Beware Of Pastors Using Colossians 2:16 To Encourage You To Break The 4th Commandment Of God -By Joe Dauda

If the pastor himself is deceived, that is forgivable and understandable because, no matter how knowledgeable you are, the cold fact is that you can be deceived. In fact any person who thinks he or she cannot be deceived is a good candidate for deception because, in order not to be deceived, you must entertain the possibility that you can be deceived—no matter how sincere you are. It is actually this mindset of humility based on realism that will move you to study to show yourself approved, instead of confidently quoting your pastor, without any suspicion that he is also quoting others who quoted others that were originally deceived themselves, or even the source of the deception.

The safest thing to do is to study the Bible for yourself. Demand to see where such and such is written and be careful about jumping into conclusions. Follow the pattern. If the Bible says king David reigned for 40 years broken into seven years and six months in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem, and then says in another place that king David reigned in Hebron for seven years (without mentioning the extra six months), don’t rush and say the Bible is inconsistent.

In both 2 Samuel 5:5 and 1 Chronicles 3:4, the Bible categorically states that David reigned in Hebron for seven years and six months. But in 2 Samuel 2:11, the Bible only says David reigned in Hebron for seven years.

Understand that, sometimes, Bible writers approximate facts and give details in other instances, without distorting any fact. But arguments may come up if someone reads either of these portions and is not patient enough to see parallel passages, which often clear up apparent contradictions.

We often say about 10 years; or about 20 years, without any intention to deceive or distort. But when pressed for more details, we may clarify and say 10 years and three months or 20 years and six months. This is normal and no cause for alarm. This is why the Bible is best understood when studied as one book. Many so-called contradictions just disappear if you patiently try to find out what the Bible (the whole Bible) says on a particular topic.

There is also the very interesting case of Moses. God said He will speak with other prophets through dreams and visions: but when it comes to Moses, He will do so face to face. Someone reading this portion of the Bible without understanding the parlance of the Bible may be willing to argue for ever that Moses saw the face of God, based on the Bible. Would you blame such a person? See Exodus 33:11. After all God Himself said so. The problem is that the Bible says somewhere else that no man has seen God. John 1:18. If Moses is a man, how do we harmonize the passage that says no man has seen God with the one that says God spoke with Moses face to face?

In a patient study of the Bible, it soon becomes obvious that the phrase “face to face” is idiomatic. God was saying that when He speaks to Moses, He speaks to him plainly, without encoding the message in dreams and visions. We know that Moses never saw God’s face because there is an account of Moses asking to see God’s glory. In order to protect Moses from certain death (which would have been the result of Moses seeing God’s face) the Bible says God used His hand to cover the face of Moses while passing by. Only after He had passed by did he allow Moses see His back parts. Exodus 33:20-23. The fact that God went to this extent to prevent Moses from seeing His face tells us that there is no way Moses could have actually seen God’s face, in spite of the categorical statement stating that God habitually spoke with Him face to face. The face to face is not literal face to face but means plainly: and the context makes this clear if you will take the time to read this interesting portion of the Bible. To nail this teaching, consider the fact that, because the words of the Ten Commandments were explicit and not coded in any way, God regards their delivery to the Israelites as a face to face communication. Meaning He spoke plainly while issuing the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:4

“The LORD talked with you face to face in the Mount out of the midst of the fire.”

Yet we know the Israelites couldn’t have seen God face to face. If Moses couldn’t see God’s face and survive, surely the Israelites did not actually see God’s face. The use of the phrase is to describe the manner of the communication. Yet someone who does not understand the way the Bible was written can create a storm over this issue.

There are several of such cases in the Bible that make enemies of the Bible smile, hastily believing that they have found evidence of errors in the Bible, or inconsistencies in the Bible, only to eventually see the harmony of the Bible and feel befuddled.

With that in mind, I repeat: beware of any pastor using Colossians 2:16 to teach you to boldly trample upon the Sabbath commandment of Exodus 20:8-11: they normally would not encourage you to break the other commandments, because that would clearly be absurd. No sane person believes that God will ignore stealing, and murder, and adultery, and other sins based on breaking the other commandments. The commandment easy to deceive people about is especially the 4th commandment about keeping the seventh day holy.

Pastors typically go to institutions known as Schools of Theology. One of the things students of Theology do is try to understand the Bible from the perspective of the writer of the portion they are studying. For example, the above case about the reign of king David will be studied by theologians until harmony in the biblical accounts is established. As for Colossians 2:16, theologians know that it is not referring to the Sabbath day of the 4th commandment. They know. No wonder the translators of the King James Version of the Bible rendered it as sabbath days. Please check it out if you have a King James Version of the Bible.

