Observing Days

By E. M. Zerr

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     "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain."

     Thus wrote the apostle Paul in his letter to the churches in Galatia. Of course he had reference to the special days under the law of Moses. One of the most persistent difficulties the church had to cope with in the early years was that of Judaism. The Jews had been directed in their religious and civil life by the law coming from Sinai for so long that many of them were loath to give full acceptance to the new religion brought in. As a result, Paul wrote three of his epistles for the special purpose of counteracting this evil and to get the brethren to see that they were under Christ and not Moses. That the former obligations were done away with.

     Of course it must be understood that the above remarks applied to the practices of the law for religious purposes. The Jews had as much right as ever to continue their observance of those things if they did it from a national standpoint and not for any religious benefits. This is why we read in Rom. 10: 4 that "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Christ never meant to end the law for the Jews as far as it pertained to them as a political nation. Had they not lost their nation to the Romans they could have continued their national practices without any objections from Christ, only they must have done it for this purpose only and not with any purposes of religious benefits. They could have observed them as Jewish citizens just the same as we can observe the 4th of July and such like as American citizens. This accounts for some things Paul did even after becoming a Christian. He circumcised Timothy, kept the feast in Jerusalem, observed the obligations of a vow, etc., and it was because he was still a Jew and did it for that reason only.

      Now in our time we hear much of special days. There is Mother's Day, Father's Day, Chidren's Day. The question has often been raised as to our proper attitude toward these days. Well, the answer is found practically in the paragraph above. The respect we are commanded to exhibit for our fleshly loved ones might suggest some sort of special manner of doing so. The importance of children as the coming strength of our nation, of the fathers and mothers who have given these children to the country, and the general benefit to be obtained from the outward expression of the sentiments felt--all this would suggest some formal indication of our feelings on the subject. But let all of our activities on this be kept apart from any formal religious observance. To have the church, as such, participate in celebration of these days would be as unlawful as was the practice of the Galatian churches.

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It would make Paul afraid of us. When fathers and mothers are presented with some token of love from their son or daughter it is one of the finest causes of satisfaction one can experience and this is perfectly lawful. But there should be no mixing up of religious ceremonies with it. The same is true of our practices at Christmas time. As long as our actions on that occasion are purely done as a custom we are in lawful bounds. But let us not participate in any religious observance of that day. And so, whether it be Children's Day, Mother's Day, Father s Day, Christmas, 4th of July, or any other of the special days that have been brought into prominence, let our conduct regarding them be strictly of the nature of custom or social or national use and not one of religion. The Christian religion as given by the apostles does not contain any days to be observed and we should not add any to it. --E. M. Zerr, Box 149, New Castle, Indiana.