# Sabbath as universal moral law



## elnwood (Sep 5, 2011)

If the Sabbath, as part of the Ten Commandments, is a universal moral law, then it is part of general revelation, not special revelation, and all people should have that law written on their hearts and be obligated to obey it.

Have all peoples on the earth been obligated to rest from their labor on the sixth day (Saturday) from creation until Christ's resurrection because of the moral law written on their hearts?

What about after Christ's resurrection, when the day is changed to Sunday? Would a people group with no access to special revelation that observed Saturday then be breaking the law because they were observing the wrong day?

Is the actual day of the Sabbath (Saturday or Sunday) part of general revelation or special revelation?


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## Scott1 (Sep 5, 2011)

> Westminster Confession of Faith
> 
> Chapter XXI
> Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day
> ...


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elnwood said:


> If the Sabbath, as part of the Ten Commandments, is a universal moral law, then it is part of general revelation, not special revelation, and all people should have that law written on their hearts and be obligated to obey it.
> 
> It was an ordinance at Creation and was explicitly stated on Mount Sinai.
> 
> ...


.


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## rbcbob (Sep 5, 2011)

> If the Sabbath, as part of the Ten Commandments, is a universal moral law, then it is part of general revelation, not special revelation, and all people should have that law written on their hearts and be obligated to obey it.



*The Sabbath is a Creation ordinance as is Marriage and Labor. The Sabbath was codified into the moral Law on Mount Sinai.*



> Have all peoples on the earth been obligated to rest from their labor on the sixth day (Saturday) from creation until Christ's resurrection because of the moral law written on their hearts?



*All mankind is obligated to give one seventh of their week exclusively to the Lord. Even the Old Covenant people of God, who would have lost track of the days of the week in captivity, were still obligated to give to the Lord (willfully in their hearts, though their bodies were owned by their masters) His due.*



> Is the actual day of the Sabbath (Saturday or Sunday) part of general revelation or special revelation?



*Special Revelation, in both Covenants.*


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## elnwood (Sep 5, 2011)

Scott1 said:


> Have all peoples on the earth been obligated to rest from their labor on the sixth day (Saturday) from creation until Christ's resurrection because of the moral law written on their hearts?
> Yes
> 
> What about after Christ's resurrection, when the day is changed to Sunday? Would a people group with no access to special revelation that observed Saturday then be breaking the law because they were observing the wrong day?
> ...


 
I'm a little confused on what you're saying. You wrote above that "Yes," all peoples were obligated to observe the sixth day as part of special revelation. Then you say that the emphasis was on the one in seven, implying that the actual day is not part of special revelation. So which is it?

Say an unreached people group has always observed a Wednesday rest and has no special revelation. Are they breaking any universal law of general revelation because of the wrong day?

Also, you wrote twice that the emphasis was on one day in seven. If you meant the emphasis in the Westminster Confession is one day in seven, I would agree.

However, I wonder if one could say that the emphasis in Scripture was on one day in seven. Genesis and Exodus stresses the sixth day as a day set apart, rather then emphasizing a "one seventh as a due proportion," and there is no indication that observing another day was permissible or a secondary issue.


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## KMK (Sep 5, 2011)

elnwood said:


> However, I wonder if one could say that the emphasis in Scripture was on one day in seven.



In a sense one could. After all, how do we know for sure that the Saturday of today is exactly a multiple of seven from the 6th day of creation. If nothing else, Joshua's longest day threw things off. And, in fact, if memory serves, Samoa switched to the other side of the International Date Line about 100 years ago and had two Mondays in a row. Therefore, the next Sabbath was on the 9th day.

However, this does not imply that individuals within a community are free to choose which day is the first of the week. That job has always belonged to the religious community. How can you sanctify a day for corporate worship otherwise? To go against the religious community would be to go against the commandment.


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## MW (Sep 5, 2011)

elnwood said:


> Say an unreached people group has always observed a Wednesday rest and has no special revelation. Are they breaking any universal law of general revelation because of the wrong day?



There was a people group in the New Testament which culturally and customarily rested on the last day of the week; nevertheless, we find positive examples of Christian worship on the first day of the week. The customary practice of the people group is no guide to the day of worship for the Christian church. The resurrection took place on the first day of the week. That remains an unchanging fact of revelation irrespective of the customs of the people to whom Christ is preached.


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## Scott1 (Sep 5, 2011)

elnwood said:


> scott1 said:
> 
> 
> > have all peoples on the earth been obligated to rest from their labor on the sixth day (saturday) from creation until Christ's resurrection because of the moral law written on their hearts?
> ...



Actually, Exodus emphasizes the seventh day.

