Does the Sabbath Doctrine Diminish the Gospel?

[Bob Sands]

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God accepts us on the basis of Christ, not on whether we keep a certain day of the week.

The Sabbath (or any other distinctive practice) can deceive a person and subtly reduce the importance of Jesus Christ. The tendency is to think, "I please God because I keep the Sabbath. I am counted as one of his people because I keep the Sabbath." But God knows us as his people through Christ, not through a day of the week. The Bible says that the only reason that we please God is because of Jesus Christ:

"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:5-7).

No matter how many laws we keep, we are sinners, and the only reason that we can be saved is because Jesus died for our sins. But a focus on laws, especially laws that make us different from other people, tends to put the focus back onto ourselves—and what we do. For some people, the badge of betterness is a certain style of worship. For others, it is a certain belief, or the avoidance of alcohol, or a style of dress. For Sabbatarians, it is the Sabbath. Not everyone falls into this trap, of course, but the more distinctive the doctrines, the more likely that people will value them too highly.

Suppose we come to the Day of Judgment and we are asked, "Why should we let you into the kingdom of God?" How will we answer? Will we talk about what laws we kept? Or will we trust in Christ alone? Will we try to claim part of the credit? The Bible says that our only basis of salvation is faith in Christ, and that no one has anything to boast about (Eph. 2:8-9). Our works don’t count for anything; our only hope is Jesus Christ, and any doctrine or practice that obscures this fact is an enemy of faith. Anything that tempts us to look at what we do, tempts us to take away some of the trust that we should be giving to Christ.

http://www.wcg.org/lit/law/sabbath/sabbath.htm

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[cardw]

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The Sabbath (or any other distinctive practice) can deceive a person and subtly reduce the importance of Jesus Christ. The tendency is to think, "I please God because I keep the Sabbath. I am counted as one of his people because I keep the Sabbath." But God knows us as his people through Christ, not through a day of the week. The Bible says that the only reason that we please God is because of Jesus Christ:

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I believe a day of rest is a good idea. In that context it becomes a symbol of freedom. Freedom from care, work, fear, what ever.

Now when someone states that I must keep the Sabbath it becomes a symbol of bondage. And that is how I experienced the Sabbath growing up. It was not a day of freedom, but a day of restriction.

Now I believe that a time of rest is really a good idea and when we commit to that for the benifits it brings, it feels pretty good, but if someone is there looking over my shoulder to see if I rested properly, then the rest is stolen from me. It tends to put me in a place where I may feel the need to defend my rest, then rest is gone.

Even though Sabbath observance is emphasized in the SDA church, I find very little real rest there.

Richard

[Clio]

Interesting.

Richard, I lived my entire childhood, young adulthood, until I was about 25 as a member of the SDA church. In all that time, I never learned to pray in a way pleasing to Abba, or gained a personal relationship with him.

I was caught in the concerns of "doing". It wasn't until I had experienced the bondage of the world, and being so far from Abba I didn't think I could find my way back, and hit my knees in desperation and anguish that I was contrite and broken enough to accept His healing.

If you do not have a right relationship with Abba Father through Jesus, there is no point in keeping Sabbath... Keeping Sabbath doesn't save you. Keeping Sabbath is one of the commandments, unchangeable because it is the Law by which Abba Father governs.

But Abba Father is not only a just and stern ruler, He is a loving , kindly Father... and He only asks obedience from a heart filled with Love and gratitude. He freely enters in to a relationship with His created beings, rescues them from their own folly through the Blood of the Lamb slain from the very foundation of the world... and then, when they have been forgiven, justified, and sanctified, says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments.".

Our obedience can do nothing to save us. Only our love for Jesus, our acceptance of His sacrifice on our behalf, and from a loving, willing heart comes obedience. James was explicit in stating that just as works without faith is dead, so is faith without works also dead.

