INTRODUCTION
God ordained seven annual festivals and seven annual holy days, or sabbath days, in the Old Testament. Should God's Church observe those days today?
This post will explore this issue and try to answer the question of whether the Church should observe the annual feasts of God.
I will assume that the reader understands that the seventh-day Sabbath is still in effect for the Church. This is very easily proved, and I will not take the space to prove it here. This paper explores the issue of the annual holy days, sabbaths, and feasts given by God to Moses in the Old Testament and whether those days should be observed by the Church today. For there are many people who accept and observe the weekly Sabbath who do not observe the annual holy days.
Before going further, I want to thank everyone who has contributed ideas, information, and questions on this or related topics in my blog or via email. I have been helped by all those who agree with me on this issue, those who disagree with me, and those who have asked questions.
PAUL'S EPISTLES ARE NOT CLEAR ON THIS
I will not start with Paul's epistles in doing this Bible study. Peter warns that there are things in Paul's writings that are hard to understand, and a principle I follow is letting clear scriptures interpret unclear and difficult scriptures. I have found no scriptures in Paul's writings that definitely and specifically discuss the holy days by name, either individually ("Pentecost", "Day of Trumpets", etc.) or as a group ("the feasts of the Lord") in the context of whether we should keep them or not. Every passage from Paul used by those who oppose holy day observance is a general reference to "law" or to "days" without being specific as to whether we should or should not observe God's ordained feasts. I will cover some of those passages later.
But I will start with the teaching of Jesus Christ in the gospel according to Matthew.
Jesus said that till heaven and earth pass away and all things are fulfilled in the law and the prophets (the "law" in this case is a common reference to the books of Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy, and the "prophets" includes the books that make up the major and minor prophets, Isaiah through Malachi), nothing would pass from the law (Matthew 5:17-18). When will this be? When the prophecy in Isaiah 65:17 is fulfilled and the old heavens and earth have passed away and there is a new heaven and earth - see also Revelation 21:1. This has not yet been fulfilled.
This shows that we need to be very cautious about assuming that anything in the law has been abolished without strong scriptural evidence that it has been abolished. The law commands observance of God's annual feasts and holy days (sabbaths) in Leviticus 23. God's feasts and holy days continue unless we can clearly prove from the New Testament that God has ended them for the Church.
SHADOWS
Some people think that these annual days must end because they are shadows of Christ, and to keep a shadow is to deny Christ. These people often quote Colossians 2:16-17 in this regard. But Paul is not saying that all shadows are obsolete. He is simply pointing out that the reality of what a shadow represents is always more important than the shadow. This passage used the Greek word skia, Strong’s Concordance number 4639, translated "shadow". It means shadow, the image of something made on a background from a source of light. What Paul mean by a shadow? It is a representation of something, such as a ritual, a ceremony, or a symbol. It is a physical act whose value lies in what it represents.
Animal sacrifices are a shadow of the sacrifice of Christ, and they have ended for the Church. But not all shadows have ended. The New Testament itself ordains rituals, ceremonies, and symbols that are shadows of something else.
A ritual, ceremony, symbol, or "shadow" can point backwards to remind us of what has been fulfilled or can point forward to teach us about something that is yet to be fulfilled.
The New Testament ordains ceremonies, rituals, and symbols, which are shadows. The New Testament symbols of bread and wine representing the body and blood of Christ, baptism, the laying on of hands for the receiving of the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 6:2, Acts 8:16-17), foot washing (John 13:3-17), and the anointing of the sick with oil (James 5:14-15) are all examples of New Testament rituals, ceremonies, and symbols which are shadows of things.
Why does God use shadows? To teach us and to remind us of things.
A shadow is not wrong, nor do all shadows end when they are fulfilled. If you want to know if a shadow ends, you have to look to the scriptures to see if that particular shadow or ritual has ended. For example, there are clear scriptures that show that physical circumcision is no longer required for the Church. There is no such scripture saying that holy days have ended.
God's seven annual feasts and holy days are indeed shadows, because each one of these seven represents or is an image of a greater reality. Each one represents something different. Some have been fulfilled and some have not yet been fulfilled, but they all continue. Those which have been fulfilled remind us of what has been fulfilled and those which have not been fulfilled teach us about what is to come.
Yet the annual sabbath days are more than a shadow. They are commanded days of rest and assembly that provide opportunities for drawing closer to God in prayer, Bible study, and assembling for instruction and fellowship. God wants us to spend time with Him on these days just as on the weekly Sabbath.
Likewise the weekly seventh-day Sabbath is also a shadow of something to come. It is a symbol of the coming 1,000 year millennial reign of Christ after 6,000 years of mankind ruling himself. But it is more than a shadow, because we use that time to draw closer to God.
ANIMAL SACRIFICES
If a shadow does not necessarily end when it is fulfilled, why do we not offer animal sacrifices?
We do not offer animal sacrifices because only the priesthood of Aaron is authorized to offer the sacrifices and do priestly duties (1 Samuel 13:7-14, 2 Chronicles 26:16-210. It would be a sin for anyone else to do it. The Church is not represented by the priesthood of Aaron, but by the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
The priesthood of Aaron was a national priesthood and was strictly limited to the Old Covenant. It required a national system of the twelve tribes, each with its own farmland, supporting the tribe of Levi with their tithes, and the tribe of Levi supporting the priesthood of Aaron. When the priests offered animal sacrifices for the annual feasts and holy days, they did it on behalf of the nation. The Church of God is not a nation. We are an assembly of Christians living among the nations of this world. The rules of the Levitical priesthood do not apply to the Church. Likewise we do not stone people for murder, return to our inherited land every 50 years, etc. Those were national laws for the nation of Israel. Those things associated with the priesthood of Aaron do not continue today for the Church.
But the annual holy days are not limited to the priesthood of Aaron. The common people from all the tribes did not offer holy day sacrifices - only the priests did that - but the people rested and assembled for services just as they did on the weekly sabbath, and just as the Church does today.
THE LAW HAS BEEN CHANGED
Although the law has not been abolished, it has been changed (Hebrews 7:12-14). This passage in Hebrews shows that the priesthood of Aaron has been replaced by the priesthood of Jesus Christ for the Church. The fact that the law has been CHANGED shows that it has not been abolished, because you do not change something if you abolish it.
Also, this passage give a guiding principle as to what changes and why. The law was changed out of NECESSITY. It is those things that must change out of necessity that are changed. There is no such necessity to change the law of the holy days, except that animal sacrifices are no longer offered.
It is clear in the New Testament that physical circumcision is not required for the Church. This is an example of how God makes it very clear that something is no longer required. Paul mentions circumcision very clearly and specifically by name (Acts 15:1, 24, Romans 2:25-29, Romans 4:9-12, 1 Corinthians 7:17-19, Galatians 5:1-2, 11, Galatians 6:11-15, Colossians 3:11) and says clearly that it is not required. There is nothing like that in the New Testament about the holy days and feasts saying we should not keep them, referring either to the general term "feasts of the Lord" or specific feasts such as "the Feast of Trumpets" or "the Feast of Pentecost".
Why is circumcision no longer required? Circumcision was given to Abraham, but in the time of Moses it came to represent being a citizen of the nation of Israel. When a Gentile wanted to become a citizen of Israel, he was circumcised (Exodus 12:48-49). Likewise, in the time of Paul, a Gentile could become a Jew and thus a citizen of the nation of Israel by being circumcised. By so doing, he could be represented by the priesthood of Aaron, which was a national priesthood, and come into all the rules and regulations taught by that priesthood (Matthew 23:1-4, Matthew 15:1-3) as well as the promises made to the nation of Israel under the terms of the Old Covenant. But that is not necessary for the Church because we are under the terms of the New Covenant and are represented by the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE FOR THE HOLY DAYS
God sometimes shows the importance of something by the context in which He commands or teaches it. Thus, the importance of the weekly Sabbath is shown by the fact that God included it in the Ten Commandments along with commands to have no other gods besides God, to avoid using images in worship, to honor our father and mother, to avoid adultery, murder, stealing, etc. But God also shows the importance of the annual feasts and sabbaths by listing them with the weekly Sabbath in Leviticus 23. This puts the annual feasts in the same category as the weekly Sabbath.
Zechariah 14:16-19 shows that the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept after Christ returns.
There is evidence in the New Testament that Paul kept the holy days and instructed his Gentile congregations to keep them. In 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, Paul wrote, "let us keep the feast". This seems to be in the context of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for it is here that God inspired Paul to teach what the Days of Unleavened Bread represent. Some object saying that "keeping the feast" here is figurative and it means living in Christ. But Christ is nowhere referred to in the Bible as "keeping a feast", and the contrast Paul paints is not between keeping the feast physically or spiritually as he would if this were a controversy. He is talking about literally keeping a feast, a feast his congregation already knew about and was keeping. He is showing them that they need to fulfill the spiritual meaning of the feast even as they kept it physically.