Notice also the pattern, work six, rest (sabbath) one.



> exodus 20
> 
> remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
> 
> ...


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And notice how that is restated, in Deuteronomy 5:



> 12Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
> 
> 13Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
> 
> ...


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## py3ak (Sep 5, 2011)

That a proportion of time be set apart to God is a matter of natural law. What amount of time and when it should fall is a matter of special revelation. But mankind had access to knowledge of the original Sabbath because they are descended from Adam, and so if that knowledge was lost at some point it was lost through negligence. And wherever special revelation reaches now with the knowledge of Christ and His resurrection, of course the change of the day is also communicated.


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## Pergamum (Sep 6, 2011)

Don,


Much mission work is being done in Mslim lands. 

Some missionaries try to use the Mslm "rest day" of Friday as a replacement for Sunday worship in the name of contextualization.

However, I would use Friday as a good opportunity for evangelism, but would still safeguard Sunday worship.

Why? Because the Church is a universal entity and is one Body, and therefore, a shared body of beliefs and a shared worship day is part of that. 

Many of the contextualizing practices that are occurring in the Muslim world serve to wall off Mslm believers and isolate them from Christians throughout the rest of the world and throughout the ages. In their disdain for symbols of the "institutional" church, such as buildings and steeples, and confessions of faith and even the ordinances (some contextualizing missionaries delay or avoid baptism and the Lord's supper) they are doing a disservice to new believers by not opening a line of access to the worldwide Body of Christ.


For tribal groups, most of them that I know of have no sense of rest days since their cultures are often degenerated to the point of no written language, no advanced forms of music, little order in local government or social organization, no advanced tool implementation, etc. 

For Hindus in Bali, for example, there is the Day of Nyepi (the Quiet Day) so as to rest and not annoy the Spirits, and Mslms have their holy day, too, so it appears that many religions sense the law written on their hearts, the advanced ones at least.


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## KMK (Sep 6, 2011)

Pergamum said:


> Why? Because the Church is a universal entity and is one Body, and therefore, a shared body of beliefs and a shared worship day is part of that.



But, is the 'first' day of the week universal? Is 'Sunday' universal? (I am asking because I simply do not know.)


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## Pergamum (Sep 6, 2011)

Ken, 


I believe that the practice of meeting on the first day of the week for the early disciples, both in the NT and in the early church, is more than merely descriptive but is normative.



> Matthew 28:1, “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.”
> 
> Mark 16:9, “When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.”
> 
> ...



Paul's command to set aside your money on the first day (presumably during the worship) is an indirect proof for the normative nature of the change to the first day of the week.

Now that Sunday worship is a regular practice among Christians (and it has always been so), I believe that even apart from certain theological proofs, missionaries worldwide ought to try to bring new regions and cultures into line with the universal church and not to do something novel unless very clear reasons can be proved. 

I cannot think of any sufficient reasons in most cultures why another day would trump the first day as the most fitting day for worship (I have already address the islmic practice of Friday mosque worship above).

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See also this:




> THE
> SHORTER CATECHISM
> EXPLAINED
> 
> ...




From this website:

Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics


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## Scott1 (Sep 6, 2011)

One aspect of all God's people (worldwide) having the same day as the Christian Sabbath is that they are, participating in a worldwide, catholic communion of the saints worldwide. Corporate worship, but even family and individual worship prioritized that day puts Christ's Body in a form of holy communion, altogether, the same time.

This is an identifying badge of the church universal.


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## Peairtach (Sep 6, 2011)

The duty to spend time in formal worship was written on Man's heart from the beginning and is part of general revelation.

The particular duty to spend a seventh of our time, and the particular day of the week on which that should be done is part of special revelation.

Adam was told by God about God's making the world in six days and resting on the seventh and sanctifying it.

We have been told by God about Christ's resting from the work of redemption on the first day of the week.



> 9 There remaineth therefore a rest (the keeping of a Sabbath rest) to the people of God.
> 
> 10 For he (that is Christ) that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10)



See Walter Chantry's exposition of this somewhat difficult passage in "Call the Sabbath a Delight" (Banner of Truth).


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## Pergamum (Sep 6, 2011)

The Origen and Nature of the Muslim Friday Worship


Here are some links concerning evangelical missions' willingness to sacrifice the sabbath for the sake of Muslim contextualization.

Dudley Woodberry writes the following, showing Muslim differences (Muslim misunderstandings) regarding the Sabbath:




> The Friday prayer is mentioned
> in sura 62:9 where the day is called “the
> day of Assembly” (yawm al-Jum’a),
> the same meaning as the Hebrew name
> ...



