There was no
Sabbath mentioned before the Exodus from Egypt. The first mention is at :
(EXODUS 16:22-23)
“. . .it came about on the
sixth day that they picked up twice as much bread, two omer measures for one
person. So all the chieftains of the assembly came and reported it to Moses. At that he said to them: “It is what Jehovah has spoken.
Tomorrow there will be a Sabbath observance of a holy Sabbath to Jehovah. . . .”
The Sabbath was later codified in The Ten commandments
(EXODUS
20:3-18)
1“you must not have any
other gods against my face.
2 “you
must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the
heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under
the earth. you must not bow down to them nor be induced to
serve them, because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion,
bringing punishment for the error of fathers upon sons, upon the third
generation and upon the fourth generation, in the case of those who hate me; but exercising loving-kindness toward the thousandth generation
in the case of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3 “you
must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah
will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.
4 “Remembering
the Sabbath day to hold it sacred, you are to render
service and you must do all your work six days. But the
seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God. you must not do any work, you nor
your son nor your daughter, your slave man nor your slave girl nor your domestic
animal nor your alien resident who is inside your gates. For
in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that
is in them, and he proceeded to rest on the seventh day. That is why Jehovah
blessed the Sabbath day and proceeded to make it sacred.
5 “Honor
your father and your mother in order that your days may prove long upon the
ground that Jehovah your God is giving you.
6 “you
must not murder.
7 “you
must not commit adultery.
8 “you
must not steal.
9 “you
must not testify falsely as a witness against your fellowman.
10 “you
must not desire your fellowman’s house. you must not desire your fellowman’s
wife, nor his slave man nor his slave girl nor his bull nor his ass nor anything
that belongs to your fellowman.. . .”
The Sabbath was not for all peoples:
(EXODUS 31:12-14)
“. . . Jehovah said further
to Moses: “As for you, speak to the sons of
Israel,
saying, ‘Especially my Sabbaths you are to keep, for it is a sign between me and
you during your generations that you may know that I Jehovah am sanctifying you. And
you must keep the Sabbath, for it is something holy to
you. . .”
The Sabbath
is only mentioned in the Gospels in relation to Jesus’ violation of it:
(MATTHEW 12:1-2)“ At that
season Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples got
hungry and started to pluck heads of grain and to eat. At
seeing this the Pharisees said to him: “Look! your disciples are doing what it
is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. . .”
(MATTHEW 12:12-13)“. . .it
is lawful to do a fine thing on the Sabbath.” Then he said
to the man: “Stretch out your hand.” . . .”
(MARK 2:27-28)“. . .Jesus
went on to say to them: “The Sabbath came into existence for the sake of man,
and not man for the sake of the Sabbath; hence the Son of
man is Lord even of the Sabbath.””
(JOHN 5:9-11)“. . .it was a
Sabbath. Therefore the Jews began to say to the cured man:
“It is Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry the cot.” But
he answered them: “The very one that made me sound in health said to me, ‘Pick
up your cot and walk. . .”
(JOHN 5:16-18)“. . .the Jews
went persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things during Sabbath. But he answered them: “My Father has kept working until now,
and I keep working.” On this account, indeed, the Jews
began seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the
Sabbath but he was also calling God his own Father. . .”
(John 9:16)
Therefore some of the Pharisees began to say: “This is not a man from God,
because he does not observe the Sabbath.”
After the
Council in Jerusalem, The ‘governing body’ there issued the following
statement:
(ACTS 15:13-21)“. . .James
answered, saying: “Men, brothers, hear me. Symeon has
related thoroughly how God for the first time turned his attention to the
nations to take out of them a people for his name. And with
this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, ‘After
these things I shall return and rebuild the booth of David that is fallen down;
and I shall rebuild its ruins and erect it again, in order
that those who remain of the men may earnestly seek Jehovah, together with
people of all the nations, people who are called by my name, says Jehovah, who
is doing these things, known from of old.’ Hence
my decision is not to trouble those from the nations who are turning to God, but to write them to
abstain from:
1.
things polluted by idols and from
2.
fornication and from
3.
what is strangled and from
4.
blood.
For
from ancient times Moses has had in city after city those who preach him,
because he is read aloud in the synagogues on every Sabbath.. . .”
