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WHY CHRISTIANS DO NOT OBSERVE
THE SABBATH DAY
March 8, 1953
First,
we must consider what is meant by “Christian” and also the word
“Sabbath”. The definition of “Christian” in the light of what the
Bible says is that a Christian is one who has been joined to Christ,
or baptized into Christ for the remission of his sins. Consider the
following passages: Romans 6:3-4 “Know ye not, that so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his
death?Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Also
note Galatians 3:26-27 which reads: “For ye are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
The
Sabbath has reference to the seventh day of the week. In Exodus 20:10
we read: “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD
thy God….” Therefore, we are actually studying why it is
that those who have been baptized into Christ do not observe Saturday
as a holy day.
One
of the first reasons why Christians do not observe the sabbath is
because the law commanding people to observe the Sabbath was never
addressed to Christians. This law was given upon Mt. Sinai (Exodus
20; Nehemiah 9:13-14; Galatians 4.
Exodus 20:1-2, 20 And God spake all these
words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage….And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to
prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin
not.”
Nehemiah 9:13-14 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: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and
commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses
thy servant:
Galatians 4:1-7 “Now I
say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth
nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under
tutors and governors until the time appointed of the
father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under
the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath
sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba,
Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if
a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
The Christians did not receive their law from Mt.
Sinai, rather we have received our law from Mt. Zion. The law from
Mt. Zion does not require men to keep the Sabbath Day. Hebrews
12:18-22 “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be
touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness,
and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words;
which voice they that heard intreated that the word should
not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that
which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it
shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible
was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and
quake:) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company
of angels….” To be sure the law addressed to Christian men
and women forbids us to hate, kill, steal, commit adultery et cetera,
but nowhere does it command us to keep the Sabbath Day.
We
have also learned that this law, that is, the law from Sinai was
addressed to only a part of the descendants of Shem, to those who
were in bondage in Egypt, and never at any time or place was it given
to the posterity of Ham or Japheth. We see this also in Deuteronomy
5:1-6 just before the Ten Commandments were given to Israel: “And
Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the
statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye
may learn them, and keep, and do them. The LORD our God made a
covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this covenant with
our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of
us here alive this day. The LORD talked with you face to face in
the mount out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between the
LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye
were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;)
saying, I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” This
reason alone would eliminate a greater portion of the world’s
population.
Even
to Shem’s descendants it was not given to last without end, for to
them it was given only to last until the seed should come to whom the
promise was made. Note Galatians 3:19. “Wherefore
then serveth the law? It was added because of
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was
made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a
mediator.” In Galatians 4 we are specifically commanded to
cast out the law that God gave on Mt. Sinai.
The Sabbath was like all the rest of that first
covenant. It was but a shadow of better things. Therefore, when the
shadow met the substance, that is, when Jesus entered heaven, the
shadow gave way to the substance and the Sabbath obligation became
abolished.
With
this conclusion agrees the language of Paul in our text today in
Colossians 2:16-17. 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:” [now watch it] “Which
are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of
Christ.” Could language be plainer? Had Paul actually wanted
to tell us the Sabbath was but a shadow, how else could he have told
us except in the manner already used? Here he plainly says: “Let
no man judge you respecting the Sabbath days which are a shadow of
things to come.” We conclude that the seventh day Sabbath
served only as a shadow until the seed should come to whom the
promise was made and then it, the Sabbath, like all the rest of the
shadows was abolished! From this conclusion there is no escape!
We
are aware that when we draw this conclusion we shall be criticized by
a small school of thinkers who, though very honest, have been taught
wrong. We shall therefore observe their objections in anticipation,
and trust that what I have to say will help them as well as all
others to see why their objections to our conclusion are not valid
objections.
There
is a school of thought that admits because of this that some Sabbaths
were abolished, but they say it cannot mean the weekly Sabbaths, for
these Sabbaths are to last forever. They even believe the weekly
Sabbaths are to last throughout eternity and quote Isaiah 66:23 to
prove it. “And it shall come to pass, that from
one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all
flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.” In
their blindness they fail to see that what Isaiah says of the Sabbath
he also says of the new moon: therefore, if Isaiah is any proof that
we are to observe the weekly Sabbath now, it is also proof that we
are to observe the new moon. Now, a thing they themselves do not do!
Does the testimony of Isaiah really teach that we are obligated to
keep the Sabbath and the new moon? Indeed it does not; rather it is
referring to the condition of God’s people after their return from
Babylonian captivity. Therefore, their Isaiah passage proves nothing
in their favor.
