Posted on 06/25/2005 6:13:56 AM PDT by DouglasKC
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:8-11).
Why is setting apart one day a week so important that God included it as one of His Ten Commandments?
The Fourth Commandment, to remember the Sabbath, concludes the section of the Ten Commandments that specifically helps define a proper relationship with God—how we are to love, worship and relate to Him. It explains why and when we need to take special time to draw closer to our Creator.
The Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, was set apart by God as a time of rest and spiritual rejuvenation. On our calendar the Sabbath begins at sunset Friday evening and ends at sunset Saturday evening.
Of course, someone will immediately ask: Why the seventh day? How can our relationship with God benefit any more from observing that particular day than any other day? After all, Friday night and Saturday bustle with all sorts of sports, business and other secular activities. Why should we be different? Isn't this a symbolic commandment—one never meant to be taken literally—and didn't Jesus Christ ignore this commandment, leaving us free from the burden of keeping it?
These questions represent some of the most widely assumed and long-held beliefs about the Fourth Commandment. But God's command is simple and easy to understand. So why is this commandment so frequently ignored, attacked and explained away by so many? Could it be because the challenges to the Sabbath command are views generated by the god of this present evil world? After all, this being wants us to accept these views because he hates God's law. He does all he can to influence us to ignore, avoid and reason our way around it.
Few grasp the extent of society's indoctrination by Satan. As the real "god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), he has deceived most of humankind (Revelation 12:9). The whole world falls prey to his influence (1 John 5:19). His objective has always been to destroy the relationship between the true God and humanity. He wants nothing more than to thwart people from developing a loving, personal relationship with their Creator—which is the purpose of the Fourth Commandment. He wants to prevent us from reaching our incredible destiny in God's family!
Jesus and His apostles kept the Sabbath
What does Christ's personal example teach us about the Sabbath? "So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read" (Luke 4:16). Jesus used the Sabbath for its intended purpose: to help people develop a personal relationship with their Creator.
After His death, we see that Christ's apostles followed His example in their observance of the Sabbath day. "Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2). "And [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 18:4).
Today, however, most people who profess to follow Christ do not follow the example set by Him and His apostles. Most fail to realize that the wholesale rejection of the Sabbath as the Christian day of worship did not start until almost 300 years after Christ's ministry on earth.
The official substitution of Sunday for the Sabbath was orchestrated by the Roman emperor Constantine, who made Christianity the official state religion to secure political advantage over a defeated contender for the office of emperor. His rival supported a policy of persecuting and killing Christians. Constantine was quick to grasp the political advantage of accepting and supporting Christians, but that acceptance came with a price: state control over all religious matters.
Nowhere in the Bible does either the Father or Jesus Christ ever grant permission to change the time of the Sabbath from the seventh day to Sunday, the first day of the week. No human being, institution or state has ever had the right to tamper with what God has made sacred.
The Sabbath and a godly relationship
The Sabbath is vital to our relationship with God because it shapes the way we perceive and worship Him. We should remember the Sabbath by formally worshiping God on that day. Otherwise, we forfeit that special understanding that God wants to develop in us by worshiping Him on that day.
It is by ceasing our normal labor and activities that we are reminded of an essential lesson every week. After six days of fashioning this beautiful earth and everything in it, our Creator ceased molding the physical part of His creation and rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3).
The Sabbath is a special day to concentrate on developing our spiritual relationship with God. Although it is a day of rest from our normal routines and we do need even physical rejuvenation, it is not a day for doing nothing, as some assume. On the contrary, the Sabbath is a special day on which we dramatically change the focus of our activity. God intended that it be a delightful period during which we busily draw closer to Him.
God said, through the pen of Isaiah: "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage [the abundance of blessings] of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken" (Isaiah 58:13-14).
Indeed, to "delight yourself in the LORD" is the reason we should cease, for the 24 hours of the Sabbath, the labor and normal activities that consume our time the other six days of the week.
Relationships take time. Every successful association demands time. No close relationship can succeed without it—no courtship, no marriage, no friendship. Our relationship with God is no exception.
God, however, wants us to take special time to worship Him. That is what only the Sabbath—the seventh day of the week—can provide.
The Hebrew word for Sabbath, shabbath, means "to cease, to pause or take an intermission." On the Sabbath we are to take the day off from our regular activities and devote our time and attention to our Creator. Why? Because "in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:11). The Sabbath, in a different way from any other commandment, keeps us in touch with how real God is as our Creator.
A world without knowledge of the true God
Look at the world around us. The theory of evolution, that the world and everything in it developed from nothing, dominates the thinking of the most highly educated. Most scholars scoff at the idea that the creation requires a thoughtful, purposeful, almighty Creator. Even many professing-Christian scholars accept this point of view. Observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, however, keeps those who faithfully obey the Ten Commandments in constant remembrance that their faith is founded on the existence of a very real Creator.
We read, "By faith [by believing what the Bible tells us] we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (Hebrews 11:3). That faith is nothing less than an unshakable confidence that the Bible was inspired by the Spirit of God and accurately reveals how the world, and humankind, came into existence. (For more information, please request our free booklet Is the Bible True?)
God reveals few details about how He created the universe—only that He did create it. Observing the Sabbath brings that fact to the forefront of our minds every week. God does not want us to lose this understanding. He knows that everyone who neglects this knowledge loses sight of who and what He is. That is how crucial this knowledge is.
That is also why the weekly observance of the Sabbath is so important to our relationship with our Maker. It keeps us in constant remembrance that we worship the Creator of the universe.
A continuing creation
The Sabbath is not simply a reminder of a past creation. God finished the physical part of His creation in six days. However, the spiritual part is still under way. The Sabbath is the primary day on which that spiritual creation—the creation of the new person in Christ—takes place. As the apostle Paul tells us: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The new spiritual creation is internal—in the heart and character of each person. It begins when "you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and [are] renewed in the spirit of your mind, and . . . put on the new man which [is] created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24). This "new man . . . is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him" (Colossians 3:10).
Spiritual character cannot come solely by our own will. The "old man" will inevitably succumb to the weaknesses and pulls of human nature. Paul sums up this struggle: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice" (Romans 7:18-19).
God Himself creates holy and righteous spiritual character in us. He reshapes our thinking and gives us the will and the power to resist our nature. Paul confirms this, telling us that "it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13, NRSV).
The day of renewal
Do you grasp how important this is? If we are in Christ, our heavenly Father is creating in us His own character, His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). The weekly time He has set perpetually apart to remind us that He is the Creator is the same weekly period during which He instructs us as He molds us into a new creation.
God's Word calls us "newborn babes" and says that we should "desire the pure milk of the word, that [we] may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2). The Sabbath is the time God has set aside for us to grow closer to Him through study of His Word, personal prayer and group instruction. He has sanctified it—set it apart—as holy time (Genesis 2:1-3). We should use it to delight ourselves in Him by diligently seeking His participation in our spiritual development (Isaiah 58:14).
The Sabbath is the day on which Christ's disciples should be growing closer to each other. "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:24-25).
The Sabbath is the only day on which God ever commands a weekly assembly. "Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings" (Leviticus 23:3).
The internal evidence of the New Testament shows that Christ's apostles and their converts continued to assemble on the seventh day, the Sabbath. They observed the day, however, with a renewed emphasis on the "new" person God is in the process of creating. The relationship of the seventh day to their lives grew in its importance to them. The book of Hebrews confirms that the followers of Christ and the apostles kept the Sabbath, affirming that "there remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9, NIV).
Yes, Jesus and His apostles consistently obeyed God's command to keep the Sabbath holy. They kept the seventh day as the Sabbath, just as their fellow Jews of that time did. God's commandment to us remains "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8).
We desperately need to take time to grow close to our Creator. He tells us how much special time we need to set aside for our relationship with Him and when to take it. We have to decide whether we trust His judgment and are willing to obey His Sabbath commandment.
I'll have to answer this tonight when i have more time. I'm off to sabbath services. Read all of Colossians 2 though...
Good one...
Shup? :>)
Denominational distinctives...ya gotta love 'em.
Regarding your question about Col 2:16....
On the surface some people assume that this verse means we no longer should observe dietary laws or God's holy days, particularly a New Moon or a Sabbath celebration. But it does not say that.
Consider: The Colossians were Gentile, Pagan Greeks before their conversion. If it were not necessary to observe these things anymore why would Paul bother to mention it. These observances were completely unknown to the Colossians before. Paul is saying....."Don't let anyone judge you because you are observing these things....now". Paul was an Apostle to the Gentiles and as such he made all Gentile converts very familiar with God's dietary laws and Festivals.
On the surface some people assume that this verse means we no longer should observe dietary laws or God's holy days, particularly a New Moon or a Sabbath celebration. But it does not say that.
Consider: The Colossians were Gentile, Pagan Greeks before their conversion. If it were not necessary to observe these things anymore why would Paul bother to mention it. These observances were completely unknown to the Colossians before. Paul is saying....."Don't let anyone judge you because you are observing these things....now". Paul was an Apostle to the Gentiles and as such he made all Gentile converts very familiar with God's dietary laws and Festivals.
Your explanation is not in accord with Paul's writing here ...Roman 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.
He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
Using my "New International Version" Bible I find that your scripture reads somewhat differently.
NIV Romans 14
1.Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters. 2.One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3.The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5.One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6.He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Paul is talking about "Disputable Matters".(14:1) Paul is not talking about "Indisputable Dietary Commands" given by the Lord. Paul is talking about "Vegetarians" whose faith is weak!(14:2) These folks considered ANY MEAT as a "common" food and as such....abstained. The everything that Paul is referring to is the food (meat & vegetables) that were included in the "Indisputable Dietary Commands" given in Leviticus Chapter 11. All seed bearing plants had already been given to man as food as well as all fruit that had seeds in it. Genesis 1:29
Notice Romans 14:6.....the one regarding the special days does so to the Lord.
I have found that a more modern translation (not a paraphrase) helps me understand the correct meaning of many difficult passages. I always had trouble understanding some of the King James Version. The translators of the KJV did not have the benefit of modern understanding of the ancient Hebrew and Greek Koine. I believe that through modern scholarship our understanding is now much better.
Using my "New International Version" Bible I find that your scripture reads somewhat differently.
NIV Romans 14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters. 2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
I don't see that the NIV reads differently than the KJV. Perhaps you could point out the differences to me ?
Paul is talking about "Disputable Matters".(14:1) Paul is not talking about "Indisputable Dietary Commands" given by the Lord. Paul is talking about "Vegetarians" whose faith is weak!(14:2) These folks considered ANY MEAT as a "common" food and as such....abstained. The everything that Paul is referring to is the food (meat & vegetables) that were included in the "Indisputable Dietary Commands" given in Leviticus Chapter 11. All seed bearing plants had already been given to man as food as well as all fruit that had seeds in it. Genesis 1:29
Notice Romans 14:6.....the one regarding the special days does so to the Lord.
It appears to me that you are adding to what the scriptures say here. Paul does not make the same qualifications that you do here. And the truth is that you will find nowhere in scripture that he does so.
All of the law given to the Israelites was not deemed necessary for Gentile christians to follow (for instance ... circumcision).
When the issue came up regarding what Old Testament regulations needed to be followed by the Gentile christians ... the Jerusalem Council (headed by James, the borther of Jesus), led by the Holy Spirit ... decreed the following ...Acts 15:22 (NIV) Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers.So ... the Gentile christians were required to (regarding the Old Testament laws/regulations) ...
