Christians and the Sabbath

There is a very interesting article I wanted to point you to on a very interesting topic: the Sabbath observation and Christians. It appears on the webpage of the Gospel Coalition and has already inspired over 200 comments which is a lot even for a widely read blog like TGC. People get very agitated over this topic, especially those who argue that Christians are required to observe the Sabbath on Sunday. The post, Is the Sabbath Still Required for Christians? , shows up on Justin Taylor’s space but is actually an excerpt from Tom Schreiner’s book 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law. I found it quite fascinating because this is something that I have been bouncing around in my head for some time now.

Shockingly, I have an opinion on this topic. Please pick your jaw up from the floor before continuing. I think there is solid evidence that Christians routinely gathered as the church on the first day of the week (i.e. Sunday) but I don’t buy into the notion that Sunday is the “Christian Sabbath” or that Christians are bound by Sabbath observation at all. Jesus is the Christian Sabbath, He is where we find our rest! Outside of a couple of passing references to the church gathering on the first day of the week we notice an utter lack of evidence to indicate that the early Christian church under the direct leadership of the apostles observed any sort of Sabbath-esque observations that would in any way correlate to the cultural observance of Sunday as a special day. The Sabbath was a big deal in the Old Testament and not following it was a capital offense. If it had a similar meaning to the New Covenant church (made up in large part of gentiles who were never Jewish in the first place), it would certainly bear some sort of mention for the church.

I think Schreiner strikes the proper tone with this:

Now it does not follow from this that the Sabbath has no significance for believers. It is a shadow, as Paul said, of the substance that is now ours in Christ. The Sabbath’s role as a shadow is best explicated by Hebrews, even if Hebrews does not use the word for “shadow” in terms of the Sabbath. The author of Hebrews sees the Sabbath as foreshadowing the eschatological rest of the people of God (Heb. 4:1–10). A “Sabbath rest” still awaits God’s people (v. 9), and it will be fulfilled on the final day when believers rest from earthly labors. The Sabbath, then, points to the final rest of the people of God. But since there is an already-but-not-yet character to what Hebrews says about rest, should believers continue to practice the Sabbath as long as they are in the not-yet? I would answer in the negative, for the evidence we have in the New Testament points in the contrary direction. We remember that the Sabbath is placed together with food laws and new moons and Passover in Colossians 2:16, but there is no reason to think that we should observe food laws, Passover, and new moons before the consummation. Paul’s argument is that believers now belong to the age to come and the requirements of the old covenant are no longer binding.

I look at this in sort of the same way as the Passover. Should Christians celebrate the Passover with a special Passover observation? I don’t see any reason to do so. The Passover, both the actual event in Egypt and the subsequent observation of it by the Jews, was a shadow of the cross where Jesus became the Passover lamb for His people with a once-for-all sacrifice. We break bread and share the cup with one another now as a remembrance of what He did and a declaration of our future hope. I don’t celebrate the Passover because I was not saved out of the land of Egypt, I observe the Lord’s Supper because I was redeemed by the broken body and shed blood of Christ on the cross. The Passover and the Sabbath and all of the other observations that set the Jews apart from all of the other people are vitally important for Christians to understand but only because they give us a fuller picture of the person and work of Christ. To my eyes a Jewish family observing the Passover is a sad picture because the Lamb of God who was slain has already come and fulfilled all righteousness. We should absolutely be intimately familiar with the Old Testament but we must be so in light of the New Covenant in Christ, viewing the Old in light of the New.

The pseudo-Sabbath observation of Christians strikes me as being similar to the myriad of ways we try to apply Old Covenant/Old Testament symbolism to the New Testament church. We seek to duplicate the Levitcal priesthood with a clerical class. Many Christians refer to church buildings as “the House of the Lord”. There is lots of talk about tithing. Christians are not Israelites in the sense of the Old Covenant nation-state of Israel. We can eat pork and we are not required to circumcise our sons. While there absolutely is continuity between the Old and the New, there is also a radical discontinuity that seems to be lost when Christians read the Old Testament as if the cross never happened.

