Hebrews 8:6-10
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with them (some commentators have "it," referring to the first covenant), he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not , saith the Lord.
Key verse for this text "not according to," which carries an idea of absolute negation, deriving nothing from, opposition to, taking no distribution from.
keeping Gods comandments
Re: keeping Gods comandments
Well, it would seem that the old covenant has been made obsolete by the new one (Hebrews 8:13).
Just as importantly, in Romans 7 Paul said:
(for I speak to those who know the law)...4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
We serve God by walking in the Spirit, not by keeping the law of Moses. I think sometimes people are afraid if we believe that we will live in sin. But we cannot live in sin if we walk in the Spirit. As a matter of fact, the only way to please God is to live by the Spirit.
Rom 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His...12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
It's by the Spirit we put to death our sin, not by the law of Moses.
Just as importantly, in Romans 7 Paul said:
(for I speak to those who know the law)...4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
We serve God by walking in the Spirit, not by keeping the law of Moses. I think sometimes people are afraid if we believe that we will live in sin. But we cannot live in sin if we walk in the Spirit. As a matter of fact, the only way to please God is to live by the Spirit.
Rom 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His...12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
It's by the Spirit we put to death our sin, not by the law of Moses.
He will not fail nor be discouraged till He has established justice in the earth. (Isaiah 42:4)
Re: keeping Gods comandments
Sean,
Well said...
Zeke originally asked, "In first John 5,it talks about keeping Gods commandments.What are they?Where do I find them?How do you know if you have kept them?Are they the laws of Moses?As you can see,I am a little confused.Thanks so much,God bless."
What are they?
All of the commands in the Bible
Where do I find them?
You will find them scattered throughout the whole Bible
How do you know if you have kept them?
This is the best question I've heard in a long time, and one I've been seeking a positive answer to in my own life. Since you asked, "how do YOU know if YOU have kept them?", I will answer for myself...
I can't even keep track of all of God's commands... when I see them I love them and hang on to them and uphold them... The New Testament is full of Old Testament commands, and Jesus raises the bar of righteousness under the law/under God's commands. I've applied these and have failed (just New Testament commands). I can't even fulfill the command to love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, and soul. Do we know what this means? Have we considered the breadth and depth of this command? I have idols in my life all the time that I try to squish and eradicate. I can't seem to take EVERY thought captive to Christ. It isn't for lack of trying... I've driven down the road beating my stearing wheel, screaming to God, "I can't do it!!". I have five young children and I try to love them as Christ loves me, but darn it, I don't have it in me to accomplish it. What's funny is God knows this and patiently waits for me to realize it and come humbly before Him. Here's a little secret... Jesus didn't abolish God's commands, He fulfilled them... ALL of them. Sabbaths, love, perfection- the whole bit. We are walking contradictions and so is the book of 1 John (and the rest of the Bible for that matter), until we confess that we are sinners in need of Jesus until we die. Consider the original language in 1 John- it is critical to finding the truth- there is the word "keep" in ancient Greek, and there is the word "obey" in ancient Greek. They are different and there is a good reason that "keep" is chosen throughout the New Testament. Additionally, obedience to the Gospel (Salvation through faith, by grace apart from obeying the law- keeping in mind that works will accompany our true faith as God's fruit is born in our flesh by His Spirit- therefore fulfilling the book of James), which is really just receiving a gift freely given, is what is required. Paul stated, among many other Gospel-mystery-revealing things, that He is a wretch, and that his flesh serves the law of sin. Paul counted his own righteousness as trash and exchanged it for the righteousness of Jesus Christ, freely imparted/credited to him. I'm gonna join Paul in this, because as I examine myself under God's commands, I find myself wretched... this is certainly not a ploy to make excuse for the indulgence of the flesh or for lazy motivation- Jesus' sacrifice for me is my only hope, because I gave my life up and strove to be an obedient child- what I discovered is that there is only one obedient child of God, under His commands... Jesus Christ. And now I can be an obedient child by actively placing my faith in God's plan, instead of striving like Martha to please God.
If this doesn't make sense, I suggest the following: Read the Bible, make a list of the commands- and obey them all (James 2:10). If you believe that Jesus just died for Old Testament sin, (sin is lawlessness per 1 John 3:4, so breaking Old Testament commands would be covered, but New Testament commands would not be) then just write down New Testament commands. You may have to figure out, however, what to do with the Old Testament commands that are in the New Testament. I'm not trying to be rude, I have just learned that the law leads us to Christ.
Thank you for the excellent question. May God bless you as you seek to please Him and find His truth.
Well said...
Zeke originally asked, "In first John 5,it talks about keeping Gods commandments.What are they?Where do I find them?How do you know if you have kept them?Are they the laws of Moses?As you can see,I am a little confused.Thanks so much,God bless."
What are they?
All of the commands in the Bible
Where do I find them?
You will find them scattered throughout the whole Bible
How do you know if you have kept them?
This is the best question I've heard in a long time, and one I've been seeking a positive answer to in my own life. Since you asked, "how do YOU know if YOU have kept them?", I will answer for myself...
I can't even keep track of all of God's commands... when I see them I love them and hang on to them and uphold them... The New Testament is full of Old Testament commands, and Jesus raises the bar of righteousness under the law/under God's commands. I've applied these and have failed (just New Testament commands). I can't even fulfill the command to love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, and soul. Do we know what this means? Have we considered the breadth and depth of this command? I have idols in my life all the time that I try to squish and eradicate. I can't seem to take EVERY thought captive to Christ. It isn't for lack of trying... I've driven down the road beating my stearing wheel, screaming to God, "I can't do it!!". I have five young children and I try to love them as Christ loves me, but darn it, I don't have it in me to accomplish it. What's funny is God knows this and patiently waits for me to realize it and come humbly before Him. Here's a little secret... Jesus didn't abolish God's commands, He fulfilled them... ALL of them. Sabbaths, love, perfection- the whole bit. We are walking contradictions and so is the book of 1 John (and the rest of the Bible for that matter), until we confess that we are sinners in need of Jesus until we die. Consider the original language in 1 John- it is critical to finding the truth- there is the word "keep" in ancient Greek, and there is the word "obey" in ancient Greek. They are different and there is a good reason that "keep" is chosen throughout the New Testament. Additionally, obedience to the Gospel (Salvation through faith, by grace apart from obeying the law- keeping in mind that works will accompany our true faith as God's fruit is born in our flesh by His Spirit- therefore fulfilling the book of James), which is really just receiving a gift freely given, is what is required. Paul stated, among many other Gospel-mystery-revealing things, that He is a wretch, and that his flesh serves the law of sin. Paul counted his own righteousness as trash and exchanged it for the righteousness of Jesus Christ, freely imparted/credited to him. I'm gonna join Paul in this, because as I examine myself under God's commands, I find myself wretched... this is certainly not a ploy to make excuse for the indulgence of the flesh or for lazy motivation- Jesus' sacrifice for me is my only hope, because I gave my life up and strove to be an obedient child- what I discovered is that there is only one obedient child of God, under His commands... Jesus Christ. And now I can be an obedient child by actively placing my faith in God's plan, instead of striving like Martha to please God.
If this doesn't make sense, I suggest the following: Read the Bible, make a list of the commands- and obey them all (James 2:10). If you believe that Jesus just died for Old Testament sin, (sin is lawlessness per 1 John 3:4, so breaking Old Testament commands would be covered, but New Testament commands would not be) then just write down New Testament commands. You may have to figure out, however, what to do with the Old Testament commands that are in the New Testament. I'm not trying to be rude, I have just learned that the law leads us to Christ.
Thank you for the excellent question. May God bless you as you seek to please Him and find His truth.
Re: keeping Gods comandments
Covenant
TCVibes,
A covenant is an agreement between two parties. The law of God was a condition of the agreement or covenant that God made with the people. The law was not done away because the people didn’t keep their part of the agreement. The covenant is not the law, the covenant was an agreement. The old covenant was ratified by the blood of animals. The new and better covenant was ratified by the blood of Jesus. You can still enter into a covenant to keep the law that Jesus wrote with his finger in tables of stone.
John 14
15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments
Do you love Jesus?
TCVibes,
A covenant is an agreement between two parties. The law of God was a condition of the agreement or covenant that God made with the people. The law was not done away because the people didn’t keep their part of the agreement. The covenant is not the law, the covenant was an agreement. The old covenant was ratified by the blood of animals. The new and better covenant was ratified by the blood of Jesus. You can still enter into a covenant to keep the law that Jesus wrote with his finger in tables of stone.
John 14
15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments
Do you love Jesus?
Re: keeping Gods comandments
Dennis007,
When you ask, "Do you love Jesus", I'm curious about your answer to this.
When you ask, "Do you love Jesus", I'm curious about your answer to this.
Re: keeping Gods comandments
So why was the ark called "the arc of the covenant"? The word ark means "container", and if the 10C on the stone tablets is not at least a synecdoche in regard to the covenant, then what did the ark contain that was the covenant? I don't think it was Aaron's budded rod.A covenant is an agreement between two parties. The law of God was a condition of the agreement or covenant that God made with the people. The law was not done away because the people didn’t keep their part of the agreement. The covenant is not the law, the covenant was an agreement. The old covenant was ratified by the blood of animals. The new and better covenant was ratified by the blood of Jesus. You can still enter into a covenant to keep the law that Jesus wrote with his finger in tables of stone.
Deuteronomy 9:9-15 (New King James Version)
9 When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 Then the LORD delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. 11 And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
12 “Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molded image.’
13 “Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’
15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
Re: keeping Gods comandments
If we are to obey all the commands of God wherever they are found in the Bible, are we prepared to have our rebellious son stoned to death?
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear. Deuteronomy 21:18-21
Will you cut off a woman's hand if she tries to defend her husband in the manner described below? Are you willing to allow the leaders to cut off your own wife's hand, if she tries to defend you in this manner?
If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not pity her. Deuteronomy 25:11,12 NKJV
Can you imagine Jesus giving instructions like this? He is the one who revealed the Father as He really is! He asked his hearers to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors, so that they might really show themselves to be children of the Heavenly Father, for the Father makes his sun to rise of both evil and good people, and sends rain on both the rightous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:44,45). That is what our heavenly Father is really like as our Saviour revealed Him. We should do likewise: serve all people and pray for them. Jesus taught his disciples how to live and which commandments to obey in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Let's make Jesus' instructions the central feature of our Christian lives; let the law of Christ alone be ours. We are now living under the New Covenant. Let's not put new wine into old wineskins!
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear. Deuteronomy 21:18-21
Will you cut off a woman's hand if she tries to defend her husband in the manner described below? Are you willing to allow the leaders to cut off your own wife's hand, if she tries to defend you in this manner?
If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not pity her. Deuteronomy 25:11,12 NKJV
Can you imagine Jesus giving instructions like this? He is the one who revealed the Father as He really is! He asked his hearers to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors, so that they might really show themselves to be children of the Heavenly Father, for the Father makes his sun to rise of both evil and good people, and sends rain on both the rightous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:44,45). That is what our heavenly Father is really like as our Saviour revealed Him. We should do likewise: serve all people and pray for them. Jesus taught his disciples how to live and which commandments to obey in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Let's make Jesus' instructions the central feature of our Christian lives; let the law of Christ alone be ours. We are now living under the New Covenant. Let's not put new wine into old wineskins!
Paidion
Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.
Avatar shows me at 75 years old. I am now 83.
Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.
Avatar shows me at 75 years old. I am now 83.
Re: keeping Gods comandments
Do you love Jesus?
Do you believe that Jesus is God? If you do, then you must believe that Jesus spoke the 10 Commandments directly to the people, and wrote them with his finger in stone. They became the center piece of the sanctuary worship. No other commands were given this high degree of importance. Many people are deceived into thinking that Jesus’ commandments do not include the Sabbath. Jesus established the Sabbath as a memorial to His creation. Of course the 10 Commandments are Jesus’ Commandments. Jesus said that if you love Him, you will keep them. It has been my experience that most people prefer the deception.
Ark of the Covenant
Exodus 24:
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient."
8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words."
The ark of the covenant contained the tables of stone with the 10 Commandments on them. The Covenant was the agreement to obey. It was called the ark of the covenant because the ark contained the conditions of the covenant. The conditions of the covenant were written in stone so that they could not be altered. That way they would stand as a witness and proof of what they agreed to obey.
Are you anxious to void God’s law because you don’t want to obey the Sabbath commandment?
Romans 3
31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
How do Christians establish the law? Certainly not by making it void! That was tried in France. The result was anarchy and the reign of terror!
It looks like you are up against that age old problem. How to get rid of the 4th commandment, – and keep the other 9!
Do you believe that Jesus is God? If you do, then you must believe that Jesus spoke the 10 Commandments directly to the people, and wrote them with his finger in stone. They became the center piece of the sanctuary worship. No other commands were given this high degree of importance. Many people are deceived into thinking that Jesus’ commandments do not include the Sabbath. Jesus established the Sabbath as a memorial to His creation. Of course the 10 Commandments are Jesus’ Commandments. Jesus said that if you love Him, you will keep them. It has been my experience that most people prefer the deception.
Ark of the Covenant
Exodus 24:
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient."
8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words."
The ark of the covenant contained the tables of stone with the 10 Commandments on them. The Covenant was the agreement to obey. It was called the ark of the covenant because the ark contained the conditions of the covenant. The conditions of the covenant were written in stone so that they could not be altered. That way they would stand as a witness and proof of what they agreed to obey.
Are you anxious to void God’s law because you don’t want to obey the Sabbath commandment?
Romans 3
31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
How do Christians establish the law? Certainly not by making it void! That was tried in France. The result was anarchy and the reign of terror!
It looks like you are up against that age old problem. How to get rid of the 4th commandment, – and keep the other 9!
Re: keeping Gods comandments
Who claims responsibility for the change of the day of worhip?
"You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line
authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance
of Saturday, a day which we never sanctified." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers
(1917 ed.), pp.72,73
"If protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day,
that is Saturday. In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church."
Albert Smith, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the cardinal in a letter of Feb. 10,
1920.
