The PuritanBoard - View Single Post - What does a Continental Sabbath rest look like?

Dan.... · #5 (**permalink**) 09-11-2005, 09:43 PM

I found Pipa's book in the church library today.

Pipa refers to the Sabbath as a moral-positive law. That is, it has an enduring moral aspect and a positive/temporary aspect.

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"A positive law is a commandment of God that is not morally necessary...God requires or forbids certain things for the immediate and temporary needs of His people and their relationship to Him. Such laws are binding only on the person or nation to whom they were given" (Pipa, pg 26).

Pipa Goes on to say...

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Genesis 2:2,3 is a perpetually binding creation ordinance. Som maintain that we are, therefore, obligated to observe the seventh day. The problem arises from failing to observe that certain moral laws have positive (temporary) elements attached to them that may be altered. Some of the Puritans refered to these as moral-positive laws. A moral-positive law is different from a simple positive law in that it joins certain elements to a moral law in order to give further instruction for carrying out the law...

With respect to the Sabbath, the moral requirement is for a regularly recurring amount of time to be allocated exclusively to God's worship. Specifying a day or a period of time is a moral-positive law. The changing of the latter does not affect the character of the fomer. Therefore God may and indeed has changed the day. The Westminster COnfession alludes to this when it refers to the Sabbath as "a postive, moral and perpetual commandment" (Pipa pgs. 34-36)

Pipa then quotes Dabney as saying:

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The reason that ceremonial laws were temporary was that the necessity for them was temporary. They were abrogated because they were no longer needed. But the practical need for the Sabbath is the same in all ages... The necessity of the Sabbath has not ceased, therefore it is not abbrogated. In its nature, as well as its necessity, it is a permanent, moral command. (Dabney, quoted in Pipa, pg 36).

Pipa goes on in chapter 4 to explain that although the Sabbath was indeed attached to the Mosaic Covenant, that its moral requirement did not pass away with other positive ordinances of the Mosaic law.

On page 58, Pipa says,

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Similarly there are ceremonial aspects to the Fourth Commandment --seventh-day worship, special Sabbaths, and feasts. These were exclusive to Israel and were destined to be fufilled and thus abbrogated in Christ. But the principle that God would have man devote one day in seven to worship and religious service is a universally binding moral law.

Pipa concludes the 4th chapter on page 57,

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Thus we have shown that the Sabbath, though serving ceremonial purposes, is a perpetually binding moral obligation.

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Ursinus says in his commentary on the Catechism (Heidelberg) that the commandment has two parts: "the one moral and perpetual, as that the Sabbath be kept holy; the other ceremonial and temporary, as that the seventh day be kept holy." (pg 150).

I highly recommend Pipa's book.

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Also, it seems to me that the Continental Reformed position is more open to the type of rest required on the Sabbath than the Presbyterian one. Would you agree? If so, what is the reasoning for a greater openess?

Good question. I'll leave that to the more educated members of the forum.