Q&A: Do you “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy”?

September 9th, 2011.

Anonymous asks: G’day Will, Do you “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy”? If yes, please explain why. If no, please explain why. God bless you my friend

God bless you too.

You are of course quoting the fourth of the ten commandments.

To answer your question…

In short: Yes I do, because it is a life-giving command from the One who made me.

In long:

There is something essential to sabbath that inheres to who God is and who we are, made in his image. In the exposition of the 10 commandments in the Old Testament the sabbath commandment is given an explanation

Exodus 20:11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

The seventh day is set apart to not labour but to rest.

Jesus of course sets the example for what this rest is – it’s not about legalistically doing nothing. Consider Matthew 12:1-14 from among the many examples.

1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” 3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? 11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

In simple practical terms, then, it is appropriate to worship God, do good, uphold one another, and, generally speaking, participate re-creation on that day – these things are not “labour”! For this reason, even as someone who “works” on a Sunday, I would count that time as part of my sabbath-keeping as well as my “Day Off” (Monday!)

The truth that undergirds all this, of couse, is that “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” The joy of salvation can be described in many ways – from darkness to light, sickness to health, separation to restoration etc. – but it also includes a sense of from toil to rest. Perhaps we might consider it a reversal of the curse of Adam who went from the joyous work of the garden to the hard toil outside. Whatever the correlation, the truth is that Jesus is the Prince of Peace – he is our shalom, our wholeness, our easy-yoke, our lightened-burden, our rest, our sabbath.

Indeed, the culmination of this Christ-won sabbath is our big-picture hope – the goal of our eschatology. Many commentators look to the seven-fold structures of Revelation to demonstrate it’s goal in (eternal/millenial?) sabbath.

It is therefore very appropriate for Christians to not set aside Friday/Saturday – the seventh day of the week – but Sunday, the first day of the new week – as a sabbath day to refresh one another and worship God corporately.

But the truth remains that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, and my “remembering the sabbath” therefore also includes my seeking him every day of the week. I would therefore include my times of quiet, prayer, contemplation etc. – and my day off – in the mix of what it means for me, as a Christian, to remember the Sabbath.

Thanks for the question.

Tags: Sabbath | Posted in: Q&A | 6 Comments »

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6 comments for “Q&A: Do you “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy”?”

Anonymous says:

September 16, 2011 at 6:34 pm

G’day Will,
Thanks for answering my question about the sabbath. Your comments about what it means to rest and not work, as apposed to “legalistically doing nothing”, touches the heart of the matter, for yes “God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
Your comments do lead me to other questions however….

You have affirmed that you do remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy, because it is a life-giving command from God, and that the sabbath day is the seventh day of the week. The Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it and to be “a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God”. (and yes, we should seek Jesus everyday of the week)

Q: Why did you make these two statements?

1. “For this reason, even as someone who “works” on a Sunday, I would count that time as part of my sabbath-keeping…..”
The forth commandment is clearly saying “Remember the sabbath DAY, to keep it (the 7th day) holy. – I agree that we should live everyday seeking to glorify the Lord and to trust in Him, including Sunday, but how does keeping Sunday holy (or any other day of the week) help us to Keep the sabbath day holy?

2. “It is therefore very appropriate for Christians to not set aside Friday/Saturday – the seventh day of the week – but Sunday, the first day of the new week – as a sabbath day to refresh one another and worship God corporately.”
Jesus is our example yes? “….and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”

Thanks again for taking the time to respond Will.

Reply
- Will says:
  
  September 16, 2011 at 6:39 pm
  
  I’ve turned this follow-up question into a comment as it continues the thread here.
  
  The short answer to your question is to take it back to Jesus. The Lord of the Sabbbath is Jesus. Like all things Jesus this both amplifies and broadens the concept. Our Sabbath is in Him, therefore our Sabbath Day is in him. Therefore our Sabbath Day is the Day of the Lord. Therefore our honouring of the Sabbath becomes an honouring of him, transcending but not abandoning the commandment.
  
