Sabbath Keeping - The Old Testament

[Axehead]

Have you run into people that are telling you how important it is to keep the Sabbath?

There is definitely a move away from Christ back to Judaism, today. Back to “Sabbath Keeping”. It is happening all around us. We all know people that say they should keep the Sabbath Holy. One of the big arguments they have is that the Roman Catholic Church instituted “Sunday Keeping” along with Constantine in the 4th century and that the Roman Catholic church attempted to change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. So, we are told that when we keep Sunday instead of Saturday, we are not keeping the Sabbath.

The reality is this, Bible Believers don’t keep Sunday and they do not believe that Sunday is the Sabbath. So, we are not worried about someone changing the day from Saturday to Sunday because we have a different Sabbath and the Sabbath is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of our rest and we keep no other day holy. Bible believers don’t think Sunday is the Sabbath or is the holy day. We don’t hold any day above another. All days are equally exalted in which we walk in God’s presence and in His Spirit and worship Him.

According to Galatians 5, if you disagree with the previous statement then you have fallen from grace. There is no end to how many, many groups from Seventh Day Adventists to British Israelism to the Hebrew Roots Movements, twist the scripture and attempt to modify this thing to make it fit. Now, I say this with grace because my hope is that I can steer you away from this.

Let’s first start with Genesis 2:2-3.

Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Well, you say that the Sabbath is not Mosaic and it is not under the system of laws that God gave to the Jews, but it is something that God founded in the very beginning. Does your Bible say that God founded the Sabbath for Himself here, or for man? Does your Bible say that man rested or that God rested?

There is no record of God giving Adam a commandment to rest on the seventh day. All we are told is that God rested. There is no record or statement at all that God revealed this to Adam at that time.

In Exodus 31:14, we find this:

Exo 31:14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall be called a bad Christian.

Is that what it said??? No, that is not what it said.

What does it say?

Ye shall be put to death!

Exo 31:14 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.
Exo 31:15 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.
Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
Exo 31:17 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.

Who does the Bible say that God is talking to? The Children of Israel? That is correct.

Is this a covenant forever with the Jews or the Gentiles?

Yes, with the Jews and there is no passing away of this covenant. This is perpetual. The coming of Christ did not negate the keeping of the Sabbath for the nation of Israel.

Does the Bible say that it is a sign between God and the nation of Israel, forever? Yes.

In other words there is not going to be a future dispensation that nullifies Sabbath Keeping for the nation of Israel.

That means today in Israel and today in New York, the Jews should be keeping the Sabbath holy. It is their obligation to do so. And if they do work sometime after sundown on Friday night, then the other Jews according to God should pick up bricks and come down and bash their brains out. That is the Word of God! If they do not do that, then they are in violation of the Word of God. That is a commandment to the nation of Israel that has not passed away, has not changed.

Some people would like to make the penalty pass away but keep the law. But think hard about this. Do you have a law if you have no penalty? No! You cannot have a law without a penalty. The very nature of law is that it comes with a penalty.

I hear people dividing the law in what is referred to as the “moral commandments” and the “ceremonial commandments”. And they tell us that the ceremonial part has passed away but the moral part is not and they try to make Sabbath Keeping part of the “moral” part which has remained but the penalty part of it we are no longer under. Christ is supposed to have lifted that.

So they say that when Christ died, we are no longer punished for keeping the Sabbath but we are suppose to keep it, regardless. What?

I submit unto you that when God gave this law and it was perpetual, the penalty was part of it and the penalty cannot pass away unless the law passes away. And for the nation of Israel, the law of Sabbath keeping cannot pass away.

Looking at Exodus 31:14 again, there are those that try to tell us that the Sabbath was kept prior to this. They say that when God says to “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”, that what it means is that, they have been keeping it and to remember what I told you. Keep remembering what your duty is, to keep the Sabbath and keep on doing what you know you should be doing.

