9/19/06:
The Sabbath
Sabbath= day of rest
Different Sabbaths in Scripture:
• The Sabbath age: which we’re still in because it hasn’t ended (Genesis 2:2-3, see also Heb. 4:6-11)
• The Sabbath day: Sabbath every 7th day [Saturday] (Leviticus 23:3)
• The Sabbath year: Sabbaths every 7th year (Exodus 23:10-11)
• The Year of Jubilee: A special Sabbath year after every 49 years (every 7 Sabbath years, or 7 x 7 years) know as the (Leviticus 25:8-54)
• Other Sabbath feast days, such as the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31)
Specifics on the weekly Sabbath:
1. Part of the purpose is for refreshment of people and animals (and the land) (Exodus 20:8-11, 23:12)
2. No work is allowed, not even harvest (Exodus 34:21)
3. The lighting of fires prohibited (Exodus 35:3)
4. Sacrifices were to be made (Numbers 28:9)
5. The Israelites first lesson on Sabbath is found in Exodus 16 (the story of the manna)
6. The Sabbath marks the Jews as God’s chosen people, set apart from the nations (holy).
7. Death is the penalty for those who break the Sabbath. (Exodus 31:13-17)
8. Someone put to death for gathering wood on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36)
9. Sabbath is an opportunity to learn to deny ourselves (Leviticus 16:31- this passage actually refers to the Day of Atonement, though, as a unique Sabbath)
10. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Nehemiah all preached against the breaking of the Sabbath
Jesus and the Christian attitude toward the Sabbath:
1. Jesus taught and drove demons out on the Sabbath (Luke 4:31-37)
2. Jesus gathered grain, presumably walked a fair distance, and healed on the Sabbath. Jesus disputed with the Pharisees about the Sabbath, insisting that He is Lord of the Sabbath and that it is always lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Furthermore, he says that the Sabbath was made for man, not vice-versa (Luke 6:1-11, Mark 2:23-28)
3. Jesus again healed on the Sabbath and disputed with the Pharisees, saying it is always lawful to save life on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17)
4. In general, the disciples and Paul observed the Jewish Sabbath (Acts 13:14, 16:13)
Why do Christians meet on Sunday and not Saturday? Are Sabbath laws binding for the Christian?
1. The Sabbath was an ordinance specific to the Jewish people (Exodus 31:13, 14, 16, 17), and not specifically binding on Gentiles- or arguably, any Christians(Colossians 2:16-17, Acts 15:1-35,Heb. 4:6-11)
2. The early Church Fathers, going back at least to 100 AD taught that Christians met on Sunday:
Justin Martyr 100-165 AD
"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read ... But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead."
Ignatius (110 AD), Bishop of Antioch.
"If then those who walk in the ancient practices attain to newness of hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but fashioning their lives after the Lord's Day on which our life also arose through Him, that we may be found disciples of Jesus Christ, our only teacher."
The Epistle of Barnabas 120-150 AD.
"Your new moons and your sabbaths I cannot endure". Isaiah 1:13.
"You perceive how He speaks: your present sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but that which I had made in giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is a beginning of another world. Wherefore also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, a day also in which Jesus rose from the dead."
Bardaisan (born 154 AD).
"Wherever we be, all of us are called by the one name of the Messiah, namely Christians and upon one day which is the first day of the week, we assemble ourselves together and on the appointed days we abstain from food."
The Teaching of the Apostles 160 AD
"The Apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be service and the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the oblation: because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the place of the dead, and on the first day of the week He arose upon the world, and on the first day of the week He ascended up to heaven."
Tertullian 150 - 240 AD
"The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews with their holy-days. Your Sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies" says He, "My soul hateth" By us, to whom Sabbaths are strange, and the new moons and festivals formerly beloved by God ..."
Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, 200-258 AD.
"The Lord's Day is both the first and the eighth day."
Ad Nationes 217
"Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the sun is the God of the Christians, because it is a well known fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festivity."
Victorinus 280 AD
"And let the parasceve become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any Sabbath with the Jews, which Christ Himself, the Lord of the Sabbath, says by His prophets that "His soul hateth;" which Sabbath He in His body abolished, although, nevertheless, He had formerly Himself commanded Moses that circumcision should not pass over the eighth day, which day very frequently happens on the Sabbath, as we read written in the Gospel."
Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, 155 AD
"The mystery of the Lord's resurrection may not be celebrated any other day than on the Lord's Day."
3. Scripture itself indicates that although the early Jewish Christians may have observed the Sabbath, they started meeting on Sundays as Christian believers. Sundays had already by Paul’s time gained a special significance for the early Christians. As the Church became increasingly Gentile, overt Sabbath observance was discontinued, although many of the same beliefs about Sabbath (day of rest, day to focus on the Lord) were transferred to Sundays. (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:1-2, John 20:19-26, Revelation 1:10, and Acts 2:1, the Day of Pentecost, which would have been a Sunday)
4. The Christian still benefits from observance of Sabbath in that setting aside a special day for reflection on God, abstaining from the business of the work world, and finding time to enjoy family and physical rest, are all still godly, universal principles. There are certainly other benefits we can glean from the principles of Sabbath- just considering what the Old Testament Sabbath laws say about the role and responsibility of government to the poor alone could occupy a lengthy discussion. This is merely a brief introduction to this topic, which can hopeful stimulate further thinking.
Early Church quotes and some ideas drawn from:
www.bethanybaptist.org.au/sunday.htm (although I had a few slight disagreements with this web page, all in all, it does a pretty good job addressing the subject)