At last, the Sabbath observance thread

In the old days, every subforum on ATS used to have an explanatory rubric visible at the top of every page in a thread. This was a way of defining the intended content, so that members would know where to post and the Mods would know where threads should be moved.

The rubric attached to this one (RFT) was “Discuss all things spiritual and share your own faith-based experiences”. Others were defining the subtle difference between “Predictions and prophecies” (for published prophecy like Revelation and Nostradamus) and “Dreams and predictions” (for private theories like the code messages you were discovering in episodes of the Simpsons).

I remember the rubric well because of the need to quote it when members were writing or entering threads for attack purposes, or simply denying there was any place for religion on ATS.

In fact dbates published a thread which is still sticky on this forum, on the importance of staying “on topic”. In other words, this was a forum designed for discussion within belief systems, rather than attacking belief systems. He suggested a number of relevant topics, including sabbath observance. A far as I know, nobody ever got around to doing a thread on sabbath observance, so I’m filling that gap now, while there is still time. Two angles

(I still appreciate, incidentally, the honour of finding a thread of my own among the sticky threads)

(P.P.S. Re the title. Experts in Monty Python lore will recognise "At Last the 1948 Show" as the name of one of the precursors

Historically, the name “sabbath” has been transferred from the Jewish Saturday to the Christian Sunday.

The Adventist version of this transfer is that the Seventh Day was dropped as a consequence of Constantine’s decision to make the church celebrate Sunday instead. That legend is a misunderstanding of what he was doing and gets the events in the wrong order.

The abandonment of the Jewish Sabbath custom happened first. To be exact, the church began to be filled with Gentiles, who had not been brought up under Jewish law, and the Gentile portion of the church did not bother taking up the Sabbath in the first place. In their rejection of the law, they were encouraged by Paul. They were later stoutly supported by the second-century Justin Martyr, defending the Christian faith against the Jews; “But the Gentiles who have believed on him, and have repented of the sins they have committed, they shall receive the inheritance… even though they neither keep the Sabbath nor are circumcised, nor keep the feasts” (Dialogue with Trypho, ch26). Note that his line is “We don’t do the Sabbath any more”, not “We have transferred the Sabbath to a different day”. In other words, the abandonment of the Sabbath came LONG before the time of Constantine.

On the other hand, the church from the beginning was celebrating the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. Acts ch20 v7 speaks of a gathering “on the first day of the week”, and Paul urges the Corinthians to set aside money for the Jerusalem collection n the same day (1 Corinthians ch16 v2). The visions of the book of Revelation are given to John on “the Lord’s Day” (ch1 v10), the day of the Resurrection. This s very appropriate, since Christ’s power to help his people is one of the benefits of his Resurrection, as his angel at the end of the chapter makes clear.

There is a celebrated letter from the provincial governor Pliny the younger to the Emperor Trajan, in which Pliny asks for advice on dealing with local Christian. He reports “They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent food.” He does not specify the “fixed day”, but “before dawn” implies that the event was inspired by the Resurrection.

Justin Martyr (First Apology, ch17) gives a more detailed account of weekly worship, specifying “the day called Sunday” [TE TOU HELIOU LEGOMENE HEMERA]. “Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and the matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead.”

Similarly the Epistle of Barnabas (ch15) from about the same time; Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended into heaven”. The idea that the Resurrection was “an eighth day of creation”, following the seventh day, because that was the day when God perfected his creation, was popular in the early centuries of the church. Even the New Testament contains oblique allusions to this thought. One is 2 Peter ch2 v5, where Noah, representing Christ, is said to have been saved from the flood “as an eighth man”. I understand that this connection is the reason why the traditional baptismal font was an octagon. However, this allusion to the mystic number “eight” is invisible to the readers of modern Bibles, who are told that Noah was saved “along with seven others”. This is one of my favourite examples of what is wrong with paraphrase translation. Also in Revelation ch17 v10, the seven kings are followed by the beast, the imitator of Christ, who is called “an eighth”. Not “an eighth king”. Just “an eighth”.

In the early days, there was no thought of enforcing Sunday as a day of rest (which would have needed legal backing). The famous law of Constantine (321 A.D.) closed law-courts on this day “and deprecated Sunday labour except where necessary on farms” (I’m quoting the Penguin History of the Church here). But it’s important to understand what Constantine was NOT doing. He was not making a direct transfer from a Saturday Sabbath rest, because the church had not been taking one. And this was less about enforcing laws on the church than about bringing the rest of the Empire more in line with Christian teaching.

Therefore there was no necessity for the Adventists to transfer the Sabbath “back” to Saturday, because there is no New Testament necessity to have any Sabbath at all. They don’t need to worry, though. The good news is that the rest of the church doesn’t care enough about the issue to persecute them for it, though the bad news is that God doesn’t care about it either, not enough to give them special treatment on account of it.

