Having surveyed the situation in the early church, consider the modern scene. Some who want to keep the old Sabbath point to Paul’s visits to the synagogue on the Sabbath. They claim his example as proof that the Sabbath remains in effect. But is it? As noted earlier, all these cases involved the meetings of unconverted Jews. Paul went to their meetings on their special day in order to convert them. Not one example exists of Christians holding their own assembly on the Sabbath. That fact is all the more remarkable since Jews were the only Christians in the church’s earliest days.
Those who use these cases as proof for what must be done today should be consistent. They may ask themselves questions like these:
- Do they also attend the local Jewish synagogue each Sabbath? For that was what Paul did in Acts 18:4 and similar cases.
- Do they keep the vows of the old law, such as the Nazirite vow (Numbers 6:1-21)? For that was what Paul did in Acts 18:18 and Acts 21:24.
- Do they insist on the use of the temple or the sacrifices mentioned in Acts 21:26?
Some old things were customs for Jews but were not kept by Gentiles.
If they go so far as to require one part—the Sabbath—then they ought to require all of the law’s parts. On the other hand, if they do not keep other parts of the law—including the temple, the sacrifices and the vows—then they should not bind their favorite part either. By not being consistent, they may be showing that they too recognize what we have observed: These events took place in a period of change from old ways to new ways. Some old things were still matters of custom for Jewish Christians in this time of transition. But such customs were not kept by Gentiles. And such customs were not bound as matters of religious necessity, especially for salvation.