sabbath or no sabbath?

[Dan_79]

I was looking for answers to this question and came to read this. 

If God has made this covenant FOREVER in Exodus 31:16-17 

..why does Paul (Saul) say that each individual Christian should decide whether to observe a Sabbath rest, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind" (Romans 14:5).

://www.gotquestions.net/Printer/Saturday-Sunday-PF.html

 

 "What day is the Sabbath, Saturday or Sunday? Do Christians have to observe the Sabbath day?"

Answer: It is often claimed that "God instituted the Sabbath in Eden" because of the connection between the Sabbath and creation in Exodus 20:11. Although God's rest on the seventh day (Genesis 2:3) did foreshadow a future Sabbath law, there is no biblical record of the Sabbath before the children of Israel left the land of Egypt. Nowhere in Scripture is there any hint that Sabbath-keeping was practiced from Adam to Moses. 

The Word of God makes it quite clear that Sabbath observance was a special sign between God and Israel: "The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested" (Exodus 31:16"17).

In Deuteronomy 5, Moses restates the Ten Commandments to the next generation of Israelites. Here, after commanding Sabbath observance in verses 12"14, Moses gives the reason the Sabbath was given to the nation Israel: "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day" (Deuteronomy 5:15).

God's intent for giving the Sabbath to Israel was not that they would remember creation, but that they would remember their Egyptian slavery and the Lord's deliverance. Note the requirements for Sabbath-keeping: A person placed under that Sabbath law could not leave his home on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:29), he could not build a fire (Exodus 35:3), and he could not cause anyone else to work (Deuteronomy 5:14). A person breaking the Sabbath law was to be put to death (Exodus 31:15; Numbers 15:32"35).

An examination of New Testament passages shows us four important points: 1) Whenever Christ appears in His resurrected form and the day is mentioned, it is always the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1, 9, 10; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:1, 13, 15; John 20:19, 26). 2) The only times the Sabbath is mentioned from Acts through Revelation, the occasion is Jewish evangelism, and the setting is usually a synagogue (Acts chapters 13–18). Paul wrote, “To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews” (1 Corinthians 9:20). Paul did not go to the synagogue to fellowship with and edify the saints, but to convict and save the lost. 3) After Paul states, “From now on I will go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:6), the Sabbath is never again mentioned. And 4) instead of suggesting adherence to the Sabbath day, the remainder of the New Testament implies the opposite (including the one exception to point 3, above, found in Colossians 2:16).

Looking more closely at point 4 above will reveal that there is no obligation for the New Testament believer to keep the Sabbath, and will also show that the idea of a Sunday "Christian Sabbath" is also unscriptural. As discussed above, there is one time the Sabbath is mentioned after Paul began to focus on the Gentiles, "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ" (Colossians 2:16"17). The Jewish Sabbath was abolished at the cross where Christ "canceled the written code, with its regulations" (Colossians 2:14).

This idea is repeated more than once in the New Testament: "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord" (Romans 14:5"6a). "But now that you know God " or rather are known by God " how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years" (Galatians 4:9"10).

But some claim that a mandate by Constantine in A.D. 321 "changed" the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. On what day did the early church meet for worship? Scripture never mentions any Sabbath (Saturday) gatherings by believers for fellowship or worship. However, there are clear passages that mention the first day of the week. For instance, Acts 20:7 states that "on the first day of the week we came together to break bread." In 1 Corinthians 16:2 Paul urges the Corinthian believers "on the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income." Since Paul designates this offering as "service" in 2 Corinthians 9:12, this collection must have been linked with the Sunday worship service of the Christian assembly. Historically Sunday, not Saturday, was the normal meeting day for Christians in the church, and its practice dates back to the first century.

