SABBATH OBSERVANCE NOT BINDING FOR CHRISTIANS
By Dr. Rey V. Entila, Ph.D
By Dr. Rey V. Entila, Ph.D
St.
Paul who was a strict Pharisee when it comes to the observance of
the Old Testament law, wrote a famous letter to both to the Jewish and gentile
Christians in Rome
concerning questions on Sabbath as well as the dietary law. One can immediately
grasp that if the law on Sabbath observance was still in force to the
Christians, then the following verses would greatly confuse Christians. Here,
Paul was giving liberty to a believer whether to observe or not to observe the
Jewish Sabbath in the same way that he gave them liberty to observe or not to
observe the Jewish dietary law.
5 One person
esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be
fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the
Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.
He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not
eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks (Rom.14:5-6).
The one
who esteems one day above another is the Jewish Christian whose background is
that of a Sabbath-keeper. The one who esteems every day alike is the gentile
Christian who did not grow up with weekly Sabbath observance. Yet, Paul wrote
that it does not matter as long as both of them are fully convince that what
they are doing are for the Lord. This only means that Sabbath keeping is not
anymore binding for followers of Christ.
CHRIST’S RESURRECTION
SUPERSEDES SABBATH MEMORIAL
His own resurrection is the only miracle
that Christ appealed to for the unbelieving religious leaders of his time, the
Sadducees and Pharisees. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the giant fish, the
Son of man shall be in earth’s bowels for three days and three nights but will
rise again. For Christ, the THIRD DAY after his death IS the day of days. If he fails on this day,
everything fails, including all his previous miracles, teachings, life and
mission. This is why the inspired Apostle Paul wrote:
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures… 13 But if there is no
resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen 14.
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is
also vain. 15 Yes, and we are found
false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up
Christ, whom He did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is
not risen. 17 And if Christ is not
risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who
have fallen asleep in Christ have perished (1 Cor.15:4,13-18).
How does this important
passage connect with Sabbath? Sabbath observance is a memorial of: (1) God’s
physical creation of the universe (Ex.20:8-11), and (2) Israel’s physical liberation from bondage in Egypt (Deut.
5:15). However, the Resurrection day supersedes the Sabbath day in two ways
since it is the memorial of: (1) God’s spiritual re-creation of the sinful man
into a new creation, born again in resurrection (2 Cor.5:17, 1 Pet.1:3), and
(2) Christian’s liberation from bondage to sin (1 Cor.15:17).
The great St. Thomas
Aquinas (1225-1274) commented: “The Jews
kept holy the Sabbath in memory of the first creation, but Christ at His coming
brought about a new creation. For by the first creation an earthly man was
created, and by the second a heavenly man was formed: ‘For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature’
(Gal.5:6). This new creation is through grace, which came by the resurrection.
‘That as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so also may
we walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, so shall we also be in the likeness of His resurrection’
(Rom.6:4-5). And thus, because the Resurrection took place on Sunday, we
celebrate that day, even as the Jews observed the Sabbath on account of the
first creation.” (The Catechetical Instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas, 1939,
91-92).
PURELY CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY UNDOUBTEDLY SUNDAY
The two main passages in the New Testament
that show post-resurrection worship assembly of the Christian church, are found
in Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. Since the passage in Acts 20 has been
expounded in 4.3, the passage in 1 Corinthians shall be the focus of scrutiny
this time.
1 Now concerning the collection for the
saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also:
2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing
up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come (1 Cor.16:1-2).
In the above mentioned citation,
Paul instructs the Corinthian church the same orders, commands or instructions
that he gave to Galatian churches. Clearly he was using his apostolic authority
and inspiration from the Holy Spirit when he penned those words, and was not
giving mere opinions or suggestions. In his preceding statement in this same
letter, he emphasized “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual,
let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments
of the Lord” (1 Cor.14:37).
Paul commanded the Christian churches that on the first day of the week,
a collection for the famine-stricken believers in Jerusalem shall be gathered at once, so that
there will no other collection whenever he comes. This only means that
Christian worship gathering happen every Sunday and not Saturday, because it is
in that holy convocation that Christians worship together, break bread together
and give offerings for the poor. It is very unlikely that they gather on
Sabbath to worship God together, and the next day which is Sunday collection is
taken since that would be an inopportune time to collect contributions from the
already scattered congregation. The only rational way is that Sunday is the
time Christians worship together and give their offerings in support of the
needy. This was the way it was in the first century Christian churches and to
all subsequent centuries, until Christ comes again.
