Should Christians keep Jewish festivals?
Question 11044
The question of whether Christians should keep the Jewish festivals is one that surfaces regularly, particularly among believers who have developed a deep appreciation for the Old Testament and its richness. Some feel drawn to observing Passover, Tabernacles, or the Day of Atonement as acts of worship. Others insist these feasts are binding on all believers. Getting this right requires understanding what the festivals were designed to do, what Christ has accomplished, and how the New Testament addresses the relationship between the believer and the Mosaic Law.
The Purpose of the Festivals
The festivals prescribed in Leviticus 23 were given to Israel as part of the Mosaic covenant. They were not arbitrary religious observances but a carefully structured annual calendar that rehearsed God’s redemptive acts and pointed forward to their ultimate fulfilment. Passover recalled the deliverance from Egypt and anticipated the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. The Feast of Unleavened Bread pictured the removal of sin. Firstfruits pointed to the resurrection. The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) anticipated the harvest of souls through the Spirit. The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles looked ahead to Israel’s future regathering, national repentance, and the joy of the millennial kingdom.
These festivals belonged to Israel under the Mosaic covenant. They were part of the specific arrangement God made with the nation He had called out of Egypt, and they carried obligations, rituals, and requirements that were bound to the temple, the priesthood, and the land. They were shadows of good things to come (Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 10:1), and their prophetic significance is extraordinary. But the shadow is not the substance, and the substance has arrived.
Christ as the Fulfilment
Paul writes plainly: “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus did not merely illustrate the Passover; He fulfilled it. His death on the cross was the reality to which every Passover lamb had pointed for fourteen centuries. His resurrection fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). The outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost fulfilled the Feast of Weeks. The autumn feasts await their fulfilment in the events surrounding Christ’s return, the restoration of Israel, and the establishment of the millennial kingdom. Every festival finds its ultimate meaning in Christ.
This fulfilment does not diminish the festivals; it elevates them. But it does change the believer’s relationship to them. A person who has received the reality does not need to return to the shadow. To insist on observing the festivals as though the fulfilment had not occurred is to move backwards in redemptive history rather than forward.
The New Testament Teaching
Paul addresses this directly in Colossians 2:16-17: “Therefore let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” The instruction is unmistakable. No one is to judge a Christian for not observing these festivals, because the festivals were shadows and Christ is the substance.
Romans 14:5-6 adds an important dimension of Christian freedom: “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honour of the Lord.” A Christian who finds it edifying to observe a Passover Seder as a way of appreciating the richness of what Christ has fulfilled is free to do so. A Christian who does not observe it is equally free. What is not permissible is treating the observance as obligatory, as though failing to keep the festivals places a believer in a deficient spiritual category.
The Danger of Obligation
The book of Galatians was written precisely to address the pressure to impose Jewish observances on Gentile believers. Paul’s alarm is unmistakable: “You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have laboured over you in vain” (Galatians 4:10-11). The Galatian error was not cultural appreciation of Jewish heritage; it was the insistence that observing the Mosaic calendar was necessary for full acceptance before God. Paul saw this as a return to bondage and a denial of the sufficiency of Christ’s finished work. The Hebrew Roots movement, which in its various forms teaches that Christians are obligated to keep the Torah including the festivals, falls into the same error Paul confronted in the first century.
Appreciating Without Obligating
Studying the festivals is enormously enriching. Understanding the Passover deepens appreciation for the cross. Exploring the Day of Atonement illuminates the significance of Christ’s high-priestly work. Examining the Feast of Tabernacles opens up the prophetic expectation of the millennial kingdom. These are treasures of biblical theology, and every believer benefits from understanding them. The distinction is between studying and appreciating what God built into the Old Testament calendar as pointing to Christ, and treating the observance of those festivals as a spiritual requirement for Christians living under the New Covenant.
So, now what?
Christians are free to study, appreciate, and even observe the Jewish festivals as acts of worship that honour the God who designed them and the Christ who fulfilled them. They are not free to impose those observances on others as obligations, nor should they regard non-observance as spiritual deficiency. The festivals reveal the heart and purposes of God in breathtaking detail, and every believer is richer for understanding them. But they are shadows, and the one who casts the shadow has come.
“These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Colossians 2:17