The requirement to keep
the Sabbath is omitted. This would have been the perfect time for the
brothers who had actually walked with Jesus to have made plain what Jesus’ views
were.
The issue had been that
of circumcision, which predates even the 10 commandments. That too was
abandoned.
(Genesis 17:9-14) And God said further to
Abraham: “As for you, you are to keep my covenant, you and your seed after you
according to their generations. This is my covenant that you men will keep,
between me and you men, even your seed after you: Every male of yours must
get circumcised. And you must get circumcised in the flesh of your
foreskins, and it must serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you. And
every male of yours eight days old must be circumcised, according to your
generations, anyone born in the house and anyone purchased with money from any
foreigner who is not from your seed. Every man born in your house and every man
purchased with money of yours must without fail get circumcised; and my covenant
in the flesh of you men must serve as a covenant to time indefinite. And an
uncircumcised male who will not get the flesh of his foreskin circumcised, even
that soul must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”
Hebrew
Scriptures
God had foretold that he would replace the Law
covenant with a new covenant
(JEREMIAH
31:31-33)“. . .There are days coming,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “and I will
conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; not one like the covenant that I concluded with their
forefathers in the day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out
of the land of Egypt, ‘which covenant of mine they themselves broke,
although I myself had husbandly ownership of them,’ is the utterance of
Jehovah. For this is the covenant that I shall conclude
with the house of Israel after those days,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “I will
put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it. And I will become
their God, and they themselves will become my people. . .”
(HEBREWS 8:10-10:4) “
This is the covenant that I shall covenant with the house of Israel after those
days,’ says Jehovah. ‘I will put my laws in their mind, and in their hearts I
shall write them. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become
my people. “‘And they will by no means teach each one his
fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying: “Know Jehovah!” For they will
all know me, from the least one to the greatest one of them. For
I shall be merciful to their unrighteous deeds, and I shall by no means call
their sins to mind anymore.’”
In
his saying “a new covenant” he has made the former one obsolete. Now that
which is made obsolete and growing old is near to vanishing away. For its part, then,
the former covenant used to have ordinances of sacred service and its mundane
holy place. … They were legal requirements pertaining to the
flesh and were imposed until the appointed time to set things straight. However, when Christ came as a high priest of the good
things that have come to pass, through the greater and more perfect tent not
made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered,
no, not with the blood of goats and of young bulls, but with his own blood,
once for all time into the holy place and obtained an everlasting deliverance
for us. ….. So that is why he is a
mediator of a new covenant, in order that, because a death has occurred for
their release by ransom from the transgressions under the former covenant, the
ones who have been called might receive the promise of the everlasting
inheritance.
For
where there is a covenant, the death of the human covenanter needs to be
furnished. For a covenant is valid over dead victims, since
it is not in force at any time while the human covenanter is living. Consequently
neither was the former covenant inaugurated without blood. For
when every commandment according to the Law had been spoken by Moses to
all the people, he took the blood of the young bulls and of the goats with water
and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled the book itself and all the people, saying: “This is the blood of the covenant that God has laid
as a charge upon you.” And he sprinkled the tent and all
the vessels of the public service likewise with the blood. Yes,
nearly all things are cleansed with blood according to the Law, and unless blood
is poured out no forgiveness takes place. Therefore it was
necessary that the typical representations of the things in the heavens should
be cleansed by these means, but the heavenly things themselves with sacrifices
that are better than such sacrifices.
For
Christ entered, not into a holy place made with hands, which is a copy of the
reality, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the person of God for
us. Neither is it in order that he should offer himself
often, as indeed the high priest enters into the holy place from year to year
with blood not his own. …
For since the Law has
a shadow of the good things to come, but not the very substance of the things,
men can never with the same sacrifices from year to year which they offer
continually make those who approach perfect. 2 .., by these
sacrifices there is a reminding of sins from year to year, 4 for
it is not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take sins away.”
What did
Jesus teach?
(MATTHEW
22:36-40)“. . .Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” He said to him: “‘you must love Jehovah
your God with your whole
heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.’ This
is the greatest and first commandment. The second, like it,
is this, ‘you must love your neighbour as yourself.’ On
these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets. . .”
These two laws of Love replaced the 600-odd
Jewish laws
He made the Law more strict…..
