As I've discussed the Sabbath issue with many people, I've found that very little thought has been put into the issue. It's almost as if people are afraid to think deeply about it. They think, "If I think deeply about the Sabbath, then I might become convinced that there is a Sabbath Day. Then, I would become a Pharisee. Everyone would hate me. Plus, I don't want to have give up x on Sunday." While I believe that fallen human nature will always hate the Sabbath or distort it into a merit scheme, I think there are some considerations that can help us make more sense of the Sabbath. I will present by answering the common misconceptions related to the Sabbath.
1st Misconception - The Sabbath is primarily a day of rest.
This is not true. The Sabbath is a day of worship. Consider the commandment. It does not say, "You shall rest one day in seven." It says, "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." The reason why there is rest on the Sabbath Day is so that we might be able to make it holy. It is not a day of rest on which we also worship. It is a day of worship, for which it is necessary to rest from our other labors and recreations. Lev. 23:3 teaches that it is a day of holy convocation.
So, the Sabbath is a day of worship. In other words, it is a day to spend focusing on and enjoying the Triune God. It is a special day with Jesus. This is how we should view it. This is why we say that recreations are forbidden on the Sabbath. If we think of the Sabbath as a day of rest, then we naturally think that there is no reason why we can't do "restful" recreations. However, when we see it as a day to focus on Jesus, it becomes apparent that we must leave other pursuits behind.
2nd Misconception - there is nothing secular; therefore, the whole week is holy. Since the whole week is holy, there is nothing "holy" about the Sabbath Day.
While it is true that we can do all things, even our weekly occupations, out of love for God and for God's glory, it is also absolutely necessary to have special times to focus upon Him more directly. This is true of all relationships. I can out of love for my wife take my children to the park. However, if I never focus on her specifically by talking to her and listening to her, then our relationship will decay. So it is with God. If we do not set aside special times daily and weekly to speak to Him and hear Him, then we will find ourselves doing less and less for His glory.
3rd Misconception - the Sabbath is optional. God could have commanded it or not commanded it.
This has an air of plausibility, since the Lord changed the Sabbath Day from the seventh day of the week to the first. Further, the Sabbath command also forbids things that are lawful on other days. However, the Sabbath Day is something that is basic to our nature. The Sabbath Day was made for man as such (Mk. 2:27). There is something in man that needs the Sabbath Day. If God who made us has commanded us to take one day in seven to focus on Him, doesn't that leave us a strong presumption that it is something necessary for us? However, I think we can understand it to a degree. I think there are three things that make the Sabbath Day necessary for us.
1. We are finite. We cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. If we give one thing our attention, then we cannot give our attention to another thing at the same time (regardless of what we tell people!). Our life requires that we focus on many other things besides God. When we do them, the love and fear of God is in the heart of the believer; but the believer is not focusing on God. However, we should take some time and focus on God. The Sabbath Day is the weekly time that we should spend focusing on God.
2. We must provide for our bodies. We have to work and labor toward that end. This requires that we focus on other things. God wants us to spend six days taking care of that and set aside one day for His service.
3. We cannot be with each other all the time. Man is made "male and female", that is, a communal being. We cannot enjoy communion with one another all the time, but we should spend time together praising the Lord. If we are to do this, then we must set aside some time to do this.
All of these things make the Sabbath Day necessary for man as man.
4th misconception - there are thousands of Reformed men and pastors playing football with their kids in the backyard on Sunday afternoon.
It has almost become an axiom for Reformed ministers, "I agree with the Westminster Confession on the Sabbath; however, I think it's O.K. to go in the backyard and throw the football around with my kids on Sunday." You would think that there would be thousands of Reformed pastors and men playing football on a Sunday afternoon with their kids. This doesn't seem to be the case. I think it would probably be more accurate if we said, "I agree with the Westminster Confession on the Sabbath; however, I think it's O.K. to go in the backyard and watch football on Sunday." However, this sounds less noble than playing with our kids. Moreover, it does not seem very necessary, since ABC/ESPN made Monday night football to help out Sabbatarians.
This leads to the question, what can we do and not do on the Sabbath? People want a list. I'm not going to give you a list. I think if you ask that question, you've probably already failed. What you should ask is this. What does spending a day with Jesus look like? If you answer that question honestly, most of the other issues will resolve themselves.
5th Misconception - the Sabbath is hard for man.
This is not true. It is hard for fallen man. There are several aspects of fallen man that make the Sabbath hard for him. First, he loves himself more than God. So, he would rather enjoy himself than God.
