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1. What is the Sabbath?
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week (Saturday). According to Genesis 2:3 (NIV),
"God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." The Sabbath begins with sunset on Friday evening and
ends with sunset on Saturday evening (days in the Bible being reckoned in that way, Gen. 1:5, Lev. 23:32, Mark 1:21 & 32). The Sabbath provides weekly relief from the "painful
toil" (Gen. 3:17) of making a living, freeing us to find fellowship with God and refresh our spirits in a "day of rest." For that reason it is a gift of God's grace for
mankind ("the Sabbath was made for man," Mark 2:27), fulfilling the purpose of the blessing God pronounced upon it at Creation.
2. What does God want us to do with the seventh day?
The following Scripture passages tell us:
Exodus. 20:8-11. "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you
shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or
maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh
day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
Isaiah 58:13-14. "If you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day
honorable... then you will find your joy in the LORD."
Leviticus 23:3. "The seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly."
The word Sabbath means "cease, desist, rest." The Sabbath is a day for
laying aside ("resting from" or "ceasing from") the daily grind of labor in order to acknowledge our dependence on God for all we have, and to seek fellowship with God and
his people. This is what it means to "keep the Sabbath holy." God "made" the Sabbath holy, and we are to "keep" it holy--by devoting it to God
and using its hours in accordance with his purposes for the day. Twenty-four hours of religious activity is certainly not necessary, but rather a consciousness of the special
significance of the day, which we carry with us until sunset Saturday evening. Thus, it is Sabbath "all day," just as on someone's birthday, it's their birthday "all
day."
Most ordinary tasks of life (like mowing the lawn or doing the laundry) can easily be kept for
another day, out of respect for God. Refusing to accept overtime hours at work on the Sabbath can be more difficult, but employers will often honor that conviction, if we take a stand
on it and are willing to do extra work on other days (like Sunday). Calling the Sabbath "honorable" (Isa. 58:13) means honoring its holiness by yielding to God's will that it be a
day of rest ("even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest," Ex. 34:21). Those who honor the LORD's holy day will "find their joy in the LORD."
The symbolism of the seventh day reminds us of God as our Creator and as the Redeemer of his
people (Deut. 5:14-15). The Sabbath is God's invitation to take "time out," echoing in our private thoughts and public worship, God's own judgment that the Universe he
has provided for us is, "very good" Gen. 1:31. It is a time for giving extra attention to our relationship with God. Keeping the Sabbath is a kind of personal sign
between God and his people that he is their God (Ezek. 20:12,20). It is a day for "sacred assembly" (Lev. 23:3--i.e., church day). In many other ways the hours of the
Sabbath may be dedicated to God, such as in the doing of good (Matt. 12:12, Mark 3:4). But it is also appropriate to just enjoy the relief from the daily grind which the Sabbath offers.
3. I've been told the Sabbath is Jewish, and that Christians are supposed to
observe their day of worship on Sunday (in honour of Christ's resurrection). Is that true?
Abraham was the father of the Israelites (John 8:31, 39), who are his descendants through Jacob's
son, Judah. The Sabbath was given at Creation, long before Abraham, Jacob or Judah lived (see Gen. 2:3 above). Also, God commanded its observance (Ex. 16:30) even before the law was
given to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19). Since the Sabbath was given before the Jews and observed before the law of Moses, it can't rightly be called Jewish, anymore than monogamous
marriage can be called Jewish, which (like the Sabbath) was instituted at Creation (Gen. 2:24). Furthermore, in Mark 2:27, Jesus said, "the Sabbath was made for man," (i.e.,
mankind) not just Jews. When God gave the Ten Commandments, he commanded observance of the Sabbath, along with the honoring of father and mother, and the prohibition of things like
murder and adultery. Though the Ten Commandments were first revealed to the Israelites, Christians have accepted them as universal moral principles that apply to us, too.
However, due to the desire to abide by unscriptural church traditions, most Christians today reject the Fourth Commandment ("Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.") or try to
apply it to Sunday.
It's fine to worship God on any day of the week, but Scripture nowhere tells us to
"forget" the Sabbath by no longer keeping it holy, nor does it tell us to observe Sunday in honor of the resurrection. It was not Sunday (the first day of the week) that God
blessed and made holy, nor did he bless a "one day out of seven" sequence (any day we might choose). Scripture specifically says God blessed "the seventh day" of the
week (Gen. 2:3).
Sabbath rest carries the God-given symbolism of God's own rest on the seventh day of Creation,
which Sunday rest does not. Celebrating someone's twenty-first birthday a month after that person's actual day of birth would certainly be possible, but not nearly as meaningful!
Likewise, it's not nearly as meaningful to celebrate Sabbath rest on a day other than the one God specifically blessed and made holy, based on the symbolism of Creation.
Since God even made observance of the seventh day one of his Ten Commandments, then substituting
a man-made tradition for the God-given one is directly disobedient to God's will. Rather than commend such a practice to his followers as "Christian," Jesus repudiated
it. Speaking of how another of the Ten Commandments was made to conform to man-made traditions, Jesus told those responsible: "Why do you break the command of God for
the sake of your tradition? ... You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition" (Matt. 15:3,6). Making Sunday into the "Christian Sabbath" replaces a
God-given tradition with a man-made one. Even though this practice is widespread among Christians today, and is well-intentioned, turning from the seventh day dishonors God by breaking
his command and nullifying his word. It also amounts to a sad neglect of a gift God gave to all mankind as a blessing.
As to Sunday observance in honor of the resurrection, Jesus never taught such a practice.
When teaching about the meaning of his resurrection, Jesus specified only that it would be "on the third day" (i.e., the third day after he was placed in the tomb--Matt. 16:21, Mark
8:31). What is important about the day of the resurrection is the fact that it would come after Jesus had lain in the grave for 3 days, not that it would be any particular day of the
week. Jesus makes no effort to point out which day of the week his resurrection would fall on, nor do his apostles, when they teach about the resurrection, even after it had occurred.
4. Doesn't the NT teach observance of "the Lord's Day" instead of the
Sabbath?
The phrase translated "Lord's day" is only used once in the whole Bible (in Rev.
1:10). We are not told in that passage that this "Lord's day" refers to the first day of the week (Sunday), and nothing is said about it's being a day of worship. All
that is said is that John was "in the spirit" on that day and had a vision. It may mean the day of judgment ("Day of the Lord"), to which John is carried in his
vision (for the Book of Revelation focuses on the end times). It may actually mean the Sabbath, since Isa. 58:13 speaks of the Sabbath as "the LORD's holy day." If it
refers to the day of the resurrection at all, it could just as easily refer to the anniversary of the resurrection (i.e., "Easter"), rather than the day of the week on which the
resurrection occurred. Even if John is using a phrase he has coined to refer to the day of the week on which the resurrection occurred, he does not say it is a day of worship.
Jesus appeared to a number of his disciples at various times when he was resurrected, and several
of these appearances occurred at the earliest opportunity--on the first day of the week. But that fact does not automatically confer the status of a "new Sabbath" upon the
first day of the week, any more than the fact he appeared first to women confers on women the exclusive right to be witnesses of his resurrection or pastors. There are a few
references in the NT to believers doing things on the first day of the week, but Scripture never says this was their regular day for worship, replacing the Sabbath, and never refers to the
first day as "the Lord's day."
In John 20:19, the believers are together "on the evening of that first day of the
week" when Mary Magdalene had seen the resurrected Christ. Indeed, they may have gathered for the specific purpose of discussing her report that he was alive (Jn.
20:18). All that is said about the gathering is that the disciples were behind locked doors "for fear of the Jews." Jesus appears to them, not to establish a new day of
worship (which would have been a notable change Scripture would certainly have reported), but to prove he was alive. According to Jn. 20:26, "A week later his disciples were in the
house again, and Thomas was with them." The disciples may have gathered on other days that week (Jn. 20:25) as well, but Scripture describes this particular gathering because the
disciples are in the same house where Christ had first appeared to them, and (this time) Thomas happens to be with them. Christ appears again, and confirms his resurrection to
Thomas. To allege that either of these gatherings was for weekly worship goes far beyond anything Scripture actually says, here. In addition, those who argue for Sunday observance
allege the disciples gathered on Sunday mornings, in commemoration of the resurrection. But the meeting in Jn. 20:19 was in "the evening" (with the same being probably true
of the second meeting, "a week later" v. 26).
In Acts 20:7 believers are gathered on the first day of the week "to break bread." But
are we to assume they never broke bread (either as a common meal, or as communion), except on a weekly day of worship? According to Acts 2:46, the believers at Jerusalem gathered in the
Temple courts "every day," and they broke bread in their homes (presumably also, every day). The purpose of the gathering in Acts 20 is not to celebrate a Sunday "Lord's
day," but simply to allow Paul opportunity to preach to the believers one more time, before he leaves "the next day." If the Jewish reckoning of days is used here,
then the gathering was probably on what we would call Saturday night, not Sunday at all. Paul preached until midnight (v. 7), so the meeting probably began after dark.