Reformed Theologian Anthony
Hoekema wrote,
…it
is important to note that the first day of the week is specifically designated
for this laying aside. Why should Paul say this if the Corinthians regularly
gathered for worship on Saturday? Christian giving is part of our worship; it
is to be expected that we engage in this form of worship on the day on which we
gather for public prayers. Surely not every member of the Corinthian church was
a shopkeeper who needed to do some figuring before he could determine how much he should give;
surely, before the day of worship as well as on the day after. The only plausible
reason for mentioning the first day in this passage is that this was the
customary day 9on which Christians were meeting for worship (The Four major
Cults, 1965, 166-167).
SPIRIT OF THE LAW SUPERSEDES OLD TESTAMENT
LETTER OF THE LAW
St. Paul in his second letter to the
Corinthian Christians contrasted the Old Testament Mosaic Law with the New
Testament Law of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit. The former is a ministry
of death since engraved on two stone tablets. Anyone who transgressed the Mosaic
law deserves physical death by community stoning, thereby it was also called
the ministry of condemnation. It was
glorious, but it was passing away, to be abrogated thereby giving way to a more
glorious one. The latter is the ministry of the Spirit, more glorious than the
former Mosaic Law. In verse 11 Paul repeated that the glorious Law of Moses was
passing away, and what replaces it will remain which is the more glorious
Testament of Christ (v.17).
7
But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so
that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses
because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how
will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of
condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in
glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because
of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what
remains is much more glorious…14 But their minds were hardened. For until this
day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because
the veil is taken away in Christ (2 Cor.3:7-11,14).
It cannot be denied that
the Sabbath law was contained in the whole Mosaic law, which according to saint Paul, was passing
away and was replaced by Christ’s Testament. In the new Christian dispensation,
there was no more command for Sabbath observance.
ST. PAUL REPRIMANDED THE SABBATARIAN GALATIANS
The letter of St. Paul to
the Galatian Christians has a tone of strong reproach to them because they have
began with the Christian faith, abandoning pre-Christian Judaic observances
such as circumcision and Sabbath laws, now reverts to those very Judaic
observances they have abandoned due to misguided preachers. Paul wrote,
6 I
marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace
of Christ, to a different gospel, 7
which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to
pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other
gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed (Gal.1:6-9).
Later Paul admonished
them because of their reversion to Jewish observance of Sabbath (days), new
moon (months), seasons (yearly festivals) and years (jubilees). All those
practices belong to the Mosaic law (Acts 15:5) which is a burden which neither
their ancestors nor they were able to carry (Acts 15:10) but are superseded by
faith in Christ and his grace (Acts 15:11).
10
You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest
I have labored for you in vain (Gal.4:10-11).
Indeed, Paul’s myriad of
sufferings, persecutions and labor would be in vain if Christians go back to
Sabbatarianism.
CEREMONIAL LAWS, INCLUDING SABBATH, WERE ABOLISHED
In his letter to the
Ephesian Christians, the Apostle Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, that through Christ’s crucifixion, he “abolished” in His flesh, the law
of commandments contained in ordinances to create one whole people of God,
without distinction of Jews and gentiles.
14
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the
middle wall of division between us, 15
having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of
commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man
from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to
God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity
(Eph.2:14-16).
The abolition of the
Commandments is the abrogation of the whole Mosaic law, including the Sabbath.
While nine other commandments of the old Mosaic law are repeated and perfected
in the New Testament, the Sabbath was never repeated but finds its perfection
in glorious resurrection day of our lord Jesus. therefore the Sabbath is not to
be observed by Christians in the New Testament dispensation.
According to John Rice
(False Doctrines, pp.153-163) there are six indubitable reasons why the Sabbath
is part of the Ceremonial law:
1. The Sabbath was ceremonial law and for
Jews only because it was not known before Mount Sinai.
2. The Sabbath is Ceremonial law because
it was commanded as a special covenant between God and Israel.
3. The Jewish Sabbath is Ceremonial law
because it is not written in the heart, and moral law is always written in the
heart and conscience.
4. The Sabbath is certainly ceremonial law
and applied to Jews only because of the enforcement of it and literal
fulfillment of it was possible only to Jews in Palestine under Theocracy or Personal rule of
God.