Acts 18:21 shows Paul telling those in Ephesus that he intended to keep a coming feast in Jerusalem. Some object saying that the words "I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem" is missing from some manuscripts. But the following word "but" is not missing, and it seems to me that it would make no sense for that word to be there except as a connecting word between two clauses. And if this clause is in some manuscripts but not others, then it was either added or removed. The Jews had no custody of the Christian scriptures. The Church of God would not change the Bible. The only groups that might try to change the original writings and had the power to do it are the large groups such as those that became the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, and neither of these would have the motive to add this in support of Old Testament holy days. But they would have the motive to remove it.
These seven annual feasts and holy days have important symbolic meaning, meaning that ancient Israel never understood. They did not understand, for example, that Passover represented the future sacrifice of Christ. They did not understand that Pentecost represents the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church so that we are a kind of firstfruits of God's salvation. God gives rituals and shadows as a tool to teach. Common sense indicates that God would want us, who understand the meaning of these days, to keep them, even more than ancient Israel who did not understand what they meant.
SOME ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE HOLY DAYS
Some say that only the law written on tables of stone continues (the Ten Commandments) and not other law not written on stone. But Jesus said that the two great commandments are to love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40), and these commandments are greater than the Ten Commandments because all the law and the prophets hang on them, including the Ten Commandments. Yet those two great commandments are not written on stone.
Some object to the holy days because there is no record of them in Genesis. But there is no record of any of the Ten Commandments being given as instructions from God in Genesis, yet the Ten Commandments continue. Silence in Genesis proves nothing.
Some say that because sacrifices were offered on the holy days that this means the holy days do not continue. But sacrifices were also offered on the weekly Sabbath, so the offering of sacrifices on a day does not mean the day is abolished when the sacrifices end.
Some point out Old Testament scriptures and prophecies where God seems to speak against feasts that Israel was keeping. These can refer to pagan feasts that Israel was keeping instead of God's feasts, or it could refer to Israel keeping the feasts with a wrong attitude or mixing God's feasts with sinful practices ("I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting" - Isaiah 1:13). Here are some scriptures some use:
Hosea 2:11 and 5:5-7 - This is referring to a prophesied punishment for sins. Israel and/or Judah would suffer the punishment of no longer being able to keep the annual days they were keeping. This is not necessarily God's rejection of the holy days, but His rejection of Israel who was sinning and was about to go into punishment and captivity. But also, these days are not even necessarily God's holy days. Jeroboam rejected God's ordained feasts days and set up different days, and the northern kingdom of Israel probably never returned to God's true feast days (1 Kings 12:25-33).
Isaiah 1:13-14 - God is rejecting Israel because of their sins. Verse 13 and verse 15 explain. They may have been keeping God's holy days, but their lives were full of sin and God could not endure their hypocrisy of appearing before Him in their sacred meetings while their hands were full of blood.
Amos 5:21 - This is a message to the northern kingdom of Israel (Amos 1:1). Jeroboam rejected God's ordained days and practices and started his own, in some cases on different days, and with different priests and with idols (1 Kings 12:25-330. If you read the history of the different kings of the northern kingdom of Israel, not one was righteous in God's sight, so it is unlikely that Israel ever returned to keeping God's true feasts and holy days as God ordained. They were no longer God's feasts but the feasts of men.
Some may feel that the holy days are not required because they are not commanded in the New Testament. But the weekly Sabbath is also not commanded in the New Testament, yet it continues. Silence in the New Testament does not changed what God has commanded in the Old Testament.
Likewise Acts 15 does not mention the holy days, but it also does not mention the weekly Sabbath, clean and unclean meats, etc. Acts 15 was an administrative decision on Church policy concerning what would be taught and commanded the Gentile members of the Church at that time, and is not intended to be an all-inclusive description of God's law.
Galatians 4:21-31, 5:1-4 - The Galatians had an attitude problem, some of them. Verse 4 of chapter 5 is the key. They wanted to be circumcised because they thought it was necessary and they thought they could be justified by law keeping rather than through faith in the sacrifice of Christ.
Ephesians 2:14-17 - Paul is not specific about what He is calling the "enmity", the "law of commandments contained in ordinances" as it is translated. There is absolutely no mention of the feasts of the Lord or annual sabbaths. In fact, by calling the "law of commandments contained in ordinances" the "enmity", this rules out that he could be talking about God's holy days, because there is nothing about those days that constitutes enmity of any kind.
Colossians 2:13-14 - "the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us" cannot refer to the holy days and feasts of God. I have kept them for about 25 years and I know from experience what a blessing they are and that they are not against me any more than the weekly Sabbath is against me. Probably Paul is referring the requirement of the death penalty for our sins, which was nailed to the cross.
Colossians 2:16-23 - Verse 16 seems to be saying, do not let any man judge you in how you keep the feasts and sabbaths. In the phrase "the body is of Christ" (KJV), the word "is" is not in the original Greek. The phrase is, "the body of Christ". So this could mean, it is the body of Christ, the Church, which is to judge these matters, not any man. There is also in verses 20-23 a rebuke of those who practice the commandments and doctrines of men. This cannot refer to the holy days which were given by God.
HOW ARE THE HOLY DAYS KEPT BY THE CHURCH?
Why are there not more explicit instruction in the New Testament showing us that we should keep the annual feasts and holy days of God, and how to keep them?
There are some things God wants us to seek and dig out of His Word and prove our zeal in doing this. He does not always cram His truth down our throats.
How does the Church know where to keep the feasts and holy days and how to keep them?
Just as God gave the priesthood of Aaron authority, so God has given the ministry of the Church binding authority to make certain decisions (Matthew 16:18-19). The ministry of the Church has the authority to make decisions, guided by God, in where these days should be observed and format of services and how they are to be observed for the members of the Church that they pastor.
In some cases a Christian may not be able to attend with a group that observes these days. In that case I would recommend that a Christian rest on the holy days and keep the days on his own with the wisdom and guidance God gives through the Bible and the Holy Spirit until such time as God provides the opportunity to attend with a Church that keeps these days. But it is better to keep these days with a church that keeps them whenever possible.
Some Christians have been wrongly taught for years that to keep God's holy days means to deny Christ, and these Christians may have a conscience problem with keeping these days. We should certainly pay attention to our conscience in matters that are optional as far as God's word is concerned (Romans 14:22-23), so for example if I feel guilty eating meat, I should not eat meat. But there is no commandment of God that I eat meat. In matters where God's will is clear in the Bible, God's word must override our conscience (Matthew 4:4).
author@ptgbook.org, 2/26/09
Showing posts with label Old Covenant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old Covenant. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
A Question and Answer about the New Covenant
In a well known account in the life of Christ, a man asked Jesus Christ a question about the New Covenant. Specifically, He asked Jesus what He had to do in order to receive eternal life. This was a New Covenant question because eternal life was never offered under the Old Covenant but is offered under the New Covenant.
The Old Covenant was a covenant between God and the physical nation of Israel and was made during the days of Moses. Israel agreed to obey God including God's law of the ten commandments, and in return God promised to bless Israel with national blessings of wealth, protection from enemies, and health (Exodus 15:25-26, 19:1-9, 20:1-17, 23:25-27, 24:3-8, Leviticus 26:3-13, Deuteronomy 28:1-14). But if you read carefully everything God promised Israel under the terms of the Old Covenant, you will not find eternal life offered. The promises under the Old Covenant included blessings in this physical life only.
But the New Covenant is based on better promises than the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-8). One of those promises is forgiveness of sins (Jeremiah 31:31-34, especially verse 34). The penalty of sin is eternal death, but under the New Covenant, sins are forgiven and the penalty wiped out by the sacrifice of Christ, and the gift of eternal life is made available (Romans 6:23). There are a number of scriptures in the New Testament that confirm that eternal life is a promise under the terms of the New Covenant (1 John 2:24-25, John 3:16, John 6:54, John 10:27-28).
So when the man asked Jesus Christ what he had to do to obtain eternal life, he was asking a New Covenant question. Specifically, he was asking a question about the requirements of the New Covenant (Mark 10:17, Luke 18:18).
Jesus answered, "You know the commandments", and named several of the ten commandments (Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20).
In answering a question about New Covenant requirements for eternal life, Jesus pointed the man to the commandments he already knew. This was a man who was taught in the traditions of Israel and the commandments he knew since his youth were the ten commandments (Mark 10:20, Luke 18:21).
The man's question, and Jesus Christ's answer, had nothing to do with the Old Covenant. The man's question and Jesus's answer had to do with the New Covenant only. This is entirely a New Covenant doctrine.
So under the New Covenant, if you want eternal life, keep the ten commandments.
That the ten commandments are still in force after the death and resurrection of Christ is confirmed by James 2:10-11 which says that if you transgress one commandment you transgress all of them. Why? The reason James gives is important. He says, "For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder' ". In other words, it is because of WHO gave the commandments that we must obey them. Because God gave the commandments, we must obey all ten of them. It is clear that James is quoting from the ten commandments.
