# Regulative Principle and Sabbath worship



## elnwood (Sep 10, 2007)

For those who hold both RPW and the perpetuity of the Sabbath ...

From the time of Adam through the Patriarchs up until the time of Moses, was the Sabbath observed as a day of worship? If so, what did it consist of? There doesn't seem to be any commands regarding observing the Sabbath nor any commands to regulate the worship within the Sabbath.

Would it not follow from the RPW that, since they could not add anything to elements to worship, there was no practiced elements of Sabbath worship?


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## larryjf (Sep 10, 2007)

elnwood said:


> For those who hold both RPW and the perpetuity of the Sabbath ...
> 
> From the time of Adam through the Patriarchs up until the time of Moses, was the Sabbath observed as a day of worship? If so, what did it consist of? There doesn't seem to be any commands regarding observing the Sabbath nor any commands to regulate the worship within the Sabbath.
> 
> Would it not follow from the RPW that, since they could not add anything to elements to worship, there was no practiced elements of Sabbath worship?



I think it is a mistake to presume that there were no oral commands of worship prior to the canonization of the OT Scripture.

Cain and Abel are said to bring the Lord their offerings at "the end of days" in Gen 4:3 (although many translations have it as "in the course of time".

There are also many early passages where we see time divided into 7 days. This is interesting because unlike other time measurements (day, month, year) the 7 days has nothing to do with solar or lunar cycles.

It is also pretty clear that before the commandments on Sinai they celebrated the Sabbath (Ex 16:23).

Even in the commandment itself (Ex 20:8) we are told to "remember" the Sabbath. This shows that the Sabbath was something that was not instituted in Sinai, but rather codified there.


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