5. The proof that the Jews’ Sabbath was
ceremonial law and not intended for New Testament Christians is this remarkable
fact: not once in the entire New Testament is any Christian ever commanded to
keep Sabbath.
6. We know that the Sabbath is ceremonial
law because God plainly tells us so in Colossians 2:16,17.
DIETARY LAWS, ANNUAL, MONTHLY & WEEKLY SABBATHS ABOLISHED
Of all
the New Testament proofs for the abolition of the Sabbath as well as the Jewish
dietary law, the passages below is so far the clearest and the strongest one
for Sabbatarians to wrestle with.
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having
forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having
wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was
contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the
cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle
of them, triumphing over them in it. 16
Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a
festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the
substance is of Christ (Col.2:14-17).
St. Paul emphasized to the Colossian Christians
that their original as well as their actual sins have been forgiven once they
believed and were baptized in Christ Jesus (cf. Rom.6:1-6). Christ has put to
death, annulled, abolished the handwriting of ordinances, requirements, laws,
that were against “us” (including Paul), for the Old Testament law required
capital punishment for the disobedient ones. Even the demons, (principalities
and powers) who were at work with sinners were defeated when Christ was nailed
on the Cross. “Therefore”, St. Paul concludes, no Christian is to be condemned
anymore concerning the abolished laws on food and drink (dietary law), and
yearly Sabbath (festival), monthly Sabbath (new moon) and weekly Sabbath
(Sabbath in the Decalogue). These laws were only forerunners of Christ, like
John the Baptist was, so that when Christ came, their function ended.
ANOTHER DAY OF REST NOT SATURDAY
The inspired author to the Hebrews
recalled to the Jewish people that Moses was not able to bring the Israelites
from Egypt to the promised
land of Canaan. It was Joshua, Moses’ successor, who led the Israelites to enter
and capture Canaan. The first generation of
Israelites led by Moses died in the desert
of Sinai and were not
able to enter the promised land. Yet Joshua was not able to give God’s people
the promised rest (Sabbath) through the hardness of their hearts. The Old
Testament Sabbath failed and it will be the New Testament Joshua or Jesus who
will bring the true rest (Sabbath) to God’s people.
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He
would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a
rest for the people of God (Heb.4:8-9).
The rest being referred is called ANOTHER DAY,
meaning, different from the previous Old Testament one. This another rest
brought by Jesus Christ can mean resting in Jesus Christ himself who is our
rest (Matt.11:28)and whose favored day (the third day) is first Day/ Sunday or
simply the Lord’s Day. Or, that day of rest means the eternal rest with God and
all the angels and saints in heaven. In any case, the Old Covenant Sabbath/rest
has been replaced for the Christians.
CHANGE OF PRIESTHOOD MEANS CHANGE OF LAW
The Letter to the Hebrews emphasized the
superiority of Christ to all the personages in the Old Testament, including the
prophets and priests. While in the Old Covenant the priesthood was that of
Aaron under the Levitical priesthood, the New Covenant has changed it into the
priesthood in the order of Melchizedech. While the former offered the body and
blood of animals, the latter offered the body and blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. As there was a change of priesthood, there is also a change in the law.
For the priesthood being changed, of
necessity there is also a change of the law (Heb.7:12).
The law (Torah) or the
whole Old Testament law was superceded by the New Testament law of Christ. And
in the entire New Testament, Jesus never commanded His Apostles, or Paul or any
believer to continue observing the Sabbath law.
NEW COVENANT REPLACED THE OLD TESTAMENT
The
inspired writer reminds the Hebrew people steeped in the Old Covenant
observance that the first Covenant was imperfect, therefore, it was abrogated
in favor of the New Covenant which perfects the preceding one. Since the author
reduced the whole relationship of man to God in only two covenants, the first
Covenant is clearly the Old Testament with its Law (Torah), Prophets (Nebi’im)
and Psalms (Kethubi’im) which was abrogated in favor of the new which is the
New Covenant in Christ with its new law, the perfect sacrifice of Christ, and
New Testament observances.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless,
then no place would have been sought for a second. 8.
Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are
coming, says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel and with the house of Judah 9 "not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not
continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord (Heb.8:7-9).
The old
covenant which God made with the Israelites to get them out of Egypt is the
one that included the Decalogue with its promises and prohibitions:
1 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them:
"Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing
today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. 2 "The Lord our God made a covenant with
us in Horeb. 3 "The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but
with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive (Deut.5:1-3).