In 1 Cor. 16:1-2 Paul tells "each one" of the believers to "set aside a sum of
money in keeping with his income" on the first day of the week, so no collection will have to be made when he comes. The natural sense of these words is that individuals were to
set aside money on a regular basis at home, which is the natural place for each one to determine (week by week) what amount would be "in keeping with his income" (and to set it
aside for later presentation as a single offering upon the arrival of Paul). This passage does not speak about a church collection being made every first day of the week. In fact,
it speaks of money being "set aside," not collected at church. The collection would occur at a church gathering when Paul got there. Again, no mention is made of a day
of worship. To find one here, requires reading into the Scripture, what is not there.
A major principle of the right application of Scripture is ignored by those who seek to establish
a Sunday "Lord's day" observance from these few NT references to the first day of the week. Doctrines should be established from teaching passages, not descriptive passages of
Scripture. In other words, we are on shaky ground when we develop doctrines and practices from passages that don't directly teach such doctrines and practices. It's too easy to
make things mean what we want them to mean when we begin reading doctrinal truths into descriptions of events, especially when those doctrines aren't directly stated elsewhere in
Scripture. Scripture says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy," and never, "Remember Sunday by keeping it holy."
5. If Christians are free from the Law, why should they keep the Fourth
Commandment? Doesn't Galatians 3:10 even say we put ourselves under a curse by obeying the Law?
Christians receive salvation through faith in Christ alone, apart from the keeping of the law
(Rom. 3:28; Eph. 2:8-9; Tit. 3:5-6). In the matter of their salvation, then, they are "free from the law" and are not "under the law." But Paul asks (in
Rom. 6:15), "Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" The Ten Commandments still define what sin is. In fact, 1 Jn. 3:4 says
that "sin is lawlessness." So breaking the Ten Commandment Law is sinful. The NT commends obedience, not lawlessness. Though Christians are not bound to parts of
the Old Testament law which applied only to Israel under the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments (including the Sabbath Commandment) give universal moral principles of right and wrong.
Illustrating the difference, 1 Cor. 7:19 says, "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts." (See also, Matt. 5:17-19).
The curse of Gal. 3:10 falls on all those who "rely" on observing the law (i.e., for
their salvation), not those who seek to obey the Ten Commandments out of love and obedience to God. Gal. 3:11 confirms that it is not simple obedience to the Law which Paul condemns,
but relying on our ability to keep it in order to "justify" ourselves before God (i.e., make ourselves acceptable to God by attempts to be good, rather than faith in Christ's
atoning death).
6. Weren't the Ten Commandments "nailed to Jesus' cross"? If so,
they don't apply to the Christian.
(Also see answer to the previous question, #5, above.)
The OT law included temporary regulations that applied specifically to the religious and civil
life of Israel, living under the Old Covenant, in the land of Canaan. It also included moral laws of a more permanent and universal nature, such as the Ten Commandments (and the
commands Jesus mentions in Matt. 22:37-39). In those places where New Testament passages speak against the law, they are not denying the universal moral teachings (like the Ten
Commandments), but are denying: a) that anyone can be saved by keeping the law (i.e., justification by law-keeping, rather than justification by faith), or b) that the temporary
parts of the law which applied to Old Testament Israel (Heb. 8:6-13; 9:9-10; 10:1-4) remain obligatory for the New Testament Christian.
Eph. 2:15 is an example of b), above. In the context of uniting Jew and Gentile in the
church (see Eph. 2:14, especially), Paul speaks of Christ, "abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations." He doesn't mean Christ did away with
the law altogether, since Christ himself denied that he came to do that (Matt. 5:17, and see also Rom. 3:31). He means that the ceremonial parts of the law which had separated Jew and
Gentile (laws about "clean" and "unclean" foods, for instance--Mark 7:18-20) were now obsolete. The result is that the "hostility" between Jew and Gentile
has now been put to an end, at the cross (Eph. 2:16). This passage does not speak about the Ten Commandments, which contained nothing which required the separation of Jew and Gentile.