International Journal oF Fronti Missions, Volume 13:4 Oct-Nov 1996.

Muslim Evangelism: Contemporary ... - Google Books

Above on pages 176-177 of this linked googlebook by Phil Parshall speaks of using Friday for "contextualized church" in Mslm lands.

Parshal (page 176) states that there is no exhortation for Sunday worship:

Muslim Evangelism: Contemporary ... - Google Books

-
-
By the way, Don, 

there is a book by Don Richardson on Islam. Whereas Richardson was constantly looking for 'redemptive analogies' in tribal religion, gateways of understanding and god-placed keys to reaching these cultures, he concludes that there is no such thing in islam because Islam is a Satanic counterfeit of true relion.

Amazon.com: The Secrets of the Koran: Revealing Insights into Islam's Holy Bible (9780830731237): Don Richardson: Books

Ths book took a lot of flack, but I think it is mostly a good book. I hear even many evangelical missionaries speaking of the "glorious religion" of Islam, but the more I am acquainted with it it seems, instead, like a poison which sours rational minds and ruins otherwise beautiful cultures.


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## KMK (Sep 6, 2011)

Pergamum said:


> I believe that the practice of meeting on the first day of the week for the early disciples, both in the NT and in the early church, is more than merely descriptive but is normative.



But, is my first day of the week the same as everyone else' in the world? Does the whole world universally agree upon which day is the first?


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## Pergamum (Sep 6, 2011)

Ken,

Interesting.

If I were in a tribe that held to a 10 day a week calendar (3 weeks in a month I guess), right now I would be leaning towards re-teaching them a 7-day week.....based on the creation pattern.


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## KMK (Sep 6, 2011)

What if they considered Wed to be the first day of the week?

As far as a 10 day week, has there ever been a culture in the world that has held to anything other than a 7 day week?

------------

According to Wiki there have been other cycles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Week#.22Weeks.22_in_other_calendars


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## elnwood (Sep 6, 2011)

I was in a country where roughly half the churches met on Friday and half met on Sunday.

From what I understand, Friday worship had little to do with contextualization, and more to do with the pragmatic issues of meeting on a day in which the society at large considers a work day.

We are fortunate to live in a country where Sunday is generally reserved as a non-work day.


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## Scott1 (Sep 6, 2011)

KMK said:


> What if they considered Wed to be the first day of the week?
> 
> As far as a 10 day week, has there ever been a culture in the world that has held to anything other than a 7 day week?
> 
> ...



Oh sure, rebellious creatures have tried to pattern time on other than the normative example of God creating and resting in seven days.

The Communists tried a 10 day week with no break, similarly the French revolution tried to "re-invent" time. They collapsed. The point is, they were not doing so on the basis of the normative example of God's people.

If they were Christian, they would be celebrating along with other Christians on the same day, the first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord's Day.

It's possible calendars got mixed up and life patterns disrupted since, say, the apostolic era. Yet, we know God has had a people and a faithful witness throughout time. God has not ever been without a people.

So, a false religion demanding worship on an other day than Christians worship is no cause to change, nor justify their "day."


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## KMK (Sep 6, 2011)

Scott1 said:


> If they were Christian, they would be celebrating along with other Christians on the same day, the first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord's Day.



My question has to do with whether the first day of the week for Christians in America is the same as the first day of the week for every other people group in the whole world.


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## Pilgrim Standard (Sep 6, 2011)

KMK said:


> What if they considered Wed to be the first day of the week?
> 
> As far as a 10 day week, has there ever been a culture in the world that has held to anything other than a 7 day week?
> 
> ...



This is really irrelevant in that the scriptures do not indicate that we should worship on the current culturally accepted first or last day of the week of the peoples whom we now live among. It is a specific day that is provided by progressive revelation throughout the scriptures. Obviously on Sat in the OT and on Sun in NT times after the ascension of Christ. 

Also note that God is quite aware that the planet is round and the Sabbath is NOT at the exact moment universally amongst the people of the world due to this, although in Heaven the Sabbath Rest will certainly be universally instantaneous as well as eternal as it must be when we are in the exalted state in the physical and spiritual presence of Christ our true Sabbath rest.


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## py3ak (Sep 6, 2011)

KMK said:


> Scott1 said:
> 
> 
> > If they were Christian, they would be celebrating along with other Christians on the same day, the first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord's Day.
> ...



It seems obvious that in the long term they should be assimilated to the practice of their brethren. If some culture considers Wednesday the first of the week, that is no reason for them to vary from the norm of centuries. I realize you can argue that our first day of the week might merely be conventional and not exactly precise (as in the case of Samoa), but it is a very practical way to acknowledge that Christ is Lord of time.


