justaname said:
Keeth, Phenom, Raenes...
Another Scripture...
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Galatians 5:14
And again...
9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. - Romans 13:9-10
So Jesus teaches it and Paul affirms it...you should submit to it...love fulfills the Law including all that Jesus taught and commanded. If for you love does not, then you do not understand love. We have been set free from the Law and have been given the Spirit.
In the Romans passage Paul is specifically speaking of the 10, and he adds...and any other commandment.
The 10 are apportioned to the 613 which are apportioned to the Old Covenant.
The Old testament gives the same testimony regarding love. There is no keeping the law void of love. If it didn't mean the commandments no longer apply then, why should it now? Why will you make this verse contradict the testimony of Jesus Christ Himself, and other statements from Paul himself? Why do you deny that the ten commandments are God's commandments and not Israel's or just part of the old covenant, when scripture clearly states that they are God's.? God calls the commandments and the Sabbath His many times over in scripture. Why do you insist this is not so? What man do you think has or had the authority to change that which came to humanity directly out of God's mouth and was written for them with His own finger? Why can you not produce a simple conclusive statement from scripture to the effect that we no longer need to keep the sabbath or the commandments of God? Is it not becasue there are not any? You must construe and manipulate the words of scripture to this effect, because there are no simple and concise statements within it, saying the commandments and Sabbath are no longer to be kept.
Therefore you say love replaces the law rather than love is the fulfillment of the law, as scripture clearly teaches in both the old and new testaments. It is impossible to fulfill a law, without keeping it. On top of this you must ignore all new testament scripture that says we should keep the commandments, or change their meaning to your own understanding that they are only referring to love God and your neighbor. What did Jesus Christ Himself teach regarding the commandments? Can you produce any words from Him to the effect that the commandments no longer need to be kept?
zeke25 said:
Keeth,
Since you apparently do not understand who the Sabbath day was given to, you reach wrong conclusions. There is nothing extra biblical about the Sabbath not being practiced today, in fact that is exactly what the Bible teaches - the Sabbath day has served its purpose in history and is no longer a requirement for anyone.
Nothing has been negated about the Sabbath day. No one is required to keep it any more. In fact, those that do have fallen from grace, Gal. 5:4.
Sabbath Keeping
Part I - Why It Was Established
1. Deuteronomy 5:13-15 KJV, "13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: 14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of [Yahowah] thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. 15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that [Yahowah] thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore [Yahowah] thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day." Mark 2:27 KJV, "And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." These Scriptures identify why sabbath keeping was established by Yahowah. He gave it so that man, the servants of men, and the beasts of burden would have a period of rest each week. It was given, by a loving God, to increase their quality of life.
2. The sabbath was also given by Yahowah as a precursor, as a type, to His rest that is yet to come for all His children who become born again. This rest, that is to come, is discussed in Hebrews 3:7-19 continuing through 4:1-11 KJV, "7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)" Here the word rest is first spoken in this group of Scriptures. This is the teaching on which we are focusing. "12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?" Rest is written here again. This is the true sabbath rest that God has been teaching throughout the Bible. Not a weekly rest, but a spiritual rest now in the present, and an eternal rest forever. "19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." and in Hebrews 4:1-5 KJV, "1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world." God has prepared a rest for us, but we must have the faith to enter into this rest. Beginning in Exodus 16 the Hebrews were taught to observe this rest by a weekly sabbath. However, they did not exercise and apply their faith. Therefore, God did not allow most of them to enter into His rest. "4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest." Here God shows the pattern and teaching He prepared for us even from the beginning, even from the seventh day of creation. He did not introduce the sabbath at this time however. But He did introduce the rest that He had prepared for us. It is the rest that God focuses on in Genesis 2:2-3 and here in Hebrews chapters three and four. In fact, the seventh day of creation week is a Friday, not a Saturday or Sabbath: see our treatise on the "Calendar of Scripture" parts I and II. His focus is not on the physical requirements of a sabbath rest day, instead His focus is on the spiritual rest from all our labors. His focus is on the spiritual rest that is ours when we rest in the finished work of Yahoshua on the tree of Calvary. We cannot strive to reach God and strive to maintain our salvation. We can only rest in the power and sovereignty of Yahowah. He did not need our help in creating the heavens and the Earth, He did not need our help in paying for our sins by Yahoshua's death on the tree, and He does not need our help in preparing an eternal rest for us. But He does want our faith and belief that He created the heavens and the Earth. And He wants our faith and belief that He did atone for our sins on the execution stake at Calvary. And He wants our faith and belief that we can enter into His rest. Without this faith we cannot please God, Hebrews 11:6. "Hebrews 4:6-11 KJV, "6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if [Yahoshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." This is what God was teaching in Genesis 2:2-3; this is what God was teaching in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5; and this is what God is teaching here in Hebrews 3 and 4. He is teaching of His rest, prepared for His people. The purpose of the old requirements to keep the weekly sabbath was not the beginning point nor the end point of His teachings and requirements; it was not the culminating point; it was not the ordinance above all ordinances to be observed by all for all time. No, not at all. Weekly sabbath keeping was only another tool along the way, used by God, to teach us the importance of entering into His spiritual and permanent rest.
Keeth, I am curious. What do you think about the Apostle Paul? Do you recommend that we should follow his teachings?
Zeke25
The Sabbath was established at creation, not for the Jews two thousand years later. They were reminded to keep it, it was not established at that time, but rather had been greatly ignored until that time. While you mention some of the reasons for the Sabbath, you ignore others that you might believe as you wish.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
The fourth commandment itself reminds the Jews that it was established at creation, it was not being established now for them, but preceded them. It is a commemoration of God’s creative power, and weekly reminder to us of our true nature in relation to our creator, which very thing we often forget as fallen sinners.
