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Ahhhh, a tricky one! Hahaha You sneaked that one in on me. hahaha Very good!!
Romans 14:5-8, provides the most definitive answer to the question about celebrating Christmas.
Let's look at this in context. Paul saw that a serious problem of judging, was going on within the church, from the two classes of believers. It is important to note, that this problem of judging, was not coming from only one class of the believers. The Jews judged their Gentile brethren, for not keeping the feasts and other holidays, that were related to the sanctuary. The Gentiles on the other hand, judged their Jewish brethren for taking foods that were sacrificed to pagan idols.
In the case of the Church at Rome, some of the Jewish converts still held in high esteem, the various ceremonial holy days, such as the annual feasts, and monthly new moon festivals, [u]even though the death of Christ had brought these sanctuary ordinances to an end[/u] (Matthew 27:50-51, Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14-16). The problem Paul had with the Jewish believers, was not even related to the fact that they were regarding ordinances that had no place in the Church at that time, but the fact that they actually went forward to judge their Gentile brethren as "second class Christians" because they refused to honor such ordinances.
Paul's counsel to the Jewish converts was simple. They could continue to keep or regard the celebration of the ceremonial holy days, [u]if they wanted to[/u]. It was to the [u]Lord[/u] they were keeping those ceremonial days. But as far as the apostle was concerned, the Gentile converts had the liberty not to regard the ceremonial holy days, because Christ had died.
This text in Romans 14:5 has [i]nothing [/i] to do with the supposed Christian liberty to utilise any day of the week, as the usual weekly worship day. The issue was basically about the celebration of the ceremonial holy days, in relation to the Israelite sanctuary service. Acts 13:42-44; Acts 16:13-15; Acts 17:1-2; Acts 18:4).
Romans 2:16 "LET NO MAN THEREFORE JUDGE YOU in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the sabbath days."
Romans 14:5-8, provides the most definitive answer to the question about celebrating Christmas.
Let's look at this in context. Paul saw that a serious problem of judging, was going on within the church, from the two classes of believers. It is important to note, that this problem of judging, was not coming from only one class of the believers. The Jews judged their Gentile brethren, for not keeping the feasts and other holidays, that were related to the sanctuary. The Gentiles on the other hand, judged their Jewish brethren for taking foods that were sacrificed to pagan idols.
In the case of the Church at Rome, some of the Jewish converts still held in high esteem, the various ceremonial holy days, such as the annual feasts, and monthly new moon festivals, [u]even though the death of Christ had brought these sanctuary ordinances to an end[/u] (Matthew 27:50-51, Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14-16). The problem Paul had with the Jewish believers, was not even related to the fact that they were regarding ordinances that had no place in the Church at that time, but the fact that they actually went forward to judge their Gentile brethren as "second class Christians" because they refused to honor such ordinances.
Paul's counsel to the Jewish converts was simple. They could continue to keep or regard the celebration of the ceremonial holy days, [u]if they wanted to[/u]. It was to the [u]Lord[/u] they were keeping those ceremonial days. But as far as the apostle was concerned, the Gentile converts had the liberty not to regard the ceremonial holy days, because Christ had died.
This text in Romans 14:5 has [i]nothing [/i] to do with the supposed Christian liberty to utilise any day of the week, as the usual weekly worship day. The issue was basically about the celebration of the ceremonial holy days, in relation to the Israelite sanctuary service. Acts 13:42-44; Acts 16:13-15; Acts 17:1-2; Acts 18:4).
Romans 2:16 "LET NO MAN THEREFORE JUDGE YOU in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the sabbath days."