That is a bit stretching the text there in Exodus 20:8.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

If you take the whole book of Genesis, the Bible talks about Abraham being a righteous man and it describes in detail, going to places and worshipping. It describes in detail, time and again, his offering of sacrifices and his falling down and praying and it talked of his righteousness, but it never mentioned him keeping the Sabbath. That is very strange. The Bible mentions his tithing, but it never mentions his Sabbath keeping. Then we have Isaac, who was also a righteous man and no mention of the Sabbath. Then we have Jacob and all his trials that he goes through with God and God teaching him and yet no mention of the Sabbath or Sabbath keeping. Then we have the 12 sons of Jacob and we have their devotion to God and Joseph going down to Egypt, and the Bible makes a big point of Joseph’s faithfulness to God. Down in Egypt, he worships God, he prays and they try to find some fault in him and yet, no mention of him ever keeping the Sabbath.

And then we come to Moses and we see Moses fleeing Egypt and then coming back but yet again no mention of Moses keeping the Sabbath. You find Moses dealing with the Jews for over a year and plagues coming but you find no mention of them ever keeping the Sabbath. And then when Moses tells Pharoah that he wants to take the people and go 3 days journey and worship, he never says that they want to go keep the Sabbath. Moses never said that they want to keep the Sabbath holy unto God. If they kept the Sabbath, this would be the place to say it!

There is a conspicuous absence of any Patriarch keeping the Sabbath until Moses receives it as a commandment from God. This is irrefutable from the KJV Bible and even other Bibles.

So, to tell us that God instituted Sabbath Keeping from the book of Genesis is absolutely false! He instituted nothing of the kind. The Bible tells us that He rested. That was His business! And when He got ready to reveal it, He revealed it to the nation of Israel and it was a sign between Him and the nation of Israel. Not between anyone else. A sign of a covenant. A covenant that he made with the nation of Israel. He never made that covenant with the nations of Gentiles. And the Gentiles have not entered into that covenant. The covenant that the Gentiles have entered into is the covenant that God made with Abraham to bless the world through his seed. Abraham was a Gentile not a Jew, not an Israelite and he did not keep the Sabbath.

When God made a covenant with the nation of Israel, He made it with the Jews, with the Israelites, not with Abraham and the Bible never speaks of us, the Church, as being the seed of Jacob (Israel) or the seed of Isaac. It speaks of us being the seed of Abraham by faith and that has nothing to do with the nation of Israel.

We are the seed of a Gentile that did not keep the Sabbath, not the seed of an Israelite or a Jew who was commanded to keep the Sabbath. This is powerful!! This is extremely significant.

Now what is the first mention of Sabbath keeping in Exodus 20:8? Let’s look at it.

Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 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:
Exo 20:11 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.

Now God commands this to the Jews and says not their menservants, thy maidservants and not their cattle, in other words, on the Sabbath, they could not hitch up their buggy and go to worship. The cows and horses couldn’t work. On the Sabbath they could not kindle a fire or carry any kind of load.

In Nehemiah 9:13 we have an interesting statement about the Sabbath.

Neh 9:13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:

Now verse 14 is the key: Look at this very closely.

Neh 9:14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:

What did Moses do?

When he came down on mount Sinai, he made known unto them the Holy Sabbath. Meaning they did not know about it before Moses knew about it.

So the Word of God tells us that this is when God made known unto the Children of Israel, the Jews, His Holy Sabbath. No one from Adam knew about the Sabbath or were ever commanded to observe it. How could they observe what they never knew about? And that is why we never see a record of Sabbath keeping before Moses.

God did not make known to them just one Sabbath. He made known to them many Sabbaths. And yet, most of the people today just keep one Sabbath, one weekly Sabbath.

One of the Sabbaths involved keeping 7 days of unleavened bread and another Sabbath that involved the 7th year and there was a Sabbath that involved the 7th month. And there were certain ways that the Sabbaths were to be kept in fastings and what they could eat and could not eat and the blowing of trumpets. And if you are going to keep a Sabbath you have to keep all of the Sabbaths. You can’t go and cut them in half and say, “Ok, God instituted this but I am going to observe part of it and I’m going to do it the way our church does it.” You are going to have to do it the way God commanded.

And then in Ezekiel 20:12, He says:
Eze 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctifieth them.

Did the Word just say Sabbaths? Plural, right? So there are multiple Sabbath keepings.

