Jesus Our Sabbath, part 2.

This missive was written in response to a friend who has insisted that Saturday is the only day for worship.

Part 1 is here

Summary: Come to ME, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Sabbath) Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest (Sabbath)  for your souls. Matthew 11:28–29

Rick as I read through your letter,  I am hesitant to respond in detail as I fear you have missed my main point. 

But I will get to that.  Unfortunately, you have unreliable sources for excluding the phrase “he declared all foods clean”   The parentheses are not in the original text, btw, but the attestation for that line goes back to early manuscripts:  https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/was-thus-he-declared-all-foods-clean-inserted-by-man-mark-719/ 

Your assertion that the situation was unique to Antioch about using the Noahic Covenant for Gentiles is just not true.  It is repeated three times in Acts as a counsel as to how to treat Gentile believers.  That Noahic Covenant declared all foods clean: 

 “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, 

by man shall his blood be shed, 

for God made man in his own image. Genesis 9:3–6

What the biblical authors and Paul were saying is that the kosher laws were not applicable to Gentiles.  Acts 15:19-22 does indeed repeat the Noahic covenant 2 times.  It was in response to Peter’s experience with Cornelius and Paul’s work not just in Antioch, but elsewhere. The Jews wanted these new believers to follow all the Jewish Laws, including kosher laws, but Peter’s response and that of the apostles is to lay no such burden on them, but they quote the covenant with Noah. 

The third time is when Paul goes to Jerusalem, to make sure he has not run in vain (Acts 21:17-26, and Galatians 2:1-10 ) and it has to do with ALL the gentile converts, not just Antioch, and again the apostles quote the covenant of Noah as incumbent upon the Gentiles.   

You said: Matthew 5: “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”  Christ makes it clear here the importance, eternally, of following His Law.  I could honestly stop here as it clearly states the entire law is relevant and active, and has not changed at all. More than this is His warning if we do otherwise.  

I don’t think your reasoning is consistent, in that, if Jesus came to fulfill the law (which he did) and not one jot or tittle will pass away, then I don’t see how you can divide the 10 Commandments from the rest of the 630 + laws in the Covenant under Moses.  You should wear robes with phylacteries and get circumcised. If those outward regulations were valid then, then according to your reading, they would be imposed now.  They were not just rules for the priests. Picking and choosing kosher laws as just one item, then it doesn’t make sense, since God declared all foods clean under Noah and so is attested by Paul and Mark.  What I’m saying is that how you have divided which laws are valid for today and not, doesn’t follow. 

The moral law, loving God and your neighbor never changes, so murder, covetousness, etc., are incumbent in the moral law of God. 

I also find it unrealistic to think that the earliest church fathers, who knew the apostles, would not follow their example and falsely insisted on Sunday as a day of worship.  Sunday was the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Since that time, believers have gathered on the first day of the week to celebrate His victory over sin and death. The examples are in  Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2.  The rest of the historical stuff regarding Constantine really doesn’t matter.  It was church practice from the very beginning. 

You said: “Jesus is our Sabbath, our Day of Rest.  Where is this stated in scripture? Yes, our spiritual enmity between us and God has ended with the work of Christ, when we place our faith in Him, and continue in it. In that sense we have spiritual rest with God because we are no longer His enemy.  Rom 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  Matt 12:8 “for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” Being LORD of the Sabbath does not equate to being a replacement of it, but that He has authority and dominion over it.

The Sabbath was a commandment for physical rest.  There is no where in scripture where this commandment is explicitly changed to, or replaced by 1st or 8th day, nor are we given permission to change the Sabbath (which God himself instituted on the 7th day of creation) to whatever day is convenience for us or dictated to us by different denominations. 

Below, I will share with you what I was working on, but I will consider it an overview and not think it will help you much. 

Come to ME, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Greek: ἀνάπαυσις). Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest (Greek: ἀνάπαυσις)  for your souls.

Matthew 11:28–29

Josephus (Ant. 1.1.1) tells us that ‘in the dialect of the Hebrews’ the word σάββατα means ἀνάπαυσις in Greek.  In other words, Come to Me and I will give you sabbath, and in me you will find sabbath. 

The word Sabbath in Hebrew is derived from the Hebrew word for rest. 

שַׁבָּת šabbòṯ m./f. ‘Sabbath, Saturday’ (Old Hebr. *šabbat)

שָׁבַת  šòḇaṯ / šābat. vb. rest, cease, stop. To cease or stop action, or to rest from action. On the seventh day God rested or ceased (šābat; Gen 2:2–3) from the work of creating…

Assuming Jesus spoke Aramaic or Hebrew, when he said: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”   The word for rest he would have used was šābat / šòḇaṯ  in Hebrew, or the parallel word in Aramaic šabbā, both meaning spiritual rest in Jesus who is the Lord of Rest (Sabboth).

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. Hebrews 4:8–11 

What is that rest?  Rest in the completed work of Jesus and ceasing from our labors of trying to be justified in Christ through our works. By faith, we enter that rest. 

For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest… Hebrews 4:2–3 

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. Hebrews 8:6 

This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. Hebrews 7:22 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel 

after those days, declares the Lord: 

I will put my laws into their minds, 

and write them on their hearts, 

and I will be their God, 

and they shall be my people.

 in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Hebrews 8:10-13

Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. Hebrews 9:1 

What the author of Hebrews is saying is that the first covenant under Moses was a type of what was to come. The tent of the meeting, the kosher laws, abstaining from sexual relations on the Sabbath, the sacrifices, the garments required, all were a type of the fulfillment to be found in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. In Him, all the commandments are fulfilled and those who walk with him, will not dishonor God, steal, or commit adultery. Love of God will control us, and this covenant is written on our hearts. The outward regulations were a symbol of what was to become an internal compass. 

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30–31 

By faith, we are to rest in His righteousness, in his completed work, and He has become our rest, our sabbath. 

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. 

…

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. 

Galatians 5:2–15  

Rick, the spirit of the Law is the worship of Jesus Christ.  The Spirit gives life, but the letter kills. 

Jeff

Final Thoughts

Beware of sowing division or controversy in the Body of Christ.  The scripture clearly says we are not to make a judgment over one another regarding the Sabbath: 

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance (soma, body, reality) belongs to Christ. Colossians 2:16–17 (ESV)

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. Romans 14:4–6 (ESV)

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, 

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, 

and every tongue shall confess to God.” 

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:10–12 (ESV)