The crux of it is this: we are called to a much higher standard than the Sabbath observation. We are not to live as the world during the week and then set aside one day (Sunday) as holy. We are to live every day as redeemed aliens in a lost world. I guess if you want to treat Sunday as special, that is your business but if it starts to become “I am more pious than you because I treat Sunday as some sort of Sabbath day” malarkey or you start to see that as a mark of faithfulness, it becomes problematic.

Anyone care to make the case that the Sabbath day observation is still binding on Christians?

The Law is about love

I am sure there is nothing new here but I had one of those connecting the dots moments last night. This post is completely me working out on paper what I am thinking through.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus was asked to identify the greatest commandment. The question was intended to trip Him up but since He is the author and finisher of the Law, He had the perfect response.

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22: 36-40)

What exactly does that mean? At first blush it doesn’t make much sense. Moses revealed Ten Commandments and now we read that there are two commandments that don’t sound much on the surface like the Ten. We read the Ten and it is “Do this” and “Don’t do that”. Yet Jesus says that the entire Law depends on these two commandments. So what is up with the other Ten Commandments? In order to understand this, we need to turn to Paul’s letter to the church in Rome.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 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.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13: 8-10)

Ah. Now it makes more sense. We read this passage last night before our time of prayer at the chapel and it really ties some things together for me. If we love God with all of our heart, soul and mind you will have no other gods before Him. You will not take His name in vain. You will not create graven idols of men or beasts to bow down before Him. Such a thing would be unthinkable. Likewise if you love your neighbor as yourself you will not lie to him or steal from him or covet what is his or even murder him. Having rules and regulations to regulate external behavior is important to prevent societal chaos but it is not the point of the Law.

You can follow the letter of the Ten Commandments and still be lost. This is the great error of the Jewish leaders of when Christ walked among them. They assumed that God was pleased by external adherence to the Law. What God is seeking is not mere external obedience, but a changed heart.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)

We see a parallel passage regarding this idea of external obedience contrasted with a changed heart in Micah 6:

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

External obedience is never going to suffice to please God nor was it ever intended to do so. It is also vividly clear from Scripture and human nature that the dead, unregenerate heart is incapable of the sort of “God and others first” love that is required to obey the commandments. The powerful promise of the New Covenant is that God will write His law upon our hearts rather than on tablets of stone (Jer 31:33; 2 Cor 3:3). Without the changed heart, we can never even begin to love God as we ought nor love one another and thus we can never live up to the Law no matter how close we adhere to the commandments. The Law is founded on love and without love the Law can never be fulfilled.

So this doctrine of love and the Law is essential, not in “how” we are saved but “what now” after we are saved. Our testimony and witness to the world is that we love one another, not that we obey the Law. Love and grace are not opposed to Law and obedience, rather obedience and the Law is dependent upon grace and love. That is beautifully lived out on the cross where Christ showed His love for His sheep in His sacrifice and by His grace saved us.

That is not to suggest that we are left with “Love God and love each other” and we are completely on our own to figure out what that means. There is ample support in the Bible to guide us in how we should live among unbelievers, how we should live with one another, what the church is (and is not), how believers should support and serve one another. God is fully aware of how prone to wander into our own devices we are and has left a myriad of commands and examples to fence us in. That is not a heavy yoke upon us but a joyous expression of a saved heart. John perhaps states it best when he wrote:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5: 1-5)

Those who are born again have overcome the world, not by military victories or political victories but by love lived out in His death on the cross.

The church is not Outback Steakhouse

I have been wondering about the topics I tend to blog on. I often focus on behavioral issues, Christian life issues like homeschooling or headcovering. I have noticed that there seems to be a backlash against this of sorts and it is not without cause. There are way too many people who are nitpicky, whether it is over issues like the King James translation of the Bible as the only acceptable translations or who is able to label themselves “Reformed” or any of a myriad of extra-Biblical traditions that have taken on the gravity of binding commandments. Give this reality, perhaps we should just focus on the Gospel proclamation and not worry about the ancillary issues. Rules divide so let’s stay clear of them.

