Christ and the Sabbath
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
Psalm 19:7
The other day I had the privilege of watching a debate, on YouTube, about the issue of the Sabbath. I was rather disappointed in the debate because, well, I am often rather disappointed in debates. Because I like debating so much I have an extremely high standard. For both sides, which makes it doubly difficult. Watching one side crush the other is, for me, not much of a pleasure, since I wish to see both sides bring forth their best arguments.
But that is besides my point here. My point here is that at a couple of points in the debate the issues of Christ and the Sabbath came up, and that struck me as a good topic for an entire post. What is the relationship between Christ, and the Sabbath? Did He ordain it? Did He annul it? Does He care?
A Part of Creation
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:8-11
There are a couple of interesting verbs and verb tenses here: remember, keep, blessed, and hallowed. A common view in the church is that this ordinance was created at this time; but the grammar and semantics of this passage make that difficult. One does not ‘remember’ something that is just being created, usually. As far as I can find (and I welcome comments), this is one of only a few commandments which calls us to ‘remember’ something, and all of the rest of the somethings were… history. Things like ‘Abraham’, or ‘God Himself’, or ‘their time in Egypt’. None of the rest seem to say ‘remember this brand new ordinance’.
And ‘keep’ usually implies something that already exists. And ‘blessed’ and ‘hallowed’ both seem to imply something that happened in the past.
So the obvious reading semantically and grammatically here is that there already existed something: say, a seven day week with one day set aside for rest… or a seven day creation where one day was especially set aside for rest… and this commandment is calling on Israel to ‘remember it’, to ‘keep’ it, because God ‘blessed’ it and ‘hallowed’ it. The contrary reading is… difficult.
The Sabbath and the Resurrection
And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.
And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.
And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.
And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.
Matthew 15:42-47
One question that arises for those who say the sabbath is ended is… when did it end? One way of reading the story of the resurrection is that Christ, Himself, honoured the Sabbath. He died before the Sabbath, and rose after the Sabbath.
The Lord of the Sabbath
At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
Matthew 12:1-8
And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.
And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.
And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.
And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.
And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.
And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
Mark 1:21-28
And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Mark 3:1-6
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.
Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.
If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
John 7:21-24
And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
Mark 6:2-4
A Proper Sabbath
And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue:
And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
Mark 12:9-13
Christ turns the wisdom of men on its head, in pronouncing that the sabbath is a good thing, and thus it comports with the doing of good, not the doing of evil.
A Future Sabbath
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Matthew 24:15-21
Well, this is interesting. When this time comes (or came, I will not assume your eschatology) there was, or will be, still a Sabbath. Whether this was in AD 70, or will be in a future yet to come, whether this will be the sabbath day, or a sabbath year, it would have been, or will be, still in effect.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Hebrews 4:1-13
Here again we have an interesting passage. Here we have a rest that remains, and a seventh day. And the rest that remains uses the word ‘sabbatismos’. A Greek word that comes directly from the Hebrew word… Sabbath.
The Apostles and the Sabbath
In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
Matthew 28:1
And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.
Acts 18:4-5
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
Acts 17:2-3
And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
Acts 16:13-14
Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
Acts 15:19-21
But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.
And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.
Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.
The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.
And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.
And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.
And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.
Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:
When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.
Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.
For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.
Acts 13:14-27
Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.
Acts 1:12
Judging
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Colosians 2:16-17
Now, I am no Greek scholar, but I find it interesting, having read the passage translated into English and French, in several different translations, that there are two issues in the ‘Judging’ passages that need addressing.
First of all, judging… goes both ways. Unless I don’t understand the Greek, the passage does not merely say ‘don’t let anyone get mad at your for working on the Sabbath’ but would apply just as well to ‘don’t let anyone get mad at you for not working on the sabbath’.
And the verb in front of Shadow is in present tense.
The context of this passage is interesting. It is in the context of the law being ‘contrary to us’:
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Colossians 2:13-15
Now, given that the law is a blessing to us, what is this talking about? Well, the passage makes it very clear: we have sinned, and the law stands in judgement against us… and Christ takes away our sin, and thus the punishment. He blots out the judgement against us. It was written, and justly written, but Christ takes it away.