The Old Covenant was a covenant between God and the physical nation of Israel and was made during the days of Moses. Israel agreed to obey God including God's law of the ten commandments, and in return God promised to bless Israel with national blessings of wealth, protection from enemies, and health (Exodus 15:25-26, 19:1-9, 20:1-17, 23:25-27, 24:3-8, Leviticus 26:3-13, Deuteronomy 28:1-14). But if you read carefully everything God promised Israel under the terms of the Old Covenant, you will not find eternal life offered. The promises under the Old Covenant included blessings in this physical life only.
But the New Covenant is based on better promises than the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-8). One of those promises is forgiveness of sins (Jeremiah 31:31-34, especially verse 34). The penalty of sin is eternal death, but under the New Covenant, sins are forgiven and the penalty wiped out by the sacrifice of Christ, and the gift of eternal life is made available (Romans 6:23). There are a number of scriptures in the New Testament that confirm that eternal life is a promise under the terms of the New Covenant (1 John 2:24-25, John 3:16, John 6:54, John 10:27-28).
So when the man asked Jesus Christ what he had to do to obtain eternal life, he was asking a New Covenant question. Specifically, he was asking a question about the requirements of the New Covenant (Mark 10:17, Luke 18:18).
Jesus answered, "You know the commandments", and named several of the ten commandments (Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20).
In answering a question about New Covenant requirements for eternal life, Jesus pointed the man to the commandments he already knew. This was a man who was taught in the traditions of Israel and the commandments he knew since his youth were the ten commandments (Mark 10:20, Luke 18:21).
The man's question, and Jesus Christ's answer, had nothing to do with the Old Covenant. The man's question and Jesus's answer had to do with the New Covenant only. This is entirely a New Covenant doctrine.
So under the New Covenant, if you want eternal life, keep the ten commandments.
That the ten commandments are still in force after the death and resurrection of Christ is confirmed by James 2:10-11 which says that if you transgress one commandment you transgress all of them. Why? The reason James gives is important. He says, "For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder' ". In other words, it is because of WHO gave the commandments that we must obey them. Because God gave the commandments, we must obey all ten of them. It is clear that James is quoting from the ten commandments.
Are the Ten Commandments Part of the New Covenant?
It is well known in Christianity that the ten commandments are a vital part of the Old Covenant. It is also well known that Christians are under the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant. But does this mean that Christians are not obligated to obey the ten commandments? Are the ten commandments obsolete for Christians? Or are Christians to keep the ten commandments?
Or to put it another way, are the ten commandments part of the New Covenant just as they are part of the Old Covenant? Are the ten commandments part of both covenants?
Most traditional Christians would agree that we should not murder, commit adultery, or steal. They do not have a problem with commandments against those things. But they do have a problem with the Sabbath. Many think that Christians do not need to keep the Sabbath day because the command to observe the Sabbath is in the ten commandments, and they think the ten commandments are done away. They think the ten commandments are only included in the Old Covenant and not the New Covenant.
What is the Old Covenant? The Old Covenant was an agreement between God and Israel. God promised to bless Israel if Israel obeyed God and kept His law (Exodus 19:1-9, 20:1-17, 23:25-27, 24:3-8, Deuteronomy 28:1-14). Those were the terms that God offered Israel. The ten commandments were part of the covenant because the ten commandments described God's law that the people had to obey. The Old Covenant came into existence after Israel agreed to the terms and the covenant was ratified with blood (Exodus 24:3-8).
Notice that the Old Covenant included promises God made to bless Israel. Those promises included health, economic prosperity, and protection from enemies (Exodus 15:25-26, Leviticus 26:3-13). These were national promises that applied to the nation as a whole. That was God's part. Israel's part was to keep the ten commandments and obey God in everything. But also notice here, there is no promise of eternal life under the Old Covenant, only national blessings in this physical life. There is also no promise of the Holy Spirit or of writing God's law in the people's hearts.
What is the New Covenant? It is first described in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:31-34). This Old Testament scripture is quoted by the author of Hebrews in describing the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:7-12, 10:16-17).
Notice that there is nothing here about a different law for the New Covenant. The law is the same for both covenants. So what is the difference? The difference is in the promises. The New Covenant is based on better promises than the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-8). One of those promises is given in the Old Testament. Under the New Covenant, God will write His law in our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). That is different from the Old Covenant in which God's law was written or engraved on stone (Exodus 24:12, Deuteronomy 27:1-8). That is important, because the writing of God's law on stone is often used to represent the Old Covenant, in contrast to the writing of God's law in our hearts under the New Covenant (2 Corinthians 3:7-11).
Notice also there is a promise in the New Covenant of forgiveness of sin (Jeremiah 31:34). This was never available under the Old Covenant.
Many aspects of the New Covenant are described in more detail in the New Testament.