23 With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said.
25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul—
26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing.
28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:
29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.... abstain from foods sacrificed to idolsSuch was the decision of the Holy Spirit and the Jerusalem Council.
... abstain from the eating of blood, and from the meat of strangled animals
... and abstain from sexual immorality.
Also this from Romans 14 (NIV)...Romans 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.
14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.
16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
You do not have a grasp of the first century society and church.
Recall from Acts that Paul's approach in nearly every city was to take the gospel to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. Most large cities had a vital Jewish community. The early churches were comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. That is why several epistles speak to both (see Galatians, Romans, Ephesians).
Gentile Christians in Galatia and Rome were very familiar with Jewish dietary, ritual and festival law. This is because Jewish Christians were attempting to bind Jewish law on the Gentile Christians - like you're trying to do (although for a different reason and from a different perspective).
THE JEWISH COVENANT IS OBSOLESCED BY GOD IN CHRIST'S NEW COVENANT
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS WERE PART OF THE JEWISH COVENANT
Therefore
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS ARE OBSOLESCED BY GOD IN CHRIST'S NEW COVENANT
CHRIST'S NEW COVENANT DOES NOT INCLUDE JEWISH FEASTS.
If you're keeping the Sabbath, go right ahead and you'll get no complaint from me. Just stop trying to make it part of the gospel. Unless it is restated in the new covenant, it's gone (like unclean meats, circumcision, animal sacrifices, etc.)
First century Christians assembled on the first day of the week to remember their Lord by breaking bread. The Sabbath recalls the first creation. The first day of the week recalls the new creation.
Sorry about the delay here.
In Colossians 2, Paul is addressing issues that are extra biblical...i.e. extra "old" testament. Notice here:
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
And here:
Col 2:20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Col 2:21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
Col 2:22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
The issue confronting Paul and the church had nothing to do with what is revealed by God and contained in the bible. The 7th day sabbath was created by God and was revealed by God to man.
With that in mind, it's kind of a stretch to think that that somehow Paul is abolishing the sabbath with this single statement.
In context, the Colossians were being taught "philosophies of men" that prohbited "touching and tasting" and "worship of angels".
This heresy was being pushed on the Colossians and was probably related to some type of ascetic sect of Judaism that was around then.
Since the sabbath and holy days are NOT inventions of man, but created by God then the passage certainly can't mean they are done away with.
Quester, if Paul were talking about the sabbath and the holy days of his bible, then he would have used those words in his prose. He did not. There are specific greek words that mean "sabbath" and "holy days". They are:
sabbaton
Thayer Definition:
1) the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work
1a) the institution of the sabbath, the law for keeping holy every seventh day of the week
1b) a single sabbath, sabbath day<.b>
heorte
heh-or-tay
Of uncertain affinity; a festival: - feast, holyday.
Both of these terms are used in Colossians 2:16 by Paul to reference the sabbath and the holy days. These terms ARE NOT used in Romans 14. Instead, the term "hemera" is used.
There is no justification, save for tradition, for saying that Paul meant that the sabbath that God created and revealed in the bible is obselete. Man can't get rid of what God creates no matter how hard we try.
If you are contending that this is a full and complete list of "rules" that gentiles had to observe then presumably gentiles were free to steal, kill, covet and worship false Gods. Do you really believe this is a comprehensive list?
Please show me scripture that states this. I fully realize that tradition states this, but I'm interested in scripture.
I'm not only interested in the scripture showing the Ten Commandments being done away with....but I would also like to have the scriptures showing the "Jewish" covenant and "Jewish" feasts pointed out to me. I eagerly await, with you, Sinatorhellary's response.
I'm not only interested in the scripture showing the Ten Commandments being done away with....but I would also like to have the scriptures showing the "Jewish" covenant and "Jewish" feasts pointed out to me. I eagerly await, with you, Sinatorhellary's response.
I guess I'm "Doubly Interested"
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