Does Paul Condemn Observing God’s Holy Days? – Earl L. Henn cgg.org

For most that grew up within ‘Christian’ traditions, one taught belief is that Paul condemned the observing of God’s Holy days. The verse most often used to support this is Galatians 4:9-10 in which Paul say’s ‘(9) But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? (10) You observe days and months and seasons and years….’ However, when viewed in context, it’s clear that Paul’s intent was quite the opposite of what’s often taught.

As pointed out by this article, the Galatian Church being addressed was mainly of Gentile background. The world in which they came was heavily steeped in paganism and Gnosticism. An example of this was seen after Paul healed a crippled man. The locals called him and Barnabas by the names Zeus and Hermes and would have worshiped them as such if they had not been stopped by the two men.

Of the Gnostic influence, this is brought out in Galatians 5:13-21 where Paul has a need to remind them to avoid returning to a licentious lifestyle produced by a Gnostic view of life. Paul states clearly in verse 21 ‘those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.’

So when Paul points out in Galatians 4:9 that they are ‘turning again’, the life in which they were returning was one of pagan origin with its pagan traditions and holidays. In addition, It’s hard to believe Paul would call God’s Holy Days, days in which were kept by Christ, the Apostles and the New Testament Church, as ‘weak and beggarly’.

The point of all this is that understood contextually, the days and months that would have been condemned here were of pagan origin and tradition, the same traditions that influence many of the holidays that are kept by most within Christianity today.