Ex 31:12 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily [SIZE=14pt]my sabbaths ye shall keep[/SIZE]: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; [SIZE=14pt]that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.[/SIZE] 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. [SIZE=14pt]17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]The Sabbath is the Lord’s, and it is a sign that He alone can sanctify anything. He alone sanctified the seventh day Sabbath, and no one can change that. He alone sanctifies the believer, and no one can change that. All those who will not learn that it is God alone who sanctifies will die. Thus was the death sentence pronounced upon those who claimed to be of Israel but refused to acknowledge or observe the day which God sanctified. This meant that they did not believe God sanctified the day, or them as His covenant people. The day remains sanctified to this day according to the word of God which no man can refute or change but to the detriment of their soul. It remains a sign that God alone can sanctify anything, and all that will truly enter into His rest also accept the authority of not only this day but all His commandments. They have faith in His word and are thereby sanctified by that faith. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]We should most certainly follow Paul’s teachings. All those though, who twist Paul’s words so that they contradict the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, have no light in them. Peter, addressed this issue even in his day.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]2 Pet 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Even during the days of the Apostles, people were twisting Paul’s testimony to their own ends. If one makes the words of Paul contradict the testimony of Jesus Christ, they are guilty of the same. That would include most of “Christianity” today in one aspect or another.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]While the seventh day Sabbath is a sign of God’s sanctification upon the believer, the man made first day Sabbath is a sign of the exact opposite. Observing the seventh day Sabbath is a confession that God alone sanctifies, observing the first day Sabbath is a confession that one believes man can sanctify as well, as though we were god’s also. The latter is of course false. There is no biblical support for a new day of worship on the day of the sun, this came about through man alone, not God. Nor could any man save Christ alone sanctify a day, a man, or anything else. Read the following, emphasis mine, and understand the difference between God’s Sabbath, and mans Sabbath.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]The following is from the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]Sunday- fulfillment of the sabbath [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]2175 Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week;
for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ's Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath and announces man's eternal rest in God. For worship under the Law prepared for the mystery of Christ, and what was done there prefigured some aspects of Christ:[107]
Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new hope,
no longer keeping the sabbath, but the Lord's Day, in which our life is blessed by him and by his death.[108][/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt] 2176 The celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship "as a sign of his universal beneficence to all."[109]
Sunday worship fulfills the moral command of the Old Covenant, taking up its rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer of his people. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]A day of grace and rest from work [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]2184
Just as God "rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done,"[121] human life has a rhythm of work and rest. The institution of the Lord's Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives.[122] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]2185 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body.[123] Family needs or important social service can legitimately excuse from the obligation of Sunday rest. The faithful should see to it that legitimate excuses do not lead to habits prejudicial to religion, family life, and health.
The charity of truth seeks holy leisure- the necessity of charity accepts just work.[124][/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]2186 Those Christians who have leisure should be mindful of their brethren who have the same needs and the same rights, yet cannot rest from work because of poverty and misery. Sunday is
traditionally consecrated by Christian piety to good works and humble service of the sick, the infirm, and the elderly. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=16pt]Christians will also sanctify Sunday[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt] by devoting time and care to their families and relatives, often difficult to do on other days of the week. Sunday is a time for reflection, silence, cultivation of the mind, and meditation which furthers the growth of the Christian interior life. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]2187 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=16pt]Sanctifying Sundays and holy days requires a common effort.[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt] Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord's Day. Traditional activities (sport, restaurants, etc.), and social necessities (public services, etc.), require some people to work on Sundays, but everyone should still take care to set aside sufficient time for leisure. With temperance and charity the faithful will see to it that they avoid the excesses and violence sometimes associated with popular leisure activities. In spite of economic constraints, public authorities should ensure citizens a time intended for rest and divine worship. Employers have a similar obligation toward their employees.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]2188 In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, [/SIZE]
[SIZE=16pt]Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church's holy days as legal holidays.[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt] They have to give everyone a public example of prayer, respect, and joy and defend their
traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society. If a country's legislation or other reasons require work on Sunday, the day should nevertheless be lived as the day of our deliverance which lets us share in this "festal gathering," this "assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven."[125] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]According to the above, Sunday sacredness and therefore sanctification is accomplished through their common effort of observing the same. God sanctified His own day, and He alone can sanctify anyone or anything. Sunday worshippers are part of a false system of “Christian” worship which believes a day can be sanctified by a common effort of fallen humanity to make it so. They are bringing forth an offering to God of their own hands and invention, instead of the only sanctified offering acceptable to God, that of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. They have gone the way of Cain, but their offering will not be accepted. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Gen 4:1 ¶ And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. 2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 ¶ And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6 ¶ And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Cain thought he could bring an offering of the work of his own hands to God, rather than that which God had commanded. He was wrong. “Christians” of today think they can worship God when and how they choose, regardless of that which God has commanded, they are wrong. Christ is the only acceptable sacrifice to God. Those only who by faith accept and follow His leading example therefore, are presenting the only acceptable offering to God. Those who choose their own way, will not be accepted. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Heb 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 ¶ Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Those who submit to Christ in doing His Fathers will according as Christ taught and lived, are those who constitute true Christianity. Their offering is acceptable because it is in submission to their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and according to His perfect example. Those who think they can add their own designs to His, while breaking away from His living example, are deceived. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Rom 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt].[/SIZE]
