NT exhortations to keep Sabbath?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I will just repost this here. I think it will be very edifying to this discussion.....

http://www.puritanboard.com/f54/richard-barcellos-sabbath-colossians-2-16-triad-41414/

I have taken this from another thread since Col 2:16-17 is brought up so much.
Here is a portion of an article taken from the Reformed Baptist Theological Review.

http://www.shop.rbap.net/product.sc?categoryId=1&productId=13

I am posting it here for an examination of Colossians 2:16 and the triad phrase that is used in this passage along next to the Old Testament passage in Hosea 2:11.

(Col 2:16) Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

(Hos 2:11) I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

A lot of Baptist and non sabbattarians like to quote Colossians 2:16 as a passage that declares we need not keep a weekly Sabbath day to the Lord.


Richard Barcellos is the author. Please forgive my inept mistakes in copying it from a pdf to here.

1. The Old Testament prophesies the abrogation and cessation of the Sabbath under the New Covenant.


The OT clearly prophesies the abrogation and cessation of ancient Israel‘s Sabbaths. It does so in Hos. 2:11, which says, ―I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her New Moons, her Sabbaths--all her appointed feasts." We will make several observations that bear this out. First, Hosea‘s prophecy is dealing with the days of the New Covenant. The phrase ―in that day" (vv. 16, 18, 21) is used prophetically of New Covenant days in Is. 22:20. Revelation 3:7 quotes Is. 22:22 and applies it to Christ. The prophecy in Is. 22:20 mentions the Lord‘s servant, who is Christ. Isaiah 22:20-22 says:



Revelation 3:7, quoting Is. 22:22, says:



The phrase, ―in that day,
' refers to the days of Christ–the days of the New Covenant. Paul references Hos. 1:10 and 2:23 in Rom. 9:25, applying them to Christians. ―As He says also in Hosea: ‗I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved‘" (Rom. 9:25). Peter references Hos. 1:9-10 and 2:23 in 1 Pet. 2:10 and applies them to Christians as well. He says, ―who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Pet. 2:10). Hosea is clearly speaking of New Covenant days. According to the NT usage of Hosea, he is speaking of the time in redemptive history when God will bring Gentiles into a saving relationship with Jews. Much of the NT deals with this very issue.

Second, Hos. 2:11 clearly prophesies the abrogation of Old Covenant Israel‘s Sabbaths, along with ―all her appointed feasts." Hosea uses a triad of terms (―feast days, New Moons, Sabbaths") that is used many places in the OT (1 Chron. 23:31; 2 Chron. 2:4; 31:3; Neh. 10:33; and Is. 1:13-14). Clearly, he is speaking of the abrogation of Old Covenant ceremonial laws. When the Old Covenant goes, Israel‘s feast days, New Moons, Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts go with it.

Third, the NT confirms this understanding of Hos. 2:11. It uses this triad of terms in Col. 2:16, which says, ―So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths." In the context, Paul is combating those who were attempting to impose Old Covenant ceremonial law on New Covenant Christians. So Col. 2:16 is clear NT language that sees Hosea‘s prophecy as fulfilled. It is of interest to note that Paul uses the plural for Sabbath in Col. 2:16 (σάββατον). It is not too hard to assume that Paul had the OT triad in mind and Hosea‘s prophecy while penning these words. The NT announces the abrogation of the Old Covenant in
many places. For instance, 2 Cor. 3:7-18; Gal. 3-4; Eph. 2:14-16; and Heb. 8-10 (cf. esp. 8:6-7, 13; 9:9-10, 15; 10:1, 15-18) are clear that the Old Covenant has been abrogated.

(Heb. 8:6-7)


(Heb. 8:13)


(Heb. 9:9-10)


(Heb. 9:15)


(Heb. 10:1)


(Heb. 10:15-18)


The Old Covenant and all its ceremonies are obsolete and have vanished away (Heb. 8:13). Taking these passages and Col. 2:16 together, they clearly teach that when the Old Covenant goes, the triad of Col. 2:16 goes as well.

2. The Old Testament prophesies the perpetuity and continuation of the Sabbath under the New Covenant.

Just as there is evidence from the OT that the Sabbath will be abolished under the New Covenant, so there is evidence that it will continue. At first glance this appears contradictory. But on further investigation, it is not contradictory and, in fact, fits the evidence provided thus far for the creation basis of the Sabbath and its unique place in the Decalogue in its function as moral law. Two passages deserve our attention at this point, Is. 56:1-8 and Jer. 31:33. Isaiah‘s prophecy of the Sabbath under the New Covenant is explicit and Jeremiah‘s is implicit.