Even
though the whole of the Old Testament is abrogated, the eternal moral
principles contained therein are repeated and even perfected in the New Testament.
Nine of the ten commandments are mentioned as binding for Christians, such as
“You shall not commit adultery, steal, kill, covet, etc”, Sabbath commandment
is never mentioned as obligatory for Christian believers. Paul, Peter, James
and John enumerated sins that will expel Christians from the Kingdom of God,
yet nothing was mentioned about the Sabbath. The inspired writers, guided by
the Holy Spirit, could never have forgotten about the Sabbath commandment. On
the contrary, Sabbath observance is condemned in two instances (Col.2:16 and
Gal.4:10-11).
THE LORD’S DAY
IS SUNDAY
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I
heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet (Rev.1:10).
Since the Book of
Revelation was written by John at the close of the 1st century,
Christians have already distinguished themselves from non-believing Jews who
continued with their Sabbath observances by worshipping instead on Resurrection
day, first day or Sunday, called by the beloved disciple as the Lord’s day –
the day his beloved Master conquered death and rose in victory. Even he was
alone in the island
of Patmos, he was
together with all the Christians throughout the world worshipping on that
particular day. He was transported into heaven, like St. Paul was scores of years before(2 Cor.12:1-4),
on that particular day of worship.
The Lord’s day (Lat. Dies
Dominica; Spanish “Domingo”) can never be Saturday, as Sabbatarians contend,
because no verse in either the Old or new Testaments ever called Sabbath day as
Lord’s day. No Bible scholar in the more than 2,000 years of Christian
existence ever equated Sabbath as Lord’s day, except the modern-day
Sabbatarians themselves. One thing is very sure: Just as the Mosaic Passover
was never called the Lord’s Supper (the las t Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ),
in the same way, the Mosaic Sabbath was never called the Lord’s day, the day
the Lord Jesus arose from the dead.
Since the Seventh Day
Adventists insist that the Lord’s Day in Rev.1:10 is the same with the Sabbath day,
this researcher would like to present the scholarly comments of the late world
authority on various Christian beliefs and cults, Walter Martin (Kingdom of the
Cults, 1985, p.459-460).
Seventh-day Adventists from the beginning
have always attempted to equate the Sabbath with the lord’s Day. Their
principal method for accomplishing this is to link Mark 2:28 with Revelation
1:10, and thus to undercut one of the strongest arguments against their
position, i.e, the Lord’s Day as opposed to Sabbath observance.
They reason that since “the Son of man is
Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27,28), when John says he “was in the Spirit
on the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10), the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day must be
the same! The weakness of their position is that they base their argument on an
English translation instead of on the Greek original. When one reads the second
chapter of Mark and the first chapter of Revelation in Greek, he sees that
there is no such interpretation inherent in the grammatical structure. The
Greek of Mark 2:28 clearly indicates that Christ did not mean that the Sabbath
was Hi possession (which Adventists
would like to establish); rather, He was saying that as Lord of all He could do
as He pleased on the Sabbath. The Greek is most explicit here.
Nothing could be clearer from both the
context and the grammar. In Revelation 1:10, the Greek is not the genitive of
possession, which would have to be in order to make te-kuriake (the Lord’s) agree with henmera (day). John did not mean that the Lord’s day was the Lord’s
possession, but rather that it was the day dedicated to Him by the early
church, not in accordance with Mosaic law, but in obedience to our Lord’s
commandment of love.
We may certainly assume that if the
Sabbath had meant so much to the writers of the New Testament; and if, as
Adventists insist, it was so widely observed during the early centuries of the
Christian Church, John and the other writers of Scripture would have equated it
with the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week. Scripture and history testify
that they did not, and Adventists have, therefore, little scriptural
justification for their Sabbatarianism.
Bernhard
Raas, author of liturgical books, has this comment concerning the Lord’s day
(Raas, 1999, p.40).
This name is found in the bible and also
in the early tradition. It inbidcates that Sunday has a special relationship to
the Lord, the glorified Jesus Christ. It is his day, his property, and his
resurrection is the venerated content of this day.
In this name also another fact becomes
evident. The “Lord’s day” is a parallelism to the “Lord’s supper” (cf.1
Cor.11,20) and, therefore it alludes to the fact that on this day the eucharist
was celebrated.
