|
It is believed that the Old
Testament regulations governing Sabbath observances are ceremonial, not moral, aspects of
the law. As such, they are no longer in force, but have passed away along with the
sacrificial system, the Levitical priesthood, and all other aspects of Moses' law that
prefigured Christ. Here are the reasons we hold this view.
- In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul explicitly refers to the Sabbath as
a shadow of Christ, which is no longer binding since the substance
(Christ) has come. It is quite clear in those verses that the weekly
Sabbath is in view. The phrase "a festival or a new moon or
a Sabbath day" refers to the annual, monthly, and weekly holy
days of the Jewish calendar (cf. 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles
2:4, 31:3; Ezekiel 45:17; Hosea 2:11). If Paul were referring to
special ceremonial dates of rest in that passage, why would he have
used the word "Sabbath?" He had already mentioned the
ceremonial dates when he spoke of festivals and new moons.
- The Sabbath was the sign to Israel of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus
31:16-17; Ezekiel 20:12; Nehemiah 9:14). Since we are now under
the New Covenant (Hebrews 8), we are no longer required to observe
the sign of the Mosaic Covenant.
- The New Testament never commands Christians to observe the Sabbath.
- In our only glimpse of an early church worship service in the
New Testament, the church met on the first day of the week (Acts
20:7).
- Nowhere in the Old Testament are the Gentile nations commanded
to observe the Sabbath or condemned for failing to do so. That is
certainly strange if Sabbath observance were meant to be an eternal
moral principle.
- There is no evidence in the Bible of anyone keeping the Sabbath
before the time of Moses, nor are there any commands in the Bible
to keep the Sabbath before the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai.
- When the Apostles met at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15), they
did not impose Sabbath keeping on the Gentile believers.
- The apostle Paul warned the Gentiles about many different sins
in his epistles, but breaking the Sabbath was never one of them.
- In Galatians 4:10-11, Paul rebukes the Galatians for thinking
God expected them to observe special days (including the Sabbath).
- In Romans 14:5, Paul forbids those who observe the Sabbath (these
were no doubt Jewish believers) to condemn those who do not (Gentile
believers).
- The early church fathers, from Ignatius to Augustine, taught that
the Old Testament Sabbath had been abolished and that the first
day of the week (Sunday) was the day when Christians should meet
for worship (contrary to the claim of many seventh-day Sabbatarians
who claim that Sunday worship was not instituted until the fourth
century).
- Sunday has not replaced Saturday as the Sabbath. Rather the Lord's
Day is a time when believers gather to commemorate His resurrection,
which occurred on the first day of the week. Every day to the believer
is one of Sabbath rest, since we have ceased from our spiritual
labor and are resting in the salvation of the Lord (Hebrews 4:9-11).
So while we still follow the pattern of designating one day of the week a day for the
Lord's people to gather in worship, we do not refer to this as "the Sabbath."
John Calvin took a similar position. He wrote,
There were three reasons for giving this [fourth] commandment: First, with the seventh
day of rest the Lord wished to give to the people of Israel an image of spiritual rest,
whereby believers must cease from their own works in order to let the Lord work in them.
Secondly, he wished that there be an established day in which believers might assemble in
order to hear his Law and worship him. Thirdly, he willed that one day of rest be granted
to servants and to those who live under the power of others so that they might have a
relaxation from their labor. The latter, however, is rather an inferred than a principal
reason.
As to the first reason, there is no doubt that it ceased in Christ; because he is the
truth by the presence of which all images vanish. He is the reality at whose advent all
shadows are abandoned. Hence St. Paul (Colossians 2:17) affirms that the Sabbath
has been
a shadow of a reality yet to be. And he declares else-where its truth when in the letter
to the Romans, chapter 6:8, he teaches us that we are buried with Christ in order that by his
death we may die to the corruption of our flesh. And this is not done in one day, but
during all the course of our life, until altogether dead in our own selves, we may be
filled with the life of God. Hence, superstitious observance of days must remain far from
Christians.
The two last reasons, however, must not be numbered among the shadows of old. Rather,
they are equally valid for all ages. Hence, though the Sabbath is abrogated, it so happens
among us that we still convene on certain days in order to hear the word of God, to break
the [mystic] bread of the Supper, and to offer public prayers; and, moreover, in order
that some relaxation from their toil be given to servants and workingmen. As our human
weakness does not allow such assemblies to meet every day, the day observed by the Jews
has been taken away (as a good device for eliminating superstition) and another day has
been destined to this use. This was necessary for securing and maintaining order and peace
in the Church.
As the truth therefore was given to the Jews under a figure, so to us on the contrary
truth is shown without shadows in order, first of all, that we meditate all our life on a
perpetual Sabbath from our works so that the Lord may operate in us by his spirit;
secondly, in order that we observe the legitimate order of the Church for listening to the
word of God, for administering the sacraments, and for public prayers; thirdly, in order
that we do not oppress inhumanly with work those who are subject to us. [From Instruction
in Faith, Calvin's own 1537 digest of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, sec. 8, "The Law of
the Lord"].
For further study:
D.A. Carson, ed., From Sabbath to Lord's Day (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982). |