Another promise of the New Covenant is eternal life (1 John 2:24-25, John 3:16, John 6:54, John 10:27-28, Romans 6:23). Remember, eternal life was never promised under the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant promises of national blessings for Israel pertained to this temporary physical life only - read Deuteronomy 28:1-14.
Is the law of the ten commandments, including the law of the Sabbath, retained under the New Covenant?
When Jesus Christ was on earth, someone asked Him a question about the requirements of the New Covenant. A man wanted to know what he had to do to receive eternal life. This was a New Covenant question, because the Old Covenant did not promise eternal life. This question had NOTHING to do with the Old Covenant.
If this question was about the Old Covenant, the man would have asked, "what must we do to obtain national blessings of health, prosperity, and protection from our enemies?" because those were the promises of the Old Covenant. But the man asked about eternal life, which is only available under the New Covenant. So this question is 100% about the New Covenant. And the answer Jesus gave directly answers our question, is the law of the ten commandments, including the law of the Sabbath, retained under the New Covenant.
What was Jesus Christ's answer?
Jesus said, "You know the commandments" (Mark 10:17-19, Luke 18:18-20). Then Jesus named several of the ten commandments.
Now is it only the commandments that Jesus named that are required? Is it alright under the New Covenant to have other gods before the true God (first commandment), to use images in worship (second commandment), to take God's name in vain (third commandment), and to not keep the Sabbath (fourth commandment). No. Jesus named several of the ten commandments as examples, but the whole package of ten commandments is included. Why? Because Jesus started His answer by saying "you know the commandments". This man grew up in Israel and learned the ten commandments from his youth. The commandments he knew were the ten commandments, all ten of them.
So in telling the man what is required for the New Covenant promise of eternal life, Jesus told the man to keep the commandments he already knew, the ten commandments.
And that includes the Sabbath.
So Sabbath observance is a requirement under the New Covenant.
The New Testament affirms the ten commandments as a body of law that still exists. Notice what James wrote, long after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: "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). Notice that James wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17), that if you violate one point of the law, you violate the whole law and are guilty of transgression. Which law? James shows that he is talking about the ten commandments, calling each commandment a "point" of the law, because he uses two of the ten commandments as examples. James also explains WHY we are guilty of violating the whole law of God if we violate just one point. It is because of WHO gave the commandments ("For He who said..."). In other words, it is because God gave the commandments that we must obey all of them. Using that same logic, He who said "you shall not commit adultery" also said "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). That is exactly the logic that James is using.
Some people are confused by some of the things Paul wrote regarding the law. One of the principles of Bible study is that the Bible cannot contradict itself. All scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God cannot lie (Titus 1:1-2, Hebrews 6:17-18). Therefore the Bible cannot lie or contradict itself, and all scripture is true (John 17:17, Psalm 119:160). When some scriptures seem to contradict other scriptures, you let the clear scriptures interpret unclear or difficult ones. That is an important principle. You get all the scriptures on a topic, then let clear scriptures that are easy to understand interpret those that are difficult to understand. Some of Paul's writings are difficult to understand, and Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit to warn about that (2 Peter 3:14-16). Paul often uses the word "law" in different ways and he uses symbols of the Old Covenant in different ways. When Paul says that we are not under the law, he can be referring to the penalty of the law (death), which is removed from hanging over us when we are forgiven our sins in Jesus Christ. He can also be referring to the Old Covenant and its regulations directly. But we can use clear scriptures such as those I have quoted from James, Mark, and Luke to understand the difficult scriptures in Paul's letters to know that he is not saying that the law of the ten commandments is obsolete.
Some people think that Jesus said that the law would be done away after He fulfilled the law by keeping it, but Jesus never said that. Notice what He said. "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18). Has heaven and earth passed away? No. Has all the law and the prophets been fulfilled? No. There are many Old Testament prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled including prophecies pertaining to the millennium after Christ returns (Isaiah 2:1-4, Isaiah 11:1-9). All has not yet been fulfilled. Moreover, Christ never said the law would be removed after it was fulfilled, only that it would not be removed while there was yet something in the law and the prophets that was not yet fulfilled and while heaven and earth remain. He is not saying anything about what would happen after everything is completely fulfilled.
Many people think that the Sabbath was made just for Israel and that it was made at the time of the making of the Old Covenant. Neither is true. The Sabbath was made for mankind and it existed before the Old Covenant.
Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27). Jesus did not say that the Sabbath was made for Israel or for the Jew. It was made for man in general, not just Israel.