Sabbath Entertainment

The British Victorian era possibly saw the climax of the idea that the Sabbath should be a day not just free from work but also free from enjoyment. It was immoral to do anything pleasurable on the Sabbath. Instead of playing with their toys, children should be reading “improving” books. Theatres should not be showing plays on Sundays or other holy days. It was politically impossible to close down pubs on Sunday (except in Wales), but their opening hours could be restricted a little more on that day. Opening the morning session at noon and the evening session at seven, as I recall from my own working stints. The theory was that they should not be open before the beginning of church services, so that people going to church could not be diverted in a different direction. The ironic result, as Punch kept pointing out, was that it was still easier to spend the day in the pub than it was to spend the day visiting a museum.

I was brought up at the tail-end of this phase of culture (in the Fifties). Our house had an open space on one side, and it was possible for people walking down the road to see about a third of our back garden. At one stage, our mother’s rule was that we were allowed to play in the back garden on Sunday, but only in that part of it which was not visible from the road, to avoid scandal. I’m not entirely sure, now, that the neighbours of the time would have cared. She may just have been recreating the rules that were in force during her own childhood. On another occasion, she informed us that our Bonfire Night that year would be postponed for a day, because it fell on a Sunday. I floored her for a moment by quoting “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath”. Careful inspection of old calendars shows that I would have been nine years old that year. Obviously this was the same rebel who challenged her claim to be twenty-one (“Then you would have been twelve years old when I was born”).

This attitude certainly goes back to the time of the Reformation. King James managed to infuriate the Puritans when he published “The Book of Sports”, listing the kind of recreation which might be legally permitted on Sundays. They included archery, dancing, leaping and vaulting, but even May-games, Whitsun-ales and Morris-dances should be permitted. But where did the Puritan Sabbath principle come from? I may have discovered the answer when I re-read an anthology of the writings of Martin Bucer (a parting gift from an employer). That was where I found his treatment of the Sabbath question. Bucer was a German theologian who was very influential in England, and his influence might explain why this kind of Sabbatarianism appears to be stronger in Britain than it has been in Europe.

The logic of his argument was breath-taking. It was based on drawing a distinction between “rest” and “recreation”. The Sabbath was specifically designed for rest, but recreation was something different. You see, recreation is a “break from work”. And how can you have a break from work on a day that is not a work-day?. So obviously recreation is only appropriate on work-days and should be barred on Sundays. “Rest-and-recreation” as a compound concept in the modern sense would have been beyond his understanding.

The idea that Sunday pleasure can be as sinful as Sunday work helps to explain some of the oddities of Sabbatarianism. For example, there was a long controversy about Sunday newspapers. Critics of the Sabbath objection kept pointing out that most of the work of preparing a newspaper is done before midnight on the previous day, so it would be more logical to complain about Monday newspapers. They missed the point (partly because the Sabbatarians were hardly aware of it themselves) that the real objection was not to the work done, but to the pleasure received by reading the newspapers. Similarly the real objection to Sunday theatre was not the work of the actors but the pleasure of the audience. The assumption that pleasure is sinful in itself has been responsible for a lot of unnecessary rule-making.

Hell yes!

originally posted by: DISRAELI2
Historically, the name “sabbath” has been transferred from the Jewish Saturday to the Christian Sunday.


The abandonment of the Jewish Sabbath custom happened first. To be exact, the church began to be filled with Gentiles, who had not been brought up under Jewish law, and the Gentile portion of the church did not bother taking up the Sabbath in the first place. In their rejection of the law, they were encouraged by Paul.

Thank you for your posts on the Bible. I have always enjoyed reading them. And always appreciate your faith.

I wanted to point one thing out before I keep reading into your thread. And you seem to gloss over the holy spirit's moving of the matters to have the Christian congregation do away with the things pertaining to the law. And it wasn't through the apostle Paul, while he did expound upon those things by means of the holy spirit, it was actually be means of the apostle Peter, who was given the keys to the kingdom by Jesus Christ. One of these keys was to open the way to the gentiles. And to show that the works of the Law had been done away with God gave Peter a vision of unclean animals and was told to eat them and three times he refused until finally he was told:

"But Peter said: “Not at all, Lord, because I have never eaten anything defiled and unclean.” And the voice spoke again to him, the second time: “Stop calling defiled the things God has cleansed.” This happened a third time, and immediately it was taken up into heaven."-Acts 10:14-16.

Now at the same time the spirit appeared to the uncircumcised gentile Cornelius, a Roman Centurion. And it lead Peter to Cornelius home, and then before Cornelius was baptized in water he and all his household were baptized with holy spirit before the apostle Peter.