In summary, sabbath means rest. And although the 4th commandment commands the people of God to rest, that was not the only day in which rest was commanded in the Old Testament. All the seven feasts of the Bible such as the Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles, Day of Atonement, etc. (which were all pointing to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ) were sabbath days. And that meant they were observed as days of rest during which there could be no mundane activities, except when demanded by exigencies, such as hunger or sickness, or calamity.

Exodus 12:16

“ . . . there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that alone may be done of you.”

Permit me to digress and mention that, in spite of the above scripture, there are still Sabbath keepers today who do not cook (and probably do not eat) on Sabbath days! Can you see? It is dangerous to read the Bible and not read it properly. God says keep the day holy and then chipped in (in Exodus 12:16) that you can do whatever you need to do to prepare and eat something. This exemption applies to any type of Sabbath and this was why the disciples of Jesus Christ went into a farm to pluck corn and eat on the Sabbath day. Notice that when the Pharisees tried to condemn them, He defended them. Notice also that He could have said the Sabbath commandment has been changed or that the Sabbath commandment has been abolished: but He rather used that opportunity to teach things that could be done on the Sabbath day (under exigencies) without offending the Sabbath commandment. The case of the disciples of Jesus Christ going into the farm on the Sabbath day was a perfect example of how emergency situations (such as a sheep falling into a ditch, or a fire outbreak, or caring for the sick) permits engagement in mundane activities on the sabbath day. Many Sabbath keepers do not even know this and thus bring unnecessary pressure upon themselves and others in the name of keeping the Sabbath.

So please don’t be discouraged. Present the above facts to any pastor trying to encourage you to break the Sabbath on the basis of Colossians 2:16. That verse is referring to the ceremonial laws of the Bible, which contain the seven feasts. How do we know that? There is nothing in the Ten Commandments that have anything to do with food and drinks, or new moon or even old moon, if there is anything like that. But such instructions form part of the ceremonial law. With that in mind, let’s read Colossians 2:16 and see what type of sabbath it may be referring to.

Colossians 2:16

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.”

If you are still confused, keep it simple. Ask basic questions to compel the truth to come out.

Question 1.

Does God have commandments?

Don’t let anyone lie to you about this. Just read Revelation 22:14 and realize that you cannot receive the free gift of salvation made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and also receive a license to break the commandments of God. Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4) and anyone encouraging you to transgress any of God’s commandments is encouraging you to sin. Beware!

Question 2

Can I keep some commandments and break others?

The answer to this one only requires a Bible quotation with absolutely no need for further commentary.

James 2:10

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Some pastors, in spite of James 2:10, will say the laws referred to have nothing to do with the Ten Commandments. How would James respond to that?

James 2:11

“For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.”

Where do you find commandments such as thou shalt not kill and thou shalt not commit adultery? It is the Ten Commandments.

Question 3

Has God changed any of His Commandments?

The answer to this question is the direct opposite. Knowing that it will not be possible to get His people to worship the beast until they are first deceived to abandon the Ten Commandments (either partly or wholly) God warned the church through Daniel the prophet about what the last days beast would do. What was that warning?

Daniel 7:25

“And he shall think to change times and laws.”

Key words: change, laws.

Who will be responsible for this? The beast.

In order words, God was saying, any change in His law will be attributable to the actions of the beast. It’s like God was saying: I wrote the Ten Commandments with my own finger on stone but the beast (called the little horn in Daniel 7:25) will attempt to change my commandments. Beware!

So who changed the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week (commonly called Saturday) to the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday?

The answer is in Daniel 7:25.

Never forget that worship is the issue.

Satan is ready to allow you deceive your conscience and even give you the whole world if only you will worship him. He tried to do this to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You know the story. Matthew 4:8-10. So he is content to allow you believe the other commandments (this also has the advantage or disadvantage of making you feel holy) but he has worked tirelessly to tamper with the two commandments directly related to the worship of God because he wants to be worshipped. And God says whoever worships Satan (by worshipping the beast) will be destroyed by fire and brimstone.

What’s your excuse?

Jesus Christ already said worship not based on the commandments is vain worship. Matthew 15:9.

If your worship is not directed to God because it is vain worship (not based on the commandments of God) guess who it is directed to?

Will you continue in vain worship because of the majority?

Remember Revelation 14:9-11;

Remember Noah;

Remember Elijah;

Remember Lot.

The majority has never been obedient to God.

If you want to go along with the majority, that’s your right. Not even God will interfere. But please don’t say you were not warned.

May God have mercy on all of us.