Second, man loves the creature more than God. Consequently, he would rather enjoy the things of this world than direct fellowship with God. He would rather enjoy his money, the beauty of creation, cars, and almost any other created thing rather than God.
Third, man loves his body more than his soul. He seeks those things that appeal to his senses. He would rather spend a day feasting his body than his soul.
What we should do is recognize that a big problem with the Sabbath command is that we are sinful people who love sin and do not love God. We don't like to hear this about ourselves, but it is true.
How, then, can we become people who call the Sabbath a delight? Only by God's grace. This is why we need the Sabbath so much. The Sabbath was made as a day of fellowship between God and man. However, since the fall it has also become redemptive. It is a day of healing. As we meet with Jesus through the Word, sacrament, and prayer, He saves us by healing us of our sinfulness. He conforms us to His image and makes us one who loves to be with God and enjoy God.
However, we must also remember that much sinfulness in us remains. There is much in us that revolts from God. This will only be finally healed when we enter into the eternal Sabbath and enjoy God face to face with all His saints for eternity, perfectly cured of our sinfulness. Let us humble ourselves and long for that day.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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19 comments:
I'm going to assume you are a Reformed Baptist? Most Reformed Baptist hold to the Puritan view of the Sabbath whereas the Presbyterians hold to the Continental view. In any case, I'm OPC so my church does observe the Sabbath in the Continental style. This is the one belief I don't agree with. No one has been able to answer my questions regarding this matter. Maybe you can.
First: Since the reformed church believes that the Ten Commandments are the moral law and the moral law represents God's righteous nature and God's nature cannot change, then how is it God changed part of His moral law (Sabbath on Sun instead of Sat) in the NT? I know what Jonathan Edwards says about the "seventh" day not being a specific day and that he uses Ex 16 to support this idea. However, it doesn't. There are so many other ways that people try to explain this change but none of them have Scriptural backing.
I, as well as luvvom, have some questions. More so, I want to draw out your understanding.
You wrote:
[[This is not true. The Sabbath is a day of worship. Consider the commandment. It does not say, "You shall rest one day in seven." It says, "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy."]]
To which I go, hmmmmmmm?
I quote these verses and ask you to explain them in light of your words cited above:
Rom 7:1 Or do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?
Rom 7:2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
Rom 7:3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
Rom 7:4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
In light of how Paul the Apostle there at Romans 7 handles the difference, how does your word above square with Paul's?
I would take this tact and quote an interesting directive by Paul the Apostle to Timothy and ask you to also reconcile it with your position on the "correct" understanding of that commandment?
Paul:
2Ti 2:4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
One has to dig into the Greek to gain any insight into what is being implied here.
I would be interested in your exegesis of those Verses cited above in light of your article "Correcting Miscinceptions of the Sabbath", which I am finding hard to square with my own understanding.
Hey, I thought it was well-explained, brother. And contrary to popular belief, I also believe that the "Continental" and "Presbyterian/Puritan" views of the Sabbath are ... or initially were, and ought to be ... the same. That much should be clear from what Dordt said about the Sabbath, ja?
In any event, good read, Wes. May the Lord of the Sabbath continue to bless your work!
Luvvom,
Thanks for your comment/question. I'm actually a PCA pastor. Please note that as Doug B said, the views of most on the continent amongst the Reformed were the same as most of those in Britain (though there was diversity there as well).
To answer your question. I don't believe that God changed His moral law. Here's why:
1. In the original context, "the land" in commandment 5 meant the land of Canaan. No one would argue that the moral law was changed concerning parents simply because the land in which they dwelt is different. The moral law is obedience to superiors, not living in Canaan.
2. Even if we do take the exact wording of the commandment, it does not say the 7th day of the week. It says, "Six days you shall labor but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." We still do that when we honor Sunday as the Sabbath.
3. There is nothing moral about Saturday itself. The moral aspect of the command is setting time apart to worship God (as I explained in my article). That can be done whether God tells us to worship on Saturday or Sunday.
Thanks for your comment.
Natamllc, see my blog post next week on this point.
Doug, thanks for your kind words. May the Lord bless you as well.
The Continental view is different than the Puritan view in that they interpret Isaiah 58:13 differently. The Puritans interpreted "pleasure" as any kind of recreation. This interpretation is not found in the 4th commandment. Isaiah was not adding to the 4th commandment but was instead reiterating what the 4th said. The Puritans misunderstood the word "pleasure". Israel was always being corrected about the 4th BECAUSE they were working on Sat...bringing in money which was their pleasure. I have never read a passage that they were corrected for doing recreational activities on the Sabbath, have you? The Continental view does not interprets "pleasure" this way. My church does allow recreation and I know the PCA does because my sister and her family belong to that denomination. I'm sure there are particular churches within the OPC and PCA which cling to the Puritan view but from what I've seen most do not.
