Robert Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted May 7, 2016 Author Share Posted May 7, 2016 I'm sure you've read the following before: Quote Question: Which is the Sabbath day? Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day. Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." [The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50] In keeping Sunday as the day of rest Protestants, perhaps ignorantly, are essentially agreeing that the Roman Pontiff had the authority (i.e., "the keys") to change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted May 7, 2016 Author Share Posted May 7, 2016 Since the Sabbath is a sign of Christ's finished work of redemption then Sunday must be a sign of salvation by works. Now I'm sure that politically speaking Roman would deny this bit of logic, but nevertheless it's the natural, logical conclusion of rejecting the Sabbath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whbae Posted July 31, 2016 Share Posted July 31, 2016 The Sabbath is the Sign between the children of God and their God! Keeping the Sabbath signifies that he is the child of true God. Rossw 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 7 minutes ago, whbae said: The Sabbath is the Sign between the children of God and their God! Keeping the Sabbath signifies that he is the child of true God. Keeping the Sabbath (i.e., refraining from our weekly labor) is a sign that we are resting from our attempts of earning salvation by resting in the finished work of Christ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 Jesus said, “It is finished.” John 19:30 What was finished? "we were reconciled to him (God the Father) through the death of his Son (Jesus, the son of man)" Rom 5:10 We were put right with God through Christ because "when One died, all died" 2 Cor 5:14 Christ's death was a corporate death. "In Christ" God's law, which condemned us, was satisfied because "we died to the law in the body of Christ" Rom 7:4 What day did Christ die? "It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin." Luke 23:53 Christ, our corporate representative, died just before the Sabbath began. What did God the Father do? He rested from His finished work of redemption "in Christ". See Hebrews 4:10 Therefore, when we rest the Sabbath as God did from His work "in Christ Jesus", we are acknowledging the we cannot add to Christ's finished work of redemption. That is to say, "we are complete in Him" Col 2:10 The Sabbath, therefore, is the seal of justification by faith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossw Posted July 31, 2016 Share Posted July 31, 2016 14 minutes ago, Robert said: Keeping the Sabbath (i.e., refraining from our weekly labor) is a sign that we are resting from our attempts of earning salvation by resting in the finished work of Christ. The Sabbath is for resting from our attempts at earning salvation? That seems odd. If a person were attempting to work for their salvation I find it hard to believe they'd take the Sabbath off from doing so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 5 minutes ago, Rossw said: If a person were attempting to work for their salvation I find it hard to believe they'd take the Sabbath off from doing so. The Jews of Christ's day were experts at keeping the Sabbath in order to obtain eternal life. They refrained from work, not because they were resting in Christ's finished work, but because they were trying to merit salvation through the keeping the Sabbath. "As the Jews departed from God, and failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith, the Sabbath lost its significance to them. Satan was seeking to exalt himself and to draw men away from Christ, and he worked to pervert the Sabbath, because it is the sign of the power of Christ. The Jewish leaders accomplished the will of Satan by surrounding God's rest day with burdensome requirements." DA 283,284 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 1 minute ago, Robert said: "As the Jews departed from God, and failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith, the Sabbath lost its significance to them." In other words as the legalistic Jews failed to make the imputed righteousness of Christ their own through faith the Sabbath, as a sign of righteousness by faith, became meaningless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossw Posted July 31, 2016 Share Posted July 31, 2016 But you said the Sabbath was a day for resting from works salvation. Does that not mean they work for salvation everyday but the Sabbath? Which doesn't really make sense either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossw Posted July 31, 2016 Share Posted July 31, 2016 Robert, does keeping the Sabbath in any fashion a works salvation? Does obedience always necessitate a works relationship? Do I do what my wife asks only because I have to, or because I want to out of love? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 4 minutes ago, Rossw said: But you said the Sabbath was a day for resting from works salvation. Does that not mean they work for salvation everyday but the Sabbath? Which doesn't really make sense either. Resting, or refraining from our weekly work, is an outward sign. We rest from our works because God rested from His work of redemption "in Christ Jesus". We rest as a sign that we are complete in Christ and cannot work at obtaining heaven. We rest because God rested. "Whoever enters into God’s rest (i.e., accepts the gospel - see verses 2,3), rests from his own works as God did from his." Heb 4:10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 7 minutes ago, Rossw said: Robert, does keeping the Sabbath in any fashion a works salvation? Does obedience always necessitate a works relationship? That assumes you are obeying as Christ obeyed. Christ never lived for Himself. There was never any self-interests in His life. He was slave of all. He was willing to say goodbye to life forever so that His enemies might have heaven. Here we all come short. My suggestion is to keep the Sabbath for the right, contextual reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 Jesus stands in the holy of holies, now to appear in the presence of God for us. There he ceases not to present his people moment by moment, complete in himself. But because we are thus represented before the Father, we are not to imagine that we are to presume upon his mercy, and become careless, indifferent, and self-indulgent (i.e., practice sin as a legitimate lifestyle). Christ is not the minister of sin. We are complete in him, accepted in the Beloved, only as we abide in him by faith. Perfection through our own good works we can never attain. The soul who sees Jesus by faith, repudiates his own righteousness. He sees himself as incomplete, his repentance insufficient, his strongest faith but feebleness, his most costly sacrifice as meager, and he sinks in humility at the foot of the cross. But a voice speaks to him from the oracles of God's word. In amazement he hears the message, "Ye are complete in him". Now all is at rest in his soul. No longer must he strive to find some worthiness in himself, some meritorious deed by which to gain the favor of God. (EGW) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whbae Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Seventh Day, Exd 31:16-17. "...... It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever:......" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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