The fact of the Sabbath does not diminish the Gospel at all. If you love Jesus, and Abba Father, and the Holy Spirit, then to have an entire day to do nothing but bask in Their presence is a wonderful, awesome blessing. It is not hard, it is not onerous, it is not a burden. It is a day of light and gladness, a day to spend time with my Abba Father, and my True Jesus, when nothing nags at my attention, nothing else demads to be done, no other pressures on my time impinges on my time with Them.

The "doctrine" of the Sabbath may very well diminish the Gospel, but only in those who have a dutiful relationship with Abba rather than a loving Papa/child relationship with Abba.

I had a dutiful relationship... and I was almost lost forever. The whole time I was in the SDA church. For me, I had to re-learn what a love relationship with Abba means. Remember, Jesus tells us... "My yoke is easy and my burden is light..." If it's not easy and light... something's wrong... and probably not with the "doctrine" since that tends to be straight from the Bible.

That just means you have to ask Abba to show you what IS wrong, and trust His guidance.

Clio

[Gerr]

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God accepts us on the basis of Christ, not on whether we keep a certain day of the week.

The Sabbath (or any other distinctive practice) can deceive a person and subtly reduce the importance of Jesus Christ. The tendency is to think, "I please God because I keep the Sabbath. I am counted as one of his people because I keep the Sabbath." But God knows us as his people through Christ, not through a day of the week. The Bible says that the only reason that we please God is because of Jesus Christ:

"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:5-7).

No matter how many laws we keep, we are sinners, and the only reason that we can be saved is because Jesus died for our sins. But a focus on laws, especially laws that make us different from other people, tends to put the focus back onto ourselves—and what we do. For some people, the badge of betterness is a certain style of worship. For others, it is a certain belief, or the avoidance of alcohol, or a style of dress. For Sabbatarians, it is the Sabbath. Not everyone falls into this trap, of course, but the more distinctive the doctrines, the more likely that people will value them too highly.

Suppose we come to the Day of Judgment and we are asked, "Why should we let you into the kingdom of God?" How will we answer? Will we talk about what laws we kept? Or will we trust in Christ alone? Will we try to claim part of the credit? The Bible says that our only basis of salvation is faith in Christ, and that no one has anything to boast about (Eph. 2:8-9). Our works don’t count for anything; our only hope is Jesus Christ, and any doctrine or practice that obscures this fact is an enemy of faith. Anything that tempts us to look at what we do, tempts us to take away some of the trust that we should be giving to Christ.

http://www.wcg.org/lit/law/sabbath/sabbath.htm

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[:"blue"]So why single out the Sabbath? If, as a believer who has put his/her trust in the salvation provided by the sacrifice of Christ is not free to fornicate, murder, bear false witness, or worship other gods, what gives you the right to disregard/forget what God specifically said to, "REMEMBER"? James says if you break one, you break them all! Soooooooo, why demonize the Sab & not stealing, fornication, or idolatry? [/]

Gerry

[Ron Lambert]

Righteousness is by faith. Justification comes to those who have faith in Christ. Jesus said that His concern when He comes again would be whether He finds faith on earth: "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8b)

Is our faith truly in Christ if we arrogantly assert that we can change the Sabbath that God made for man at the end of Creation Week, as a sign of God's authority as our Creator? The question that will ultimately decide the destiny of every human being, is who is more righteous?--God, or man. If you keep Sunday in defiance of the clear Scriptural evidence, then you are saying man is more righteous than God. If you keep the Sabbath God ordained, then you acknowledge that God is more righteous than man; so we ought to obey God rather than man.

Anyone can say they have faith. But what does his works show? If a man commits murder despite his profession of faith, is he not a murderer? And if a man tramples upon the holy Sabbath and in defiance keeps another day of human making, is he not still a rebel and enemy of God, no matter what his profession?

Whether you keep Sabbath or Sunday shows who it is that you obey--God or man. And that shows who it is in whom you place your faith.

