Where are the Two Witnesses?

 But if he does not listen, take with you in addition one or two others, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established.

Matthew 18:16 (LEB)

When Jesus said, “by the testimony of two or three witnesses, every matter may be established,” he was using a Torah principle. Someone could not be convicted of a crime or a matter established by the testimony of just one person. This made it harder to falsely accuse someone. Paul applies this instruction to “every word will be established” in a letter to the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 13:1 (LEB): 13 This is the third time I am coming to you. By the testimony of two or three witnesses every word will be established.

Deuteronomy 19:15 (LEB): ¹⁵ The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict with respect to any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person committed; on the evidence of two witnesses or on the evidence of three witnesses a charge shall be sustained.

The mainline churches use Paul’s writings to establish that the instruction of the Torah to not eat certain animals, regard the Sabbaths, and the feast days are not for us today. There are several verses that are used. Aside from the two witnesses issue, Paul tells us in the first verse that he is speaking about opinions. The laws of God are not opinions, and Paul would never refer to them as such.

Romans 14:1–6 (LEB): 14 Now receive the one who is weak in faith, but not for quarrels about opinions. ² One believes he may eat all things, but the one who is weak eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats must not despise the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat must not judge the one who eats, because God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you, who passes judgment on the domestic slave belonging to someone else? To his own master he stands or falls, and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.⁵ One person prefers one day over another day, and another person regards every day alike. Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ The one who is intent on the day is intent on it for the Lord, and the one who eats eats for the Lord, because he is thankful to God, and the one who does not eat does not eat for the Lord, and he is thankful to God.

This Letter to the Romans was speaking about fasting on certain days. There were different traditions about which days one should fast, and Paul was saying it didn’t matter because they were not commands, just opinions. None of this negates the importance of the Sabbaths or dietary instructions of Leviticus chapter eleven.

Even if Paul was meaning to say the Sabbaths were not important or that we could eat the flesh of swine and rats, where are the other witnesses proclaiming this in Scripture? If Paul is the only one, then either he is a false witness or is being misunderstood. Peter tells us lawless people will use Paul to their own destruction.

2 Peter 3:14–17 (LEB): ¹⁴ Therefore, dear friends, because you are waiting for these things, make every effort to be found at peace, spotless and unblemished in him. ¹⁵ And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom that was given to him, ¹⁶ as he does also in all his letters, speaking in them about these things, in which there are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, as they also do the rest of the scriptures. ¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, because you know this beforehand, guard yourselves so that you do not lose your own safe position because you have been led away by the error of lawless persons.

Peter is witness number one showing that Paul is not telling us that the law is negated. Peter specifically says that people will distort his writings to their own destruction, and because we know this beforehand, “guard yourselves.” Also, God does not do anything unless it is revealed by His prophets. Are there any prophecies that state the Sabbaths will be eliminated or that in the future God’s people will eat swine? Please comment if there are verses from the prophets in case I am unaware of their existence.

Amos 3:7 (LEB): ⁷ Surely my Lord does not do anything unless he has revealed his secret to his servants the prophets.

Amos is a second witness and Paul is a third witness that he was not teaching against following the instructions of God calling the law holy, righteous and good.

Romans 7:9–12 (LEB): ⁹ And I was alive once, apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life ¹⁰ and I died, and this commandment which was to lead to life was found with respect to me to lead to death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Another witness that the Sabbath has not ended is found in Exodus.

Exodus 31:17 (LEB): ¹⁷ It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever, because in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh he ceased and recovered.”

You may be thinking that this is just referring to Israelites and could not include the modern church in the twenty-first century. Who is Israel? They are the family of God that were enlisted to share the “oracles” of God as Paul states in the letter to the Romans. Paul also tells us that Gentiles (those not part of the family of God) can become citizens of the commonwealth of Israel through the Messiah, Jesus. We become sons and daughters of God. There is no other people group than sons and daughters of God that “forever” would apply.

Ephesians 2:11–13 (LEB): ¹¹ Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, the so-called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, ¹² that you were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having hope, and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you, the ones who once were far away, have become near by the blood of Christ.

One last witness I will share that shows the Sabbaths and dietary instructions are forever is found in Isaiah. It is the place where God comes to rule from Jerusalem in a future context. He talks about those eating swine and meeting on the Sabbath.

Isaiah 66:15–24 (LEB): ¹⁵ For look! Yahweh will come in fire, and his chariots like the storm wind, to give back his anger in wrath, and his rebuke in flames of fire. ¹⁶ For Yahweh enters into judgment on all flesh with fire and his sword, and those slain by Yahweh shall be many. ¹⁷ Those who sanctify themselves and those who cleanse themselves to go into the gardens after the one in the middle, eating the flesh of swine and detestable things and rodents together shall come to an end!” declares Yahweh. ¹⁸ “And I—their works and thoughts!—am about to come to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory. ¹⁹ And I will set a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow; Tubal and Javan, the faraway coastlands that have not heard of my fame, and have not seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations, ²⁰ and bring all your countrymen from all the nations as an offering to Yahweh on horses and chariots and in litters and on mules and camels, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem,” says Yahweh, “just as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of Yahweh. ²¹ And indeed, I will take some of them as priests and the Levites,” says Yahweh. ²² “For just as the new heavens and earth that I am about to make shall stand before me,” declares Yahweh, “so shall your descendants and your name stand. ²³ And this shall happen: From new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come to bow in worship before me,” says Yahweh. ²⁴ “And they shall go out and look at the corpses of the people who have rebelled against me, for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

There is not any place in Scripture where we can establish two or three witnesses saying that God’s Sabbaths and set apart holy days are no longer important. The same can be said for the dietary instructions, and in fact, we find multiple witnesses that show that the Sabbath cannot be null and void. We also see God in His wrath destroying people eating swine. That does not make a good case for eating these things. When considering the entirety of this, it makes sense that God would not create laws that are perfect (stated in Psalms) and then change them a few thousand years later. Are perfect and holy laws able to be made more perfect and holy? Paul didn’t have the authority to change God’s laws, and he would be mortified if he could see how the church has distorted his letters today. Peter would be looking around saying “called it”.

Photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash