Hello,
I would like to introduce the question:
How should Christians honor the 4th commandment "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. (Exodus 20:8-10a) ."? Is there some reason the Sabbath now after Jesus resurrection and ascension should look different than the Sabbath was supposed to look for Israel? I have been studying this but am still unclear where the body of evidence lies.
The Sabbath
The Sabbath
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
Hi Allen,
There are three very different positions that Christians have taken on the question of Sabbath observance:
1. Christians should observe the Sabbath on Saturday (as God commanded Israel to do);
2. Christians should observe the Sabbath on Sunday (as most Christians say that they do);
3. Christians observe the Sabbath spiritually, and are not obliged to observe any day of the week (neither Saturday nor Sunday) above another in the Jewish sense.
Those who hold to position #1 argue that the Sabbath, being one of the Ten Commandments, is permanent and unchanging (having been written in stone). They say that Sabbath observance was to be a perpetual sign of God's covenant with Israel to all generations, and that both Jesus and Paul kept the Sabbath. They say that we are not authorized to change the Sabbath from Saturday to some other day of the week (e.g., Sunday).
Those who hold to position #2 believe that the early church changed the observance of Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, in honor of Christ's having risen on a Sunday. They refer to Sunday as "the Lord's Day," and believe that it pre-empts the Saturday Sabbath in the practice of Christians.
The third position is that the Sabbath was a type and a shadow of a spiritual rest, and that Christians observe it best by ceasing from any efforts of achieving righteousness through "works" and resting in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. The coming of the antitype (or "fulfillment of the type") brings an end to the obligation to keep the ritual that was merely its shadow. Thus, Christians, having entered into God's rest, have experienced the fulfillment of the Sabbath, and are under no obligation to observe any day of the week differently that any other.
It would appear, from the evidence of the New Testament, that the third position is correct.
Problems with the first position:
The Bible nowhere states that the ten commandments are more permanent than any other portion of the law given by Moses. In fact, one passage about the transitory and passing nature of the Old Covenant specifically calls that defunct covenant "the ministry of death. written and engraved on stones" (2 Cor.3:7). That the covenant so described is made obsolete by the coming of the New Testament is stated unambiguously in Hebrews 8:13.
The ritual practices of the law (including the observance of sacred days) have their fulfillment in Christ, and are not commanded to be continued in the New Testament. Thus circumcision, animal sacrifices, dietary restrictions and holy days no longer apply as obligations of God's people (see Col.2:16-17/ Gal.4:10-11/ Rom.14:5).
While it is true that the Sabbath was said to be a perpetual sign of the covenant that God made with Israel (Ex.31:13, 16-17), yet the same is said of circumcision (Gen.17:9-11), though we know that the latter has been pre-empted in the New Covenant by the spiritual circumcision of which the ritual was a mere type (Rom.2:28-29/ Phil.3:3/ Col.2:11), and that the religious observance of circumcision by Gentiles is tantamount to a denial of Christianity (Gal.5:2-4). How are Sabbath-keeping and ritual circumcision different from each other—if not in this, that Jesus said circumcision was more important than Sabbath-keeping in the Jewish law (John 7:22-23)?
As for Jesus and Paul keeping the Sabbath, we have no record of this. The claim is based on the many references to Jesus and Paul customarily going into the synagogue on the Sabbath days to preach. But what has this to do with keeping the Sabbath? The law never instructed the Jews to attend (or preach in) synagogues on the Sabbath. It is clear that Jesus and Paul attended the synagogue services in order to preach to the Jews who were gathered there on the Sabbaths. The other days of the week they preached in whatever other locations they found people in.
Even if Jesus or Paul did keep Sabbath holy (a matter not affirmed in scripture), it is easy enough to see this as Jesus' compliance with the Jewish ritual laws (he also was circumcised and made the prescribed pilgrimages to the temple on holy days—which New Testament believers are not expected to do). Paul may have observed Sabbath when he was among Jews, in keeping with his policy to comply with the cultural and religious sensitivities of whatever people he was trying to reach, though he said that he was free to ignore such compliance when among those for whom it was not an issue (1 Cor.9:20-21).
While we have no scriptural statement affirming that Jesus kept the Sabbath, we DO have a biblical affirmation that He BROKE the Sabbath (John 5:18). As "Lord of the Sabbath," it was no sin for Him to violate it, just as a policeman with lights and siren blaring does not commit a traffic violation when going 90 MPH. Sabbatarians insist that Jesus did not break the actual Sabbath law, but only the Jews' traditional rules about the Sabbath. But this isn't what the scripture says.
Jesus defended his disciples' breaking the Sabbath on the grounds that their action was comparable to what David did in eating the forbidden showbread, and what the priests do when they continue their regular work on the Sabbath (Matt.12:2-7). The first comparison equates Sabbath observance with the showbread ordinance (a ceremonial, not moral law).Christ confirms that Sabbath was a ceremonial, not moral, obligation by His citation of Hosea 6:6, by which He parallels Sabbath (the issue He was addressing) with the offering of sacrifices (another ritual, not moral, law).
After likening the disciples' breach of Sabbath with the priests' working on the Sabbath, Jesus anticipated the Jews' objection: "But the priests are authorized to break Sabbath in order to fulfill their duties in the work of the temple!" Jesus answers the objection before it is voiced: "But one greater than the temple is here" (Matt.12:6). In other words, if the temple work is important enough to pre-empt Sabbath observance, then so is the service of Christ (one greater than the temple), with which the disciples were occupied. In fact, even pulling an animal out of a ditch, or leading it to water were sufficiently important activities to pre-empt the Sabbath restrictions (Matt.12:11/Luke 13:15). This is because "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath" (Matt.12:12). Since we ought to be occupied with doing good at all times, every day, there can be little difference between the Sabbath and any other day in this respect. That is the point, I think, that Christ was making with His comment, "The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Matt.12:8). Why does He say "EVEN of the Sabbath"? Because He is the Lord of every day—EVEN the Sabbath. Thus the duties of His disciples, being simply to do the will of their Lord, are the same every day—even on the Sabbath day.
Problems with the second position:
To say that the early church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday is entirely without biblical warrant. The book of Acts refers many times to the Sabbath (after the resurrection of Christ), and in every case, it is referring to Saturday. That the first day of the week may have become a preferred day for Christian meetings may be hinted at in 1 Cor.16:2 and 20:7 (though these verses do not prove this point necessarily). Yet there is no suggestion that anyone ever regarded the first day of the week to be the new "Sabbath", replacing Saturday. Actually, the earliest Christians tended to have their church meetings every day of the week (Acts 2:46/ 5:42) and Paul found no fault with those who esteemed "every day alike" (i.e., recognizing not one holy day a week, but seven holy days a week! Rom.14:5).
As for the third position:
This view recognizes the ceremonial nature of the Sabbath, and its special importance (along with circumcision) as a ritual sign of the Old Covenant. This is confirmed by Jesus' comparison of Sabbath keeping with the ceremonial laws of showbread and animal sacrifices (Matt.12:2-4, 7), and Paul's equating the importance of Sabbath with that of dietary restrictions, festivals and New Moons (Col.2:16). Such rituals are fulfilled in Christ and do not continue, as the moral laws do, to define the obligations for Christians.
Two verses that are often brought against this position by Sabbatarians are Heb.4:9 and Mark 2:27.
In the Greek, Hebrews 4:9 says that "there remains a keeping of Sabbath for the people of God." This seems to state a continuing obligation of Christians to keep the Sabbath. But the context of the passage is about the spiritual "rest" that we experience in Christ, which was predicted in Psalm 95:11, and foreshadowed both by the conquest of Canaan and by the original Sabbath (Heb.4:1-4,8). When he says, "there remains a keeping of Sabbath" for us, it is speaking of our enjoyment of the spiritual antitype of the Sabbath as our “keeping of Sabbath.” This is just the same as when Paul said, "Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast [i.e., of unleavened bread]" (1 Cor.5:7-8). As his context proves, Paul is not advocating the keeping of the Jewish Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, but its spiritual fulfillment in a life of "sincerity and truth," devoid of the "leaven of malice and wickedness." The Jewish feasts and holy days (including Sabbath) have their spiritual fulfillment in Christ. We needn't observe them in the old way any longer.
In Mark 2:27, Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." The context suggests that this simply means that God never intended to place the Sabbath in a place of importance above human needs, but intended it as a boon and benefit, not a bondage, to man. The Sabbatarians want us to understand this as an extension of duty to keep the Sabbath to all mankind, as opposed to merely Israel. This can hardly be Jesus' intention, since this would suggest that the people He was endeavoring to correct were trying to keep Gentiles from keeping the Sabbath, and that Jesus had to inform them that all men, not only Jews, were given the Sabbath law. Not only would the making of this point on this occasion be absolutely without relevance to anything that was going on there, but it would also be quite untrue. The unvarnished truth is that the command to keep the Sabbath was given only (and often) to Israel. No Gentiles were ever placed under it, unless they were servants in a Jewish home (Ex.20:10) or else they wished to become Jewish proselytes. In the latter case, they would also have to keep all the law, including circumcision and sacrifices (Isa.56:6-7).
In desperation to impose observance of the Sabbath on Christians, Sabbatarians like to point out New Testament verses that describe true Christians as those who "keep the commandments of God" (e.g., Rev.12:17/ 22:14, etc.). They seem to think of “the commandments of God” as the equivalent of the "Ten Commandments," including the command to keep Sabbath. However, there were hundreds of things commanded by God in the Old Testament, many of which (as all will agree) comprise no part of normative Christian practice (e.g., Ex.17:1/ 25:21-22/ 34:32/ Num.3:39, etc.). In the New Testament, the commandments of God are equated with the things that Jesus commanded His disciples to do (Matt.28:20), as well as the commands given to the churches by the apostles themselves (1 Cor.14:37). In none of these do we find a command concerning the Sabbath.
The simple, irrefutable fact remains that Christians have no command from Christ or the apostles to observe one day as more sacred than others. In the New Testament, we are never told that Jesus or the early Christians were Sabbatarians, nor (had they been such) that all Christians therefore have any duty to observe the Sabbath Day. One must not place upon the people of God obligations that Jesus and the apostles neglected to mention.
There are three very different positions that Christians have taken on the question of Sabbath observance:
1. Christians should observe the Sabbath on Saturday (as God commanded Israel to do);
2. Christians should observe the Sabbath on Sunday (as most Christians say that they do);
3. Christians observe the Sabbath spiritually, and are not obliged to observe any day of the week (neither Saturday nor Sunday) above another in the Jewish sense.
Those who hold to position #1 argue that the Sabbath, being one of the Ten Commandments, is permanent and unchanging (having been written in stone). They say that Sabbath observance was to be a perpetual sign of God's covenant with Israel to all generations, and that both Jesus and Paul kept the Sabbath. They say that we are not authorized to change the Sabbath from Saturday to some other day of the week (e.g., Sunday).
Those who hold to position #2 believe that the early church changed the observance of Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, in honor of Christ's having risen on a Sunday. They refer to Sunday as "the Lord's Day," and believe that it pre-empts the Saturday Sabbath in the practice of Christians.
The third position is that the Sabbath was a type and a shadow of a spiritual rest, and that Christians observe it best by ceasing from any efforts of achieving righteousness through "works" and resting in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. The coming of the antitype (or "fulfillment of the type") brings an end to the obligation to keep the ritual that was merely its shadow. Thus, Christians, having entered into God's rest, have experienced the fulfillment of the Sabbath, and are under no obligation to observe any day of the week differently that any other.
It would appear, from the evidence of the New Testament, that the third position is correct.
Problems with the first position:
The Bible nowhere states that the ten commandments are more permanent than any other portion of the law given by Moses. In fact, one passage about the transitory and passing nature of the Old Covenant specifically calls that defunct covenant "the ministry of death. written and engraved on stones" (2 Cor.3:7). That the covenant so described is made obsolete by the coming of the New Testament is stated unambiguously in Hebrews 8:13.
The ritual practices of the law (including the observance of sacred days) have their fulfillment in Christ, and are not commanded to be continued in the New Testament. Thus circumcision, animal sacrifices, dietary restrictions and holy days no longer apply as obligations of God's people (see Col.2:16-17/ Gal.4:10-11/ Rom.14:5).
While it is true that the Sabbath was said to be a perpetual sign of the covenant that God made with Israel (Ex.31:13, 16-17), yet the same is said of circumcision (Gen.17:9-11), though we know that the latter has been pre-empted in the New Covenant by the spiritual circumcision of which the ritual was a mere type (Rom.2:28-29/ Phil.3:3/ Col.2:11), and that the religious observance of circumcision by Gentiles is tantamount to a denial of Christianity (Gal.5:2-4). How are Sabbath-keeping and ritual circumcision different from each other—if not in this, that Jesus said circumcision was more important than Sabbath-keeping in the Jewish law (John 7:22-23)?
As for Jesus and Paul keeping the Sabbath, we have no record of this. The claim is based on the many references to Jesus and Paul customarily going into the synagogue on the Sabbath days to preach. But what has this to do with keeping the Sabbath? The law never instructed the Jews to attend (or preach in) synagogues on the Sabbath. It is clear that Jesus and Paul attended the synagogue services in order to preach to the Jews who were gathered there on the Sabbaths. The other days of the week they preached in whatever other locations they found people in.
Even if Jesus or Paul did keep Sabbath holy (a matter not affirmed in scripture), it is easy enough to see this as Jesus' compliance with the Jewish ritual laws (he also was circumcised and made the prescribed pilgrimages to the temple on holy days—which New Testament believers are not expected to do). Paul may have observed Sabbath when he was among Jews, in keeping with his policy to comply with the cultural and religious sensitivities of whatever people he was trying to reach, though he said that he was free to ignore such compliance when among those for whom it was not an issue (1 Cor.9:20-21).
While we have no scriptural statement affirming that Jesus kept the Sabbath, we DO have a biblical affirmation that He BROKE the Sabbath (John 5:18). As "Lord of the Sabbath," it was no sin for Him to violate it, just as a policeman with lights and siren blaring does not commit a traffic violation when going 90 MPH. Sabbatarians insist that Jesus did not break the actual Sabbath law, but only the Jews' traditional rules about the Sabbath. But this isn't what the scripture says.
Jesus defended his disciples' breaking the Sabbath on the grounds that their action was comparable to what David did in eating the forbidden showbread, and what the priests do when they continue their regular work on the Sabbath (Matt.12:2-7). The first comparison equates Sabbath observance with the showbread ordinance (a ceremonial, not moral law).Christ confirms that Sabbath was a ceremonial, not moral, obligation by His citation of Hosea 6:6, by which He parallels Sabbath (the issue He was addressing) with the offering of sacrifices (another ritual, not moral, law).
After likening the disciples' breach of Sabbath with the priests' working on the Sabbath, Jesus anticipated the Jews' objection: "But the priests are authorized to break Sabbath in order to fulfill their duties in the work of the temple!" Jesus answers the objection before it is voiced: "But one greater than the temple is here" (Matt.12:6). In other words, if the temple work is important enough to pre-empt Sabbath observance, then so is the service of Christ (one greater than the temple), with which the disciples were occupied. In fact, even pulling an animal out of a ditch, or leading it to water were sufficiently important activities to pre-empt the Sabbath restrictions (Matt.12:11/Luke 13:15). This is because "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath" (Matt.12:12). Since we ought to be occupied with doing good at all times, every day, there can be little difference between the Sabbath and any other day in this respect. That is the point, I think, that Christ was making with His comment, "The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Matt.12:8). Why does He say "EVEN of the Sabbath"? Because He is the Lord of every day—EVEN the Sabbath. Thus the duties of His disciples, being simply to do the will of their Lord, are the same every day—even on the Sabbath day.
Problems with the second position:
To say that the early church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday is entirely without biblical warrant. The book of Acts refers many times to the Sabbath (after the resurrection of Christ), and in every case, it is referring to Saturday. That the first day of the week may have become a preferred day for Christian meetings may be hinted at in 1 Cor.16:2 and 20:7 (though these verses do not prove this point necessarily). Yet there is no suggestion that anyone ever regarded the first day of the week to be the new "Sabbath", replacing Saturday. Actually, the earliest Christians tended to have their church meetings every day of the week (Acts 2:46/ 5:42) and Paul found no fault with those who esteemed "every day alike" (i.e., recognizing not one holy day a week, but seven holy days a week! Rom.14:5).
As for the third position:
This view recognizes the ceremonial nature of the Sabbath, and its special importance (along with circumcision) as a ritual sign of the Old Covenant. This is confirmed by Jesus' comparison of Sabbath keeping with the ceremonial laws of showbread and animal sacrifices (Matt.12:2-4, 7), and Paul's equating the importance of Sabbath with that of dietary restrictions, festivals and New Moons (Col.2:16). Such rituals are fulfilled in Christ and do not continue, as the moral laws do, to define the obligations for Christians.
Two verses that are often brought against this position by Sabbatarians are Heb.4:9 and Mark 2:27.
In the Greek, Hebrews 4:9 says that "there remains a keeping of Sabbath for the people of God." This seems to state a continuing obligation of Christians to keep the Sabbath. But the context of the passage is about the spiritual "rest" that we experience in Christ, which was predicted in Psalm 95:11, and foreshadowed both by the conquest of Canaan and by the original Sabbath (Heb.4:1-4,8). When he says, "there remains a keeping of Sabbath" for us, it is speaking of our enjoyment of the spiritual antitype of the Sabbath as our “keeping of Sabbath.” This is just the same as when Paul said, "Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast [i.e., of unleavened bread]" (1 Cor.5:7-8). As his context proves, Paul is not advocating the keeping of the Jewish Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, but its spiritual fulfillment in a life of "sincerity and truth," devoid of the "leaven of malice and wickedness." The Jewish feasts and holy days (including Sabbath) have their spiritual fulfillment in Christ. We needn't observe them in the old way any longer.
In Mark 2:27, Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." The context suggests that this simply means that God never intended to place the Sabbath in a place of importance above human needs, but intended it as a boon and benefit, not a bondage, to man. The Sabbatarians want us to understand this as an extension of duty to keep the Sabbath to all mankind, as opposed to merely Israel. This can hardly be Jesus' intention, since this would suggest that the people He was endeavoring to correct were trying to keep Gentiles from keeping the Sabbath, and that Jesus had to inform them that all men, not only Jews, were given the Sabbath law. Not only would the making of this point on this occasion be absolutely without relevance to anything that was going on there, but it would also be quite untrue. The unvarnished truth is that the command to keep the Sabbath was given only (and often) to Israel. No Gentiles were ever placed under it, unless they were servants in a Jewish home (Ex.20:10) or else they wished to become Jewish proselytes. In the latter case, they would also have to keep all the law, including circumcision and sacrifices (Isa.56:6-7).
In desperation to impose observance of the Sabbath on Christians, Sabbatarians like to point out New Testament verses that describe true Christians as those who "keep the commandments of God" (e.g., Rev.12:17/ 22:14, etc.). They seem to think of “the commandments of God” as the equivalent of the "Ten Commandments," including the command to keep Sabbath. However, there were hundreds of things commanded by God in the Old Testament, many of which (as all will agree) comprise no part of normative Christian practice (e.g., Ex.17:1/ 25:21-22/ 34:32/ Num.3:39, etc.). In the New Testament, the commandments of God are equated with the things that Jesus commanded His disciples to do (Matt.28:20), as well as the commands given to the churches by the apostles themselves (1 Cor.14:37). In none of these do we find a command concerning the Sabbath.
The simple, irrefutable fact remains that Christians have no command from Christ or the apostles to observe one day as more sacred than others. In the New Testament, we are never told that Jesus or the early Christians were Sabbatarians, nor (had they been such) that all Christians therefore have any duty to observe the Sabbath Day. One must not place upon the people of God obligations that Jesus and the apostles neglected to mention.
Last edited by FAST WebCrawler [Crawler] on Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
In Jesus,
Steve
Steve
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"Sabbath Observance remains for the Saints of God."
The Decalogue (Inscribed in Stone by the Finger of God) is distinguished from the "Scrolls of the Law" of the Mosaic Covenant (Written by the Hand of Moses). The Former was placed within the Ark of the Covenant, while the latter was placed outside and next to the Ark of the Covenant. In the Old Covenant the Commonwealth of Israel was established by the Decalogue and was bound to Observe all that was commanded within the "Scrolls".
In the New Covenant Commonwealth of Israel the Decalogue remains the establishing Royal Law. Yet unlike the Old Covenant broken in times past, the Decalogue is now inscribed on our regenerated Hearts by the Finger of God..and the Ark of the Covenant is no longer needed. The "Scrolls of the Law" of the Mosaic Covenant have been superceded by the Messiah's New Covenant Scrolls. The Same God, the Same Decalogue, but a New, Different and Better set Covenant Commandments and Rites.
This is the Historic Christian position. Now how do we observe the 7th Day of Rest (ton Sabbaton)? Well in the Orthodox Church of the East (Mar Thoma Nazranis) and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church the Sabbath is observed as a Day of Biblical Study and Spiritual reflection, with a Sabbath Meeting....no work is done. The First day of the week (Saturday Sunset till Sunday Sunset) is observed as a Day of Worship, Fellowship and Rejoicing in our Resurrescted Lord. So what is so hard about that? A two day Weekend? No Big deal.
Our Sabbath Liturgy is similar to our Sunday Liturgy..as Christ is the Center of our Thoughts and the Holy Qurbana (Communion) in the culmination of our Worship. We break bread during the week also.
I am amazed that Sabbath Observance is still confused with "Judaizing" by so many Occidentals. Keeping the Mosaic Law in accordance to the 5 Scrolls and Oral Rabbinic Tradition is "Judaizing" according to Paul and the Apostolic Council. But Observing the Decalogue which is now on our Hearts and no longer on Stone Tablets nor tied to the Pentateuch's Mosaic Covenant, is the Christian Obedience of Faith. That is the Pauline Message to the Roman's as well as His corrective Message to the Galatians and to the Hebrew Christians of the Diaspora.
I do realize that there are many Protestant "Sabbatarians" and "Messianic Jews" who insist on Observance to the Old Mosaic Codes (as well as the Mishna & Talmuds!) written in the Scrolls...but that is not the Way of Messiah or His New Covenant Commonwealth of Israel (The Church). Just because many observe SABBATH IN ERROR does not mean that Sabbath Observance does not still remain a duty for the People of God. Shall we cast out the Baby with the Bath water? In the Western Churches it seems that many have chosen to. Anything that seems Hebraic, Israelite or Jewish surely must not be "Orthodox Christianity"..LOL!
How did we get to the point where we have extricated Messiah, the People of God and the Gospel of the New Covenant Faith from it's Hebraic Jewish context and setting? Just because Gentiles can through spiritual conversion to the True Faith become "Naturalized" citizens..equal to their believing "Native" Jewish brethren in every respect, does not mean that the Church is not the continuation of the Chosen People under a New and Better Covenant. Because Gentiles now out number Hebrews in the Church we Westerners seem to think the Church is no longer Nazaraean~Jewish or should preserve and continue in the Apostolic Nazaraean Way which clearly persists unchanged in the Near and Far Eastern Churches.
There persists a Faithful Community which Keeps the Decalogue as part and parcel of the New Covenant Faith. They retain Aramaic as their spoken and Liturgical tongue. Their Bible is in Aramaic (Peshitto/Peshitta). This is My Church. One need not "Judaize" the Faith in order to Observe the Ten Commandments faithfully. It is not an either/or situation. I think it is a lack of understanding the nature and meaning of the New Covenant that has led historically to two extremes...Judaizing Legalism verses the reactionary Hellenistic Antinomianism.
There is a Narrow Path in between these extreme errors. Observe Sabbath and Celebrate Resurrection Sunday...this reflects the continuation of Revelation in Messiah as well as the unified progression from One Covenant to the Next in One God and People. Now I admit this position is not favored by the Roman Church or by many of those historically descended from that Church (Protestantism). But the Western Church (Romanist & Protestant) is not the whole church....maybe the wealthiest and economically powerful, but by no means the majority of Ancient Christiandom. Even the Eastern Orthodox, the Coptics and the Syrians observe and respect the 7th Day.
So I think one should look outside the Western horizon for their spiritual heritage and New Covenant Faith...after all, Christianity is an Eastern Faith, revealed to an Eastern Nation and established by Jewish Messiah. I believe Tertulian had it right when he said, "What has Athens (Gentile Thought) to do with Jerusalem (Hebraic Thought)?" Just because the New Covenant Scriptures were preserved in Koine Greek does not mean the Christian Faith is not Messiah's Nazaraean Judaism.
Messiah did not come to start a New Religion, but to Complete It in a New Covenant. He did not come to abrogate the Ten Commandments, but to verify them and expose the False Traditions of the Rabbis which make a mockery of them. He showed us how to properly Observe Sabbath, as the Lord of the Sabbath. To use this Day of Rest as an opportunity to Liberate ourselves from the cares of this world and to to the work of the Father who sends us in His Name into a dying world. Judaizing the Sabbath is to make man the servant and bond slave to the Day of Rest. It is to focus on the Day itself and not upon Man for whom it was established. But many think it is just a Jewish Custom no longer applicable to Christians...I see this as a foolish and illogical position given the Scriptural data and Church Witnesses from Apostolic times unto this very hour.
Does the Obedience of Faith save you? No! We are Saved by the Power of God's Grace alone which is manifested through the working out of our Faith. We Obey because we Love, and we Love because we have been Forgiven, and we have been Forgiven because He Loved us first and sent His only Son to Atone for our Sins through His Sacrificial Death and Resurrection. Does this mean we need not obey the All of God's Commandments? No! If we Love Him we will Observe all His Commandments. And what is Love for God? This is the Love for God, that we observe all of His Commandments: for His Commandments are not hard to carry out. This then is Love for God, that we walk according to all His Commandments. This is the Rule of our Faith, that, just as you have heard from ancient times, you should walk in it.
We in the Church of the East and Abroad continue in the Way described herein. We Observe the Decalogue, Pesach/Easter, Pentecost and all other Festivals practiced by Christ and His Apostles...just as we have received it from the beginning. No sweat....no judgments either.
We are like the First Nazaraeans "Zealous for the Law" in so far as they apply in the New Covenant. We have Chief Priests (Bishops), Priests (Presbyters) and Levites (Deacons). We have Scribes (Theological Scholars), Rabbis (Teachers) and an Eldership (Parish Council). So you see, One need not disassociate oneself from the Jewish setting and nature of the Church and the Faith. Nor does one have to follow in the errors of the Pharisees and their Judaizing counterparts.
I know I am lengthy but this topic cannot be answered in a few quips and pat answers so often used in most Western Churches both AntiSabbatarian and Sabbatarian alike.
R.R. Fr. Kenneth W. Huffman D.M.
Mar Thoma Nazrani Church of the East & Abroad (AEOC)
In the New Covenant Commonwealth of Israel the Decalogue remains the establishing Royal Law. Yet unlike the Old Covenant broken in times past, the Decalogue is now inscribed on our regenerated Hearts by the Finger of God..and the Ark of the Covenant is no longer needed. The "Scrolls of the Law" of the Mosaic Covenant have been superceded by the Messiah's New Covenant Scrolls. The Same God, the Same Decalogue, but a New, Different and Better set Covenant Commandments and Rites.
This is the Historic Christian position. Now how do we observe the 7th Day of Rest (ton Sabbaton)? Well in the Orthodox Church of the East (Mar Thoma Nazranis) and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church the Sabbath is observed as a Day of Biblical Study and Spiritual reflection, with a Sabbath Meeting....no work is done. The First day of the week (Saturday Sunset till Sunday Sunset) is observed as a Day of Worship, Fellowship and Rejoicing in our Resurrescted Lord. So what is so hard about that? A two day Weekend? No Big deal.
Our Sabbath Liturgy is similar to our Sunday Liturgy..as Christ is the Center of our Thoughts and the Holy Qurbana (Communion) in the culmination of our Worship. We break bread during the week also.
I am amazed that Sabbath Observance is still confused with "Judaizing" by so many Occidentals. Keeping the Mosaic Law in accordance to the 5 Scrolls and Oral Rabbinic Tradition is "Judaizing" according to Paul and the Apostolic Council. But Observing the Decalogue which is now on our Hearts and no longer on Stone Tablets nor tied to the Pentateuch's Mosaic Covenant, is the Christian Obedience of Faith. That is the Pauline Message to the Roman's as well as His corrective Message to the Galatians and to the Hebrew Christians of the Diaspora.
I do realize that there are many Protestant "Sabbatarians" and "Messianic Jews" who insist on Observance to the Old Mosaic Codes (as well as the Mishna & Talmuds!) written in the Scrolls...but that is not the Way of Messiah or His New Covenant Commonwealth of Israel (The Church). Just because many observe SABBATH IN ERROR does not mean that Sabbath Observance does not still remain a duty for the People of God. Shall we cast out the Baby with the Bath water? In the Western Churches it seems that many have chosen to. Anything that seems Hebraic, Israelite or Jewish surely must not be "Orthodox Christianity"..LOL!
How did we get to the point where we have extricated Messiah, the People of God and the Gospel of the New Covenant Faith from it's Hebraic Jewish context and setting? Just because Gentiles can through spiritual conversion to the True Faith become "Naturalized" citizens..equal to their believing "Native" Jewish brethren in every respect, does not mean that the Church is not the continuation of the Chosen People under a New and Better Covenant. Because Gentiles now out number Hebrews in the Church we Westerners seem to think the Church is no longer Nazaraean~Jewish or should preserve and continue in the Apostolic Nazaraean Way which clearly persists unchanged in the Near and Far Eastern Churches.
There persists a Faithful Community which Keeps the Decalogue as part and parcel of the New Covenant Faith. They retain Aramaic as their spoken and Liturgical tongue. Their Bible is in Aramaic (Peshitto/Peshitta). This is My Church. One need not "Judaize" the Faith in order to Observe the Ten Commandments faithfully. It is not an either/or situation. I think it is a lack of understanding the nature and meaning of the New Covenant that has led historically to two extremes...Judaizing Legalism verses the reactionary Hellenistic Antinomianism.
There is a Narrow Path in between these extreme errors. Observe Sabbath and Celebrate Resurrection Sunday...this reflects the continuation of Revelation in Messiah as well as the unified progression from One Covenant to the Next in One God and People. Now I admit this position is not favored by the Roman Church or by many of those historically descended from that Church (Protestantism). But the Western Church (Romanist & Protestant) is not the whole church....maybe the wealthiest and economically powerful, but by no means the majority of Ancient Christiandom. Even the Eastern Orthodox, the Coptics and the Syrians observe and respect the 7th Day.
So I think one should look outside the Western horizon for their spiritual heritage and New Covenant Faith...after all, Christianity is an Eastern Faith, revealed to an Eastern Nation and established by Jewish Messiah. I believe Tertulian had it right when he said, "What has Athens (Gentile Thought) to do with Jerusalem (Hebraic Thought)?" Just because the New Covenant Scriptures were preserved in Koine Greek does not mean the Christian Faith is not Messiah's Nazaraean Judaism.
Messiah did not come to start a New Religion, but to Complete It in a New Covenant. He did not come to abrogate the Ten Commandments, but to verify them and expose the False Traditions of the Rabbis which make a mockery of them. He showed us how to properly Observe Sabbath, as the Lord of the Sabbath. To use this Day of Rest as an opportunity to Liberate ourselves from the cares of this world and to to the work of the Father who sends us in His Name into a dying world. Judaizing the Sabbath is to make man the servant and bond slave to the Day of Rest. It is to focus on the Day itself and not upon Man for whom it was established. But many think it is just a Jewish Custom no longer applicable to Christians...I see this as a foolish and illogical position given the Scriptural data and Church Witnesses from Apostolic times unto this very hour.
Does the Obedience of Faith save you? No! We are Saved by the Power of God's Grace alone which is manifested through the working out of our Faith. We Obey because we Love, and we Love because we have been Forgiven, and we have been Forgiven because He Loved us first and sent His only Son to Atone for our Sins through His Sacrificial Death and Resurrection. Does this mean we need not obey the All of God's Commandments? No! If we Love Him we will Observe all His Commandments. And what is Love for God? This is the Love for God, that we observe all of His Commandments: for His Commandments are not hard to carry out. This then is Love for God, that we walk according to all His Commandments. This is the Rule of our Faith, that, just as you have heard from ancient times, you should walk in it.
We in the Church of the East and Abroad continue in the Way described herein. We Observe the Decalogue, Pesach/Easter, Pentecost and all other Festivals practiced by Christ and His Apostles...just as we have received it from the beginning. No sweat....no judgments either.
We are like the First Nazaraeans "Zealous for the Law" in so far as they apply in the New Covenant. We have Chief Priests (Bishops), Priests (Presbyters) and Levites (Deacons). We have Scribes (Theological Scholars), Rabbis (Teachers) and an Eldership (Parish Council). So you see, One need not disassociate oneself from the Jewish setting and nature of the Church and the Faith. Nor does one have to follow in the errors of the Pharisees and their Judaizing counterparts.
I know I am lengthy but this topic cannot be answered in a few quips and pat answers so often used in most Western Churches both AntiSabbatarian and Sabbatarian alike.
R.R. Fr. Kenneth W. Huffman D.M.
Mar Thoma Nazrani Church of the East & Abroad (AEOC)
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
Sabbath Continued
I have much enjoyed reading the replies to my question about the Sabbath. Thank you for taking the time to contirbute. I would like to add some detail to my question. I hope by doing it in this reply format it will be recognized and addressed.
Probably the best arguement I have seen put up by the Sabbatarians runs something like this:
The Sabbath was around from the beginning even before the law "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made" Gen 2:3 Why did God rest if not to set an example surely He did not need to. And also before the Law was given was Exodus 16:23 "And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning." And finally the commandment itself in Exodus 20:8 says to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy..." The word remember seems to suggest this is something the Israelites were already practicing.
Couple this with some verses that suggest the Sabbath will survive the Church period and be a part of God's future plan for the Christian makes me wonder why the Sabbath would be before and after the Church period but not during?
Verses that seem to suggest a Sabbath in the future include Matt 24:20 "Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath."(Although some hold this is as just applying to the Jews.) Also Isaiah 66:22,23 "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." And finally the Sabbath will be honored in Ezekiel's Temple. Ezek 46:1.
Since I am no expert in end times or really on any area of the bible I am just investigating others arguements into this subject and with the help of the Holy Spirit trying to discern how the Lord wants me to apply these matters to my life. I look forward to more replies and discussion of this subject.
God Bless,
Allen
Probably the best arguement I have seen put up by the Sabbatarians runs something like this:
The Sabbath was around from the beginning even before the law "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made" Gen 2:3 Why did God rest if not to set an example surely He did not need to. And also before the Law was given was Exodus 16:23 "And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning." And finally the commandment itself in Exodus 20:8 says to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy..." The word remember seems to suggest this is something the Israelites were already practicing.
Couple this with some verses that suggest the Sabbath will survive the Church period and be a part of God's future plan for the Christian makes me wonder why the Sabbath would be before and after the Church period but not during?
Verses that seem to suggest a Sabbath in the future include Matt 24:20 "Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath."(Although some hold this is as just applying to the Jews.) Also Isaiah 66:22,23 "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." And finally the Sabbath will be honored in Ezekiel's Temple. Ezek 46:1.
Since I am no expert in end times or really on any area of the bible I am just investigating others arguements into this subject and with the help of the Holy Spirit trying to discern how the Lord wants me to apply these matters to my life. I look forward to more replies and discussion of this subject.
God Bless,
Allen
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
As the book of Hebrews 3 & 4 explains, I believe the Sabbath is resting from works. Since this is exactly how we are now saved, and we are not to do work on any day including the Sabbath.
Since Jesus said it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, then how do Christians not observe the Sabbath? Unless one is either perfect or believes cerimonial Sabbitarian worship is meritorious in some way. The point is Christians should have rested from their own fleshly works already, and should be bearing the fruit of the Spirit seen outwardly as "good works". (Gal 5) This is keeping the Sabbath. "Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit".
Since Jesus said it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, then how do Christians not observe the Sabbath? Unless one is either perfect or believes cerimonial Sabbitarian worship is meritorious in some way. The point is Christians should have rested from their own fleshly works already, and should be bearing the fruit of the Spirit seen outwardly as "good works". (Gal 5) This is keeping the Sabbath. "Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit".
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
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_Anonymous
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Awesome Answer Sean...
I have heard this several times but haven't found it yet. Where does the bible say that the Decalogue was placed inside the ark and the ceremonial laws outside the ark?
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
Dear guest,
In Exodus 25:16, we are told that the testimony (meaning the stone tablets) were to be stored inside the ark of the covenant. In Deuteronomy 31:26, the book of the law was to be placed beside the ark. The book of the law was not entirely ceremonial law, and the testimony was not entirely moral law (e.g., the fourth commandment was ceremonial—Col.2:16-17). God bless.
In Exodus 25:16, we are told that the testimony (meaning the stone tablets) were to be stored inside the ark of the covenant. In Deuteronomy 31:26, the book of the law was to be placed beside the ark. The book of the law was not entirely ceremonial law, and the testimony was not entirely moral law (e.g., the fourth commandment was ceremonial—Col.2:16-17). God bless.
Last edited by FAST WebCrawler [Crawler] on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
In Jesus,
Steve
Steve
Belated answer to Ken
Hi Ken,
I hope it won’t seem to you that my comments amount to little more than “a few quips and pat answers.” I have read your comments with a mind to recognize whatever biblical merit they may possess. As usual, we may get nowhere in any effort to change one another’s minds, since you place as great authority on the church’s traditional interpretations of scripture as on scripture itself.
Since you did not seem to interact with the points I made in my earlier post, I do not yet stand in a position to have to further defend them against rebuttals, and will consider for the time being that my exegesis stands unchallenged, except by traditions of various groups, including your own. It is my custom, however, to interact with the arguments of those who say things with which I am not in agreement, so I would like to respond to some of your specific points. The easiest way to do this is to quote your own words, and then give my thoughts about them.
You wrote: “In the New Covenant Commonwealth of Israel the Decalogue remains the establishing Royal Law. Yet unlike the Old Covenant broken in times past, the Decalogue is now inscribed on our regenerated Hearts by the Finger of God.”
I agree that the law of God is now written on hearts, rather than upon stones or parchments. However, I find nothing in scripture to say that the law of the New Covenant is to be equated with the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments).
James is the only biblical writer who uses the term “the Royal Law,” and he equates it, not with the Decalogue, but with the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (James 2:8).
Even if we were to expand the obligation (as Jesus did) to include “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…etc.” it would not necessarily include every command that God gave in the Old Testament, nor even in the Decalogue. You yourself wrote that, under the New Covenant, there is “a New, Different and Better set [of] Covenant Commandments and Rites.” I agree that we now have a different set of commandments, which is why I don’t simply assume that the old ones transfer to the New Order without mention.
I understand the “law written on the heart” to be the working of the Holy Spirit, who produces the fruit of love in us toward God and our fellow man. If one loves his naeighbor, he will instinctively recoil at the thought of murdering him, cheating with his wife, stealing from him or slandering him. Love has no desire to do these things to a neighbor. Likewise, love for God would cause one intuitively to use His name reverently and to be loyal to Him in the presence of other gods (idols). The law (love) written in the heart would automatically teach such behavior, with or without familiarity with a written code.
However, to keep the seventh day of each week as sacred would be no more intuitive, without the imposition of a written rule, than would be the requirement to circumcise a male child on the eighth day of his life. These are ceremonial or ritual requirements associated with the Old Covenant of “the letter,” but nowhere (in scripture, at least) associated with the New Covenant of “the Spirit.”
Hence, the law written on the heart might well teach us behavior that complies with standards found outside the Ten Commandments (e.g., to return our enemy’s straying ox to him—Exodus 23:4), but would not instinctively instruct us in all that is contained in the Decalogue (e.g., Sabbath observance).
You wrote: “So what is so hard about that? A two day Weekend? No Big deal.”
I agree that it is no big deal to have a two-day weekend—so long as we are not under obligation to observe God’s instructions about the Sabbath. However, if we are to keep God’s instructions relative to the Sabbath, then a two-day weekend is forbidden by the same law that commands resting on the seventh day, since it also commands that men work the other six days each week (Exodus 20:9-10). I have no objection to people taking two-day or three-day weekends, but then I am not the one advocating compliance with the commandments of the Old Covenant order.
With reference to your whole position on Sabbath/law observance, you wrote: “That is the Pauline Message to the Roman's as well as His corrective Message to the Galatians and to the Hebrew Christians of the Diaspora.”
This is something I often find difficult in attempting to evaluate the scriptural basis for your position. You give no actual scriptural texts, and you do not interact with the ones I present. To say that one’s opinion "is in agreement with the whole book of Romans, Galatians or Hebrews" is a powerful argument, if there are actual texts in those books that can be shown to favor your position over alternative views. I am not aware of any text in these books, nor in any other New Testament books, that clearly support the position that you are affirming as over against my own.
You wrote:
“ There persists a Faithful Community which Keeps the Decalogue as part and parcel of the New Covenant Faith. They retain Aramaic as their spoken and Liturgical tongue. Their Bible is in Aramaic…”
A statement like this immediately invites the question whether reading scriptures in Aramaic, rather than in their original Greek, is somehow a trait that bespeaks the outstanding faithfulness of the community that does so. I believe that Jesus spoke in Aramaic, but I also believe that the Gospel writers made faithful translations of His words into the Greek when they wrote their Gospels. If Greek was not an adequate medium for expressing Jesus’ thoughts, then why did they choose to use that language in writing the New Testament? What might we learn from the Aramaic translations of the Greek scriptures that we could not learn from the Greek originals?
You wrote: “…it is a lack of understanding the nature and meaning of the New Covenant that has led historically to two extremes...Judaizing Legalism verses the reactionary Hellenistic Antinomianism.”
I was just wondering if you think me guilty of embracing either of these extremes. If so, which one?
You also wrote: “…one should look outside the Western horizon for their spiritual heritage and New Covenant Faith.”
The position I presented above definitely looks outside the Western tradition for its validity. It appeals directly to Middle Eastern tradition (i.e., the recorded sayings of Jesus), unless Paul’s teachings are categorized as "Western tradition"—in which case, I can see no reason not to appeal to it.
Of Jesus, you wrote: “He showed us how to properly Observe Sabbath, as the Lord of the Sabbath. To use this Day of Rest as an opportunity to Liberate ourselves from the cares of this world and to do the work of the Father who sends us in His Name into a dying world.”
It sounds as if you are alluding to John 5:16-18. If so, I fully agree that Jesus showed us how to keep the Sabbath—namely, He acted precisely the same way on the Sabbath as He did any other day of the week, and said that this, too, is how the Father behaves.
It is apparently with reference to my position that you wrote: “many think it is just a Jewish Custom no longer applicable to Christians...I see this as a foolish and illogical position given the Scriptural data…”
It may indeed be that mine is a foolish and illogical position, vis-à-vis the Scriptural data, but you have made no effort to demonstrate this. You did not interact with the specific Scriptural data that I presented, nor did you present any specific Scriptural data that favored your position over the one I have presented.
Your statement: “If we Love Him we will Observe all His Commandments” could be misleading. First, because you almost (but not quite) are quoting scripture (John 14:15/ 1 John 5:3), though you insert the word “all” where the scriptures do not. It is the inclusion of this word alone that makes the statement favor your position above my own, and that word is not in the text.
If by “His Commandments” you mean “God’s commandments given to the Jews at Mount Sinai,” then this assertion proves far too much, and obligates us to keep every ritual of Judaism, including animal sacrifices, since those rituals are frequently called “commandments” as truly as are those contained in the Decalogue.
On the other hand, if by “His Commandments” we mean “the commands given by Jesus to His disciples,” then I will heartily agree with you, for He said that we must teach all nations “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt.28:20). However, in perusing all the commands of Jesus recorded in scripture, the one requiring His disciples to keep the Sabbath (or any other holy days) is conspicuous by its absence.
You wrote: “We have Chief Priests (Bishops), Priests (Presbyters) and Levites (Deacons). We have Scribes (Theological Scholars), Rabbis (Teachers) and an Eldership (Parish Council).”
This surprises me, since you say that your group preserves the apostolic traditions. There are no “priests” or “chief priests” mentioned in the New Testament among the officers of the church. The word “bishop” is not synonymous with “chief priest,” nor is the word “presbyter” synonymous with “priest.” As you surley must know, presbuteroi (elders) and episkopoi (bishops) are terms used interchangeably with each other in scripture (Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Peter 5:1, 2), and to make a distinction between “presbyters” and “eldership” is gratuitous in the extreme, the two words simply being the English transliteration and the English translation, respectively, of the same Greek word!
As you know, Ken, I respect your right to worship and believe differently from the way I worship and believe, but I am not impressed that your arguments have scriptural (hence, apostolic) support in their favor.
Blessings!
I hope it won’t seem to you that my comments amount to little more than “a few quips and pat answers.” I have read your comments with a mind to recognize whatever biblical merit they may possess. As usual, we may get nowhere in any effort to change one another’s minds, since you place as great authority on the church’s traditional interpretations of scripture as on scripture itself.
Since you did not seem to interact with the points I made in my earlier post, I do not yet stand in a position to have to further defend them against rebuttals, and will consider for the time being that my exegesis stands unchallenged, except by traditions of various groups, including your own. It is my custom, however, to interact with the arguments of those who say things with which I am not in agreement, so I would like to respond to some of your specific points. The easiest way to do this is to quote your own words, and then give my thoughts about them.
You wrote: “In the New Covenant Commonwealth of Israel the Decalogue remains the establishing Royal Law. Yet unlike the Old Covenant broken in times past, the Decalogue is now inscribed on our regenerated Hearts by the Finger of God.”
I agree that the law of God is now written on hearts, rather than upon stones or parchments. However, I find nothing in scripture to say that the law of the New Covenant is to be equated with the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments).
James is the only biblical writer who uses the term “the Royal Law,” and he equates it, not with the Decalogue, but with the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (James 2:8).
Even if we were to expand the obligation (as Jesus did) to include “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…etc.” it would not necessarily include every command that God gave in the Old Testament, nor even in the Decalogue. You yourself wrote that, under the New Covenant, there is “a New, Different and Better set [of] Covenant Commandments and Rites.” I agree that we now have a different set of commandments, which is why I don’t simply assume that the old ones transfer to the New Order without mention.
I understand the “law written on the heart” to be the working of the Holy Spirit, who produces the fruit of love in us toward God and our fellow man. If one loves his naeighbor, he will instinctively recoil at the thought of murdering him, cheating with his wife, stealing from him or slandering him. Love has no desire to do these things to a neighbor. Likewise, love for God would cause one intuitively to use His name reverently and to be loyal to Him in the presence of other gods (idols). The law (love) written in the heart would automatically teach such behavior, with or without familiarity with a written code.
However, to keep the seventh day of each week as sacred would be no more intuitive, without the imposition of a written rule, than would be the requirement to circumcise a male child on the eighth day of his life. These are ceremonial or ritual requirements associated with the Old Covenant of “the letter,” but nowhere (in scripture, at least) associated with the New Covenant of “the Spirit.”
Hence, the law written on the heart might well teach us behavior that complies with standards found outside the Ten Commandments (e.g., to return our enemy’s straying ox to him—Exodus 23:4), but would not instinctively instruct us in all that is contained in the Decalogue (e.g., Sabbath observance).
You wrote: “So what is so hard about that? A two day Weekend? No Big deal.”
I agree that it is no big deal to have a two-day weekend—so long as we are not under obligation to observe God’s instructions about the Sabbath. However, if we are to keep God’s instructions relative to the Sabbath, then a two-day weekend is forbidden by the same law that commands resting on the seventh day, since it also commands that men work the other six days each week (Exodus 20:9-10). I have no objection to people taking two-day or three-day weekends, but then I am not the one advocating compliance with the commandments of the Old Covenant order.
With reference to your whole position on Sabbath/law observance, you wrote: “That is the Pauline Message to the Roman's as well as His corrective Message to the Galatians and to the Hebrew Christians of the Diaspora.”
This is something I often find difficult in attempting to evaluate the scriptural basis for your position. You give no actual scriptural texts, and you do not interact with the ones I present. To say that one’s opinion "is in agreement with the whole book of Romans, Galatians or Hebrews" is a powerful argument, if there are actual texts in those books that can be shown to favor your position over alternative views. I am not aware of any text in these books, nor in any other New Testament books, that clearly support the position that you are affirming as over against my own.
You wrote:
“ There persists a Faithful Community which Keeps the Decalogue as part and parcel of the New Covenant Faith. They retain Aramaic as their spoken and Liturgical tongue. Their Bible is in Aramaic…”
A statement like this immediately invites the question whether reading scriptures in Aramaic, rather than in their original Greek, is somehow a trait that bespeaks the outstanding faithfulness of the community that does so. I believe that Jesus spoke in Aramaic, but I also believe that the Gospel writers made faithful translations of His words into the Greek when they wrote their Gospels. If Greek was not an adequate medium for expressing Jesus’ thoughts, then why did they choose to use that language in writing the New Testament? What might we learn from the Aramaic translations of the Greek scriptures that we could not learn from the Greek originals?
You wrote: “…it is a lack of understanding the nature and meaning of the New Covenant that has led historically to two extremes...Judaizing Legalism verses the reactionary Hellenistic Antinomianism.”
I was just wondering if you think me guilty of embracing either of these extremes. If so, which one?
You also wrote: “…one should look outside the Western horizon for their spiritual heritage and New Covenant Faith.”
The position I presented above definitely looks outside the Western tradition for its validity. It appeals directly to Middle Eastern tradition (i.e., the recorded sayings of Jesus), unless Paul’s teachings are categorized as "Western tradition"—in which case, I can see no reason not to appeal to it.
Of Jesus, you wrote: “He showed us how to properly Observe Sabbath, as the Lord of the Sabbath. To use this Day of Rest as an opportunity to Liberate ourselves from the cares of this world and to do the work of the Father who sends us in His Name into a dying world.”
It sounds as if you are alluding to John 5:16-18. If so, I fully agree that Jesus showed us how to keep the Sabbath—namely, He acted precisely the same way on the Sabbath as He did any other day of the week, and said that this, too, is how the Father behaves.
It is apparently with reference to my position that you wrote: “many think it is just a Jewish Custom no longer applicable to Christians...I see this as a foolish and illogical position given the Scriptural data…”
It may indeed be that mine is a foolish and illogical position, vis-à-vis the Scriptural data, but you have made no effort to demonstrate this. You did not interact with the specific Scriptural data that I presented, nor did you present any specific Scriptural data that favored your position over the one I have presented.
Your statement: “If we Love Him we will Observe all His Commandments” could be misleading. First, because you almost (but not quite) are quoting scripture (John 14:15/ 1 John 5:3), though you insert the word “all” where the scriptures do not. It is the inclusion of this word alone that makes the statement favor your position above my own, and that word is not in the text.
If by “His Commandments” you mean “God’s commandments given to the Jews at Mount Sinai,” then this assertion proves far too much, and obligates us to keep every ritual of Judaism, including animal sacrifices, since those rituals are frequently called “commandments” as truly as are those contained in the Decalogue.
On the other hand, if by “His Commandments” we mean “the commands given by Jesus to His disciples,” then I will heartily agree with you, for He said that we must teach all nations “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt.28:20). However, in perusing all the commands of Jesus recorded in scripture, the one requiring His disciples to keep the Sabbath (or any other holy days) is conspicuous by its absence.
You wrote: “We have Chief Priests (Bishops), Priests (Presbyters) and Levites (Deacons). We have Scribes (Theological Scholars), Rabbis (Teachers) and an Eldership (Parish Council).”
This surprises me, since you say that your group preserves the apostolic traditions. There are no “priests” or “chief priests” mentioned in the New Testament among the officers of the church. The word “bishop” is not synonymous with “chief priest,” nor is the word “presbyter” synonymous with “priest.” As you surley must know, presbuteroi (elders) and episkopoi (bishops) are terms used interchangeably with each other in scripture (Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Peter 5:1, 2), and to make a distinction between “presbyters” and “eldership” is gratuitous in the extreme, the two words simply being the English transliteration and the English translation, respectively, of the same Greek word!
As you know, Ken, I respect your right to worship and believe differently from the way I worship and believe, but I am not impressed that your arguments have scriptural (hence, apostolic) support in their favor.
Blessings!
Last edited by FAST WebCrawler [Crawler] on Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:
Reason:
In Jesus,
Steve
Steve
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_Priestly1
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:47 pm
- Location: McMinnville, Oregon USA
God's Torah vs God's Ten Commandments.
"Look, the days approach, when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah (Luke 22:19 ~ 20, 28 ~30): not like the Covenant I enacted with their forefathers at the time when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt (Exodus 34); for they then proceeded to brake My Covenant, although I was a Husband to them, says Yahveh. Even so, this New Covenant which I will establish with the House of Israel after these times, says Yahveh: I will place My Torah within them, and on their Heart shall I inscribe it (Ex. 31:18; 34:27 ~ 28). And I will be their God and they shall be My People.....for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will no longer recall." Masoretic Text Jeremiah 31:31-34
Shalom Steve!
I find in hard to believe that you do not know the meaning of "ha Torah/ho Nomos" (i.e. the Law) when it is used in specific (The Decalogue) and in the general (The Scroll of the Covenant i.e the 5 Books of Moses). This is acknowledged by all Jewish and Christian Scholars. You seem to think Jeremiah was unclear as to what he meant by "My Torah"...when in the Scroll of the Torah it details these 10 Commandments, from which all the Covenant ordinances and decrees receive their Authority and Witness. Also, I am shocked that you do not know that it is an ancient Hebraism to call God "Melech ha Olam"...King of the Universe...and His Decalogue the Royal Law. Seems like you play a philiological and grammatical game of "where's the marble" as you switch around your cups. But God is King and His Royal Law was personally inscribed on Stone as "the Witness of the Covenant"....no other Law has this distinction. The Torah thusly inscribed by God Himself was placed within the Ark of the Covenant...even though God would have liked to have dictated His Torah to the People personally Himself (i.e. in their hearts), but they were afraid of God lest they should die from the shock of it (Ex. 20: 18 ~21).
The Five Books of Moses, called "The Scroll of the Torah" presents the Record of God's Paternal role with mankind, His Acts for Mankind and His Royal Law and it's Sinai Covenant complete with all it's Civil, Religious, Dietary, Farming and Health precepts, ordinances, stipulations, blessings for following the Social Contract and punishments for breaking the Social Contract. This Scroll was written by Moses himself, and not by God. And Moses himself added certain legal exceptions to the Covenant Contract because of Israel's hard hearts...this is stated by Messiah Himself. This Scroll of the Torah was distinguished from the Torah itself, and was placed outside the Ark for immediate access.
The Torah (Decalogue) is the Foundation & Witness of the Covenant which has all of the stipulations, regulations, precepts and ordinances. This is fact. It is like the Preamble to the Sinai Constitution of Israel. But this Covenant was made void because Israel's Leadership and Citizenry broke it.
The language of Jeremiah is clear in the Hebrew, in the later Aramaic and Greek translations. Again God shall enact a Covenant with All Israelites (Northern Israel & Southern Judah), but unlike the former broken Covenant which had God's Torah personally inscribed on Tablets for a perpetual Witness, this New Covenant shall have God's Torah inscribed on the Hearts of the Covenant People as a perpetual inner Witness.
There is no uncertainty in the language or usage of "Torah" in this context...nor is the Hebraic parallelism hard to see. Likewise, Paul uses the exact term "ha Torah/ho Nomos" in Romans 7 in the specific, and even cites one of the Torah's 10 Precepts to drive this home!
"Is the Torah mistaken? May it never be said! For I could not have discovered what Sin was except through the Torah. I could not have become aware that coveting was a Sin except the Torah clearly states: "You shall not Covet." Without the Torah, Sin has no reality. Now before My Bar Mitzpah I lived without the Torah, yet when Bar Mitzpah (i.e. the Commandment) took place Sin became a reality for Me. And yet, I died because of my Sin, and that which was given to show me the way to Life only revealed my state of death. For Sin, using My Bar Mitzpah (i.e. the Commandment) as a pretext, tricked me, and through it slew me. So you see, the Torah is Holy, Just and Good."
St. Paul to the Roman Church 7:7~12. MOIT (i.e. My Own Idiomatic Translation...LOL!)
This is the same precise usage of "ha Torah/ho Nomos" in Jeremiah's prophesy of the New Messianic Covenant and it's Testimony of the Heart inscribed Torah of God. I realize you must evade this point because the implications to your own systematic theology will be disrupted. But you ask Me to dismiss the clear statement of Scripture and the parallelism used herein.
Tell Me Steve, what other "ha Torah" of God has the distinction of being personally written by God Himself as the Testimony of His Covenant? You seem to think that the Law of Moses (i.e. the Scroll of the Torah/Pentateuch) which details the Ancient History and Sinai Covenant between God & Israel and the Witness of the Covenant (The Torah),, which is the Law of God, are one and the same. The Law of God (Decalogue) preceded the Law of Moses, and is the Witness of the Covenant contained in the Scroll of the Law of Moses. Direct Divine Revelation testifying to Indirect Divine Revelation. In the Former God writes, directs and presents...in the latter Moses writes, directs and presents.......it is not the Scroll of the Law of Moses that is inscribed by God in our Hearts, it is the Perpetual Witness of His Covenant! The Decalogue. None of the 10 Commandments is Ceremonial...no Rites or Rituals are described therein. All of the Torah is Holy, Just and Good...all are Sanctified, Moral, and Wholesome. Paul Himself declares it and Messiah Himself stated that Loving God and your Fellow Man is the whole intent of this Torah. The First Four Commandments show us how to Love God and the Last Six Commandment show us how to Love our Neighbors.
You statement that the Commandment to Love God & Neighbor replaces the Torah is both a distortion of what Christ said but also misses the point altogether. The Greatest Commandment in the Scroll of the Law of Moses (613 Commandments) is the Command to Love God & Your Neighbor..correct.....but Christ goes on to say this is the whole point of the Torah's !0 Commandments and the Preaching of the Prophets. This Commandment supports, not does away with the Torah.
The whole Hebrew Church was known to be Zealous for the Torah of God(Decalogue), but they lived according to the New Covenant as Nazaraeans, later to be nick named "Christiani" by the Greeks of Syrian Antioch.
"Look! The Days are coming, Adonai says, And I shall be enacting with the House of Israel and with the House of Judaea a New Covenant; not in accord with the Covenant which I made with their forefathers at the time when I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt. Seeing that they no longer remain within My Covenant, I shall abandon them."
"Now this is the New Covenant I shall be contracting with the House of Israel after these days, says Adonai: I shall impart My Commandments to them, and upon their Hearts I shall inscribe them. I then shall become their God, and they shall become My People.....For I shall make Atonement for their iniquities, and their sins and their Law Breaking shall I under no circumstances still be reminded of."
Hebrews 8:9~12 = LXX Jeremiah 31:31~34 MOIT
Notice that the LXX translates "Ha Torah" as "The Commandments"? It even says that not only shall the Torah's 10 Commandments shall be personally given to His New Covenant People, unlike the Sinai Covenant...but that they shall be inscribed on their Hearts, unlike the Sinai Covenant. The Jewish Scholars who translated the Tanakh (O.T. Canon) from the Hebrew into Alexandrian Greek understood what you say is not to be seen. And the Apostle who wrote this Letter to the Hebrew Nazaraeans validates this translation by authoritatively citing it instead of creating his own version.
The "Law" here is to be understood as the same as referencing the 10 Commandments....not the 613 Commandments of the Old Covenant which has past away with Temple Judaism. There then can be no doubt what Jeremiah meant...as He did not have the Messiah's New Covenant Teachings, Commandments, Precepts and Ordinances. We must stick to the meaning of "ha Torah" in Jeremiah's time and it's usage in the Scroll of the Law of Moses. I must also state, that the term, " The/My Commandments" refers to the Decalogue in Post Exilic Jewish idiom, just as "Ha Adonai/Ho Kurios" came to represent the Name "Yahveh". This is also why "Kingdom of Heaven" is used for "Kingdom of God".
"THE MORAL LAW: The first Table of the Law was considered to express man's duty toward God (Ex.20:3-11) and the second his duty toward his fellow men (Ex. 20:12-17). The New Covenant would seem to follow this division in summarizing the Law (i.e. the Torah), for Jesus said that it demanded perfect Love for God and Love for one's neighbor comparable to that which one has for himself (Matt. 22:35-40)."
"Rather than setting aside the Moral Law (i.e. the Decalogue), the New Covenant reiterates it's commands, develops more fully the germinal Truths contained in it, and focuses attention upon the spirit (i.e. intent) of the Law (i.e. the Torah) as over against merely the letter (i.e. strict sense). So it is that Paul affirms there is but One God (Eph. 4:6: i.e. 1st Commandment) and cautions against idolatry both directly and indirectly (I Cor. 10:14; Rom. 1:21ff: 2nd Commandment). While the New Covenant suggests an attitude toward the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28: i.e. 4th Commandment) somewhat different from that of Jewish legalism.....it preserves the observance as of Divine institution and enriches it's significance by associating with it Christ's resurrection (Heb. 4:9-16: 4th Commandment)......So, also the New Covenant emphasizes the law of Love (Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8) and selflessness and humility as representative of the Mind of Christ (Phil. 2:3-8) Although in the New Covenant the Commandments are for the most part by positive exhortations rather than by warnings (i.e. "You shall not...") and prohibitions ( i.e. "Do no..."), the underlying principles are the same....So it is that the Christian is under obligation to Keep the Moral Law (Cf. Matt. 5 :19ff; Eph. 4:28; 5:3; 6:2; Col. 3:9; Heb. 4:9-16; I Pet. 4:15: i.e. The Decalogue), not as a condition of Salvation, but that he might become more and more like his Father in Heaven (Rom. 8:1-9; Eph. 4:13), and this because of Love for the one who redeemed him (Rom. 13:8-10; I John 5:2-3)." By Dr. Burton L. Goddard S.T.D. (Temple University School of Theology). Professor of Bible and Philosophy, St. Paul Bible College, St. Paul, Minnesota. Author:Adventures in the History of Philosophy. Contributer, Wycliffe Bible Commentary
As far as the other Social Laws and the Ceremonial Laws contained in the Scroll of the Covenant, the same Protestant Scholar states in his Article (THE LAW. The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, General Editor: Merrill C. Tenny, Zondervan Publishing House. Copy Right 1963, 64 & 67; Eighteenth printing........October 1975):
" By means of the Ceremonial Law, God spoke in picture language of the Salvation He was to effect through the Life and Death of the Incarnate Son. Of necessity, therefore, it was but imperfect nd temporary."
" The Social Legislation governing Israel was designed for a particular culture at given period of history and so it, too, was but for a time, yet the principles which underlay it are timeless and applicable to all generations."
"GOD'S MORAL LAW (i.e. The Decalogue) IS IN FORCE EVERYWHERE AND AT ALL TIMES, FOR IT IS A REFLECTION OF HIS VERY BEING. IT HAS NEVER BEEN ABROGATED, NOR CAN BE."
This is not a Orthodox Jewish Rabbi or Seventh Day Adventist Tractarian or even a little known publication...and this article express the Orthodox Nazrani Thomasine Faith clearly.
As for Weekly Sabbath Observance for the People of God, lets review what was to become the 4th Commandment of the Moral Law. The 7th Day Sabbath was established for Mankind before the Fall (Genesis 1:1-2:3) and declared Sacred by God Himself. The Days after the Fall continued to be reckoned by Adam's Progeny according to the Sabbath Cycle (i.e. 1st Day, 2nd Day, 3rd Day, 4th Day, 5th Day, 6th Day & 7th Day, which equals one week: Genesis 7:4, 10; 8:10,12). This Seven Day Cycle of reckoning was perpetuated in the Abra'amic Times unchanged (Genesis 29:27-28), and we know from Akkadian, Sumerian and Chaldaean archeological evidences that the 7th Day was even called "Sabbutu" among them and was a taboo by these Pagan Mesopotamians from which the Hebrews descended from. They also held the 14th, the 19th, the 21st, and the 28th Days of the Month in awe.The Hebrew People observed the 7th Day Sabbath prior to the Giving of the 10 Commandments/Torah inscribed by God on Two Tablets (Exodus 16:23; 20:1-17; 34:1-5). So you see, that of all the 10 Commandments the 4th was declared and established for MANKIND from the very beginning...not for Hebrews only. " Sabbath was established for Humanity's benefit, and not Humanity for the Sabbath's benefit."
Notice Messiah goes back to Eden for His explanation of Sabbath Observance, and not to the Tablets of the Torah given at Sinai along with the Mosaic Scroll of Covenant; all of which the Jewish Leadership had broken and made void by their vain human traditions (Rabbinic "Oral Law").
The Early Nazarani Church, most of whom were Jews, kept the 7th Day Sabbath. But since Messiah's Resurrection took place on the First Day of the Jewish Week (i.e. Saturday sunset until Sunday sunset), they began very early to also worship and fellowship on Saturday evenings and also on Sunday mornings as a weekly celebration of the Lord's Day of Resurrection. Both the 7th Day Sabbath and the following Lord's Day where celebrated together; the former viewed as the week terminating Day of Community Rest, Personal Relaxation, Spiritual Study and Fellowship and the latter viewed as the week commencing Day of Community Celebration, Worship and Fellowship. Thus they saw their Sabbath Day & Lord's Day Observances as a perpetuation of their Ancient Israelite Faith continuing from the Old Covenant of Moses unto the New Covenant of Messiah.
St. Paul continued the Jewish Fiscal Custom of having the Nazarani Communities of the Greek Diaspora to collect alms from their weekly incomes the poor Nazrani of Jerusalem. These Alms were to be placed into their Community Chest before the start of the Sabbath. No charity was to be gathered or tabulated once the Sabbath had begun, but on Sunday, when work was acceptable, these Alms could be recorded and tabulated as to the amounts; then when Paul himself visited he could collect the Alms for the Jerusalem Nazarani himself (I Cor. 16:1-4). This is still the practice of Jewish Orthodoxy. All the week's business and banking is to be finished before sunset on Friday, then after the Sabbath was over (i.e. on Sunday) the prior week's financial books can be balanced, all payments can be made and all prior income can be tabulated and dispersed into savings accounts, business accounts, personal accounts and charitable accounts. St. Paul simply recommends this weekly Fiscal Practice to the Nazarani Community in Corinth as the proper Sabbath Respecting method he had already set into practice among his Nazarani Communities in Galatia.
So it is clear that the Torah (Decalogue) remained in full force in the Apostolic Nazarani Communities established by Messiah's Apostles during the earliest years of the New Covenant. All 10 of the Torah's Commandments where perpetuated, honored and observed.
Yet in the years after the Last Jewish Revolt in 135 A.D. when the split between Post Second Temple Judaism and Nazarani Judaism (Christianity) became final many Gentile Christians within the Roman Empire came to gradually to meet only on the Lord's Day as their Christian Sabbath in order to fulfill the 4th Commandment and chose to give up the Seventh Day Sabbath as merely an old Jewish custom and judaizing superstition. During the polarizing and failed Jewish Revolt under the False Messiah Judah BarKosava (132~135 A.D.) against Roman Dominion, the Church in the Roman Empire was by this time predominately GraecoRoman in membership and now governed by their own Gentile Clergy. Unlike those outside the Roman Dominions, these Communities began to detest all things which seemed Hebraic or Jewish and began to renounce any and all practices and perspectives that did not reflect the majority GreacoRoman culture of the predominantly Non Jewish Church.
Those Hebrew and Aramaic speaking Nazrani (Jewish & Oriental Nazaraeans) in Asia Minor, Syria, Galilee, Samaria, Judaea, Idumaea and Egypt which persisted in their governance by the Hereditary line of the Messiah's Family, or who retained Sabbath Observance, Circumcision, the Israelite Calendar and Jewish habits along with Lord's Day Observance and Orthodox Christianities Dogma and Sacraments were now denounced as sectarians who resisted "Catholicism" for Judaizing. Yet these Nazarani were not Judaizers, nor did the demand Gentile's become circumcised under the Mosaic Covenant to become full New Covenant Nazaranis...as did the heretical Judaizing Evioni'im (i.e. Ebionites) of Judaea and the Jordan Valley. This is the origin of AntiSemitism in Western Christianity (whether Roman Catholic, Protestant or Eastern Byzantine Orthodoxy).
Only in the Semitic Nazararni Churches founded immediately East and Southeast of the Roman Empire (i.e. Armenia Minor, Armenia Major, Colchis, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Nabataea, Arabia, Sabea, Nubia, Abbyssinia, Atropatene`Media, Media, Elymas, Susiana, Persia, Parthia, Amardia, Hyracana, Margiana, Bactria, Aria, Drangiana, Carmania, Gedrosia, Arachosia, Chorasmia, Sog'diana, Gandara~Hindu'kush, Pamir, Hindush Valley, Sindh, Goa and Kerala) persisted with Sabbath/Lord's Day Observance just as they received it from the Apostles themselves.
This then is the history of the GreacoRoman suppression of the 7th Day Sabbath with the Roman Empire as an out dated Jewish Custom.Here lies the origin of the isogetic hermanuetic developed to support the supplanting the 7th Day with the 1st Day. Later Protestants, seeing the inconsistency of this interpretation, would reject observing the Lord's Day as the Christian observance of the 4th Commandment. They dismiss all Sabbath Observance as Judaizing custom and would seek to allegorize away the 4 Commandment altogether, even going so far as to consider the Torah abrogated completely under the New Dispensation of Grace which is Chartered under the New Covenant...leaving only a generalized principle of Loving God and One's Neighbor as the sole Commandments in the Christian Dispensation. This is the history of your very own position and hermanuetics employed to support it.
A must read on this very subject is Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchii's ground breaking work: "From Sabbath to Sunday", which is His reworked Doctoral Dissertation received, approved by Papal Imprimatur and published by the Pontifical Gregorian University Press, Rome (1977). Even though he does not follow the Roman Catholic Church's party line on this Topic, the Vatican acknowledges his expertise in Biblical Languages, Exegetics, Church History, Theology and Apostolic Sabbatarianism. They made him a Doctor of Theology! And he is not even a Roman Catholic! He exegetes the all relevant Hebrew & Greek Biblical Texts, as well as All Sub Apostolic Fathers, Apologists, Anti Nicaean Fathers, Nicaean Fathers, Synods and Councils of the West and East. A very Comprehensive and exhaustive Study. It convinced me in the Mid 1980s, and I find him to be one of the few Seventh Day Adventists Scholars who are honest, objective and will buck the SDA party line when his research demands it. I can say this rarely about some other touted Western (Catholic/Orthodox/Protestant) Scholars.
So just explain why you cannot see the clear message of Jeremiah's prophesy concerning the New Covenant and it's Covenant Witness of the Decalogue being inscribed in our Hearts using the LXX text and Masoretic text of the Tanakh usages of "ha Torah/Ho Torah"...as well as what any other "Torah/Laws" you can discover which where/are inscribed by God personally as a Covenant Witness any where else in the totality of Revealed Scripture. No shell games.....just simple exegetics and grammer usage.
Since Messiah and His Apostles cited and used the LXX Text and Canon of the Tanakh primarily, I hope you can stick to this Version in Greek or English Translation (The Septuegint, published by Zondervan is ok), but if the Masoretic Text is your preference lets agree use J.P.Green's Interlinier Version with Literal Translation if you like...it works well with the Unger's or Strong's Exhaustive Hebrew/Greek/English Concordance. Any English Version will do, as I own most. But if you own a 1901 American Standard Version we could use this Version as our English textual territory through which we can sojourn and mine for gold.....it retains the linguistic beauty and style of the 1611 Authorized Version, while correcting most of it's manifold mistranslations, updating many of the corrupted textual authorities once used and the archaic Elizabethan grammar and vocabulary which no longer represents early 20th Century American grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic usages. What say ye to this good Sir? Aye? LOL!
After we deal with this issue we can then proceed to your other questions.
In Messiah,
Ken
:lol:
Shalom Steve!
I find in hard to believe that you do not know the meaning of "ha Torah/ho Nomos" (i.e. the Law) when it is used in specific (The Decalogue) and in the general (The Scroll of the Covenant i.e the 5 Books of Moses). This is acknowledged by all Jewish and Christian Scholars. You seem to think Jeremiah was unclear as to what he meant by "My Torah"...when in the Scroll of the Torah it details these 10 Commandments, from which all the Covenant ordinances and decrees receive their Authority and Witness. Also, I am shocked that you do not know that it is an ancient Hebraism to call God "Melech ha Olam"...King of the Universe...and His Decalogue the Royal Law. Seems like you play a philiological and grammatical game of "where's the marble" as you switch around your cups. But God is King and His Royal Law was personally inscribed on Stone as "the Witness of the Covenant"....no other Law has this distinction. The Torah thusly inscribed by God Himself was placed within the Ark of the Covenant...even though God would have liked to have dictated His Torah to the People personally Himself (i.e. in their hearts), but they were afraid of God lest they should die from the shock of it (Ex. 20: 18 ~21).
The Five Books of Moses, called "The Scroll of the Torah" presents the Record of God's Paternal role with mankind, His Acts for Mankind and His Royal Law and it's Sinai Covenant complete with all it's Civil, Religious, Dietary, Farming and Health precepts, ordinances, stipulations, blessings for following the Social Contract and punishments for breaking the Social Contract. This Scroll was written by Moses himself, and not by God. And Moses himself added certain legal exceptions to the Covenant Contract because of Israel's hard hearts...this is stated by Messiah Himself. This Scroll of the Torah was distinguished from the Torah itself, and was placed outside the Ark for immediate access.
The Torah (Decalogue) is the Foundation & Witness of the Covenant which has all of the stipulations, regulations, precepts and ordinances. This is fact. It is like the Preamble to the Sinai Constitution of Israel. But this Covenant was made void because Israel's Leadership and Citizenry broke it.
The language of Jeremiah is clear in the Hebrew, in the later Aramaic and Greek translations. Again God shall enact a Covenant with All Israelites (Northern Israel & Southern Judah), but unlike the former broken Covenant which had God's Torah personally inscribed on Tablets for a perpetual Witness, this New Covenant shall have God's Torah inscribed on the Hearts of the Covenant People as a perpetual inner Witness.
There is no uncertainty in the language or usage of "Torah" in this context...nor is the Hebraic parallelism hard to see. Likewise, Paul uses the exact term "ha Torah/ho Nomos" in Romans 7 in the specific, and even cites one of the Torah's 10 Precepts to drive this home!
"Is the Torah mistaken? May it never be said! For I could not have discovered what Sin was except through the Torah. I could not have become aware that coveting was a Sin except the Torah clearly states: "You shall not Covet." Without the Torah, Sin has no reality. Now before My Bar Mitzpah I lived without the Torah, yet when Bar Mitzpah (i.e. the Commandment) took place Sin became a reality for Me. And yet, I died because of my Sin, and that which was given to show me the way to Life only revealed my state of death. For Sin, using My Bar Mitzpah (i.e. the Commandment) as a pretext, tricked me, and through it slew me. So you see, the Torah is Holy, Just and Good."
St. Paul to the Roman Church 7:7~12. MOIT (i.e. My Own Idiomatic Translation...LOL!)
This is the same precise usage of "ha Torah/ho Nomos" in Jeremiah's prophesy of the New Messianic Covenant and it's Testimony of the Heart inscribed Torah of God. I realize you must evade this point because the implications to your own systematic theology will be disrupted. But you ask Me to dismiss the clear statement of Scripture and the parallelism used herein.
Tell Me Steve, what other "ha Torah" of God has the distinction of being personally written by God Himself as the Testimony of His Covenant? You seem to think that the Law of Moses (i.e. the Scroll of the Torah/Pentateuch) which details the Ancient History and Sinai Covenant between God & Israel and the Witness of the Covenant (The Torah),, which is the Law of God, are one and the same. The Law of God (Decalogue) preceded the Law of Moses, and is the Witness of the Covenant contained in the Scroll of the Law of Moses. Direct Divine Revelation testifying to Indirect Divine Revelation. In the Former God writes, directs and presents...in the latter Moses writes, directs and presents.......it is not the Scroll of the Law of Moses that is inscribed by God in our Hearts, it is the Perpetual Witness of His Covenant! The Decalogue. None of the 10 Commandments is Ceremonial...no Rites or Rituals are described therein. All of the Torah is Holy, Just and Good...all are Sanctified, Moral, and Wholesome. Paul Himself declares it and Messiah Himself stated that Loving God and your Fellow Man is the whole intent of this Torah. The First Four Commandments show us how to Love God and the Last Six Commandment show us how to Love our Neighbors.
You statement that the Commandment to Love God & Neighbor replaces the Torah is both a distortion of what Christ said but also misses the point altogether. The Greatest Commandment in the Scroll of the Law of Moses (613 Commandments) is the Command to Love God & Your Neighbor..correct.....but Christ goes on to say this is the whole point of the Torah's !0 Commandments and the Preaching of the Prophets. This Commandment supports, not does away with the Torah.
The whole Hebrew Church was known to be Zealous for the Torah of God(Decalogue), but they lived according to the New Covenant as Nazaraeans, later to be nick named "Christiani" by the Greeks of Syrian Antioch.
"Look! The Days are coming, Adonai says, And I shall be enacting with the House of Israel and with the House of Judaea a New Covenant; not in accord with the Covenant which I made with their forefathers at the time when I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt. Seeing that they no longer remain within My Covenant, I shall abandon them."
"Now this is the New Covenant I shall be contracting with the House of Israel after these days, says Adonai: I shall impart My Commandments to them, and upon their Hearts I shall inscribe them. I then shall become their God, and they shall become My People.....For I shall make Atonement for their iniquities, and their sins and their Law Breaking shall I under no circumstances still be reminded of."
Hebrews 8:9~12 = LXX Jeremiah 31:31~34 MOIT
Notice that the LXX translates "Ha Torah" as "The Commandments"? It even says that not only shall the Torah's 10 Commandments shall be personally given to His New Covenant People, unlike the Sinai Covenant...but that they shall be inscribed on their Hearts, unlike the Sinai Covenant. The Jewish Scholars who translated the Tanakh (O.T. Canon) from the Hebrew into Alexandrian Greek understood what you say is not to be seen. And the Apostle who wrote this Letter to the Hebrew Nazaraeans validates this translation by authoritatively citing it instead of creating his own version.
The "Law" here is to be understood as the same as referencing the 10 Commandments....not the 613 Commandments of the Old Covenant which has past away with Temple Judaism. There then can be no doubt what Jeremiah meant...as He did not have the Messiah's New Covenant Teachings, Commandments, Precepts and Ordinances. We must stick to the meaning of "ha Torah" in Jeremiah's time and it's usage in the Scroll of the Law of Moses. I must also state, that the term, " The/My Commandments" refers to the Decalogue in Post Exilic Jewish idiom, just as "Ha Adonai/Ho Kurios" came to represent the Name "Yahveh". This is also why "Kingdom of Heaven" is used for "Kingdom of God".
"THE MORAL LAW: The first Table of the Law was considered to express man's duty toward God (Ex.20:3-11) and the second his duty toward his fellow men (Ex. 20:12-17). The New Covenant would seem to follow this division in summarizing the Law (i.e. the Torah), for Jesus said that it demanded perfect Love for God and Love for one's neighbor comparable to that which one has for himself (Matt. 22:35-40)."
"Rather than setting aside the Moral Law (i.e. the Decalogue), the New Covenant reiterates it's commands, develops more fully the germinal Truths contained in it, and focuses attention upon the spirit (i.e. intent) of the Law (i.e. the Torah) as over against merely the letter (i.e. strict sense). So it is that Paul affirms there is but One God (Eph. 4:6: i.e. 1st Commandment) and cautions against idolatry both directly and indirectly (I Cor. 10:14; Rom. 1:21ff: 2nd Commandment). While the New Covenant suggests an attitude toward the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28: i.e. 4th Commandment) somewhat different from that of Jewish legalism.....it preserves the observance as of Divine institution and enriches it's significance by associating with it Christ's resurrection (Heb. 4:9-16: 4th Commandment)......So, also the New Covenant emphasizes the law of Love (Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8) and selflessness and humility as representative of the Mind of Christ (Phil. 2:3-8) Although in the New Covenant the Commandments are for the most part by positive exhortations rather than by warnings (i.e. "You shall not...") and prohibitions ( i.e. "Do no..."), the underlying principles are the same....So it is that the Christian is under obligation to Keep the Moral Law (Cf. Matt. 5 :19ff; Eph. 4:28; 5:3; 6:2; Col. 3:9; Heb. 4:9-16; I Pet. 4:15: i.e. The Decalogue), not as a condition of Salvation, but that he might become more and more like his Father in Heaven (Rom. 8:1-9; Eph. 4:13), and this because of Love for the one who redeemed him (Rom. 13:8-10; I John 5:2-3)." By Dr. Burton L. Goddard S.T.D. (Temple University School of Theology). Professor of Bible and Philosophy, St. Paul Bible College, St. Paul, Minnesota. Author:Adventures in the History of Philosophy. Contributer, Wycliffe Bible Commentary
As far as the other Social Laws and the Ceremonial Laws contained in the Scroll of the Covenant, the same Protestant Scholar states in his Article (THE LAW. The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, General Editor: Merrill C. Tenny, Zondervan Publishing House. Copy Right 1963, 64 & 67; Eighteenth printing........October 1975):
" By means of the Ceremonial Law, God spoke in picture language of the Salvation He was to effect through the Life and Death of the Incarnate Son. Of necessity, therefore, it was but imperfect nd temporary."
" The Social Legislation governing Israel was designed for a particular culture at given period of history and so it, too, was but for a time, yet the principles which underlay it are timeless and applicable to all generations."
"GOD'S MORAL LAW (i.e. The Decalogue) IS IN FORCE EVERYWHERE AND AT ALL TIMES, FOR IT IS A REFLECTION OF HIS VERY BEING. IT HAS NEVER BEEN ABROGATED, NOR CAN BE."
This is not a Orthodox Jewish Rabbi or Seventh Day Adventist Tractarian or even a little known publication...and this article express the Orthodox Nazrani Thomasine Faith clearly.
As for Weekly Sabbath Observance for the People of God, lets review what was to become the 4th Commandment of the Moral Law. The 7th Day Sabbath was established for Mankind before the Fall (Genesis 1:1-2:3) and declared Sacred by God Himself. The Days after the Fall continued to be reckoned by Adam's Progeny according to the Sabbath Cycle (i.e. 1st Day, 2nd Day, 3rd Day, 4th Day, 5th Day, 6th Day & 7th Day, which equals one week: Genesis 7:4, 10; 8:10,12). This Seven Day Cycle of reckoning was perpetuated in the Abra'amic Times unchanged (Genesis 29:27-28), and we know from Akkadian, Sumerian and Chaldaean archeological evidences that the 7th Day was even called "Sabbutu" among them and was a taboo by these Pagan Mesopotamians from which the Hebrews descended from. They also held the 14th, the 19th, the 21st, and the 28th Days of the Month in awe.The Hebrew People observed the 7th Day Sabbath prior to the Giving of the 10 Commandments/Torah inscribed by God on Two Tablets (Exodus 16:23; 20:1-17; 34:1-5). So you see, that of all the 10 Commandments the 4th was declared and established for MANKIND from the very beginning...not for Hebrews only. " Sabbath was established for Humanity's benefit, and not Humanity for the Sabbath's benefit."
Notice Messiah goes back to Eden for His explanation of Sabbath Observance, and not to the Tablets of the Torah given at Sinai along with the Mosaic Scroll of Covenant; all of which the Jewish Leadership had broken and made void by their vain human traditions (Rabbinic "Oral Law").
The Early Nazarani Church, most of whom were Jews, kept the 7th Day Sabbath. But since Messiah's Resurrection took place on the First Day of the Jewish Week (i.e. Saturday sunset until Sunday sunset), they began very early to also worship and fellowship on Saturday evenings and also on Sunday mornings as a weekly celebration of the Lord's Day of Resurrection. Both the 7th Day Sabbath and the following Lord's Day where celebrated together; the former viewed as the week terminating Day of Community Rest, Personal Relaxation, Spiritual Study and Fellowship and the latter viewed as the week commencing Day of Community Celebration, Worship and Fellowship. Thus they saw their Sabbath Day & Lord's Day Observances as a perpetuation of their Ancient Israelite Faith continuing from the Old Covenant of Moses unto the New Covenant of Messiah.
St. Paul continued the Jewish Fiscal Custom of having the Nazarani Communities of the Greek Diaspora to collect alms from their weekly incomes the poor Nazrani of Jerusalem. These Alms were to be placed into their Community Chest before the start of the Sabbath. No charity was to be gathered or tabulated once the Sabbath had begun, but on Sunday, when work was acceptable, these Alms could be recorded and tabulated as to the amounts; then when Paul himself visited he could collect the Alms for the Jerusalem Nazarani himself (I Cor. 16:1-4). This is still the practice of Jewish Orthodoxy. All the week's business and banking is to be finished before sunset on Friday, then after the Sabbath was over (i.e. on Sunday) the prior week's financial books can be balanced, all payments can be made and all prior income can be tabulated and dispersed into savings accounts, business accounts, personal accounts and charitable accounts. St. Paul simply recommends this weekly Fiscal Practice to the Nazarani Community in Corinth as the proper Sabbath Respecting method he had already set into practice among his Nazarani Communities in Galatia.
So it is clear that the Torah (Decalogue) remained in full force in the Apostolic Nazarani Communities established by Messiah's Apostles during the earliest years of the New Covenant. All 10 of the Torah's Commandments where perpetuated, honored and observed.
Yet in the years after the Last Jewish Revolt in 135 A.D. when the split between Post Second Temple Judaism and Nazarani Judaism (Christianity) became final many Gentile Christians within the Roman Empire came to gradually to meet only on the Lord's Day as their Christian Sabbath in order to fulfill the 4th Commandment and chose to give up the Seventh Day Sabbath as merely an old Jewish custom and judaizing superstition. During the polarizing and failed Jewish Revolt under the False Messiah Judah BarKosava (132~135 A.D.) against Roman Dominion, the Church in the Roman Empire was by this time predominately GraecoRoman in membership and now governed by their own Gentile Clergy. Unlike those outside the Roman Dominions, these Communities began to detest all things which seemed Hebraic or Jewish and began to renounce any and all practices and perspectives that did not reflect the majority GreacoRoman culture of the predominantly Non Jewish Church.
Those Hebrew and Aramaic speaking Nazrani (Jewish & Oriental Nazaraeans) in Asia Minor, Syria, Galilee, Samaria, Judaea, Idumaea and Egypt which persisted in their governance by the Hereditary line of the Messiah's Family, or who retained Sabbath Observance, Circumcision, the Israelite Calendar and Jewish habits along with Lord's Day Observance and Orthodox Christianities Dogma and Sacraments were now denounced as sectarians who resisted "Catholicism" for Judaizing. Yet these Nazarani were not Judaizers, nor did the demand Gentile's become circumcised under the Mosaic Covenant to become full New Covenant Nazaranis...as did the heretical Judaizing Evioni'im (i.e. Ebionites) of Judaea and the Jordan Valley. This is the origin of AntiSemitism in Western Christianity (whether Roman Catholic, Protestant or Eastern Byzantine Orthodoxy).
Only in the Semitic Nazararni Churches founded immediately East and Southeast of the Roman Empire (i.e. Armenia Minor, Armenia Major, Colchis, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Nabataea, Arabia, Sabea, Nubia, Abbyssinia, Atropatene`Media, Media, Elymas, Susiana, Persia, Parthia, Amardia, Hyracana, Margiana, Bactria, Aria, Drangiana, Carmania, Gedrosia, Arachosia, Chorasmia, Sog'diana, Gandara~Hindu'kush, Pamir, Hindush Valley, Sindh, Goa and Kerala) persisted with Sabbath/Lord's Day Observance just as they received it from the Apostles themselves.
This then is the history of the GreacoRoman suppression of the 7th Day Sabbath with the Roman Empire as an out dated Jewish Custom.Here lies the origin of the isogetic hermanuetic developed to support the supplanting the 7th Day with the 1st Day. Later Protestants, seeing the inconsistency of this interpretation, would reject observing the Lord's Day as the Christian observance of the 4th Commandment. They dismiss all Sabbath Observance as Judaizing custom and would seek to allegorize away the 4 Commandment altogether, even going so far as to consider the Torah abrogated completely under the New Dispensation of Grace which is Chartered under the New Covenant...leaving only a generalized principle of Loving God and One's Neighbor as the sole Commandments in the Christian Dispensation. This is the history of your very own position and hermanuetics employed to support it.