  I think this is a reasonable application of the fourth commandment to the “You have heard it said… but I say…” framework that Jesus uses with two of the other commandments.
  
  Hence my application.
  
  Thanks for the pushback.
  
  W.
  
  Reply
  - Anonymous says:
    
    September 19, 2011 at 2:19 pm
    
    Hi Will,
    Thanks for taking the time to respond to my follow-up questions.
    I understand that this is not a forum for a back and forth biblical study, so I won’t continue with this thread, though I do want to express my appreciation to you for sharing your thoughts and to finish up by sharing a few of mine.
    There is much I would like to say about the sabbath day, but to keep it short I will simply say that (and I hope this doesn’t sound too controversial) I believe that your “transcending” of the sabbath command (within your context) is not biblical. Please forgive me if that sounds harsh and please point me to scripture if there is support for your belief. Yes, our sabbath(rest) is in Him, but the sabbath day is the seventh day of the week.
    
    Jesus brings the spiritual nature of our heart (it’s desires, motivations, it’s true relationship with God) into account when he teaches us and, as with the seventh commandment taught through his “You have heard it said… but I say…” framework, Jesus teaches us that keeping the sabbath day holy goes beyond our physical obedience – “wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days”
    
    The 4th commandment, as you also affirmed, is centred on the seventh day. The Lord rested on the seventh day, the Lord blessed the sabbath day and it is upon the seventh day that we are to cease from our work and to rest in the Lord. Again and again, throughout the old and new testament, the sabbath day was always an allotment of time – the seventh day – where keeping of the commandment could only be done within the sabbath day itself. The commandment itself consists of two pillars – rest & the seventh day – to remove the attribute of either is to abandon the commandment completely.
    
    The heart of the matter, I believe, lies in Jesus’ words “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” – The sabbath day is our day of rest, a blessed day, a holy day, a weekly rejuvenation of our spirit and a sign that we may know the Lord our God. In six days the Lord made the heavens and earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. As we are made in His image so too we should rest on the seventh day.
    
    Thanks again Will for the time you have given.
    I hope that my comments are taken with the love that they are given.
    I write this to you to share a truth with you that is powerful – life changing.
    A truth that God wrote with His own finger, a truth that Jesus lived, a truth that the disciples continued in, a truth that we have been commanded to remember and yet a truth many of us have forgotten.
    
    Thanks again for your time Will.
    It is wonderful that you offer this website/blog to share the word of God.
    God bless you my friend.
    
    Reply
    - Will says:
      
      September 19, 2011 at 2:25 pm
      
      Hi Anon,
      
      Thankyou for the interaction. Here is the crux of our little debate: “Yes, our sabbath(rest) is in Him, but the sabbath day is the seventh day of the week.” We agree on the premise, we disagree on the second. It’s the age old debate on how the Old Testament is engaged with in the New Testament era – certainly not to be abandoned but applied in its fulfilment in Christ somehow! Let us agree to disagree on this then.
      
      God bless,
      
      W.
      
      Reply
Anonymous says:

September 27, 2011 at 10:55 am

G’day Will,
Anon-d-Sabbath here again (hehe)
This isn’t a question and feel free not to publicly post it (although it would be good if you did).
I am sending you these quotes as food-for-thought.
I’m not sure if you’re already aware of some of these statements – I share with love.
Cheers
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“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Daniel 7:25
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“Most Christians assume that Sunday is the biblically approved day of worship. The Catholic Church protests that it transferred Christian worship from the biblical Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, and that to try to argue that the change was made in the Bible is both dishonest and a denial of Catholic authority. If Protestantism wants to base its teachings only on the Bible, it should worship on Saturday.” — Rome’s Challenge immaculateheart.com/maryonline Dec 2003.