How was the Sabbath observed? Exodus 16: 5-23 tells us that there was no cooking of food or preparation of food. You can’t use the microwave, you cannot boil a roast. You cannot cook your food, between sundown Friday (if that is the Sabbath) and sundown Saturday (if that is the Sabbath). I am not convinced that is the Sabbath. But if it is, if that is when the 7th day is, I mean it could be Tuesday or it could be Thursday. I have no proof that what we call Saturday, today is the Sabbath.

And then Exodus 16:29, “let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”

In other words they did not go and have a big church meeting on the Sabbath. They did not travel. They were to stay home and rest. Sabbath was about resting. They were commanded to stay home. No one is to go to meetings on that day. I wonder how that would go over. Probably not too well.

Exodus 20:10 – No one is to work. Not the son or daughter or the cattle. Nothing!

Exodus 23:12 – The ox and the ass are to rest also.

Exodus 35:3 – They are to kindle no fire. If you get’s cold you just stay cold.

Numbers 15:32 – Gather no firewood. They could not pick up a stick of firewood on the Sabbath.

They just had to lay down and relax on the Sabbath. They could not lift a finger to go somewhere or to build a fire or to do anything.

Isaiah 58:13 – Says they are not to do their own ways, or do their own pleasures or speak their own words.

Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

In other words, you can’t sit around and talk about the good times. You cannot talk about fishing or hunting or sports or organic gardening or making bread. You can’t talk about your new building project or what the kids have been doing that week and how funny it was. You couldn’t get together with the family and friends and laugh and have a good time on the Sabbath.

You couldn’t “speak your own words”. The Sabbath was the time to speak only the words of God. So picture this, everyone is staying at home, no one is going in or out, no one is carrying a load, no one cooking anything. Everyone in a state of total relaxation, just praying, singing and speaking the words of God for the 24 hours. That is the way they kept the Sabbath.

And if they violated this in anyway, the penalty was death.

We have an example of this in Exodus 31:14.

Exo 31:14 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.
Exo 31:15 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.
Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

In Exodus 35:2, they are told not to kindle the fire.

In Numbers 15:32-36, the children of Israel found a man that was gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, and they brought him unto Moses and Aaron and the congregation. God had just given them this law and they found a father who was out picking up sticks so he could bring them back to build up the fire to cook a little manna to eat.

Let’s see what happened.

Num 15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
Num 15:33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
Num 15:34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.
Num 15:35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.
Num 15:36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.

They waited until after the Sabbath because they could not lift stones on the Sabbath. So they put him in jail (in a ward) until the Sabbath was over. All the congregation had to bash their neighbor in the head with stones as the wives and kids stood by and watched him die. Why? He violated the Sabbath.


God is real serious about Sabbath keeping and how dare anyone take away the penalty that God gave, and say we keep it because it is a blessing to us. Ha! If you were to ask the Jews they wouldn’t have said it was a blessing to them. They would say it is something our God requires of us under penalty of death.

That is why they observed the Sabbath.

Axehead

 

[dragonfly]

Hello Axehead,

Here follows a robust defence of the opposite persuasion. :)

Exo 31:14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall be called a bad Christian.

Is that what it said??? No, that is not what it said.

What does it say?

Ye shall be put to death!

Exo 31:14 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.
Exo 31:15 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.
Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
Exo 31:17 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.

Who does the Bible say that God is talking to? The Children of Israel? That is correct.

Is this a covenant forever with the Jews or the Gentiles?

Yes, with the Jews and there is no passing away of this covenant. This is perpetual. The coming of Christ did not negate the keeping of the Sabbath for the nation of Israel.

Does the Bible say that it is a sign between God and the nation of Israel, forever? Yes.

In other words there is not going to be a future dispensation that nullifies Sabbath Keeping for the nation of Israel.

Thanks for this throught-provoking post. I do know people who keep Sabbath. One is Jewish, the other is not. Both are Christians. I know the Jewish person does it because God has insisted, and, he himself believes that the sabbath applies to Jews until the next world, whether entering it by glorification or resurrection - but I do believe it is a matter of conscience, and suspect there are many believing Jews who stopped keeping sabbath, too.