Colossians 2:13b-14 is primarily an example of a), above. It says of God (through
Christ): "He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us, and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the
cross." Deut. 31:26-27 describes the only way in which the Old Testament law could be characterized (by Paul) as "against us." It gives testimony to our sin and
rebellion. But if forgiveness now comes through Christ ("he forgave all our sins," Col. 2:13), not by law-keeping, then the law's condemnation is forever removed. The
term "written code" is the same one which meant "indictment" or "bill of indebtedness" in the New Testament. It is that indictment or indebtedness (caused
by sin) that was "nailed to the cross" (in the sense that complete forgiveness came, when Christ was nailed to the cross). To say that the law cannot be used to try and earn
salvation is not to say that the moral teaching of the Old Testament is suddenly declared "a dead letter" for the Christian. Paul would "turn over in his grave" (so
to speak!) if he thought we were using his words to urge believers to start disobeying the Ten Commandments!
7. Doesn't Colossians 2:16 say Christians should not be judged for breaking the
Sabbath?
(Also see answer to the previous question, #6, above.)
The Colossian believers were being troubled by false teachers who told them faith in Christ was
not enough: they also needed to keep the dietary and ceremonial regulations of the Old Covenant. Furthermore, they needed to gain the "hidden knowledge" claimed by
the Greek religion later to be called Gnosticism. Paul reminded them that their real spiritual problem was sin, but that Christ "forgave us all our sins" (Col.
2:13). On the other hand, Paul taught, observing the law doesn't help sinful people make themselves acceptable to God, since (in that context) the law just reveals their sin (and is
thus, "against" them or "opposed" to them--v. 14). And Gnostic practices, such as asceticism ("Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" v.
21) are worthless in dealing with sin because they are "based on human commands and teachings" (v. 22) and "lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence" (v.
23). Paul's conclusion: the believers should stand firm in the truth that Christ "forgave us all our sins"; they should not submit to the "rules" of Gnosticism
(v. 20); and they should not let anyone judge them by their adherence/non-adherence to Old Covenant Jewish practices (v. 16).
In Col. 2:16, Paul seems to go beyond the point of just saying that law-keeping cannot save a
person. He specifies certain Old Covenant practices (those urged by the false teachers, no doubt) and tells the believers they are no longer accountable to obey them, for any
reason: "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day."
To be judged for "what you eat or drink" probably means being held accountable to keep
the Old Covenant dietary laws, but are the believers also told not to keep the Sabbath? If Paul is not saying the 4th Commandment no longer applies to believers, what is he saying
about the Sabbath? The key to understanding this verse is to recognize Paul is talking about ceremonial provisions of the law (like the dietary rules mentioned "in the same
breath"), not moral provisions (such as the Ten Commandments). The Sabbath was given before the law of Moses, but under the law of Moses certain rituals were assigned to the
Sabbath (Lev. 24:5-9, Num. 28:9-10). It is these rituals, not Sabbath observance itself, that are meant. That distinction is evident in the text of Scripture, here. The
verse speaks of being judged "with regard to" a Sabbath day ("in respect to" it, NASB). The issue is not Sabbath observance (to keep or not to keep), but something
"in respect
to" Sabbath observance--with respect to how the Sabbath is observed. Furthermore, this something about how it is observed is shared with (Old Covenant) religious festivals and New Moon celebrations.
Turning to the Old Testament background, the Sabbath is never listed with the New Moons and feast
days except when discussion is about the burnt offerings the Sabbath shared with these other days (1 Chron. 23:31; 2 Chron. 2:4; Ezek. 45:17; Isaiah 1:13-14, etc.). The idea of Col.
2:16 is: don't let the false teachers talk you into keeping the Jewish ceremonies of the Old Covenant. Don't let them judge you for giving up the dietary laws and the Temple
ceremonies (with the burnt offerings Moses commanded for the Sabbath--and for the New Moons and festivals). Reason: "These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the
reality, however, is found in Christ" (Col. 2:17). The 4th Commandment was never a shadow of Christ's coming. The burnt offerings, however, were a foreshadowing of the
sacrifice of Christ's body on the cross. (The word translated "reality" in Col. 2:17 is literally "body," as used in Heb. 10:1-10, a good commentary on the
Colossians passage.)
8. Doesn't Romans 14:5 say each man is free to keep whatever day he wants,
whether Sabbath or Sunday or another day?
Neither Sabbath nor the first day of the week is mentioned in this passage. Since the verse
is sandwiched between verses dealing with the issue of vegetarianism (v.1-3 and v. 6), perhaps some believers were regarding certain days as "special" (v. 6) in the sense of being
dedicated to the eating of vegetables only (meat being considered by them, "unclean," v. 14). Or this could be another reference to the Judaizing tendency to insist on the
observance of Old Covenant feast days, with vegetarianism being combined with this practice (in the kind of syncretism that existed at Colosse). The overall principle is stated in Rom.