“Sunday is founded, not of scripture, but on tradition, and is distinctly a Catholic institution. As there is no scripture for the transfer of the day of rest from the last to the first day of the week, Protestants ought to keep their Sabbath on Saturday and thus leave Catholics in full possession of Sunday.” Catholic Record, September 17, 1893.

“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change (Saturday Sabbath to Sunday) was her act…And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.” H.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons.

“Sunday is our mark or authority…the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.” Catholic Record of London, Ontario, September 1, 1923.

“The Catholic church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday…The Protestant World at its birth found the Christian Sabbath too strongly entrenched to run counter to its existence; it was therefore placed under the necessity of acquiescing in the arrangement, thus implying the (Catholic) Church’s right to change the day, for over three hundred years. The Christian Sabbath is therefore to this day, the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church as spouse of the Holy Ghost, without a word of remonstrance from the Protestant World.” James Cardinal Gibbons in the Catholic Mirror, September 23, 1983.

“Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. ‘The day of the Lord’ was chosen, not from any direction noted in the Scriptures, but from the (Catholic) Church’s sense of its own power…People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy.” St. Catherine Church Sentinel, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995.

“From this we may understand how great is the authority of the church in interpreting or explaining to us the commandments of God – an authority which is acknowledged by the universal practice of the whole Christian world, even of those sects which profess to take the holy Scriptures as their sole rule of faith, since they observe as the day of rest not the seventh day of the week demanded by the Bible, but the first day. Which we know is to be kept holy, only from the tradition and teaching of the Catholic church.” — Henry Gibson, Catechism Made Easy, #2, 9th edition, vol. 1, p. 341-342.

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“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” 2 Thes 2:3-4
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“The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth.”
Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, “Cities Petrus Bertanous”.

Pope Nicholas I declared that “the appellation of God had been confirmed by Constantine on the Pope, who, being God, cannot be judged by man.” – Labb IX Dist.: 96 Can. 7, Satis evidentur, Decret Gratian Primer Para.

”The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth…by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth.” the New York Catechism.

“The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, he is Jesus Christ himself, hidden under the veil of flesh.” Catholic National July 1895.

“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty” …Pope Leo XIII Encyclical Letter of June 20, 1894,

“The Saviour Himself is the door of the sheepfold: ‘I am the door of the sheep.’ Into this fold of Jesus Christ, no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff; and only if they be united to him can men be saved, for the Roman Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ and His personal representative on earth.” (Pope John XXIII in his homily to the Bishops and faithful assisting at his coronation on November 4, 1958).

“The Pope’s authority is unlimited, incalculable; it can strike, as Innocent III says, wherever sin is; it can punish every one; it allows no appeal and is itself Sovereign Caprice; for the Pope carries, according to the expression of Boniface VIII, all rights in the Shrine of his breast. As he has now become infallible, he can by the use of the little word, “orbi,” (which means that he turns himself round to the whole Church) make every rule, every doctrine, every demand, into a certain and incontestable article of Faith. No right can stand against him, no personal or corporate liberty; or as the [Roman Catholic] Canonists put it—“The tribunal of God and of the pope is one and the same.” -Ignaz von Dollinger, “A Letter Addressed to the Archbishop of Munich” 1871; as quoted in MacDougall, The Acton Newman Relations (Fordham University Press) pp. 119,120.

”The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land . . . He is the vicegerent of Christ, and is not only a priest forever, but also King of kings and Lord of lords”–La Civilta Cattolica, March 18, 1871.

Reply
Will says:

September 27, 2011 at 11:01 am

Hi again Anon,

Intriguing collection of quotes. I’m more than happy to look to the wisdom of the early Church Fathers in their application of Christ-centred faith – and even to attribute them some authority in these matters. I don’t know, but perhaps they would have seen the worship-on-Sunday thing not so much as a shift in Sabbath but as an embracing of the eschatological thrust of the gospel and the hope for a new day which was so keen to them in their persecution and formative faith. I am less interested in, nor do I appeal to, how the post-reformation Roman Catholic Church shapes its polemic!

Blessings,

Will.

Reply