This particular verse (Colossians 2:16) does not distinguish between Jews, proselytes and Gentles, and it surely is the most obvious one by which to lead into others (other verses) which also indicate that Jews in Christ, had become free of the whole law - in the same way as any other believer is free of the whole law. As you have pointed out in another thread, as the law was not going to die, we had to - that we may be married to another.

A Puritan writer put it this way - that we have to be divorced from sin, that we may be married to another.

Okay, the verse is in Colossians 2. The context is interesting though, because we tend to think of Colosse as a Gentile place, but Paul is referring to the law immediately preceding his reference to sabbath-keeping.

10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath [days]: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ.

I can see why an Orthodox Jew who has not turned to the Messiah might still keep sabbaths, but I can't see why a 'Jewish' Christian would have to. I realise that one could argue v 16 as saying, 'don't worry about what other Christians think of you when you keep the sabbath, you just go ahead and keep it (subtext - all you Jewish Christians), but that meaning could be much clearer if that's what Paul was actually saying. Then we have his other sweeping allusions to the freedom with which we have been set free:

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day [alike]. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

There is liberty to hold one day above another, but it is not required for salvation. You seem to be saying that a Jewish Christian is incurring a delayed death penalty, if he does not keep the sabbath defined by Moses. There are many places Paul (or the other NT writers) could have made this distinction within the church, but the opposite is true.

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us]; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, [so] making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

He does not add, 'And you Jews, remember that you have to carry on keeping sabbaths'.

Galatians 2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. 14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before [them] all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

15 We [who are] Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. 18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Surely the keeping of sabbath was so that the flesh could rest. God was hinting at the spiritual rest into which He had determined to bring them?


Regarding not cooking on the sabbath, this is not quite what Leviticus 16 describes. I think I've read elsewhere in scripture, that they were allowed to prepare such food as they needed for the day - but I can't find it right now.

Also, regarding the gathering of two days' worth of manna the day before Sabbath, this was a small example of God's faithfulness, compared with what they would be expected to believe for in fallow years, and especially jubilee years, when He would feed them for three years from one year's harvest and what grew during the double sabbath of the land.

This again is a portrait of the sabbath rest into which Jesus, Who has entered into His sabbath rest, has brought us.

Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ;

The connection between not working for anything, and the focus on the Lord during sabbath days, was the association God wanted to establish in their thinking - and in ours, as the kind of believers Paul exhorts we should be - hoping for the righteousness which only is by faith. If any believer keeps the sabbath, it must be to practise complete obedience to God's instant word on that day, and not be merely a religious observance which makes everyone miserable.

Under the New Covenant, this is the alternative - every day - not just one day a week or during ceremonial rest days.

Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of [our] lips giving thanks to his name. 16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Jews (Israelites) who have entered the rest spoken of in Hebrews 4:8 For if Jesus 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. are resting all the time in the way that matters to God.

Hebrews 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

At Sinai, 'the people' asked Moses to speak to God on their behalf, and to speak to them on His behalf. This has never been God's desired relationship with His people, and He saw this attitude as a sign that they would not cleave to Him, and He was right. It is even more imperative, therefore, that those who come to the Father through Jesus Messiah, genuinely leave behind the separated relationship through law-keeping, and fully embrace Him as their only Saviour.

That said, there is definitely liberty, as Paul demonstrates by living as a Jew when with Jews, and not forcing his Jewishness on non-Jews, even living like non-Jews to draw alongside them with the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:20, 21)



Have I convinced you? :mellow:

PS

Our brother Episkopos has helped us out in the other thread (Who is Israel). I think it's worth quoting here to finish off my thoughts in the previous post:

'Israel is a man (Jacob) who had a personal encounter with God. He found what he was seeking for. So everyone who finds God (or vice versa) in a personal encounter is of Israel.'

In other words, whether a person was born into Israel or not, once they have been born into Jesus Christ, they are 'of Israel'.

In this way, the sabbath-keeping of a descendant of Jacob moves from the keeping of a fleshly law (a good law which showed up his sinfulness) to the keeping of an eternal sabbath in Christ Jesus; for by one offering He has perfected [completed] for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14) Only by faith are they, or we, right with God.