If you believe you can assert that Sunday is just as good a day to keep, and God will accept that, then you are asserting self-righteousness, human righteousness, and are rejecting the righteousness of God that is by faith.

Sabbath keeping is the sign of righteousness by faith, the kind of faith that Abel showed when He offered to God the worship that God stipulated. Sunday keeping is the sign of human self-righteousness, the kind of attitude that Cain showed when he substituted a form of worship of his own choosing.

[Bob Sands]

Ron and Gerry, you speak of obeying man rather than God if your rest is anything other than Saturday/Sabbath. What about those not accepting this:

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Hebrews 4:7Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts. 8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a Sabbathrest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

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It is really man that is saying that the True Rest is Saturday/Sabbath rather than the Gospel/ Rest. That is the diminishment of the Gospel.

[Bob Sands]

Notice the list of commandments that Jesus quotes, the Sabbath is missing, why not ask the same question you ask me of your Savior. The first four are missing. He had a great opportunity to say what you wanted him to say, yet you continue to hang on to your idea, I'm sorry the SDA idea of what Christ's way is.

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Matt 19: 16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?

17Why do you ask me about what is good? Jesus replied. There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.

18Which ones? the man inquired.

Jesus replied, Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself.;

20All these I have kept, the young man said. What do I still lack?

21Jesus answered, If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.

22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23Then Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, Who then can be saved?

26Jesus looked at them and said, ;With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

27Peter answered him, We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?

28Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

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[jason]

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20All these I have kept, the young man said. What do I still lack?

21Jesus answered, If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.

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Put other's interests before yourself? Perhaps the issue of crucifying selfishness and pride? Coming to the point of understanding that all the betterment you do to improve yourself is no use unless Christ is in you?

Just a few thoughts.

[Ron Lambert]

Bob, when you say Jesus did not say anything about Sabbath-keeping being part of our duty to God, perhaps you did not search far enough.

Jesus said: "Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." (Matthew 12:12; NKJV)

Looking ahead to the seige and destruction of Jerusalem which would take place in 70 A.D., some 36 years after His ascension, Jesus said: "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." (Matthew 24:20)

Jesus said concerning the Sabbath: "The sabbath was made for man...." (Luke 2:17)

Jesus said explicitly concerning whether any part of the Law was ever to be done away with: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:17, 18)

Concerning even what some may consider the "least" of the commandments, Jesus said: "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:19)

Jesus also set this example: "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." (Luke 4:16)

The Apostle James, who was personally acquainted with Jesus' teaching, said: "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law." (James 2:10, 11; NKJV) Note that in the above, there can be no question that James was speaking of the Ten Commandment Law.

[Gerr]

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Notice the list of commandments that Jesus quotes, the Sabbath is missing, why not ask the same question you ask me of your Savior. The first four are missing. He had a great opportunity to say what you wanted him to say, yet you continue to hang on to your idea, I'm sorry the SDA idea of what Christ's way is.

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Matt 19: 16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?

17Why do you ask me about what is good? Jesus replied. There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.

18Which ones? the man inquired.

Jesus replied, Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself.;

20All these I have kept, the young man said. What do I still lack?

21Jesus answered, If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.

22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23Then Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, Who then can be saved?

26Jesus looked at them and said, ;With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

27Peter answered him, We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?

28Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

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[:"blue"]Sooo, are the first four commandments no longer valid because Jesus left them out in this particular discourse?

Let me ask you, why do you come to an SDA forum and talk mostly about trying to convince us that the Sabbath is no longer valid? Why not talk to SDAs about murder, adultery or any of the other commandments instead, just like Jesus did to this young man? [/]

Gerry

[Robert]

Yes...Jesus said, but quotes out of context, well, they could mean anything. I mean look at Matt 19:17:

• "If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

It sounds like Jesus is teaching salvation by law....

And here's another:

• Luke 10:25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

Now look at Paul:

• Gal 3:11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The just shall live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does this [the law] will live.”