Later when questioned on why he had preached to the gentiles, something that was until then forbidden, he explained these wonderful signs from God, his dream, the commission by the holy spirit to Cornelius home, the angel's visit to Cornelius the angel told Cornelius to summon Peter, and the outpouring of holy spirit upon the uncircumcised gentile and his entire household.

It was the older men in Jerusalem, or the governing body at that time, that came to the unanimous decision that the holy spirit had lead to this understanding that they were no longer under the works of the law. And not Paul, he was never a member of the governing body in the first century. And they made this conclusion at Peter's testimony:

 “He reported to us how he saw the angel stand in his house and say: ‘Send men to Jopʹpa and summon Simon who is called Peter, and he will tell you things by which you and all your household may get saved.’  But when I started to speak, the holy spirit fell on them just as it did also on us in the beginning. At this I recalled the saying of the Lord, how he used to say: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with holy spirit.’ If, therefore, God gave the same free gift to them that he gave to us who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I should be able to hinder God?”-Acts 11:13-17.

Later on the governing body that deliberated over the matters and how God's holy spirit was leading the Christian congregation sent this letter out:

"We have come to a unanimous decision to choose men to send to you together with our beloved Barʹna·bas and Paul, 26 men who have given up their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are therefore sending Judas and Silas, so that they also may report the same things by word of mouth.  For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you except these necessary things: to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. Good health to you!”-Acts 15:25-29

Now the governing body originally was the apostles, but later it was other older men or elders in Jerusalem. And Paul was not among those who made this decision that was guided by the holy spirit, Jesus Christ, and Jehovah God. Not the apostle Paul. They were no longer under the law to Moses, and gentiles were NOT required to get circumcised. And no Christian had to adhere to the Sabbath day, which was an observance under the Mosaic Law. The anointed Christian congregation had been drawn into God's rest and were in a perpetual Sabbath with God.

ETA:

I should add the first deliberation of the governing body at the apostle Peter's report of how the holy spirit and the angels guided the uncircumcised gentile Cornelius' household to be anointed with holy spirit. They made this statement after the first quote quoted above at Acts 11:13-17:

"When they heard these things, they stopped objecting, and they glorified God, saying: “So, then, God has also granted to people of the nations repentance leading to life.”-Acts 11:18.

It wasn't until later that the governing body of older men in Jerusalem made the statement above showing that the Christians, Jew or Gentile were no longer required to carry out any works of the law, with the exceptions they noted, which were already in effect even before the Law was given, and will always continue to be, namely to abstain from blood, things sacrificed to idols, and sexual immorality.

a reply to: randomuser2034
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originally posted by: DISRAELI2
a reply to: randomuser2034
Even without ATS you will still be able to read my books;
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Thank you for the link.

The day of the sabbath was a big step into worker rights. I have worked 7 days a week for a while at times, it does burn you out. At other times, Wednesday way my sabbath with how my work was structured. Whatever day works for in getting a break somewhere during the week, praise be to god.

Exactly how are we to determine which day is the Sabbath when the calendar has changed fundamentally from when the Sabbath was made.

Back then, every month was exactly 4 weeks. That is 28 days for a month. Now that did not work out to be the length of a year evenly you say. There were two days between each month that did not count as being in the calendar at all. That is two days from the end of a month to the start of the next month. Then every month started with a Sunday and ended on a Saturday. So it went Friday, Saturday, day, day, Sunday, Monday when months changed.


Kind of throws a wrench in the works when the days don't even match up dosent it.

Pick a day, any day. It’s your intent that counts.

reply to: BeyondKnowledge3

Let's address the most common arguments against the Sabbath.

Is Jesus now our rest?

Hebrews 4 concerning rest.

Paul first quotes the creation account. Specifically the observance of the Sabbath in Genesis 2:2.

Hebrews 4:4 For He [God] has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;

Paul continues.

Hebrews 4:5-6 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,

Why did they not enter into rest? Disobedience.

Paul then quotes David and Joshua concerning a certain day in verses 7-8. Only God can give rest, on the day He specified at creation.

Hebrews 4:7-8 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.

Paul again refers to the creation account. A rest remains, the seventh day Sabbath.

Hebrews 4:9-10 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

Paul leaves no doubt that the rest that remains is the seventh day Sabbath.

Can We Pick A Day As Sabbath?

Colossians 2:16 is most often used to justify Sabbath observance on any day, but what does scripture say?

Colossians 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

Taken alone, one could think it's true, that we can move the Sabbath to any day we want, or not observe it at all. But let's look at the context.

Paul first describes those reading as forgiven of sin and taking on a new life free from sin. What is sin? Transgression of the law of God (1 John 3:4). What is being free from sin? Obedience of the law of God (Romans 6:16).

Colossians 2:13 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,

Paul then states that He (Jesus) wiped out the handwriting of requirements (ordinances), having nailed it to the cross.

Colossians 2:14 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.