A must read on this very subject is Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchii's ground breaking work: "From Sabbath to Sunday", which is His reworked Doctoral Dissertation received, approved by Papal Imprimatur and published by the Pontifical Gregorian University Press, Rome (1977). Even though he does not follow the Roman Catholic Church's party line on this Topic, the Vatican acknowledges his expertise in Biblical Languages, Exegetics, Church History, Theology and Apostolic Sabbatarianism. They made him a Doctor of Theology! And he is not even a Roman Catholic! He exegetes the all relevant Hebrew & Greek Biblical Texts, as well as All Sub Apostolic Fathers, Apologists, Anti Nicaean Fathers, Nicaean Fathers, Synods and Councils of the West and East. A very Comprehensive and exhaustive Study. It convinced me in the Mid 1980s, and I find him to be one of the few Seventh Day Adventists Scholars who are honest, objective and will buck the SDA party line when his research demands it. I can say this rarely about some other touted Western (Catholic/Orthodox/Protestant) Scholars.
So just explain why you cannot see the clear message of Jeremiah's prophesy concerning the New Covenant and it's Covenant Witness of the Decalogue being inscribed in our Hearts using the LXX text and Masoretic text of the Tanakh usages of "ha Torah/Ho Torah"...as well as what any other "Torah/Laws" you can discover which where/are inscribed by God personally as a Covenant Witness any where else in the totality of Revealed Scripture. No shell games.....just simple exegetics and grammer usage.
Since Messiah and His Apostles cited and used the LXX Text and Canon of the Tanakh primarily, I hope you can stick to this Version in Greek or English Translation (The Septuegint, published by Zondervan is ok), but if the Masoretic Text is your preference lets agree use J.P.Green's Interlinier Version with Literal Translation if you like...it works well with the Unger's or Strong's Exhaustive Hebrew/Greek/English Concordance. Any English Version will do, as I own most. But if you own a 1901 American Standard Version we could use this Version as our English textual territory through which we can sojourn and mine for gold.....it retains the linguistic beauty and style of the 1611 Authorized Version, while correcting most of it's manifold mistranslations, updating many of the corrupted textual authorities once used and the archaic Elizabethan grammar and vocabulary which no longer represents early 20th Century American grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic usages. What say ye to this good Sir? Aye? LOL!
After we deal with this issue we can then proceed to your other questions.
In Messiah,
Ken
:lol:
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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Although I also doubt I'm going to change any minds here, I'd like to share some thoughts about the Sabbath that I don't think have been voiced thus far. Ken, I know you're still around although this thread has been dead since April of last year. Steve, let me know what you think.
I believe that it's very important to note that the Sabbath has been around since Creation. However, that having been said, what significance did it have prior to the Mosaic Law? Furthermore, can that tell us anything about how we should regard Sabbath observance (or lack thereof) today?
In the book of Galatians, we're told that the Law was given as a form of "governor" until Christ came. I don't really think biblical students get what this actually means, although they do have an inkling. See, when Israel came out of Egypt, they had been living in what I prefer to call "disaster circumstances." When a person goes through hell, figuratively speaking, they have very little reason to believe or even to hope that things will get better. We can see that the Israelites were deeply affected by their bondage in Egypt by the mere fact that they were literally unable to trust in God, no matter how many miracles He performed for their benefit! God eventually got so fed up with them that He denied that generation entry into the Promised Land, leaving the conquest and inheritance of the land of Canaan to the next generation instead.
As an analogy, when a child grows up in a situation like a broken home, an abusive parent, etc., that child is conditioned to NOT TRUST that their needs (physical, emotional, spiritual, or what-have-you) will be met. Breaking that groove of habtual distrust can be like climbing a mountain! And that's what God was up against in trying to work with the Israelites who were coming out of Egypt.
Because of this, God gave the Israelites the Mosaic Law as a strict "governor" over them until such time as they were able and willing to live by faith and trust in God.
Technically, Sabbath observance was part of the Mosaic Law, although the Sabbath had been around since Creation. But since we're not under a "governor" system of worship any more, how should we view the Sabbath?
First of all, for what it's worth, we can learn some physical lessons from the Mosaic Laws connected with Sabbath observance. Note that the Israelites were fearful that they would not be able to meet their physical needs unless they worked a 24-7 schedule - which is what they had been doing in Egypt. But God gave them rest on the Sabbath day in part to be a respite from the hard labor that man was given because of his expulsion from the Garden of Eden and all of its attendant physical blessings (Gen. 3:17-19). Figuratively speaking, the Sabbath symbolically represents dwelling with the presence of God in Eden.
In Hebrews, we learn that the Sabbath rest foreshadows the rest that the Messiah brings. But how so?
In order to answer that question, we need to understand what a messiah is and what he is for. For brevity's sake, let me just state that a messiah - literally an "anointed one" - is an overcomer, both outwardly and inwardly. For example, when Jesus returns, He will defeat Satan the devil in the apocalyptic Battle of Armageddon. That's an 'outward' type of overcoming. But Jesus' first coming involved love and trust in God the Father coupled with love for others, no matter how difficult things got. That's an 'inward' type of overcoming.
In this world, we have two kinds of troubles. First, we have the outward kind, having to do with meeting physical needs (like food, clothing, shelter, etc.), emotional needs, physical safety and protection, and so forth. We also have the inward kind, having to do with inward character, attitudes...the "fruits of the Spirit," basically.
The Sabbath rest pictures not only respite from laboring to acquire physical needs, but also respite from struggling to overcome inward challenges as well. Jesus, as our great High Priest, passed through the veil into the very presence of God the Father in heaven (of which Eden is a type) because He had overcome both outwardly and inwardly! Jesus, as the Messiah, is leading all of us through that same veil through the process of overcoming.
In this life, we are to learn the lesson of allowing Christ to work in us rather than struggling to outwardly or inwardly overcome on our own strength. For example, in the story of Jacob, Jacob was prophesied to inherit the birthright blessing even though he was the younger son. Because his father Isaac favored Esau instead, Isaac was going to disobey God and give the blessing to Esau. Rebekah chose to be dishonest and advised her son Jacob to get the promised blessing by deceiving his father. Jacob himself caught Esau at a weak moment and made him trade his birthright for a bowl of stew! Everyone in this situation acted carnally, trying to bring about their own desires through their own strength, rather than relying and trusting in God to meet their needs. Jacob wrestled with the angel to symbolize his attempting to attain blessings through his own strength, rather than relying on God. The angel put Jacob's hip out of joint so that he wouldn't be able to beat the angel through his great strength, but would instead be forced to look to receive blessings through trust. After this incident, God renamed Jacob as Israel, and in fact, the name Israel means one who prevails or overcomes with God - that is, with His strength!
From a preterist perspective, this is all that there is to the Sabbath rest. However, I'd like to point out that there's another level of understanding beyond this.
According to Numbers 15:37-40, the Israelites were commanded to make fringes on the edges of their clothing to represent their duty to observe all of the commandments of God. That was their "work," as it were. But according to Jewish tradition, when they died, their next of kin would cut off these fringes. This symbolized that they had accomplished the task of keeping the commandments that they had been given. With their death, this task was finished. They were now able to enter into "rest"!
What we should understand from this is that the resurrection of the dead also represents entering into "rest". It's just another level of meaning inherent in the understanding of the Sabbath. Furthermore, there are other details and ramifications of understanding that can only be gleaned through actual Sabbath observance.
So, with that, do I claim that Sabbath observance is a necessity for all Christians? Most emphatically, no! However, if we want to understand the symbolism of the Sabbath to a much better degree, it's certainly not wrong to - without being legalistic - observe the Sabbath as a day of rest and communion with God. We can then turn around and pass that knowledge and understanding on to others who are not Sabbath-observant.
Damon
I believe that it's very important to note that the Sabbath has been around since Creation. However, that having been said, what significance did it have prior to the Mosaic Law? Furthermore, can that tell us anything about how we should regard Sabbath observance (or lack thereof) today?
In the book of Galatians, we're told that the Law was given as a form of "governor" until Christ came. I don't really think biblical students get what this actually means, although they do have an inkling. See, when Israel came out of Egypt, they had been living in what I prefer to call "disaster circumstances." When a person goes through hell, figuratively speaking, they have very little reason to believe or even to hope that things will get better. We can see that the Israelites were deeply affected by their bondage in Egypt by the mere fact that they were literally unable to trust in God, no matter how many miracles He performed for their benefit! God eventually got so fed up with them that He denied that generation entry into the Promised Land, leaving the conquest and inheritance of the land of Canaan to the next generation instead.
As an analogy, when a child grows up in a situation like a broken home, an abusive parent, etc., that child is conditioned to NOT TRUST that their needs (physical, emotional, spiritual, or what-have-you) will be met. Breaking that groove of habtual distrust can be like climbing a mountain! And that's what God was up against in trying to work with the Israelites who were coming out of Egypt.
Because of this, God gave the Israelites the Mosaic Law as a strict "governor" over them until such time as they were able and willing to live by faith and trust in God.
Technically, Sabbath observance was part of the Mosaic Law, although the Sabbath had been around since Creation. But since we're not under a "governor" system of worship any more, how should we view the Sabbath?
First of all, for what it's worth, we can learn some physical lessons from the Mosaic Laws connected with Sabbath observance. Note that the Israelites were fearful that they would not be able to meet their physical needs unless they worked a 24-7 schedule - which is what they had been doing in Egypt. But God gave them rest on the Sabbath day in part to be a respite from the hard labor that man was given because of his expulsion from the Garden of Eden and all of its attendant physical blessings (Gen. 3:17-19). Figuratively speaking, the Sabbath symbolically represents dwelling with the presence of God in Eden.
In Hebrews, we learn that the Sabbath rest foreshadows the rest that the Messiah brings. But how so?
In order to answer that question, we need to understand what a messiah is and what he is for. For brevity's sake, let me just state that a messiah - literally an "anointed one" - is an overcomer, both outwardly and inwardly. For example, when Jesus returns, He will defeat Satan the devil in the apocalyptic Battle of Armageddon. That's an 'outward' type of overcoming. But Jesus' first coming involved love and trust in God the Father coupled with love for others, no matter how difficult things got. That's an 'inward' type of overcoming.
In this world, we have two kinds of troubles. First, we have the outward kind, having to do with meeting physical needs (like food, clothing, shelter, etc.), emotional needs, physical safety and protection, and so forth. We also have the inward kind, having to do with inward character, attitudes...the "fruits of the Spirit," basically.
The Sabbath rest pictures not only respite from laboring to acquire physical needs, but also respite from struggling to overcome inward challenges as well. Jesus, as our great High Priest, passed through the veil into the very presence of God the Father in heaven (of which Eden is a type) because He had overcome both outwardly and inwardly! Jesus, as the Messiah, is leading all of us through that same veil through the process of overcoming.
In this life, we are to learn the lesson of allowing Christ to work in us rather than struggling to outwardly or inwardly overcome on our own strength. For example, in the story of Jacob, Jacob was prophesied to inherit the birthright blessing even though he was the younger son. Because his father Isaac favored Esau instead, Isaac was going to disobey God and give the blessing to Esau. Rebekah chose to be dishonest and advised her son Jacob to get the promised blessing by deceiving his father. Jacob himself caught Esau at a weak moment and made him trade his birthright for a bowl of stew! Everyone in this situation acted carnally, trying to bring about their own desires through their own strength, rather than relying and trusting in God to meet their needs. Jacob wrestled with the angel to symbolize his attempting to attain blessings through his own strength, rather than relying on God. The angel put Jacob's hip out of joint so that he wouldn't be able to beat the angel through his great strength, but would instead be forced to look to receive blessings through trust. After this incident, God renamed Jacob as Israel, and in fact, the name Israel means one who prevails or overcomes with God - that is, with His strength!
From a preterist perspective, this is all that there is to the Sabbath rest. However, I'd like to point out that there's another level of understanding beyond this.
According to Numbers 15:37-40, the Israelites were commanded to make fringes on the edges of their clothing to represent their duty to observe all of the commandments of God. That was their "work," as it were. But according to Jewish tradition, when they died, their next of kin would cut off these fringes. This symbolized that they had accomplished the task of keeping the commandments that they had been given. With their death, this task was finished. They were now able to enter into "rest"!
What we should understand from this is that the resurrection of the dead also represents entering into "rest". It's just another level of meaning inherent in the understanding of the Sabbath. Furthermore, there are other details and ramifications of understanding that can only be gleaned through actual Sabbath observance.
So, with that, do I claim that Sabbath observance is a necessity for all Christians? Most emphatically, no! However, if we want to understand the symbolism of the Sabbath to a much better degree, it's certainly not wrong to - without being legalistic - observe the Sabbath as a day of rest and communion with God. We can then turn around and pass that knowledge and understanding on to others who are not Sabbath-observant.
Damon
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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