The Sabbath was given to Israel, not the church. The Sabbath is still Saturday, not Sunday, and has never been changed. But the Sabbath is part of the Old Testament Law, and Christians are free from the bondage of the Law (Galatians 4:1-26; Romans 6:14). Sabbath keeping is not required of the Christian"be it Saturday or Sunday. The first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord's Day (Revelation 1:10) celebrates the New Creation, with Christ as our resurrected Head. We are not obligated to follow the Mosaic Sabbath"resting, but are now free to follow the risen Christ'serving. The Apostle Paul said that each individual Christian should decide whether to observe a Sabbath rest, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind" (Romans 14:5). We are to worship God every day, We are to worship God every day, not just on Saturday or Sunday.

 

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Edited April 22, 2018 by Dan_79

[Deborah_]

The covenant that God made in Exodus was ONLY with the nation of Israel. Christians are under a different covenant - the new covenant.

However...

When Jesus declared, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:5), He was surely affirming the Sabbath, not abolishing it – and if we observe it, we do so in His honour. 

We also need to think about the purpose of the Sabbath. It was instituted for our benefit! Man’s nature has not changed since God created us. Our need for physical rest and refreshment is as great under the New Covenant as under the Old. Why do people complain so much about busy, stressful lives? If you work continuously with no 'Sabbath' break, then you are a slave. 
So yes – we need a day off once a week, and for the same reasons that the Israelites did: it’s good for us, it’s a ‘sign’ to unbelievers, and it promotes a healthy relationship with our God. But we need to refrain from making rules about the ‘when’ (does it have to be Sunday?) and the ‘what’ or ‘how’ (one man’s work is another man’s relaxation). In a society where most of us have sedentary jobs, what we probably need on our Sabbath is not a day of rest but a day of exercise!
 

[Alex2165]

Good post Dan.

 

Because GOD Himself rest on the Seventh Day and because He blessed and sanctified it, from that moment on the Sabbath became the universal Day to obey for all humankind, for all generation to come and for all times.

 

It is very unlikely that Sabbath was observed in pre-flood era by anyone, but may be a couple men did observed the Lord’s Sabbath before flood came:

 

Genesis 5.22.24

“24.And Enoch walked with GOD (Genesis 6.9) and he was not, because GOD took him. (Genesis 5.18.21-24) (Jude 1.14-15) (Hebrews 11.5)”

 

Walk with GOD means obeying GOD’S Commandments. Communication with GOD is not only communication through His Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances, but also like person to person, just like GOD communicated with Noah, and with Moses, and with other His men, giving them orders and commandments beside His Laws.

 

And so, because Enoch walked with GOD, he may also observe and the Lord’s Sabbath as GOD may instructed him, same thing can be said and about Noah who also obeyed commandments of the Lord (walk with GOD) and perhaps also observe Sabbath of the Lord while at the same time building his ark. One of them GOD took alive, and the other He saved from the flood, both are men of GOD.

 

Sabbath is essential for all humanity because in the Sabbath GOD revealed the most humane, loving, and compassioned qualities of His Holy Personality and Character and wished to have them also and in human beings.

 

The Seventh Day also was transformed and to the special Seventh Year, and even more special the Seventh Year was transformed into the 50^th Sabbatical Year under which world received such abundance of mercy compassion and love that world ever seen.

 

These are the most blessed, consecrated, and holy times of the year that restore human dignity, forgiveness, compassion, and love in all who participate in these holy and blessed by GOD periods of times.

 

Whoever observes these blessed periods, Sabbath Day, Sabbatical Year, and 50^th Jubilee Year are also blessed by GOD, just like He had blessed His Seventh Day of rest at the very beginning.

 

In order to prove that the Sabbath is the universal Day for all humanity to observe I include here some very few of many passages concerning the Sabbath.

 

Isaiah 66.23

23.”And it shall be from new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me”, says the Lord.”

 

Hebrews 4.4-5.9-10

4.He has thus said somewhere concerning the Seventh Day, "And GOD rested on the Seventh Day from all His works" (Genesis 2.2),

 

5.and again in this passage, "They shall not enter My Rest." (Psalm 95.11)

 

“They shall not enter My Rest." In this verse GOD compares His everlasting Heavenly Kingdom to His Rest of to the Sabbath Day that He had established and in which He had rested from all His works.