The handwriting of requirements were separate from the Ten Commandments, and even kept separate with the ark. The Ten Commandments were in the ark itself (Deuteronomy 10:2), the handwriting of ordinances were kept beside the ark (Deuteronomy 31:26).

Let's look at Colossians 2:16 in context.

Colossians 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, Colossians 2:17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Paul clarifies in Hebrews 10 just what the shadow of things to come is:

Hebrews 10:1 For the law [handwriting of ordinances], having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

The context of Colossians 2:16 is concerning the handwriting of ordinances, and the sacrificial system, which included the feast days of food and drink (called "sabbaths"). The shadow of things to come ended at the cross. The Ten Commandments did not, as is evidenced throughout scripture.

Did Jesus Do Away with the Ten Commandments at the Cross?

Jesus concerning the law and the cross.

Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Strong's G4137 fulfil (plēroō): to fulfil, i.e. to cause God's will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God's promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfilment.

Jesus continues.

Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

• Heaven and earth have not passed away.
  
• All is not fulfilled.
  

Therefore, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law.

Jesus then warns us concerning breaking the commandments of God.

Matthew 5:19-20 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Do the Commandments to Love God and Love Others overwrite the Ten Commandments?

Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is.

Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Notice that Jesus hung all the law and the prophets on love. He didn't destroy the law of God, He elevated it in understanding, magnified it.

Isn't the Sabbath Just for the Jews?

The Sabbath was instituted at creation, when there was no such thing as a Jew. God called the Sabbath a perpetual covenant for Israel (Exodus 31:13-16). We are all grafted into Israel (Romans 11). There is neither Jew nor Greek (Galatians 3:11, Galatians 3:28). We are spiritual Israel. Jesus called Himself Lord of the Sabbath and stated the the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27-28).

(continued in the next post as I've run out of space)

There is plenty of evidence of Sabbath observance in the Old and New Testaments.

Is the Sabbath A Perpetual Covenant?

• God instituted the Sabbath at creation, sanctifying it as a day of rest (Genesis 2:1-3).
  
• God gave the Sabbath as a commandment to Israel on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20:8-11), and called Himself "I Am".
  
• God's Sabbath commandment said Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, and pointed directly to creation.
  
• God called the Sabbath a perpetual covenant between Himself and Israel (Exodus 31:13-16).
  
• Israel obeyed the Sabbath while wandering 40 years in the wilderness (manna; Exodus 16).
  
• Jesus obeyed the Sabbath throughout His life, going to the synagogue to stand and read, as was His custom (Luke 4:16).
  
• Jesus taught the Sabbath during His ministry, correcting the Pharisees on how to observe the Sabbath (Matthew 12).
  
• Jesus called Himself Lord of the Sabbath and said the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27-28). Paul would later reiterate this (Hebrews 4:9; there remains a rest for man).
  
• Jesus mentioned the Sabbath as being observed at the time of the great tribulation (Matthew 24:20-22).
  
• Jesus called Himself "I Am", which puts Him on Mt. Sinai giving the Ten Commandments. He then would come in the flesh and magnify the law.
  
• Jesus observed the Sabbath even in death, passing away on Friday before Sabbath and raising Sunday after Sabbath (Matthew 27-28, Mark 16). Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome waited until after Sabbath to prepare the body of Jesus, but found His tomb empty when they arrived.
  
• Paul, as his manner was (as his custom was), observed the Sabbath. He preached to the Gentiles on the Sabbath (see the book of Acts). If the Sabbath was done away with or changed, surely the apostles would've changed their day of worship.
  
• Jesus reiterated commandment keeping in His Revelation (the book of Revelation), referencing several of the Ten Commandments.
  
• Jesus, immediately after a call to worship and a warning not to receive the mark of the beast, defines the patience of the saints through tribulation. The patience of the saints is the keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
  
• The dragon (Satan) is angry with the woman (God's church) and goes to make war with the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17). The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (defined in Revelation 19:10).
  
• Isaiah stated that the Sabbath would be observed in the new heaven and new earth perpetually (Isaiah 66:22-23).
  

Conclusion

Given the overwhelming evidence for the Sabbath, it makes no sense that God would negate the Sabbath He instituted at creation for a short period of time between the crucifixion and the second coming. Again, Jesus puts Sabbath observance at the great tribulation, so it is still being kept.

The commandments of God are perpetual, and the seventh-day Sabbath is perpetual.

Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Notice the call to fear God and keep His commandments (above). Now look at Revelation.

Revelation 14:6-12 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Revelation 14 points back to creation, to the seventh-day Sabbath, concerning worship. It is the last call to fear God and give glory to Him, and to keep His commandments, as verse 14 clearly defines the saints doing.

If that wasn't enough, let's look at Revelation 22, the very last warning from Jesus.

Revelation 22:13-19 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.