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## KMK (Sep 6, 2011)

Pilgrim Standard said:


> This is really irrelevant in that the scriptures do not indicate that we should worship on the current culturally accepted first or last day of the week of the peoples whom we now live among. It is a specific day that is provided by progressive revelation throughout the scriptures. Obviously on Sat in the OT and on Sun in NT times after the ascension of Christ.



No one is denying that. My concern is that we might be Eurocentric (sic) by claiming that our Sat and Sun are exactly as they were thousands of years ago. If we find a group of people in Papua, for example, whose first day is our Thursday do we convince them to change because we know we are right or because we are the majority?


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## KMK (Sep 6, 2011)

py3ak said:


> I realize you can argue that our first day of the week might merely be conventional and not exactly precise (as in the case of Samoa), but it is a very practical way to acknowledge that Christ is Lord of time.



Agreed. It is interesting that most of the world has always observed a seven day week when 7 is not a factor of either a lunar month or a solar year. Could this be an example of natural law?


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## Scott1 (Sep 6, 2011)

KMK said:


> If we find a group of people in Papua, for example, whose first day is our Thursday do we convince them to change because we know we are right or because we are the majority?



But, is the example saying that this people group is Christian, or pagan?

If it is Christian, it would want to maintain solidarity with the Lord's Day in the church universal, wouldn't it?

If it is not, what does that prove in your example?

What is the point?


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## Peairtach (Sep 6, 2011)

The Christian Sabbath is so much more forward-looking than the Jewish Sabbath was, that it should be held on the first day of the week. In what sense it is forward looking would merit another thread.


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## KMK (Sep 6, 2011)

Scott1 said:


> KMK said:
> 
> 
> > If we find a group of people in Papua, for example, whose first day is our Thursday do we convince them to change because we know we are right or because we are the majority?
> ...



I'm not trying to prove a point at all. 

By saying, "it would want to maintain solidarity with the Lord's Day in the church universal," you are really saying, "it would want to maintain solidarity with the Lord's Day in the _majority_ of the church'. My question is, can we really accuse another Christian community of sin because they don't adjust their calendar to that of the majority?


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## py3ak (Sep 6, 2011)

Except that Christian communities don't usually spring up in isolation; they spring up in connection with outreach from established bodies, who will teach them to observe a Christian calendar, especially the week of 7 days with the day of the resurrection as the first and as the holy day of the church.


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## py3ak (Sep 6, 2011)

You would have to go through a secret initiation before I could tell you that. As it is, I may have already said too much.


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## Pergamum (Sep 6, 2011)

Ken,

Those tribes still isolated enough not to know much about Western time are not very careful in time keeping anyhow; as they become moreso, most of them voluntarily adopt a western time system (which I think is global at this stage).

Hypothetically, if a tribe were to maintain a local system of a tribal 7-day week at odds with the global system, they could still synchronize their calenders to honor the Sabbath (which would be taken from the global week). Say for instance their week started on OGG-DAY, which was wednesday, I would still propose they line up their sabbath worship to conform with their global brothers, even if this was on SHMELK-DAY.

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KMK said:


> Scott1 said:
> 
> 
> > KMK said:
> ...



A way to argue that this is not merely a matter of simple majorit would be to make a case that this calendar started at an objective point and place in time, in Jerusalem at that time of the Cross. Therefore, it is not a mere arbitrary deliberation based on majority, but a careful tracking of days since the first sunday of the resurrection.


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## KMK (Sep 7, 2011)

Thanks for answering my many questions, Perg.


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## Contra_Mundum (Sep 7, 2011)

Plus,
by joining into the worship of the rest of the church in the world on the same day, we are testifying (even if at a very minimalist level, with many imperfections) to the unity of the Body.


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## jwithnell (Sep 7, 2011)

Um, we Presbyterians might be in some trouble here, especially if you hold to the original WCF that viewed the pope as the anti-Christ. Our (Gregorian) calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII by a Papal Bull signed on February 24, 1582, so the days shifted by 10 days. It established a correction for leap year variances that had not been previously included. So, what say ye? Shall we all adopt the Julian Calendar? (Tongue firmly in cheek.)

And Josh, I think the bats have a sabbath _night_, though I think you need to like bugs to join them.


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## Pergamum (Sep 8, 2011)

Hmm...interesting......how did they treat worship during this "shift"? There has to be a link somewhere about how the church reacted.


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## py3ak (Sep 8, 2011)

In future I will address you mostly in high-pitched squeaks beyond the range of human hearing.


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