A Week
And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
Genesis 28:26-28
H7620 (Strong)
שְׁבֻעָה שָׁבֻעַ שָׁבוּעַ
shâbûa‛ shâbûa‛ shebû‛âh
shaw-boo'-ah, shaw-boo'-ah, sheb-oo-aw'
Properly passive participle of H7650 as a denominative of H7651; literally sevened, that is, a week (specifically of years): - seven, week.
I won’t list them, but there are several times when the word ‘Sabbath’ is translated ‘week’ in the New Testament. And the OT word week is ‘shawboo’; literally ‘sevened’. So, I wonder, for those who would get rid of the ‘Sabbath’, are they also proposing that we get rid of the idea of a ‘week’? The idea of cutting up our life into seven day chunks?
Because the other seasons have markers. The sun rises to mark the day, the moon changes to mark the month, and the equinox arrives to mark the year. But what of the week? Is there anything astronomical, anything natural, given us to mark the seven days that fill the Scriptures?
Can one have a first day of a week if we don’t have a week? Can we have a week if we don’t have a seven? They had weeks before the law was instituted… why? How?
Sabbath, Sabbaths, and Other Sabbaths
And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.
Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.
And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
Leviticus 28:1-8
It should be pointed out that there are other ‘sabbaths’ in Scripture; not merely the weekly day of rest. The land, for example, is said to rest every seven years. And every seven of seven years to rest in a different way.
Conclusion
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
I John 3:4
So here are the conclusions that I come to from his study:
The Sabbath is an ordinance grounded in the creation. Christ was part of Creation. Ergo the Sabbath is grounded in the work of Christ.
Christ is said to be the Lord of the sabbath.
During the life of Christ, he frequently corrected the Pharisees et al on their view of the Sabbath. He grounded His corrections in:
Their own practice in other areas.
The practice of David and
The Law of God in circumcision
During the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, the Sabbath was honoured.
After the resurrection the disciples continued to use the Sabbath, in particular to preach.
The conclusion I don’t reach is that Christ ordered us to run around and do lots of work on the Sabbath. Oh, sure, doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers… they are all covered, indeed more than covered. But your ordinary Joe who just goes to work because ‘Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath’ or ‘The Sabbath is made for man’? Not so much.
The church has taught, over the centuries, that there remains a sabbath for the people of the Lord. A gift of a day of rest, one day a week.
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Links and Appendix
Westminster Large Catechism on the Fourth Commandment
115. What is the fourth commandment?
The fourth commandment is, Remember the sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath-day and hallowed it.
116. What is required in the fourth commandment?
The fourth commandment requireth of all men the sanctifying or keeping holy to God such set times as He hath appointed in His Word, expressly one whole day in seven; which was the seventh from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week ever since, and so to continue to the end of the world; which is the Christian Sabbath, and in the New Testament called The Lord’s Day.
117. How is the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day to be sanctified?
The Sabbath or Lord’s Day is to be sanctified by an holy resting all the day, not only from such works as are at all times sinful, but even from such worldly employments and recreations as are on other days lawful; and making it our delight to spend the whole time (except so much of it as is to be taken up in works of necessity and mercy) in the public and private exercises of God’s worship: and, to that end, we are to prepare our hearts, and with such foresight, diligence, and moderation, to dispose, and seasonably to despatch our worldly business, that we may be the more free and fit for the duties of that day.
118. Why is the charge of keeping the Sabbath more specially directed to governors of families and other superiors?
The charge of keeping the Sabbath is more specially directed to governors of families and other superiors, because they are bound not only to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those that are under their charge; and because they are prone ofttimes to hinder them by employments of their own.
119. What are the sins forbidden in the fourth commandment?
The sins forbidden in the fourth commandment are, all omissions of the duties required, all careless, negligent, and unprofitable performing of them, and being weary of them; all profaning the day by idleness, and doing that which is in itself sinful; and by all needless works, words, and thoughts, about our worldly employments and recreations.
120. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment, the more to enforce it?
The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment, the more to enforce it, are taken from the equity of it, God allowing us six days of seven for our own affairs, and reserving but one for Himself, in these words, Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: from God’s challenging a special propriety in that day, The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: from the example of God, who in six days made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: and from that blessing which God put upon that day, not only in sanctifying it to be a day for His service, but in ordaining it to be a means of blessing to us in our sanctifying it, Wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath-day and hallowed it.
121. Why is the word remember set in the beginning of the fourth commandment?
The word remember is set in the beginning of the fourth commandment, partly, because of the great benefit of remembering it, we being thereby helped in our preparation to keep it; and, in keeping it, better to keep all the rest of the commandments, and to continue a thankful remembrance of the two great benefits of creation and redemption, which contain a short abridgement of religion; and partly, because we are very ready to forget it, for that there is less light of nature for it, and yet it restraineth our natural liberty in things at other times lawful; that it cometh but once in seven days, and many worldly businesses come between, and too often take off our minds from thinking of it, either to prepare for it, or to sanctify it; and that Satan with His instruments much labor to blot out the glory, and even the memory of it, to bring in all irreligion and impiety.
Westminster Confession of Faith
7. As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: (Exod. 20:8, 10–11, Isa. 56:2, 4, 6–7) which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, (Gen. 2:2–3, 1 Cor. 16:1, Acts 20:7) which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s Day, (Rev. 1:10) and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath. (Exod. 20:8, 10, Matt. 5:17–18)
8. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs before-hand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, (Exod. 20:8, Exod. 16;23, 25–26, 29–30, Exod. 31:15–17, Isa. 58:13, Neh. 13:15–19, 21–22) but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy. (Isa. 63:13, Matt. 12:1–13)
The Synod Of Dort On The Sabbath
by
R. SCOTT CLARK
Trans. R. Scott Clark
Rules on the observation of the Sabbath, or the Lord’s Day, with the agreement of the brothers from Zeeland the following concepts were explained and approved by Doctor Professors of Divinity.
In the fourth Commandment of the divine law, part is ceremonial, part is moral.
The rest of the seventh day after creation was ceremonial and its rigid observation peculiarly prescribed to the Jewish people.
Moral in fact, because the fixed and enduring day of the worship of God is appointed, for as much rest as is necessary for the worship of God and holy meditation of him.
With the Sabbath of the Jews having been abrogated, the Lord’s Day is solemnly sanctified by Christians.
From the time of the Apostles this day was always observed in the ancient Catholic Church.
This same day is thus consecrated for divine worship, so that in it one might rest from all servile works (with these excepted, which are works of charity and pressing necessity) and from those recreations which impede the worship of God.
Source: H.H. Kuyper, De Post-Acta of Nahandelingen van de nationale Synode van Dordrecht in 1618 en 1619 gehouden een Historische Studie (Amsterdam, 1899), 184–86.
Heidelberg Catechism
Lord’s Day 38
Q & A 103
Q. What is God’s will for you
in the fourth commandment?
A. First,
that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained,1
and that, especially on the festive day of rest,
I diligently attend the assembly of God’s people2
to learn what God’s Word teaches,3
to participate in the sacraments,4
to pray to God publicly,5
and to bring Christian offerings for the poor.6
Second,
that every day of my life
I rest from my evil ways,
let the Lord work in me through his Spirit,
and so begin in this life
the eternal Sabbath.7
1 Deut. 6:4-9, 20-25; 1 Cor. 9:13-14; 2 Tim. 2:2; 3:13-17; Tit. 1:5
2 Deut. 12:5-12; Ps. 40:9-10; 68:26; Acts 2:42-47; Heb. 10:23-25
3 Rom. 10:14-17; 1 Cor. 14:31-32; 1 Tim. 4:13
4 1 Cor. 11:23-25
5 Col. 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:1
6 Ps. 50:14; 1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 8 & 9
7 Isa. 66:23; Heb. 4:9-11