Objections Part One

1: The Sabbath is an Eternal, Fundamental Law of God

The main objection to this teaching is that the Sabbath is a fundamental law of God that predated the law of Moses and was kept by all God-fearing people prior to Moses, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc. and therefore must still apply to Christians today.

The first thing to note here is that the word "Sabbath" does not appear in the Bible until well into the book of Exodus, long after Adam, Abraham, etc. had died. Indeed, there is no direct Biblical evidence whatsoever that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac or Jacob, for example, kept a weekly Sabbath.

The first mention of the Sabbath occurs in the story regarding God supplying manna for the Israelites, in Exodus 16:23-30:

Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’” So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.

The next time the Sabbath appears is in the first giving of the Ten Commandments, a few chapters later, in Exodus 20:8-11:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Later, in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, the command is restated slightly differently:

‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (My emphasis).

The main thing to notice here is the last clause, "therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." The initial "therefore" indicates that what precedes this clause should give us the reason why God commanded the Israelites "to keep the Sabbath day." Thus, the reason they are to keep the Sabbath is because they were slaves in Egypt but God "brought [them] out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm."

Adam wasn't a slave in Egypt, neither was Abraham, so it is illogical to argue that they had to keep the Sabbath because it is a fundamental commandment of God, yet the Israelites had to keep the Sabbath because they were brought out of slavery . . . and the same is true of Christians today!

Another thing I find very interesting is that in Deut 5:1-3, right before Moses gave the 10 Commandments to the people of Israel, he said:

“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive." (My emphasis).

So, God did NOT make the covenant with the fathers (i.e. ancestors) of the people of Israel but with those that were alive right then . . . and that covenant included the requirement to keep the Sabbath. We know this covenant included the Sabbath commandment because Moses referred to "the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today" directly before giving the Ten Commandments.

Some Sabbatarians argue this passage is concerned with the manner in which the covenant was made. However, to do so would effectively be to rerender this passage "It was not in this manner that the LORD made this covenant with our fathers, but only in this manner with us, with all of us who are alive here today, the convenant was given to our fathers in some other way." Thus, many Sabbatarians add to this passage in order to avoid its clear, plain reading, which blatantly contradicts their beliefs!

However, just in case you are still in any doubt that the Sabbath was just a law applicable to the Jews, let's read Ex 31:12-17:

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’” (My emphasis)

There are two notable points here. First, I wonder how many Sabbatarians, such as Seventh Day Adventists, put to death anyone who works on the Sabbath? If not, why not, given that's what God commanded?

Second, this passage also states the Sabbath "will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever". So here we have yet another Scripture that plainly mentions the Sabbath being given only to the Israelites. What's more, if non-Jewish Christians are supposed to observe the Old Testament Sabbath, that completely nullifies the Sabbath as a special sign between God and the Israelites because it is no longer special just to them! Indeed, how much clearer could the Word of God be regarding the fact that the Sabbath "is a sign between [the LORD] and the children of Israel forever." Well, to answer that question, let's take a look at Ezekiel 20:10-12!

“Therefore I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’ Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. (My emphasis).

This passage strongly parallels Deut 5:12-15 and Ex 31:12-17, quoted above and reiterates that the Sabbath is "a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them." I really don't think there's any room for doubt about that at all.

2: Col 2:16-17 is Discussing Ascetic Practices

The main objection that I have come across regarding this passage is a claim that it is discussing ascetic practices and the Sabbath reference is referring to human, man-made rules for developing spiritually, that is human rules concerned with asceticism.

That claim is, in my opinion, quite ridiculous. If you care to read about asceticism, you will find that ascetic practices tend to refer to practices such as self-flagellation, abstention from "fleshly pleasures", etc. However, feast days, New Moons and Sabbaths refer to the very essence of Jewish life as the entire Jewish calendar revolved around feast days (yearly festivals), New Moons (Jewish lunar months) and Sabbath days (weekly). (See, for example, Isaiah 66:23: And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the LORD.)

Indeed, this passage is echoed in Galatians 4:9-11:

9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

In this letter, Paul is correcting Jewish believers who have reverted to various practices that were required under the Law, such as circumcision. It is therefore very interesting that, in that same context, he talks about "observing days and months and seasons and years" which strongly parallels the Colossians reference to "feast days, New Moons and Sabbaths."

Thus, the Colossians passage is plainly talking about Jewish practices, NOT man-made ascetic rules.

In the next post I will look at a few more objections.