 

So the Sunday is not the 7^th Day, it actually 8^th day which sometimes mentioned in the Bible and considered in some instance as a new beginning. Sunday on the other hand never been blessed, sanctified, or call to be observed not by GOD and not by any one else in the Bible.

 

But by not observing Sabbath we disobey commandment of the Lord to honor and to worship Him on the 7^th Day, how then we expect to enter His Rest (His Kingdom) of the 7^th Day?

 

9. There remains a Sabbath Rest for the people of GOD.

 

Who are the people of GOD? Are they Jews only? I think all people who follow Commandments and Statutes of GOD are His people, but of course not those who follow the statutes, commandments, and false doctrines of the church.

 

And His people are not those who give to GOD a lip service in the church but themselves do not follow His Ordinances. If a “Sabbath Rest,” which means His Kingdom (verse 5) for the people of GOD who observing the Sabbath, then where you will fit and where you will go if you refuse and did not observe “His Sabbath of His Holy Rest”? How you will enter His Kingdom of Sabbath if you ignored it all your life?

 

10. The one who has entered His Rest, has himself also rested from his works, as GOD did from His.

 

And Who’s rest we shall enter after death? Is not the rest of Jesus Christ and His Father, the Kingdom of Their Rest and of Their Sabbath? How then you can enter His Sabbath if you ignored and rejected as “old covenant”? And where is the “new covenant” is?

 

The observance of the Sabbath is the GOD’S Statute, the observance of the Sunday is a human statute, what of them is more important?

 

Luke 4.31

31.”And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath,”

 

Luke 13.10

10.”And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,”

 

Jesus and all His disciples observed Sabbath, and if according to the false doctrine of the church which said that we are no longer under Old Covenant but under New Covenant of Jesus Christ, then why Jesus Himself observed the Sabbath Day, if He brought with Him so called “new covenant” but continued to the day of His death observing the Old Covenant of the Law of Moses? Where then is a “new covenant” is?

 

Isaiah 29.13

13.Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me (Jeremiah 12.2.6), (Ezekiel 33.31), (Matthew 15.7-9), (Mark 7.6-7-13), consists of tradition learned by rote (Mark 7.7-9)  (Titus 1.14) (Colossians 2.20-22),

 

Why Jesus observed entire Law of Moses, and taught it to the people, while He had a “new law” or some kind or “new covenant” with Him as falsely declared by today’s Christians?

 

The New Covenant of Christ it is the extension of the Old Covenant, Jesus never brought or teach anything new, but all his words, statutes, and commandments, all to the last, belong and relate to the Law of Moses and to the Old Covenant of GOD with the people of Israel, which are all based on the Spiritual 10 Commandments, in which the Sabbath is the most vital and essential of them all.

 

You quoted Dan the words of Paul:

 

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ" (Colossians 2:16"17).

 

Many misunderstood this verse concerning Sabbath completely and perhaps this is due to difficult writing of Paul who had very deep thoughts and expressed himself as very highly educated scholar and not like ordinary man.

 

Paul here does not rejecting the Sabbath, Paul himself without any doubt observed Sabbath religiously, but if we take a close look about what Colossian are arguing about, it would become very evident and very clear that they are talking about what to eat, and what to drink, and how to observe religious festivals, and how appropriately observe the Sabbath Day.

 

It is not here Paul rejecting the Sabbath, but rejecting their debates concerning Laws of GOD and His Sabbath due to the evident lack in Colossians of knowledge and understanding of Jewish Laws, and there is no surprise, they are practically all gentiles.

 

Paul quickly realized that they need special guidance in all these matters and especially in the Sabbath, which is the most important and the most essential part in worship of GOD.

 

Isaiah 56.1-2

1.Thus says the Lord: Maintain Justice and do what is Right, soon My salvation will come and My deliverance be revealed.

2.Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it (means not observing it) and refrains from doing any Evil.

 

 

In order to see some of the merciful and wonderful Statues of GOD concerning the Seventh Sabbatical Year and the 50^th Year of Jubilee, see Leviticus 25.