(What I say next is not what I believe in its entirety although some of it I do believe in. I only say it to be consistent with the line of thinking that the 4th's activities are a moral law. My belief is that the 4th is both ceremonial and moral: not working is the ceremonial part and rest in Christ [salvation, sanctification etc] is the moral aspect. My supportive Scriptures being found in Heb 3&4, Col 2, Rom 13, and Gal 4.)
Your point of "land" could be a good one if you view the Ten Commandments as pertaining to the Jew at that time. However, we know that God isn't limited in His view. He knew He had written those commandments for all people for all times. When we read the Ten Commandments we are to read them as current information. God has given each and every person on earth land on which to live, so your example of how we can take a word from the Ten Commandments and make it only for the Jew at that time falls through the cracks.
As for the "seventh" day in the 4th, it does mean the seventh day of the week unless you don't believe that the Sabbath was a creational ordinance. God is perfectly clear on which day He created each thing. The last day of the creational week was the day He rested and made the Sabbath day. It is impossible to jumble those days up unless you want to reorganize what He created into different days. So on the first day He created man...you see this cannot be done. When God made the Ten Commandments He referred back to creation which DEFINES "seventh" in the 4th:
8"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
Many people try to get around this problem by using another example of words being in the Ten Commandments but not apart of the moral law by stating that Ex.20:2 is within the moral law but was not apart of the moral law. This is also misunderstanding the text. In verse 2, God is only announcing Himself as a speaker would announce himself before he began his speech. God announced who He was to establish His authority and then gave them His law which was His authority.
Finally, I agree with you that there is nothing moral about Sat but neither is there anything moral about Sun. The moral part of the 4th is rest in Christ Jesus and the ceremonial part is the coming together for worship which is commanded of us in Heb 10.
I should have given Scriptural support for "land" in the 5th commandment being for all times and for Jew and Gentile alike.
Eph 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3"that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.
Luvvom,
Thanks for your reply. First, it is simply incorrect to say that what you're talking about is the continental view. Many people commonly think this, but the majority of continental Reformed theologians were in agreement with the Puritans. See for example on this Turretin, Wollebius, Brakel, and others. My point is simply that it's wrong to call a view that permits recreation the "Continental" view.
However, the moral part of the Sabbath is taking time to focus on God. The commandment was to remember the day to keep it holy. This is why we shouldn't work or do recreation. We are to focus on God. This is consonant with human nature on the basis of the reasons I set forth in my article.
The commandment simply does not say that it is the seventh day of the week. Even if I agree with you on the wording of the 5th, the point still stands. God gave the command in a way that I can still say, "I work six days and on the seventh day I worship." I do that just as much as the believer in the O.T.
Finally, the Sabbath command is not fulfilled simply by the act of resting in Christ. This is not what Hebrews says. In Heb. 4, the rest was promised to the people of the O.T., and it didn't mean that they wouldn't take one day a week to focus on God; therefore, it doesn't mean that for us either. In addition, if the moral part was resting in Christ, then it would not be applicable to all people in all ages. Adam could not rest in Christ before the fall since he had no son. Therefore, the 4th commandment does not refer to resting in Christ.
I suppose you'll have to correct Sproul and others like him then about the Continental view. Personally, it makes no difference to me.
I'm not sure if you believe in election, but if you do, then you have to believe that Adam had to rest in Christ even before the fall. Him having no son means nothing. He didn't have a son when he fell. The natural course of the incarnation would need the act of child bearing, but Adam wasn't without hope until he had a son. Adam received the promise of a Savior before he even had a son because he needed a Savior even before the fall. Adam was innocent before the fall but he was not perfect. Had he been perfect he would not have fallen. He would have been able to attain his place before God on his own. As it was, he was not perfect and fell the moment a temptation was presented to him. He, like us, needed Christ's perfect works imputed onto him. God knew this before the foundation of the world not after Adam sinned.
