QUESTION 1: Where is the proof that men kept the seventh day, or Sabbath, prior to the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai?  -Ex.20:1-10.

ANSWER: For a law to be valid today, it is unnecessary to show that other people have already obeyed it. A current traffic law, such as a speed limit, is valid and enforceable as long is it is on the books, regardless of whether people obey it or not.  No law is dependent upon citizen response for it validity.  The law was given at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20.  Ex.16:23, 25, 26, and 29 shows that the law was in force before God had Moses deliver them to the people at Mt. Sinai.  Here is the proof.  Abraham kept the Sabbath: "…And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed MY voice and kept MY charge, MY commandments, MY statutes, and MY laws" (Gen.26:4b-5).   In Gen.17:1, God told Abraham to "walk before me and be blameless" (perfect, KJV).  To be "blameless" or "perfect" is to be without blemish, without spot, or undefiled.  It is to be righteous and to be righteous is to be obedient to God's laws; to be "right" before him.  Since the Sabbath was established at Creation as a holy and special day of rest, obviously, Abraham observed the Seventh-day Sabbath because to be blameless, Abraham had to have obeyed God's laws.  "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made" (Gen.2:3).

QUESTION 2: If you keep the Sabbath because, as you think, it was kept before the law of Moses, why do you not practice circumcision, seeing it was plainly commanded and practiced before the law was given?  -Gen.17:9-14; Gal. 5:1-4.

ANSWER:  I keep the Sabbath because, (a) the Sabbath was made for man (Mk.2:27); (b) the Fourth Commandment is part of the original Ten given by God and not by Moses (Ex.20:1017; Lev.23:1ff); (c) Jesus kept it (Mk.6:2; Lk.4:16); (d) Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mk.2:28), (e) I follow the Lord, (f) the apostles kept it (Acts 13:14; 17:2); and (g) there is no theology for first-day observance in the Bible.  That something was observed before the law was given on Mt. Sinai is not the prerequisite for observing it today.  Circumcision was clearly and plainly made "neither here nor there" insofar as a doctrine was concerned and it was observed in Genesis 17:10.  Whether one does observe circumcision or whether one does not observe circumcision is okay, but the act is not effectual for any step toward salvation.  "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters" (1Cor.7:19).  Notice that the important thing for Paul in this passage was the keeping of the commandments.  Those antinomians who say commandment keeping is now unnecessary have a problem this one.

QUESTION 3: If Christians are required to keep the seventh day, why do you depart from your dwelling on that day, since those to whom the law was given were plainly commanded not to do so?  -Exodus 16:29.

ANSWER: This is meant to be a trick question.  Clearly, as any honest reader of the context of the reference text (Ex.16:29) can see, God did not create an additional commandment for all subsequent Sabbath observers to stay home on the Sabbath.  This was a one-time event and not applicable otherwise.  For them to rest apparently meant to stay "in their place" on that Sabbath.  Notice that these people were refusing to obey God and rejecting his Sabbath, just like many do today who reject God's Sabbath.  But does "remain in his place," mean, "stay inside his tent"?  What was "his place"?  Were these people under house arrest by God?  Or was "his place" more than just the inside of a tent?  Were women and children permitted to go outside?  Obviously to the careful reader, this event was a special case of training for the Israelites and does not apply beyond that.  If this were God's command for all Sabbath keepers forever, then no one, not even Christ or the disciples could have attended the synagogue on the Sabbath, but as Paul's "custom was," he did attend, and, taught Jews and Gentiles on the Sabbath regularly (Acts 13:42; 17:2).

QUESTION 4: If you keep one Sabbath (the seventh day) why not keep them all—the seventh year and the year of Jubilee?  -Lev. 25:3-13.  Who authorized you to insist on one part of the law and leave out the rest?

ANSWER: Who authorized you to obey only nine of the Ten Commandments given by God and leave the fourth one out?  The year of Jubilee and the seventh year are not part of the Commandments of God—this should be obvious.  There are three levels of laws in the Bible: Commandments, Statutes, and Judgments.  The Jubilee laws are not Commandments for us today in the same sense as the Ten Commandments are.  (Continued...)

 

(c) Copyright  2007, F. Paul Haney, CFM