Simply put, keeping Sabbath meant ceasing work on the seventh day of each week — but layer upon layer of theological meaning was wrapped up in this. It taught Israel that God was the Creator, and that his people were mere creatures. God was ultimately their provider, and they undertook feverish activity for profit and self-preservation in vain. It also reminded Israel that God had rescued them out of slavery, and that they must in turn be merciful to their economic dependents.
The Sabbath set them apart — but gradually, prophetic texts gave glimpses of a future time when the Sabbath, exclusive though it was, would become a doorway for excluded people into the people of God.
Since Christianity became a mainly Gentile religion, however, the dominant Christian treatment of Sabbath has been to spiritualize it. Augustine, who made Sabbath a cornerstone of his theology, said that Sabbath-keeping meant resting in Christ and ceasing from sin.
For Luther, like Augustine, keeping Sabbath meant ceasing from sin. But it had an additional meaning: Christians must refrain from trying to please God by their own efforts.
While Calvin gave Mosaic law more credit than Luther did — he saw this spiritual lesson in Sabbath from its start — he too believed that Christians did not need to observe a literal Sabbath in order to benefit from its spiritual meaning. Other, though fewer, Christians have believed that the fourth commandment should be kept by literal observance — but even this has generally been a far cry from the Mosaic law.
In the wake of the Reformation, some literal interpreters of Scripture went so far as to take up seventh-day Sabbath observance. The day chosen for observance was not the only way Christian sabbatarianism has diverged from the Mosaic Sabbath: the nature of observance could be quite different, too.
Think of Chariots of Fire , in which the Scottish Presbyterian missionary and Olympic athlete Eric Liddell refuses to run his qualifying heat at the Paris Olympics because it is scheduled for a Sunday. Time not working should be spent in all-day worship, Christian learning, or works of charity — and not in relaxation or recreation, which would profane the day.
At times, anything considered less holy such as alcohol or theater could be forbidden on Sunday, even if it was allowed on other days. As I see it, neither the spiritualized Sabbath nor strict sabbatarianism is clearly the right choice for Christians, although each has its appeal. The Sabbath is nothing if not practice at curbing our over-zealous efforts and relying on God. But while a literal Sabbath might have these advantages, the New Testament does not allow us to see it as a sine qua non of Christian belonging.
Jesus interprets the Sabbath as having a place within his own messianic mission, rather than sovereignty in its own right e. Paul tells his congregation in Rome not to allow themselves to be judged as Christians for the way they treat the Jewish holy days Rom. Fourth, while the Bible could not universally abolish slavery, the Sabbath commandment greatly humanized that terrible institution and ultimately helped make slavery impossible.
Prior to the Ten Commandments, by definition a slave owner was under no obligation to allow a slave to ever rest, let alone to rest one day every week. Yet that is exactly what the Fourth Commandment commanded.
Even a slave has fundamental human rights, one of them being a Sabbath day of rest. Therefore a slave is a human being, too. Fifth, the Sabbath almost singlehandedly creates and strengthens family ties and friendships. It has similar positive effects on marriages. Ask anyone married to a workaholic how good it would be for his or her marriage if the workaholic would not work for a day each week, and you can appreciate the power of the Sabbath Day.
There are those who argue that without God commanding a Sabbath, people could surely decide on their own to stop working a day each week and spend the day with their spouse, family, and friends. But the truth is that almost no one does. There will almost always be some reason not to take that day off — an important work project, housework, shopping, etc.
Sixth, the Sabbath commandment granted animals dignity. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the first national law in history on behalf of animals. But the Scriptures point to me! In the Old Covenant God sanctified the Sabbath day, separating it and making it holy.
Keeping the Sabbath day was demonstrating faith in the promise of a new day of rest that would come in Jesus Christ. And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world.
Those who are in Jesus Christ have entered the Sabbath rest and thus, fulfill the purpose of the Sabbath. Just as the Sabbath day was sanctified and made holy by God in the Old Covenant, so Jesus was a sanctified and Holy rest for all who would believe in Him in the New Covenant.
With the exception of the Sabbath commandment, the new covenant New Testament restates each of the other nine commandments. To keep a literal Sabbath day is to disregard the work of Christ and the sabbath rest that was established in the new covenant.
The Sabbath commandment was transformed into a Sabbath rest in Christ. This is why the New Testament does not restate the need to observe the Sabbath Day, or command keeping the Sabbath Day; nor does it change the Sabbath Day to a different day. These things were like a shadow of what was to come. It is no longer about resting on a particular day. It is about entering the rest of a particular Person — Jesus Christ.
The same is true in the New Covenant. This does not mean it is not wise to take a one day of rest in the week. The Sabbath Day commandment establishes a healthy principle. Our bodies and minds need rest. To work a seven day week as a matter of habit or lifestyle will eventually result in unhealthy consequences. It is like the covenant sign of circumcision.
Though we are not bound to this law, circumcision is proven to be a healthy choice. And circumcision on the eighth day after birth as directed to Israel in Scripture is medically shown to be the best day.
The principle is also very similar to the food we eat. Whereas their larger, suburban synagogue back home gets into the necessities of education, training, and inquiry, the Beth Judah congregation is mellow. There might be Shabbat on the beach, open to the public. This evening, which marks the Sukkot holiday, there will be dinner after the service.
At home, Dr. She also likes the fact that the congregation accepts her free-form practice of the faith. This makes me feel good; balancing my budget helps my family stay intact. As a psychologist in a public elementary school, Dr. Few of the parents of her students are American-born, she explains, and many of the families come from cultures with rich traditions. Part 1: The Commandments as a moral source code in modern life. Part 2: How does the First Commandment fit in today?
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