Perhaps not.

Again, I understand the motivation for this attitude and have no small amount of sympathy for it. It is something of a badge of honor and piety to claim that you are focused only on the Gospel and not bogged down in minutiae. On the other hand, an awful lot of the pages of the New Testament are taken up with the issue of how we are to live as Christians, as individuals, families, the gathering of the church and with unbelievers around us. Much of the Old Testament revolves around the character of God and that doesn’t change nor can we as believers live as if it has. I worry when people dismiss clear Scriptural teaching, whether under the auspices of not being “legalistic” or in a pseudo-pious, “I focus on nothing but the Gospel” attitude. All of those pages of instruction in the Bible are not merely filler around John 3:16 but serve a vital purpose in guiding Christians in their life after being born again, navigating the tricky waters of living as Christians in a lost and fallen world, and living as redeemed sinners in community with other redeemed sinners.

The problem stems from being unable (or unwilling) to differentiate between commands and rules we find in the Bible. They are treated as one category and are treated as if they were identical. In a snap shot, I find the following categories in Scripture: Old Covenant commandments (like temple sacrifice, purity laws, tithing); Biblical revelations regarding the nature of God that are obviously unchanging (the Ten Commandments); New Covenant commandments (proclaim the Gospel, gather together, love one another); descriptions of events that are not prescriptive in nature. As an example, the New Covenant Christian has no need to sacrifice in the temple. A New Covenant Christian is obliged to have no other gods before the one, true God. We are to gather together as a non-negotiable command, to love one another and our neighbor, to preach the Gospel, to care for the poor and a myriad of other commandments by which we demonstrate our love for Christ (If you love Me, keep My commandments). The view that once you become a Christian, you don’t have any rules is great for Outback Steakhouse (No rules, just right) but it is eminently unbiblical. We are under grace, not the Law but the truly redeemed believer doesn’t live as if there is no Law.

I also don’t buy into the “if you are convicted” argument. We cannot look at commandments and pick and choose the ones we wish to follow based on our own personal convictions. “Well, I know the Bible says stealing is wrong but I am not convicted about it”. That is clearly silly but it is the basic argument I hear all the time. If the Bible gives us a clear command or principle, I don’t see not “being convicted” about it as an excuse we can find anywhere in the Bible. “I know the Bible says we are to love our neighbors, but I am just not convicted about this issue”. Really? Not being convicted is code for “I recognize what the Bible says but for whatever reason I don’t want to obey”. If I claim, as I do, that the Bible specifically says that a woman should cover her head when praying I am either right or wrong on that issue. Either I am interpreting 1 Corinthians 11: 2-15 correctly or I am not. Your personal conviction or mine is irrelevant here. Where I fail to love my brother as I should, and I do fail here, I recognize my failure and repent of it; I don’t hide behind a lack of conviction to excuse it. Commands in the Bible deserve our attention and consideration.

Conversely, there are many Christians who have the opposite problem. They don’t find enough rules in the New Testament to satisfy them so they start making up rules (KJV Onlyism, no card playing) or misapplying Old Testament rules by ignoring context and applying them to the church. Or in some cases, they think that applying moralistic rules to people will somehow sanctify an unbeliever or make a non-Christian at least act superficially like a Christian (the “make America a Christian nation again” crowd). This tends to appears in the fringe fundamentalist camp like the nutcase burning Rick Warren books and non-KJV Bible in North Carolina to make a point. If the point he is trying to make is “I am a loon”, then mission accomplished. There are two problems with this camp. The first is that they are making rules and yoking believers with those rules that are inapplicable or entirely absent from the Bible. The second is that they often are misapplying or flat out ignoring the rules that do appear in the Scriptures. Until we can get ourselves straightened out on the clear teachings of the New Testament within the Body of Christ, we should avoid trying to “Christianize” America.

What we are left with is an either-or dichotomy where you either keep every rule you can find in the Bible without a shred of context and perhaps even making up some up or you chuck the whole thing and base your actions on your own conscience and convictions.

There are some general things we should remember when it comes to rules and commandments.