Do you have any Scriptural support to state that God didn't really mean the seventh day of the week when He established the 4th? I have Scriptural support in many places that He did mean that...one I've already given to you which is actually in the 4th. Can you explain why God would mention the creational seventh day (a day we cannot jumble up with any other creational day) in the 4th? If it doesn't mean anything, doesn't define anything, then why should God mention it? If you don't have Scriptural support, then one could say that the Israelites could have picked their own day to be the seventh day. However, we know that they did not because in Ex 16 the whole congregation picked up twice the amount of manna they needed on the sixth day to prepare for the Sabbath. They did this before Moses told them to and after they had leftover manna which grew worms and stank. Why did they know to do this? Because the Sabbath had always been on Sat since creation. There is no Scriptural support that God all of the sudden changed the meaning of "seventh" when He made the 4th. Perhaps there is though. Perhaps by the time I get to this point with everyone I've talk to they are shaking their heads praying for me that God will soften my heart and they give up on me. By the time I get to this point, they are scolding me and telling me they are not going to discuss the matter with me any longer because they feel I don't want to learn the truth anyway. So, I'm still waiting for the Scripture that gives Sabbatarians permission to make the word "seventh" mean two different things. I've been waiting for a long time for that Scripture. Perhaps you have more patience than the other people I've spoken with and will bear with me and find that Scripture which you all would agree that you need in order to change a moral law. I'm not being sarcastic...I truly mean this.
luvvom,
if I might?
You wrote:::>
[[ When we read the Ten Commandments we are to read them as current information. ]]
Wow, yes and amen! And it is always, always "current information" the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the, the, to eternity, when we "hear" it or "read" it.
My point is that was a powerful sequence of words!
Thanks!
Luvvom,
Let me try to respond to your questions.
I don't think that the meaning of the word "seventh" has changed. We still work six days and then rest on the seventh day. The seventh day is not the seventh day of the week. The seventh day after six days of labor is now on the 1st day. The wording of the commandment is not diluted or perverted at all by saying this. The 4th commandment simply does not say that we must observe the seventh day of the week. It just says work six days and rest the seventh (after six days of labor).
My Scriptural support is just that the commandment does not say the 7th day of the week. God wrote it in a way that it is equally applicable to us before and after Christ's resurrection.
But you have left out part of the 4th which does define the seventh day as to which day it specifically is. Again, can you give a reasonable answer as to why God would place in the 4th this:
11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
He is clearly referring back to the creational days which cannot be jumbled up otherwise you have God creating things on different days than when He said He created them. So the first day was indeed the first day because there was no other day to come before it. The seventh day was indeed the seventh day because there were only six days before it and not a multitude of days that could become what you purport," I work six and rest on the seventh day". You are only able to say this because we have multitudes of days with which to work since the time of creation. However, this is not the case when God created the world...He only had seven and those seven days could not be jumbled about. Then He made the 4th and put into the 4th what He did on the seventh day of creation. Which logically defines the "seventh" in the 4th.
Again, can you give a reasonable answer as to why God would place in the 4th a reference to the seventh day of creation?
Luvvom,
I will try to give a reasonable answer. By the way, I do believe in the 6 24 hour day view of the creation week.
God established a pattern that He wanted imitated by man. He wanted man to work six days and then rest on the seventh simply to contemplate His glory and His works. He was showing what a week should look like for His creatures.
I can use the exact same reason today. Just as God labored six days and rested the seventh day, so I labor six days and then rest on the seventh. This is true whether the seventh day is the seventh day of the week or the first day of the week.
Wes,
I really think you should run for president! You answer just like a politician! LOL!
I'm glad you stated that you believe in a 6 24 hour creation. Believing in this, forces you to define the "seventh" in the 4th specifically and not just one day out of the week. You have not answered my question. Like a politician (lol), you keep giving me an answer which is exactly like the one you have been giving...your belief system. From the answer you give to me, I have to believe that you do not believe that God rested from His creational work on a specific day even though you say you believe in the 6 24 hour creation. If you are mimicking God in your rest, then you are either saying God didn't rest on a specific day or you are saying two different things...that He did rest on a specific day but that Him referencing creation in the 4th is meaningless.
Wes,
Luvvom has made a very good point, and so far you have been evading it. The wording of the fourth commandment is quite clear:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy… For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
According to the infallible Word of God, the first Sabbath was the seventh day of the creation week. Thus, the command to keep the Sabbath day holy would have applied to every seventh day from the original Sabbath, not just to any arbitrary day of the week. It was a fixed day of the week established by God as a creation ordinance.