(MATTHEW
5:21-22)
“. . .it was said to those
of ancient times, ‘you must not murder; but whoever commits a murder will be
accountable to the court of justice.’ 22 However, I say to
you
that everyone who continues wrathful with his brother will be accountable to the
court of justice. . .”
(MATTHEW 5:27-28)
“. . .it was said, ‘you must
not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone that
keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already
committed adultery with her in his heart. . .”
(MATTHEW 19:17-20)
“. . .. If, though,
you want
to enter into life, observe the commandments continually.” He
said to him: “Which ones?” Jesus said: “Why,
Commandment 6
you
must not murder,
Commandment 7
you
must not commit adultery,
Commandment 8
you
must not steal,
Commandment 9
you
must not bear false witness,
Commandment 5
Honour your father and your mother, and,
Lev 19
you must love your neighbour as yourself.”
The young man said to him:
“I have kept all these; what yet am I lacking?””
Jesus did not mention the
Sabbath
(Commandments 1,2,3 & 4 covered by Matt 22.37=Deut 6.5).
Therefore no
division in the "Commandments" of Ceremonial and Moral laws according to
Jesus.
What did John
say?
(1 JOHN 3:21-23)
“. . .Beloved ones, if our
hearts do not condemn us, we have freeness of speech toward God; and
whatever we ask we receive from him, because we are observing his commandments
and are doing the things that are pleasing in his eyes. Indeed,
this is his commandment, that we have faith in the name of his Son Jesus
Christ and be loving one another, just as he gave us commandment.”
(1 JOHN 5:2-3)
“. . .By this we gain the
knowledge that we are loving the children of God, when we are loving God and
doing his commandments. For this is what the love of God
means, that we observe his commandments; and yet his commandments are not
burdensome. . .”
What did Paul
say?
(COLOSSIANS 2:16-17)
“. . .let no
man judge you in eating and drinking or in respect of a festival or of an observance
of the new moon or of Sabbaths; for those things are
a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ. . .”
(Romans 7:1-2) Paul calls Num 30.8 "The Law"
Can it be that you do not know, brothers, (for I am speaking to those who know
law,) that the Law is master over a man as long as he lives?
For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband (from
Num 30.8) while he is alive; but if her husband dies, she is
discharged from the law of her husband.
(ROMANS 7:6-7)
Five verses later Paul also calls the 10th Commandment at Ex 20.18 "The Law"
“. . .we have been
discharged from the Law, because we have died to that by which we were being
held fast, that we might be slaves in a new sense by the spirit, and not in the
old sense by the written code. What, then, shall we say? Is
the Law sin? Never may that become so! Really I would not have come to know sin
if it had not been for the Law; and, for example, I would not have known
covetousness if the Law had not said: “you must not covet.”. . .”
Therefore
No division in the
"Law" of Ceremonial and Moral laws according to Paul
(EPHESIANS 2:15)
“. . .means of his flesh
he abolished the enmity, the Law of commandments consisting in decrees, that
he might create the two peoples in union with himself into one new man and make
peace;”
(COLOSSIANS 2:13-17)
. . . though you were dead in your trespasses and
in the uncircumcised state of your flesh, [God] made you alive together with
him. He kindly forgave us all our trespasses and blotted out the handwritten
document (covenant) against us, which consisted of decrees and which was in
opposition to us; and He has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the
torture stake (cross).
This was said in the context
of Sabbaths etc:
“Therefore
let no man judge you in eating and drinking or in respect of a festival
or of an observance of the new moon or of Sabbaths; for
those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the
Christ.”
We don't
celebrate Sabbaths or New Moons either.
(ROMANS 14:5-6)
“One man
judges one day as above another; another man judges one day as all others;
let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. He who
observes the day observes it to Jehovah. . .”
(GALATIANS 4:9-11)
“. . .now that
you have come
to know God, or rather now that you have come to be known by God, how is it that
you are turning back again to the weak and beggarly elementary things and want
to slave for them over again? you are scrupulously
observing days and months and seasons and years. I fear
for you, that somehow I have toiled to no purpose respecting you.”
(ROMANS 10:2-4)
“. . .I bear them witness
that they have a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge; for, because of not knowing the righteousness of God but seeking to
establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of
God. For Christ is the end of the Law, so that
everyone exercising faith may have righteousness.”