[Bob Sands]

Christ knew this man had a problem with loving his fellow man. He loved his money more than his fellow man. That is why he spoke to him this way.

[cardw]

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He loved his money more than his fellow man. That is why he spoke to him this way.

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I think this might be related to Jesus saying that it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Now since Jesus was teaching that the kingdom of God was within, not here nor there, he may have been referring to the problem of possesions is that holding on to them prevented one from entering into the inner life of peace.

Holding on is based in fear and fear takes away peace. In instructing the rich young ruler to let go of his riches, He was offering him a chance to let go. A chance to be free of fear. I believe that when one tastes the inner life of peace, riches become a burden. It becomes easier and easier to let go of things when one finds the riches of the inner life.

And because of this, I believe it is far more effective to present the riches of the inner life than the condemnation of wealth. In fact, I believe condemnation is as an effective block to the inner life as riches are.

Richard

[Ron Lambert]

What Jesus said about keeping the law to enter eternal life was entirely correct. Keeping the Law of God is the requirement for salvation. God will not bring anyone into Heaven who is not in harmony with His character of love, as delineated for us by the Ten Commandments.

But of course no human being can now earn salvation by keeping the law. Not only have we already sinned (and our good needs can never atone for our bad deeds), our hearts are still estranged from God, at least in part. God's solution was to send us Christ, to supply us with a righteousness that is outside of us to satisfy the requirement of law-keeping to enter Heaven, and to impart His Spirit to us to work in our hearts to lead us to make the step-by-step choices toward faith that will lead us to perfected faith, where we are whole-hearted in our faith in Christ.

So Jesus did not say anything untrue. God's plan of salvation was not to do away with His Law as the requirement for entry into eternal life; it was to pay for our sins and provide us with a new sinless heritage in Christ, and provide us with rehabilitation.

[bonnierose333]

Hey Bob,

I think observing the Sabbath and gathering together to honor our Three-Person Godhead, exhaults Divineness and brings GREATER focus to the Gospel. Attending church and worshiping GOD, center's attention more fully on The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost. The Bible tells us to come together. We listen to and sing beautiful songs, greet one another, and fellowship with other believers. It's what God wants and it's a display of love that carries us through the week.

[Bob Sands]

By your definition, a good gospel loving Sunday meeting group can do the same?

[Bob Sands]

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Heb. 4:9 says that a Sabbath-rest still remains for believers today.

Hebrews 4 is talking about a future rest. People did not have this rest in Joshua’s day, nor when Psalm 95 was written (v. 8), so this chapter is not talking about the weekly Sabbath. This rest is entered by faith in Christ (v. 2). By using the word "Sabbath-rest," Hebrews is saying that the weekly Sabbath symbolized the real rest that God wants his people to enter. Just as the Levitical sacrifices symbolized the work of Christ, the weekly Sabbath pictured our final salvation. This symbolism says nothing about whether Christians should continue observing the symbols.

In one way, symbols are obsolete, but in another way, they are still required. Circumcision is a great example. Christians do not have to be physically circumcised (Rom. 2:29)—but we should be circumcised in the heart. We are to keep this ritual law, but we do so in the spirit, not the letter. In one sense, Christ has made the law obsolete; in another way, he has transformed it and still requires it in its transformed way. The same is true of the Levitical rituals: although we do not offer animal sacrifices, we are obedient to those laws when we have faith that Jesus Christ fulfilled those sacrifices. The requirement has been transformed.

In a similar way, since the Sabbath points toward our final salvation, and this salvation is in Christ, we are abiding by the purpose of the Sabbath command when we put our faith in Christ. It is in him that we find the rest that we need (Matt. 11:28-30). The requirement for rest has been transformed to focus on Christ rather than a day of the week. If we have faith in him, we are entering God’s rest and we are therefore keeping the spiritual intent of the Sabbath.

http://www.wcg.org/lit/law/sabbath/sabbath.htm

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[Gerr]

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Christ knew this man had a problem with loving his fellow man. He loved his money more than his fellow man. That is why he spoke to him this way.