Moreover, since Jesus rose on the first day of the week (Mk 16:9), the morning after the seventh day Sabbath had ended (Matt 28:1; Mk 16:1; Lk 24:1), it’s quite clear that the first day of the week is not the Sabbath. Yet you claim that “the Lord changed the Sabbath Day from the seventh day of the week to the first.” That’s quite a bold claim, but where does Scripture teach such a thing? I see passages where the disciples “gathered together to break bread” (Acts 20:7) and “put aside” a portion of money (1 Cor 16:2) on the first day of the week, but I don’t see anything that even remotely teaches that “the Lord changed the Sabbath day from the seventh day of the week to the first.” That is certainly not the explicit teaching of these passages, nor is it even implied as a “good and necessary consequence” of what they say. Therefore, if the command to keep the Sabbath day holy (which is defined as rest from “work” or “labor” in context -- Ex 20:9-10) still applies today, then it applies to the seventh day of the week (Saturday), just as God’s infallible Word explicitly teaches.
However, I would further argue that the external observance of the Sabbath is no longer applicable under the New Covenant, for this is also what God’s infallible Word explicitly teaches (Rom 14:5-6; Gal 4:10; Col 2:16-17; Heb 4:9). Rather, we worship the Lord on the first day of the week (Sunday), in honor of His being “raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25) on that day. But nowhere does Scripture teach that the first day of the week is the Sabbath day.
I've not ignored the issue. The issue was whether the 4th commandment commands the Saturday Sabbath. I believe that it did command the Saturday Sabbath when Saturday was the day of worship.
However, a careful examination of the 4th commandment itself reveals that it says nothing about the seventh day of the week being a moral requirement.
In contrast, it says, six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. It simply says six days after labor. It does not say that the seventh day of the week is or must be the Sabbath day.
As for Ex. 20:11, the text says that because God worked on six days and rested the seventh day, for this reason He hallowed the Sabbath Day. I do agree that this was the seventh day of the week in the Old Testament. However, the very wording can be applied to any of the seven days that God would choose to hallow.
If you admit that Sunday is a day of worship, then you have already granted that it is the Sabbath Day of the N.T. The reason is that the Sabbath Day is a special day of worship.
As for the texts you cite, they refer to things that were in controversy in the early Church. The day of worship was not one of them; therefore, they have no reference to the Sabbath any more than the fact that there is no distinction in foods means that there is no Lord's Supper or that "washings" were part of the ceremonial law means that we should not have baptism.
I believe that it did command the Saturday Sabbath when Saturday was the day of worship… It simply says six days after labor. It does not say that the seventh day of the week is or must be the Sabbath day.
It commands that we keep the Sabbath day holy, which is defined in Scripture as the seventh day of the week -- the day the Lord rested at the end of the creation week -- not the first day of the week.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy… For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
Therefore, every seventh day from that original Sabbath would be the day of the week that we are commanded to keep as the Sabbath -- which would be the seventh day of the week.
I do agree that this was the seventh day of the week in the Old Testament. However, the very wording can be applied to any of the seven days that God would choose to hallow.
It can only apply to “any of the seven days” of the week if we ignore the fact that God rested on and hallowed the seventh day day of the week -- “Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day [i.e., the seventh day of the week] and hallowed it.”
If you admit that Sunday is a day of worship, then you have already granted that it is the Sabbath Day of the N.T. The reason is that the Sabbath Day is a special day of worship.
Of course, that doesn’t logically follow at all. There are many days of worship in Scripture that are explicitly not described as the Sabbath (indeed, every day should be a day of worship). Therefore, the fact that Christ’s disciples came together on the first day of the week in order to worship Him doesn’t in any way make the first day of the week the Sabbath day. Unless God specifically “changed” the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week, we have no right to call the first day of the week the Sabbath. And you have still not cited a single passage of Scripture which teaches that God “changed” the Sabbath day either explicitly or implicitly.
As for the texts you cite, they refer to things that were in controversy in the early Church. The day of worship was not one of them; therefore, they have no reference to the Sabbath…
“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” -- Col 2:16-17
Sorry, but I’ll take the explicit wording of Scripture here, rather than what you have to say. Moreover, it would be impossible for Paul to say that we are permitted to “esteem all days alike” (Rom 14:5; cf. Gal 4:10) if the command to keep the Sabbath day holy was still in effect under the New Covenant.
Roger, thanks for your comments and thoughts.
Reply to # 1 - The text of the commandment says, "Because the Lord worked six days and rested the seventh day; therfore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day." The grounds for the blessing of the Sabbath Day is God's 6-1 pattern. This can equally apply to Saturday or Sunday. We know from Scripture that Sunday is now the Sabbath Day.
Reply to # 2 - see misconception # 2.
Reply to # 3 - The text says "Sabbaths" not "a Sabbath." I do not believe that we can simply go to the sound of the words without a consideration of the immediate literary and historical context as well as the canonical context in general.
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