"Have you not any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute
festivals of precept?"
"Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists
agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of
the week, for the observance of Saturday, the Seventh day, a change for which there is
no Scriptural authority" Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed. p. 174
How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?
By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and
therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking
most other feasts commanded by the same Church." Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the
Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by
Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67)
"The Catholic Church,... by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from
Saturday to Sunday.
" The Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.
"Is Saturday the 7th day according to the Bible and the 10 Commandments?"
"I answer yes".
"Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the 7th day,
Saturday, for Sunday, the 1st day?"
"I answer yes".
"Did Christ change the day?"
"I answer no!" Faithfully yours, "J. Cardinal Gibbons" Gibbons' autograph letter.
Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day
Who Changed Sabbath Saturday To Sunday? Page 1 of 10
http://www.amightywind.com/wolves/sabbathchanged.htm 5/14/2011
of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted Sunday for the
Sabbath.
But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His
church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy
days. The church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time
added other days as holy days."
John Laux A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies 1936, vol.1 p.51
Which is the Sabbath day?
Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the
solemity from Saturday to Sunday."
Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1946 ed.), p.50. Geiermann received the
"apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X on his labors, January 25, 1910.
"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of
themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church." Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk
About the Protestantism of Today (1868), p. 213
"You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line
authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance
of Saturday, a day which we never sanctified." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers
(1917 ed.), pp.72,73
"If protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day,
that is Saturday. In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church."
Albert Smith, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the cardinal in a letter of Feb. 10,
1920.
"Have you not any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute
festivals of precept?"
"Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists
agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of
the week, for the observance of Saturday, the Seventh day, a change for which there is
no Scriptural authority" Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed. p. 174
How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?
By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and
therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking
most other feasts commanded by the same Church." Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the
Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by
Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67)
"The Catholic Church,... by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from
Saturday to Sunday.
" The Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.
"Is Saturday the 7th day according to the Bible and the 10 Commandments?"
"I answer yes".
"Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the 7th day,
Saturday, for Sunday, the 1st day?"
"I answer yes".
"Did Christ change the day?"
"I answer no!" Faithfully yours, "J. Cardinal Gibbons" Gibbons' autograph letter.
Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day
Who Changed Sabbath Saturday To Sunday? Page 1 of 10
http://www.amightywind.com/wolves/sabbathchanged.htm 5/14/2011
of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted Sunday for the
Sabbath.
But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His
church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy
days. The church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time
added other days as holy days."
John Laux A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies 1936, vol.1 p.51
Which is the Sabbath day?
Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the
solemity from Saturday to Sunday."
Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1946 ed.), p.50. Geiermann received the
"apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X on his labors, January 25, 1910.
"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of
themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church." Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk
About the Protestantism of Today (1868), p. 213
Re: keeping Gods comandments
Dennis007,
I see that you are zealous for God's commands, which is wonderful.
Concerning Paul's statement about establishing the law... I believe the context is Paul addressing those who criticized him stating that Paul says to do evil that good may come. Paul makes it clear that by obeying the law (10 Commandments), no one will be justified. We cannot be made right in God's eyes by the law. That was never the purpose of the law. The law was added that sin might increase. The law was added because through the law, comes the knowledge of sin- we wouldn't know what sin is besides the law stating to keep the Sabbath. The purpose of the 10 Commandments is so that we might know what sin is and that it might increase. Salvation is not about us earning God's favor or love... it is about mercy. Romans 11:32
The context of Paul's statement of establishing the law in Romans 3:31is this:
Romans 3:28 "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law."
Romans 4:5 "But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness"
I think it is great that you uphold the law, as Paul did, but the law leads us to Christ and reveals what Paul describes in Romans 7.
We cannot save ourselves by obeying the Sabbath (a work of the law). If we could, why did God send His Son to die for our sins?
I see that you are zealous for God's commands, which is wonderful.
Concerning Paul's statement about establishing the law... I believe the context is Paul addressing those who criticized him stating that Paul says to do evil that good may come. Paul makes it clear that by obeying the law (10 Commandments), no one will be justified. We cannot be made right in God's eyes by the law. That was never the purpose of the law. The law was added that sin might increase. The law was added because through the law, comes the knowledge of sin- we wouldn't know what sin is besides the law stating to keep the Sabbath. The purpose of the 10 Commandments is so that we might know what sin is and that it might increase. Salvation is not about us earning God's favor or love... it is about mercy. Romans 11:32
The context of Paul's statement of establishing the law in Romans 3:31is this:
Romans 3:28 "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law."
Romans 4:5 "But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness"
I think it is great that you uphold the law, as Paul did, but the law leads us to Christ and reveals what Paul describes in Romans 7.
We cannot save ourselves by obeying the Sabbath (a work of the law). If we could, why did God send His Son to die for our sins?