PPS - and this may be the most compelling support for my thesis in the first reply to you.

Hebrews 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.


This reference to 'law' reminds me of how Tyndale begins Romans 7:1

Remember ye not brethren (I speak to them that know the law) how that the law hath power over a man as long as it endureth?

 

[Axehead]

Have I convinced you? :mellow:

Hi DragonFly,

I am totally open to changing my mind. No one has all the truth except Jesus Christ. That is one reason I engage in these discussions. I guess I caused some confusion, though. Yes, from a New Testament point of view I believe that the Bible teaches that the Law has been rendered obsolete. It is the only covenant that is not called eternal; it was to continue only until the coming of the seed, (Gal. 3:19,16).

From our standpoint it is pointless for the Jews to follow the Mosaic covenant. It's like the Jews rebuilding the Temple and reinstituting the Temple sacrifice and thinking that God has an obligation to forgive their sins because of the Temple sacrifice. No, He does not. Jesus Christ's death and resurrection rendered the Mosaic Law obsolete and coming to Him any other way except through His Son.



Ps. 147:19-20 - He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His ordinances, they have not known them. Praise the Lord!

We also know that Paul establishes and confirms the giving of the Law to Paul's kinsman (Israel) according to the flesh.

Rom. 9:3-4 - For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,

Deut. 4:7-8 - For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him? Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

(It is important to remember this: binding the Mosaic Law upon the Church has caused a multitude of confusion and false teaching within the Body of the Messiah.)

Since the Law of Moses has been rendered inoperative, does that mean that there is no use for the Law at all? No, the Law still has the power to reveal the holy character of God and the sinfulness of man. There continues to be value in teaching the Law and the Ten Commandments since they are in the Bible and as such are profitable, (II Tim. 3:16)

1. The clear teaching of the NT is that all the Law of Moses has been rendered inoperative as a result of the death of Jesus.
Rom. 6:14-15 - For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
Rom. 10:4 - For Messiah is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

2. NT believers have died in Messiah, therefore making the Law ineffective. Laws of any kind have no binding effect upon someone who is dead. They mean nothing. This is Paul’s primary point in the beginning of Romans 7.

Rom. 7:1-7 - Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband... Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of the Messiah, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "You shall not covet."

It’s interesting that Paul uses a commandment that’s from the “Moral Law” (You shall not covet.) to prove his point that we are no longer under the Law. If we were still under the “Moral Law” it seems that he would not have used a commandment from the “Moral Law” to prove that we are no longer under the Law.

All the best,
Axehead

 

[dragonfly]

Hi Axehead,

I think I spotted the verse which destroys our Jewish brother's argument, there in Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of the Messiah, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.

If we can be joined to another and bear fruit unto God now - which we believe from John 15 that we can - then we don't have to wait for the physical resurrection to walk in newness of life. Paul makes this clear in Romans 6:4. However, we know that the Lord uses whatever pleases Him in order to move us forward, and sabbath-keeping remains a free option to those who feel it on their heart to be bound by it.

who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,

This list that Paul gives begins with the most important - the adoption as sons and the glory. This is what the promises, the priestly system, the Law and the covenants were pointing to.

 

[Axehead]

Hi Axehead,

I think I spotted the verse which destroys our Jewish brother's argument, there in Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of the Messiah, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.

If we can be joined to another and bear fruit unto God now - which we believe from John 15 that we can - then we don't have to wait for the physical resurrection to walk in newness of life. Paul makes this clear in Romans 6:4. However, we know that the Lord uses whatever pleases Him in order to move us forward, and sabbath-keeping remains a free option to those who feel it on their heart to be bound by it.

Exactly, DragonFly. And yes, sabbath-keeping remains a free option, not one of compulsion.

This list that Paul gives begins with the most important - the adoption as sons and the glory. This is what the promises, the priestly system, the Law and the covenants were pointing to.

Yes, were pointing to but could not fulfill. Righteousness could not come through the Law. Salvation could not come through the Law and Holiness cannot be achieved through it. Righteousness, Salvation and Holiness is a PERSON, not a commodity. That is why you cannot have these things apart from Jesus Christ in your life.

Thanks,
Axehead