And notice, the Sabbath was made. It was created. There was a time when God brought the Sabbath into existence. Was this when the Old Covenant was made with Israel? No. The Old Covenant was made when the ten commandments were given, Israel agreed to the covenant, and it was ratified with blood. But the Sabbath existed before that. Notice that it existed before the ten commandments were given (Exodus 16:4-6, 22-30).
Jesus said that the Sabbath was made. Since the Sabbath was created for the entire human race, it would be reasonable to expect that there would be a record in the Old Testament of that event, the making of the Sabbath. There is such a record, and it is the only record of anything that can be an account of the making of the Sabbath in the entire Old Testament.
Genesis 2:2-3 says, "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." Why did God rest? Not because He was tired. He rested in order to create the Sabbath. He created that first Sabbath day by His example of resting. This is the account of the making of the Sabbath for man that Jesus talked about.
The close parallel wording between the fourth commandment ("Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" - Exodus 20:11) and the creation account ("Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" - Genesis 2:3) shows that this seventh day was a Sabbath, just as the fourth commandment describes. Genesis 2:2-3 and Exodus 20:11 are talking about exactly the same thing - the Sabbath day.
The New Covenant includes the same law of the ten commandments as the Old Covenant, including the Sabbath, but provides better promises.
Or to put it another way, are the ten commandments part of the New Covenant just as they are part of the Old Covenant? Are the ten commandments part of both covenants?
Most traditional Christians would agree that we should not murder, commit adultery, or steal. They do not have a problem with commandments against those things. But they do have a problem with the Sabbath. Many think that Christians do not need to keep the Sabbath day because the command to observe the Sabbath is in the ten commandments, and they think the ten commandments are done away. They think the ten commandments are only included in the Old Covenant and not the New Covenant.
What is the Old Covenant? The Old Covenant was an agreement between God and Israel. God promised to bless Israel if Israel obeyed God and kept His law (Exodus 19:1-9, 20:1-17, 23:25-27, 24:3-8, Deuteronomy 28:1-14). Those were the terms that God offered Israel. The ten commandments were part of the covenant because the ten commandments described God's law that the people had to obey. The Old Covenant came into existence after Israel agreed to the terms and the covenant was ratified with blood (Exodus 24:3-8).
Notice that the Old Covenant included promises God made to bless Israel. Those promises included health, economic prosperity, and protection from enemies (Exodus 15:25-26, Leviticus 26:3-13). These were national promises that applied to the nation as a whole. That was God's part. Israel's part was to keep the ten commandments and obey God in everything. But also notice here, there is no promise of eternal life under the Old Covenant, only national blessings in this physical life. There is also no promise of the Holy Spirit or of writing God's law in the people's hearts.
What is the New Covenant? It is first described in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:31-34). This Old Testament scripture is quoted by the author of Hebrews in describing the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:7-12, 10:16-17).
Notice that there is nothing here about a different law for the New Covenant. The law is the same for both covenants. So what is the difference? The difference is in the promises. The New Covenant is based on better promises than the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-8). One of those promises is given in the Old Testament. Under the New Covenant, God will write His law in our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). That is different from the Old Covenant in which God's law was written or engraved on stone (Exodus 24:12, Deuteronomy 27:1-8). That is important, because the writing of God's law on stone is often used to represent the Old Covenant, in contrast to the writing of God's law in our hearts under the New Covenant (2 Corinthians 3:7-11).
Notice also there is a promise in the New Covenant of forgiveness of sin (Jeremiah 31:34). This was never available under the Old Covenant.
Many aspects of the New Covenant are described in more detail in the New Testament.
Another promise of the New Covenant is eternal life (1 John 2:24-25, John 3:16, John 6:54, John 10:27-28, Romans 6:23). Remember, eternal life was never promised under the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant promises of national blessings for Israel pertained to this temporary physical life only - read Deuteronomy 28:1-14.
Is the law of the ten commandments, including the law of the Sabbath, retained under the New Covenant?
When Jesus Christ was on earth, someone asked Him a question about the requirements of the New Covenant. A man wanted to know what he had to do to receive eternal life. This was a New Covenant question, because the Old Covenant did not promise eternal life. This question had NOTHING to do with the Old Covenant.
If this question was about the Old Covenant, the man would have asked, "what must we do to obtain national blessings of health, prosperity, and protection from our enemies?" because those were the promises of the Old Covenant. But the man asked about eternal life, which is only available under the New Covenant. So this question is 100% about the New Covenant. And the answer Jesus gave directly answers our question, is the law of the ten commandments, including the law of the Sabbath, retained under the New Covenant.
What was Jesus Christ's answer?
Jesus said, "You know the commandments" (Mark 10:17-19, Luke 18:18-20). Then Jesus named several of the ten commandments.
Now is it only the commandments that Jesus named that are required? Is it alright under the New Covenant to have other gods before the true God (first commandment), to use images in worship (second commandment), to take God's name in vain (third commandment), and to not keep the Sabbath (fourth commandment). No. Jesus named several of the ten commandments as examples, but the whole package of ten commandments is included. Why? Because Jesus started His answer by saying "you know the commandments". This man grew up in Israel and learned the ten commandments from his youth. The commandments he knew were the ten commandments, all ten of them.
So in telling the man what is required for the New Covenant promise of eternal life, Jesus told the man to keep the commandments he already knew, the ten commandments.
And that includes the Sabbath.
So Sabbath observance is a requirement under the New Covenant.
The New Testament affirms the ten commandments as a body of law that still exists. Notice what James wrote, long after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: "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). Notice that James wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17), that if you violate one point of the law, you violate the whole law and are guilty of transgression. Which law? James shows that he is talking about the ten commandments, calling each commandment a "point" of the law, because he uses two of the ten commandments as examples. James also explains WHY we are guilty of violating the whole law of God if we violate just one point. It is because of WHO gave the commandments ("For He who said..."). In other words, it is because God gave the commandments that we must obey all of them. Using that same logic, He who said "you shall not commit adultery" also said "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). That is exactly the logic that James is using.
Some people are confused by some of the things Paul wrote regarding the law. One of the principles of Bible study is that the Bible cannot contradict itself. All scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God cannot lie (Titus 1:1-2, Hebrews 6:17-18). Therefore the Bible cannot lie or contradict itself, and all scripture is true (John 17:17, Psalm 119:160). When some scriptures seem to contradict other scriptures, you let the clear scriptures interpret unclear or difficult ones. That is an important principle. You get all the scriptures on a topic, then let clear scriptures that are easy to understand interpret those that are difficult to understand. Some of Paul's writings are difficult to understand, and Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit to warn about that (2 Peter 3:14-16). Paul often uses the word "law" in different ways and he uses symbols of the Old Covenant in different ways. When Paul says that we are not under the law, he can be referring to the penalty of the law (death), which is removed from hanging over us when we are forgiven our sins in Jesus Christ. He can also be referring to the Old Covenant and its regulations directly. But we can use clear scriptures such as those I have quoted from James, Mark, and Luke to understand the difficult scriptures in Paul's letters to know that he is not saying that the law of the ten commandments is obsolete.
Some people think that Jesus said that the law would be done away after He fulfilled the law by keeping it, but Jesus never said that. Notice what He said. "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18). Has heaven and earth passed away? No. Has all the law and the prophets been fulfilled? No. There are many Old Testament prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled including prophecies pertaining to the millennium after Christ returns (Isaiah 2:1-4, Isaiah 11:1-9). All has not yet been fulfilled. Moreover, Christ never said the law would be removed after it was fulfilled, only that it would not be removed while there was yet something in the law and the prophets that was not yet fulfilled and while heaven and earth remain. He is not saying anything about what would happen after everything is completely fulfilled.
Many people think that the Sabbath was made just for Israel and that it was made at the time of the making of the Old Covenant. Neither is true. The Sabbath was made for mankind and it existed before the Old Covenant.
Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27). Jesus did not say that the Sabbath was made for Israel or for the Jew. It was made for man in general, not just Israel.
And notice, the Sabbath was made. It was created. There was a time when God brought the Sabbath into existence. Was this when the Old Covenant was made with Israel? No. The Old Covenant was made when the ten commandments were given, Israel agreed to the covenant, and it was ratified with blood. But the Sabbath existed before that. Notice that it existed before the ten commandments were given (Exodus 16:4-6, 22-30).
Jesus said that the Sabbath was made. Since the Sabbath was created for the entire human race, it would be reasonable to expect that there would be a record in the Old Testament of that event, the making of the Sabbath. There is such a record, and it is the only record of anything that can be an account of the making of the Sabbath in the entire Old Testament.
Genesis 2:2-3 says, "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." Why did God rest? Not because He was tired. He rested in order to create the Sabbath. He created that first Sabbath day by His example of resting. This is the account of the making of the Sabbath for man that Jesus talked about.
The close parallel wording between the fourth commandment ("Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" - Exodus 20:11) and the creation account ("Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" - Genesis 2:3) shows that this seventh day was a Sabbath, just as the fourth commandment describes. Genesis 2:2-3 and Exodus 20:11 are talking about exactly the same thing - the Sabbath day.
The New Covenant includes the same law of the ten commandments as the Old Covenant, including the Sabbath, but provides better promises.
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