Set days for the many, an unending feast for the spiritual
But the great number of those who are thought to believe, and who are not of such stature, are unwilling or unable to keep all days in this way, and so they need outward examples, perceived by the senses, to remind them, so that they do not drift away altogether (Hebrews 2:1). I think that Paul had this in mind when he called the festival kept on days set apart from the others a “part of a feast” (Colossians 2:16), and that by speaking in this way he hinted that the life lived at all times according to the divine Word is not “in part of a feast,” but in a feast that is complete and unceasing.
Consider then again, from what has been said about our festivals when they are set beside the public festivals of Celsus and of the nations, whether these festivals of ours are not far more worthy of reverence than the public ones, in which “the mind of the flesh” (Romans 8:6) keeps festival and runs riot, turning aside into drunkenness and licentiousness. It would take too long now to explain why the festivals according to the law of God teach us to eat “the bread of affliction” (Deuteronomy 16:3) or “unleavened bread with bitter herbs” (Exodus 12:8), or why they say, “Humble your souls” (Leviticus 16:29), or anything like these.
For it is not possible for man, who is composite, to keep festival with his whole being so long as “the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17). Either a man keeps festival in the spirit and afflicts the body, which because of “the mind of the flesh” (Romans 8:6) is not of a nature to keep festival together with the spirit; or he keeps festival according to the flesh, and has no room for the festival according to the spirit. But this is enough on the subject of festivals for the present.
Greek
Ὁ δὲ πολὺς τῶν πιστεύειν δοκούντων καὶ μὴ τηλικοῦτος δεῖται ὑπομνήσεως χάριν, μὴ βουλόμενος ἢ μὴ δυνάμενος πάσας τοιαύτας ἄγειν ἡμέρας, αἰσθητῶν παραδειγμάτων, ἵνα μὴ τέλεον παραῤῥυῇ. τοιαῦτα δ᾿ οἶμαι τὸν Παῦλον νενοηκότα μέρος μὲν „ἑορτῆς“ ὠνομακέναι τὴν ἐν ἡμέραις τεταγμέναις παρ᾿ ἑτέρας ἑορτὴν, ᾐνίχθαι δὲ ἐκ τοῦ οὕτως λελεγμένου ὅτι οὐκ „ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς“ ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ὁλοκλήρῳ καὶ ἀδιαλείπτῳ ἐστὶν ἑορτῇ ὁ ἀεὶ βίος κατὰ τὸν θεῖον λόγον. ὅρα οὖν πάλιν κἀκ τῶν εἰρημένων περὶ ἑορτῶν τῶν παρ᾿ ἡμῖν, συνεξεταζομένων ταῖς δημοτελέσι τοῦ Κέλσου καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἑορταῖς, εἰ μὴ μακρῷ σεμνότεραί εἰσιν αὗται αἱ ἑορταὶ τῶν δημοτελῶν, ἐν αἷς „τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς“ ἑορτάζον ἐξυβρίζει ἐπὶ μέθας καὶ ἀκολασίας ἐκτρεπόμενον. πολὺ δ᾿ ἂν εἴη νῦν λέγειν, διὰ τί αἱ κατὰ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ νόμον ἑορταὶ „ἄρτον κακώσεως“ διδάσκουσιν ἐσθίειν ἢ „ἄζυμα μετὰ πικρίδων,“ ἢ ὅτι φασί· „ταπεινώσατε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν“ ἤ τι τούτοις παραπλήσιον. οὐδὲ γὰρ δυνατόν ἐστι τὸν σύνθετον ἄνθρωπον, ὅσον ἔτι „ἡ σὰρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκὸς,“ ἐξ ὅλων ἑορτάζειν· ἢ γὰρ ἑορτάζων τις τῷ πνεύματι κακοῖ τὸ σῶμα, μὴ πεφυκὸς διὰ „τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς“ ἑορτάζειν μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, ἢ ἑορτάζων κατὰ σάρκα οὐ χωρεῖ καὶ τὴν κατὰ πνεῦμα ἑορτήν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ ταῦτα εἰς τὸν περὶ ἑορτῶν λόγον ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος.