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Originally Posted by Amazing Grace  My apologies for digrssing the thread a tad. That said, In regards to the premise of the thread at hand regarding activity on the sabbath, is there any Epistle references that can be cited denouncing any activities? I cannot find any. Many cite Old Covenant references and some references in the gospels, when the Mosaic Law code was still in force because Christ, had yet to die , but never is any command or principle from the apostolic doctrine sections of Scripture cited to support this thought. In defence of "anti sabs" for lack of a better term, I see Rom 14, Col 1 and Heb 4. Yet we are accused of the ole "taking them out of context" issue. CH cited James 2:10,11 which in no way has this thought in mind. You would think that something as important as some make it, there would be at least a shred of Apostolic scripture speaking on this. I cannot find any evidence the New Covenant calls for any person to cease from all activity on Sunday or on the Sabbath.
Believers who do not keep the Sabbath should not judge those who do so as legalists, unless those who do so begin to make it mandatory for all other believers. Romans 14: 4-6 is clear on this. |
1. I think you have a wrong understanding of the nature of the moral law by framing the question/challenge the way you did.
2. I don't really see the Apostles spelling out how we are not supposed to covet our neighbor's property either. See point # 1.
3. The discussion actually bears upon what the nature of liberty is. Obviously, nobody is permitted to judge the other and this is the reason, in another thread, that I enjoined people to be careful about their attitudes toward one another and cited Romans 14 as an the example of the attitude that believers are supposed to have toward one another. As you recall, I did not start this thread. My post was moved over here to a new thread and it kind of morphed into the present discussion.
I personally would not have started a new thread giving people the impression that the discussion on the Sabbath is a disagreement between the weak and the strong. See the discussion on the things adiofora in another thread to get my views on what I believe is adiofora. I actually don't think there's really much doubt that the Sabbath is a moral law that finds its genesis in Genesis at creation.
I agree that there are ways that the Sabbath can be pressed into legalism but those issues have to do with the disposition/motivation of the person toward the command. Even the command not to covet can be turned into a legalistic exercise but it isn't, by definition, legalistic to seek to obey the command when redeemed. So it is with the Sabbath.
The big question is this: is the Sabbath still something of the nature of the moral law? Does God still command that we labor diligently for 6 days and rest in/worship Him on the 7th? If so, then a child can be
confused about what pleases His Father and not delight in the same things His Father does but a child cannot
know that His Father delights in a thing, do the opposite, and claim that He's pleasing His Father and then get upset with other brothers who are reminding Him that He's insulting the One he claims to love.