But
are they right when they say that the “Sabbath days” of our text,
Colossians 2:16-17, must mean some Sabbaths other than the weekly
Sabbaths? No, they are not correct. They are positively wrong and I
wish to point out wherein they are wrong.
First,
they are wrong in thinking that the Bible mentions several annual
Sabbaths. There were indeed several annual feasts, only one of which
was a Sabbath. These annual affairs were all feasts; but they were
not all Sabbaths! The day of atonement, it is true, was a Sabbath,
but other than this one, where are there any more annual Sabbaths?
But suppose the Bible actually did teach that there were several
annual Sabbaths? Would that necessarily prove that the “Sabbath days”
of our text refers to those Sabbaths? Indeed it would not, for such
days not only would be, but the days that are recognized as such
actually are included in the term “holyday” in our text. Every one of
them was a holyday, and everyone was included in Paul’s “holyday” or
feast day in our text. Those annual events were not in Paul’s mind
when he used the Greek term for Sabbath in our text, for he had
already referred to them in the term “holyday” or festivals. The
“Sabbath days” can therefore only refer to the weekly Sabbath. The
Sabbath was therefore but a “shadow”, and as such it has been
abolished.
It should be of interest to all to learn that the
Greek word translated “Sabbath” which Paul uses in our text and which
has been translated in the King James as “Sabbath days”, is exactly
the same word, and exactly the same form of the word as is used in
the decalogue. Not only is this true, but it is equally true that the
same word which Paul employs in our text is the same word that is
often used in other texts for the weekly Sabbaths. Consider Numbers
15:32. “And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness,
they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.” While
we are going from the Hebrew to the Greek, note how Brown-Driver-Briggs defines
the word in this text: 1) Sabbath 1a) sabbath 1b) day of
atonement 1c) sabbath year 1d) week 1e) produce (in sabbath year). In
other words, it is the same word for each of these designations. It
is the same word in Deuteronomy 5:12 where the fourth commandment is
being repeated. In the New Testament we find the same word in Luke
4:16 where we read of Christ: “He went into the synagogue on
the Sabbath day.” In Acts 13:14 we read: “Went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day.” This is the same word in
the original language. This is certainly true in our text, Colossians
2:16-17. “Let no man therefore judge you…in respect of the
Sabbath days.” the word in our text is therefore the same
word that is used in the decalogue and throughout the Bible when the
weekly Sabbath is meant, it can therefore have but one kind of
Sabbath in mind and that is the weekly Sabbath which is referred to
in both the singular and the plural forms throughout the Bible.
Some
might make the following argument: “Are you sure the weekly Sabbath
is referred to in the plural form?” Indeed I am, but I shall be happy
to be even more specific and deal more carefully with the mater in
order to throw more light on the subject.
In
Matthew 12:5 you will read “the Sabbath days”. In Matthew 12:10 again
you will read “the Sabbath days”. Next turn to Luke 4:31 and once
again read “the Sabbath days”. Finally, turn to Acts 17:2 and read
“Sabbath days.” All admit that these refer to the weekly Sabbath
though in the plural. Now turn to our text (Colossians 2:16-17) and
what do we have? We have here exactly the same thing, “the Sabbath
days”. In this passage Paul affirms they have been abolished!
Another
might say, “Yes, but the text we are studying today cannot refer to
the weekly Sabbath because the Sabbaths in our text are associated
with certain admitted feasts or annual holydays, and that the weekly
Sabbath would not be so associated. But is it really true that the
weekly Sabbath never has such association? Certainly not. The people
under the first covenant were instructed with reference to their
daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly obligations. Consider 1 Chronicles
23:30-31. “And to stand every morning to thank and
praise the LORD, and likewise at even; And to offer all burnt
sacrifices unto the LORD in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on
the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto
them, continually before the LORD:” Compare that with 2
Chronicles 2:4 “Behold, I build an house to the name of the
LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn
before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for
the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the
new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is
an ordinance for ever to Israel.” Here we have the
burnt offerings being offered on each day, that is daily; on each
Sabbath, that is weekly, on each new moon, that is monthly; and on
each solemn feast, that is the annual feasts. All must admit that the
weekly Sabbath here is intended. Because of such
associations under the first covenant, it is only to be expected that
like associations would remain with the Sabbath under the new. We
conclude therefore that the weekly Sabbath, like all the other
shadows of the former dispensation, have passed away. We conclude
therefore, let no man judge you when it comes to the Sabbath. It is
not a law for Christians to follow.
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