Need help on the Sabbath.

Benjamin · #1 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 07:12 AM

Recently I have been persuaded that the Sabbath, which is now the Lord's Day, is still in force and that the 4th commandment should be kept. Yet I read recently by a friend of mine in his article that this is not so. It has unsettled me a bit, and I wonder if you guyz can maybe help me in this regard, here is the article he published,

Student Y - University of Cape Town. South Africa

Thanks in advance

Also, I have met some people who say that those who worship on Sunday's are receiving the mark of the beast and they quote some passage in the Old Testament about "changing days" etc. to support it. Have you guyz come accross that before? Are they justified in saying that?

AV1611 · #2 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Recently I have been persuaded that the Sabbath, which is now the Lord's Day, is still in force and that the 4th commandment should be kept.

Read the Deuteronomy account of the decalogue (Ch. 5) and you will find that the sabbath commemorated the redemption of Israel by means of the Exodus. Now think forward to the new exodus motif in the Gospels and Acts and what do we find? Well we are to commemorate our redemption from sin by means of Christ's death, and the day we do this is the Lord's day which is the first day of the week.

Daniel Ritchie · #3 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 07:23 AM

If someone does not believe that we should keep the Sabbath ask them this question: Are NT Christians now required to work 7 days a week?

AVT · #4 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 07:46 AM

Good for you, Benjamin!

There is blessing in obedience and you may find as we have, great benefits in trying, by God's grace, to keep the Fourth Commandment. Keeping it will change your life pattern, but we have found the blessings tangible.

It is very difficult (impossible) to keep- it even applies to thinking about your work and entertaining yourself but as you substitute focused worship on God, you will be blessed (and really rest). God will honor your faithfulness.

As to the "positive, moral and perpetual" basis for the Fourth Commandment, the Westminster Confession has these proof texts:

Exodus 20:8, 10-11
Isaiah 56:2,4,6-7
Genesis 2:2-3
I Corinthians 16:1
Acts 20:7

AV1611 · #5 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AVT

As to the "positive, moral and perpetual" basis for the Fourth Commandment, the Westminster Confession has these proof texts:

Exodus 20:8, 10-11
Isaiah 56:2,4,6-7
Genesis 2:2-3
I Corinthians 16:1
Acts 20:7

The problem with this is that there is no real disagreement over what these texts say but rather their import. What is required is to demonstrate how they fit into the meta-narrative of Scripture. The article attempts to do this but it goes wrong when is says that the sabbath was fulfilled by Christ therefore there is no weekly-sabbath anymore, what he fails to realise is that the Lord's day looks backwards to the exodus of the Cross and forward to the eternal rest of the new heavens and new earth. There is a future rest that we must labour to enter into.

Hebrews 4:9-11 "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."

larryjf · #6 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 10:58 AM

I think the most convincing passage against the continuing status of the Sabbath is...

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
(Col 2:16-17)

Yet, when understood properly this passage is speaking of the Sabbaths that were part of the ceremonial law, which took place during the "new moons" and "festivals"...not the weekly Sabbath which is a moral law as is proved by it being part of the Decalogue.

Backwoods Presbyterian · #7 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 11:01 AM

Even more so the Sabbath Day is a creation ordinance not something "Created" for the Decalogue.

larryjf · #8 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Backwoods Presbyterian

Even more so the Sabbath Day is a creation ordinance not something "Created" for the Decalogue.

None of the moral laws were "created" in the Decalogue. They are of an eternal nature. They were simply codified in the Decalogue.

Backwoods Presbyterian · #9 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 11:14 AM

Agreed. I miss-typed. Sorry about that.

AV1611 · #10 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by larryjf

Yet, when understood properly this passage is speaking of the Sabbaths that were part of the ceremonial law, which took place during the "new moons" and "festivals"...not the weekly Sabbath which is a moral law as is proved by it being part of the Decalogue.

So Calvin was wrong!

larryjf · #11 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AV1611

Quote:

Originally Posted by larryjf

Yet, when understood properly this passage is speaking of the Sabbaths that were part of the ceremonial law, which took place during the "new moons" and "festivals"...not the weekly Sabbath which is a moral law as is proved by it being part of the Decalogue.

So Calvin was wrong!

Yep, Calvin was wrong, but Jonathan Edwards was right.

From "The Perpetuity and Change of the Sabbath"...

Quote:

I. It is sufficiently clear, that it is the mind of God, that one day of the week should be devoted to rest, and to religious exercises, throughout all ages and nations.

II. It is sufficiently clear, that under the gospel-dispensation, this day is the first day of the week.