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[:"blue"] So then, why can you not see that the reason the NT does not say a whole lot about Sabbath-keeping is because that was NOT an issue? The problem they had about the Sabbath was NOT that they did not keep it, they remembered the commandment that said, "Remember", all right, but the problem was that they had piled on so many man-made requirements that were not in the original plan of God so that the Sabbath became an onerous burden. Therefore, neither Jesus nor the apostles had to make an issue of it. In fact, Jesus had to criticize them about how they had made the Sabbath a burden, and even went out of His way to show them how to keep it by violating their man-made traditions that had been piled up on the Sabbath.

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Gerry

[Gerr]

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Heb. 4:9 says that a Sabbath-rest still remains for believers today.

Hebrews 4 is talking about a future rest. People did not have this rest in Joshua’s day, nor when Psalm 95 was written (v. 8), so this chapter is not talking about the weekly Sabbath. This rest is entered by faith in Christ (v. 2). By using the word "Sabbath-rest," Hebrews is saying that the weekly Sabbath symbolized the real rest that God wants his people to enter. Just as the Levitical sacrifices symbolized the work of Christ, the weekly Sabbath pictured our final salvation. This symbolism says nothing about whether Christians should continue observing the symbols.

In one way, symbols are obsolete, but in another way, they are still required. Circumcision is a great example. Christians do not have to be physically circumcised (Rom. 2:29)—but we should be circumcised in the heart. We are to keep this ritual law, but we do so in the spirit, not the letter. In one sense, Christ has made the law obsolete; in another way, he has transformed it and still requires it in its transformed way. The same is true of the Levitical rituals: although we do not offer animal sacrifices, we are obedient to those laws when we have faith that Jesus Christ fulfilled those sacrifices. The requirement has been transformed.

In a similar way, since the Sabbath points toward our final salvation, and this salvation is in Christ, we are abiding by the purpose of the Sabbath command when we put our faith in Christ. It is in him that we find the rest that we need (Matt. 11:28-30). The requirement for rest has been transformed to focus on Christ rather than a day of the week. If we have faith in him, we are entering God’s rest and we are therefore keeping the spiritual intent of the Sabbath.

http://www.wcg.org/lit/law/sabbath/sabbath.htm

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[:"blue"]Soooooooo, if some symbols are still required, why are you so adamant about getting rid of the Sabbath? In this evolution-saturated educational system of this world, keeping the Sabbath is a weekly reminder to all that one believes in a Creator-God. That in this evil-permeated world of ours, keeping the Sabbath is a weekly testimony & acknowledgement that man cannot save himself, only God can make him holy & acceptable in His presence again. That the Sabbath is a weekly testimony that only God can make the sinner cease & desist, i.e. rest from his works of evil. Therefore, the Sabbath embodies more symbolism than baptism or Communion, which I presume you still celebrate.

Sooooo, why keep the lesser symbol and get rid of the larger more meaningful symbol?[/]

Gerry

[Bob Sands]

Because Christ commanded it:

Mark 10:39 "...Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,"

Show me a command by Jesus for us to keep the Sabbath under the new covenant not something he did as a Jew under the law of the 1st Covenant because he observed the temple celebrations with his parents also.

The last sentence of yours, shows how you feel about Christ's blood vs the Sabbath. The symbol of his blood is commanded of us to drink till we meet him again, the Sabbath is a greater symbol than that of our salvation?

[Bob Sands]

The issue of the Sabbath was finding rest. When the Jews were delivered from Egypt, they were slaves and overworked. The 4th Commandment was for them and their generations, not non-Jewish.

Christ when he came offered this:

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Matthew 11:28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

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The Sabbath was a shadow of His rest offered by the Gospel.

[cardw]

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Keeping the Law of God is the requirement for salvation.

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I guess I don't believe the concept of laws and government are up to the task of describing what salvation is. I believe that re-birth, salvation, healing, whatever you want to call it is a transendent experience that words cannot describe.

I believe that any focus on law really prevents an entering into that transendent experiece or, as I believe it is described in biblical terms, enter into God's rest.

Theology and all these explanations are simply reductions of the real experience. I have experienced and observed that people come to that experience with all kinds of different explanations. It is not the explanation or rationale that works, but the willingness to enter into the spirit.

Richard

[Robert]

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Keeping the Law of God is the requirement for salvation.

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Then you will be lost:

• All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Gal 3:10

  "All who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified." Rom 2:12,13

  "You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [You are lost - cut off!] [Gal 5:4]

[Stan Laurel]

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Bob, when you say Jesus did not say anything about Sabbath-keeping being part of our duty to God, perhaps you did not search far enough.

Jesus said: "Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." (Matthew 12:12; NKJV)

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Okay, I guess I'll have to jump in here. Ron, the verse you quote shows Jesus refuting those who were chastising Him for not following the letter of the Law which says in it (Sabbath) you shall do no work. Jesus is showing that there are things, like doing good, which are far more important than Sabbath-keeping.

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Looking ahead to the seige and destruction of Jerusalem which would take place in 70 A.D., some 36 years after His ascension, Jesus said: "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." (Matthew 24:20)

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Here Jesus was speaking to the people of Jerusalem, who were primarily Jews and who kept the Sabbath, therefore that would be a concern to them. There is nothing in that statement that says or implies any requirement to keep the Sabbath, just the assumption that most of His listeners at the time did.

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Jesus said concerning the Sabbath: "The sabbath was made for

man

...." (Luke 2:17)

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Once again we take half a sentence out of context. The phrase you quote is not a complete statement in itself, it is a preamble to the salient point that "man is not made for the Sabbath." Clearly He is illustrating the contrast that while the Sabbath was made to serve man, man was not made to serve the Sabbath. For further illustration, see my posts in the "Sabbath at Sinai" thread.

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Jesus said explicitly concerning whether any part of the Law was ever to be done away with: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:17, 18)

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This argument was not dealt with previously. You have to understand the meaning of "fulfill." You see, any law whether God made or man made, imposes obligations on people. Now what happens when you fulfill an obligation? If you take out a loan, you have created an obligation for yourself. When you have made the last payment, you have fulfilled the obligation and you don't need to do that anymore. As Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished." I believe He meant what He said.

Of course the Law is not destroyed. If, like the Jews, you don't accept the free gift of salvation by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and choose to follow the Law instead, the you are bound by it. But for those of us who accept Jesus, He has fulfilled the law so we are no longer bound by it. That's what fulfilled means.

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Concerning even what some may consider the "least" of the commandments, Jesus said: "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:19)

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Good quote. Notice that He says "these commandments," not The Commandments or the 10 Commandments. He's obviously referring to commandments that He Himself has stated. And as we all know, He never commanded anyone to keep the Sabbath.

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Jesus also set this example: "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and,

as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day,

and stood up for to read." (Luke 4:16)

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We've been over this before. Of course His custom was to gp to the synagogue on the Sabbath. He was a Jew. Further, Sunday worship as we know, is a celebration of the Resurrection, which during Jesus' life hadn't happened yet.

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The Apostle James, who was personally acquainted with Jesus' teaching, said: "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law." (James 2:10, 11; NKJV)

Note that in the above, there can be no question that James was speaking of the Ten Commandment Law.

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Another good quote. But again He doesn't require anyone to keep the Law in this verse. He's simply stating that if you are going to keep the law, you must keep all of it.

In Christ,

Stan

[Bob Sands]

Stan, I would just say there is no command either to celebrate the Lord's death on Sunday. However, since the 4th Commandment was no longer in effect, they could meet when they wished. The perpetual True Rest was to be daily, or Today, as Hebrews 4 says.