Read the Bible at all times and in all places in light of the cross.

It is true in many cases that Old Testament laws don’t apply to Christians because those laws find their fulfillment in the cross, in the person and work of Jesus Christ. I find laws like Sabbath observation, tithing, etc. to be abrogated under the New Covenant. But there are also important principles that I think still apply to believers because they are reflective of the nature of God and His Word. Even if we are not called to a specific, 1/10th tithe that does not mean that we are freed from giving joyfully and sacrificially to those in need and to support the Gospel proclamation. We are not bound by Sabbath laws and rules about purification but that doesn’t mean we are freed from sanctified lives or from the need and command to gather together as the people of God. In many cases, the standard for the Christian under the New Covenant is higher than for those under the Old. For the truly regenerate, these rules and laws and commandments are not a heavy burden, they are a delight.

Don’t yoke believers under burdensome laws where Scripture is silent but also do not be silent where Scripture speaks.

Where the Bible speaks, let it speak. Don’t argue with it, don’t try to explain it away. The New Testament has a lot to say about how we are to live, worship, behave in these days after the cross. We should diligently seek to hear what Christ has to say in His Word, not striving to find a work around to avoid obedience. Trying to muzzle the Bible is neither pious nor proper. But where the Bible is silent, don’t feel obliged or justified in filling in the blanks.

Sanctification is our goal, not moralism.

Sanctification cannot be mandated or legislated. Sure you can make people adhere to laws to promote moralism without changing the heart. That however is not the goal of the church. A truly sanctified individual will exhibit high moral character without coercion. External piety is actually pretty easy for humans to exhibit, heart change comes only through the working of the Spirit and we cannot dictate to Him where and how He operates.

Don’t let the motivation or behavior of some dissuade you from following God’s Word.

I try to be aware of this in my own life as I have the tendency to see certain behaviors as dividers. Homeschooling our kids or my wife covering her head should be done to honor God and bring glory to His name, not to exalt ourselves over others. I stray over that line frequently but my failings are not God’s failings, and the behavior of some does not negate the commandments of God. Me being rude or someone else being judgmental about an issue is not a license to ignore what Scripture says.

In the life of the Christian, our regeneration / conversion is not the end of the story. It is in many ways the beginning. A thirty year old who comes to a saving faith in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel has perhaps six decades of life ahead of them. How a redeemed sinner is to live in relationship to the world around him and among God’s people is not some ancillary topic and it is something where confusion and misinformation abound. We should carefully and prayerfully search the Word to see what it has to say about our lives.

We shouldn’t expect pagans to act like Christians, we should expect them to act like pagans. As intramural questions among Christians though, we can and should spend time asking how we should now live as the Body of Christ in a way that is faithful, sanctifying and glorifying to Christ. We are given rules and commandments not as a burden but as a blessing.

The wondrous Law of God

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalms 1:1-2)

As part of an exposition of Psalm 1 on Sunday afternoon, the wonder of the Law of God came up in Pastor Michael Jones' sermon. A lot of Christians kind of spit out the word "Law" like it is some kind of dirty word, something distasteful that has no part or place in a church under grace. Many pastors, even ones that pay lip service to the Law never dare speak it from the pulpit except in contrast to grace. But what do we know of grace outside of the Law? Saved from what, saved by what? Why do we need to be saved anyway? The Law stands as a stark reminder of who God is and who we are and just how far we are from His standard of perfection.


The law is not a bunch of capricious, burdensome rules but are a reflection of the very nature of God and His attributes of holiness, justice, mercy, perfection. If God has not changed, then neither have the laws that reflect His nature.

Who should strive to follow God’s commandments and laws more than His people? The idea that as Christians we have been redeemed and therefore have no interest in following the moral laws of God seems backwards. We are not condemned by them but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek to obey them, seeing that they are a reflection of our just and holy God. Too often we saw the Law as something that we are free to ignore and disregard, when we ought instead to be even more in tune with and aware of it. Unlike the unredeemed, His sheep should be the first to strive to keep God's commandments.