because those who did it wanted to appear as righteous.

It was false humility because they were trying to draw attention to themselves. When you're trying to draw attention to yourself, you are not humble.

They were false because they wanted to be seen as righteous and they judged others who weren't like them. So that's the false humility that he's attacking here in this verse. Then he talks about the worship of angels. Again, a Gnostic influence.

There was a stair step of continually added knowledge that ultimately brought you to full wisdom and included on that stair step was Jesus Christ and also a host of angels. So they were worshiping angels. That has nothing to do with Jewish thought or theology. In the Hebrew world, angels were considered important intermediaries between God and man, but they were never worshiped by the Jews. Something that was just never done. It was done by the Gnostics. It was an influence of Greek paganism. Verse 19, And not holding fast to the head, from whom all the body nourished and in together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is to God. He said they weren't holding fast and true to Christ. They were looking the worldly philosophy for knowledge and spirituality.

The right kind of knowledge is revealed spiritually. You can't reason it. You can't, through human philosophy, come to the right conclusion. You can't just talk about it and come to the right answers. It's divinely revealed. It's something that transcends human thought and understanding. Verse 20, Again, he's talking to these people who have false humility, these people who are worshipping angels, as was said in verse 8. Paul uses this phrase to connect the cheating and deceit and the lies and the vain reasoning of the evil spirit world to these teachings. He's saying it's evil. It's part of the dark spirit world. It has nothing to do with our faith. It's not the truth. It's the truth. It's evil. It's part of the dark spirit world. It has nothing to do with our faith. The evil spirit world was the source of these beliefs. The basic principles of the world are the raw carnal desires of self-centeredness and sin that's inspired by these evil spirits. Some translations, by the way, even use the phrase, elemental spirits of the universe. The new Revised Standard Version says that. So Paul tells the church, if you have been spared from the evil ways of this physical world, why do you want to be part of the pagan rituals and regulations? Why do you want to acquire these aesthetic ideas? Because they have nothing to do with true Christianity. He continues by challenging an attitude that self-denial makes one superior to others. So now he begins to quote them.

Verse 21, do not touch or taste. Do not handle. Oh, those are physical things. I'm above that. I'm above the need to have good food. I'm just going to fast because I'm so righteous. I'm above the need for good drink. I'm above the need to feel joy and celebrate a festival or a holy day. I'm just going to look like I sucked on lemons all day because I'm righteous. I'm better than everyone else is. Do not touch. Do not taste. Do not handle. He says, which all concern things, which perish with the use. Those are all physical things. He says, they don't last.

An idea that somehow not touching something makes you righteous or not tasting something makes you righteous. He says, where does that come from? According to the commandments and doctrines of man? That's where that comes from. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. What we read here are just classic, ascetic traits. Remember verse 16. So now it becomes clearer, doesn't it? Some ascetic believers were judging the church brethren for feasting, that is, eating and drinking, for rejoicing on the Holy Days, on the Sabbath, on the New Moon, to these ascetics, denying oneself was what made you righteous.

They were judging the church for celebrating on the Sabbaths and Holy Days. And Paul told the church, don't allow anyone to judge you for how you eat or drink or keep the Sabbath or Holy Days, the festivals. The only one that has the right to judge you is the church itself, not people with these freakish, pagan Greek ideas.

Paul judges, he says, that this is vanity. He states clearly that these traits are of no use to overcome sin or the world because we need God's Holy Spirit to overcome a carnal world, not ascetic ideas. Well, I can overcome sin if I don't touch it, if I don't taste it, if I don't handle it. He says, that's worthless. That's shallow. You need the power of God's Holy Spirit if you want to overcome the world. Well, let's see one final example of how some distort Paul's writings.

We'll go to 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 1. Last scripture today, 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 1. I'll give you a little bit of background context here. There's a severe famine in Jerusalem affecting the church there. Paul decides he wants to collect money and other items. We'll see that this includes fruit. He mentions in Romans 15. He wants to collect them, then gather everything together from a number of Gentile congregations and send it to Jerusalem for relief.

He wants to set a good example. The people in Jerusalem oftentimes are critical of the Gentiles. We know that. We've read that before. He wants to set a sterling example and gather all of this together and have a team of people go to Jerusalem and say, brethren, Jewish brethren in Jerusalem, look what the Gentile brethren bring to help you with this famine relief. So that's the context here. Beginning in verse 1. Now concerning, he says, the collection for the saints. I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also.

On the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters, I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem. But if it is fitting that I go also, they will go with me. So it may be a number of us, he says, are going to bring all of these things. I'm bringing supplies with me from other congregations, and we're going to head to Jerusalem and help the relief fund. Here's what the Cambridge Study Bible says regarding this verse.

Cambridge Study Bible notes here in 1 Corinthians 16, verses 1-4, quote, the first day of the week was the Christian equivalent of the Sabbath in commemoration of Jesus' resurrection on the third day, after his death on the afternoon before the Sabbath, end of quote. So, is that what's happening here? According to what we read in the book of Acts, didn't Paul consistently keep the Seventh-day Sabbath? Did you see once, was there ever once in the book of Acts about the Sabbath being moved to the first day of the week?

No, of course not! So what's going on here? What's really happening? Well, again, as I mentioned in Romans chapter 15 and verse 28, a parallel epistle, he wrote, he said, therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain. So he's talking about the same collection, the same way of helping the brethren in need in Jerusalem. So what's Paul asking them to do?

What he's asking them to do is not what you would do on the Sabbath. He is asking them to lay his things aside and to store up in advance of Paul's arrival, so that by the time he gets there, all of that storage, all of the work to bring together fruits, money, whatever it is you're going, clothing, whatever it may be that you're going to send to Jerusalem, that it's already done. This is similar to a fundraising project. It's similar to a work party that we would have on a Sunday to raise funds or to gather things together.

That's what it is. It says nothing here about worship. It says nothing here about transferring the observance of the seventh day Sabbath to the first day of the week. Again, some would want to imply that the church is already recognizing Sunday and replacing the Sabbath. But what does Paul's actual example teach us as revealed in the Acts of the Apostles? Did you notice that this was written to the 1 Corinthians?

It's in chapter 16. Do you remember in the Acts of the Apostles, in Acts chapter 18, it said that Paul resided in Corinth for 18 months? Now, this isn't the same time. He didn't write 1 Corinthians when he was in Corinth. But going back to the book of Acts, what was his example when he was in Corinth for 18 months?

Seventy Sabbaths. It said every Sabbath he went to the synagogue. Seventy Sabbaths he observed, and they all witnessed his example. It said he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath. Now, do you think that that might be a little bit confusing for them to have seen his example and then read this and say, Oh, Paul wants us to keep Sunday now. Again, this is why it's so important for us to have read and understand the one and only true history written about the early New Testament church. History clearly tells us that Paul observed the Sabbath. It's the agenda of men that tell us that, quote, the first day of every week was the Christian equivalent of the Sabbath.

Really? I'm sorry. That's not confirmed by Paul's example. So, in conclusion, today we have completed the history of Paul's journeys and personal example as recorded by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. Next time, we will look at a few statements and we will see that a dramatic shift occur. And how did it happen? We'll see that the church teachings from the original generation of the disciples to that which eventually arose from the church after their death beginning about 150 AD.

How it changed the church forever. So, we'll explore this next time in part three of the history of the New Testament church. Have a wonderful Sabbath.