---
title: Galatians 4:10
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/galatians-4-10/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/galatians-4-10.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Galatians 4:10
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Galatians 4:10

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!

## JW Usage

JWs sometimes cite Galatians 4:10 — "you are observing days and months and seasons and years" — to argue that Christians should not celebrate holidays like Christmas, Easter, or birthdays. Paul's rebuke of the Galatians for returning to day-keeping is applied to any observance the Watchtower classifies as having pagan origins or lacking explicit scriptural command.

## Protestant Usage

Paul rebukes the Galatians for letting Judaisers pressure them into Mosaic Torah observance — "days and months and seasons and years" (Galatians 4:10). His concern is legalism: day-keeping imposed as necessary for salvation. But Paul's principle cuts both ways: Colossians 2:16 explicitly forbids judging over festival observance, and Romans 14:5-6 permits one Christian to observe a day and another to treat all days alike — both "to Jehovah." The Watchtower's own sixty-year beard ban (reversed October 2023) fits Paul's description of the decrees he condemns in Colossians 2:20-23: "do not handle, do not taste, do not touch" — rules with "the appearance of wisdom in self-imposed worship" but no actual spiritual value. John 10:22 records Jesus attending the Festival of Dedication (Hanukkah) — a post-biblical feast with no divine command. If Jesus attended a festival not commanded in Torah, the "pagan origins" standard applies a stricter rule than Jesus himself observed.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Beard Ban — A Rule the Bible Never Made](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jw-beard-ban.md) — Romans 14:5 / Colossians 2:20-23 [Practice]
- [Holidays Are Not Pagan — Read Jeremiah 10 to Verse 5](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/holidays-pagan-origin-engagement.md) — Romans 14:5-6 / Colossians 2:16-17 / Jeremiah 10:5 [Practice]