14:17, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking." The 4th Commandment was never a matter of eating and drinking, but ceremonial practices of the Old
Covenant were. It is they which are, again, being addressed.
9. Didn't Jesus replace the Ten Commandments with just one new one in John 15:12?
Even if that were true (which it is not), 1 John 5:2-3 reminds us that loving God's children
means loving God, means obeying what God commands.
10. What about 1 John 3:23? Doesn't it say Jesus' commandments today are
only to believe in Christ and love one another?
Taking that verse to be exclusive (i.e., to mean that all Jesus requires of believers is to
believe in him and love one another) would be making Jesus say we should ignore what he himself identifies in Matt. 22:37-38 as the "greatest commandment": "Love the Lord
your God." Obviously the words in 1 Jn. 3:23 mean something like, "This is one of the commandments I'm giving you," not, "This is/these are all
the commandments I'm giving you."
11. Didn't Jesus himself break the Sabbath in John 5:18?
This verse merely states the opinion of the Scribes and Pharisees, who were angry with Jesus
because he had healed a man on the Sabbath. Jesus had not broken God's Sabbath. He had broken theirs. (In Matt. 12:2 they accused Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath
because they had picked some heads of grain to eat. Again, this was breaking their rules for the Sabbath, not God's. Jesus said they were condemning "the
innocent," v. 7.)
12. How does law-keeping square with the NT emphasis on Grace? And aren't
Jesus' commands "higher" than the Ten Commandments?
Salvation is by Grace, but discipleship is a matter of obedience. The NT emphasizes
discipleship, and sanctification and obedience--as well as salvation. Shall we not obey God, who loves us, and Christ, who died for us? It comes down to what Jesus
said: "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15, and see v. 21). Chief among Jesus' commands were those two by which he summarized "all the Law and
the Prophets" in terms of love for God and love for one's neighbor (Matt. 22:34-40). Love for one's neighbor "sums up" the last six commands of the Ten Commandments
(Rom. 13:8-10), just as love for God sums up the first four. So if we love Jesus, we will obey the Ten Commandments in the spirit in which Jesus summarized them--including the 4th
Commandment to, "remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy" (Ex. 20:8).
Jesus' commands are therefore not in opposition to the Ten Commandments. They
summarize the Ten in terms of the deeper heart-motivation which the New Covenant enables believers to show in keeping them. A summary does not contradict what it summarizes, and neither
does Jesus' command to love God contradict those first four Commandments by which love for God is to be shown. To set the Son's commands against the Father's is to reject the direct
teaching of Jesus, who said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching... These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me" (Jn. 14:23-24).
13. Why keep the Sabbath, but not the festivals of Israel or other parts of the
Law of Moses?
(Also see answers to questions #6 and #7, above.)
The Ten Commandments and other moral teachings of the Old Testament (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18, Matt.
22:24-40) have their permanence in the character of God. They deal directly with right and wrong, good and evil, and with spiritual values like love, faith and hope. Such
values have their source in God, whose goodness is unchanging (Psa. 119:89-91, 144; Lk. 18:19; 1 Jn. 1:5 & 4:7-8). That is not equally true of the ritual and ceremonial aspects of
the law of Moses. At the heart of them were the Temple sacrifices and the feast days designed around those sacrifices, by which Israel was cleansed of sin (Lev. 23:4-37). Though
the Sabbath temporarily shared ritual offerings with these days, it was always distinguished from them (Lev. 23:3-4, 37-38).
Believers today no longer need to approach God through these cleansing rituals (Heb. 10:1).
In Christ's sacrifice, the Passover lamb was offered once and for all time (1 Cor. 5:7, 1 Pet. 1:18-19), and a blood better than that of the bull and goat of the Day of Atonement was shed,
ending the need for such sacrifices to ever be made again (Heb. 9:11-14, 24-26; Heb. 10:18). The ceremonial prohibitions accompanying these have also ceased to be necessary: "They
are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings--external regulations applying until the time of the new order" (Heb. 9:10). Believers today owe no obligation
to such regulations, which are "weak and useless" (Heb. 7:18). We relate to God under the New Covenant in Christ. "By calling this covenant 'new,' he has made the
first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear" (Heb. 8:13).
The coming of Christ marks a change in the Law (Heb. 7:12). The results can be seen in such places as
Acts 15:10-11, 2 Cor. 3:7-17, Gal. 4:8-11 and Gal. 5:2-4. The Sabbath, however, was not changed--except that the Temple offerings, which it shared with New Moons and feast days, were
made no longer necessary (Col. 2:16).
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