Isaiah 56:1-8


(Isaiah 56:1-8)


Several observations will assist us in understanding how this passage prophesies explicitly the perpetuity and continuation of the Sabbath under the New Covenant. First, the section of the book of Isaiah starting at chapter 40 and ending with chapter 66 points forward to the days of Messiah and in some places to the eternal state. This section includes language pointing forward to the time primarily between the two comings of Christ, the interadvental days of the New Covenant. It is understood this way by the New Testament in several places (see Matt. 3:3; 8:16, 17; 12:15-21; and Acts 13:34).

Second, Is. 56:1-8 speaks prophetically of a day in redemptive history in which God will save Gentiles (cf., esp. vv. 7 and 8). The language of "all nations" in v. 7 reminds us of the promise given to Abraham concerning blessing all nations through his seed (see Gen. 12:3 and Gal. 3:8, 16). This Abrahamic promise is pursued by the great commission of Matt. 28:18-20. Isaiah is speaking about New Covenant days.

Third, in several New Testament texts, using the motif of fulfillment, the language of Is. 56:1-8 (and the broader context) is applied to the days between Christ‘s first and second comings (Matt. 21:12-13; Acts 8:26-40; Eph. 2:19; and 1 Tim. 3:15). Compare Matt. 21:13, “My house shall be called a house of prayer," with Is. 56:7, “For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." This anticipates the inclusion of Gentiles in the house of God, a common NT phenomenon. Compare Acts 8:26-40 (notice a eunuch was reading from Isaiah) with Is. 56:3-5, which says:

(Is. 56:3-5)


The Old Covenant placed restrictions on eunuchs. Deuteronomy 23:1 says, ―He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the LORD. Isaiah is prophesying about a day in redemptive history when those restrictions will no longer apply.

In Eph. 2:19 the church is called the "household of God" and in 1 Tim. 3:15 it is called "the house of God."The context of 1 Tim. 3:15 includes 1 Tim. 2:1-7, where Paul outlines regulations for church prayer. Now consider Is. 56:7, which says:

(Is. 56:7)
Even them [i.e., the foreigners (Gentiles) of v. 6a] I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.

The NT sees Isaiah‘s prophecy as fulfilled under the New Covenant. However, the privileges, responsibilities, and the people of God foretold there (Is. 56) are transformed to fit the conditions brought in by the New Covenant. The people of God are transformed due to the New Covenant; the house of God is transformed due to the New Covenant; the burnt offerings, sacrifices, and altar are transformed due to the New Covenant; and the Sabbath is transformed due to the New Covenant (i.e., from the seventh to the first day). Isaiah, as with other OT prophets, accommodates his prophecy to the language of the Old Covenant people, but its NT fulfillment specifies exactly what his prophesy looks like when being fulfilled. Jeremiah does this with thepromise of the New Covenant. What was promised to "the house of Israel" and "the house of Judah" (Jer. 31:31), is fulfilled in the Jew-Gentile church, the New Covenant people of God, the transformed Israel of OT prophecy.

With these considerations before us, it seems not only plausible but compelling to conclude that between the two advents of Christ, when the Old Covenant law restricting eunuchs no longer restricts them, and when the nations (i.e., the Gentiles) are becoming the Lord‘s and frequenting his house, which is his Church, a Sabbath (see Is. 56:2, 4, 6) yet remains. Isaiah is speaking prophetically of Sabbath-keeping in New Covenant days. The English Puritan John Bunyan, commenting on Isaiah 56, said, "Also it follows from hence, that the sabbath that has a promise annexed to the keeping of it, is rather that which the Lord Jesus shall give to the churches of the Gentiles."7

Again, the essence of the Sabbath transcends covenantal bounds. Its roots are in creation, not in the Old Covenant alone. It transcends covenants and cultures because the ethics of creation are trans-covenantal and trans-cultural. The Sabbath is part of God‘s moral law.


Also concerning the Hebrews 4:9 passage concerning a Sabbath rest...

Those guys who quote the Colosians and Hebrew verses need to know that there are legitimate discussions and commentaries that support a sabbatarian view. I read an article by Robert P. Martin in the Reformed Baptist Theological review were he spoke on these verses. I am going to leave a quote from this article here concerning the Hebrews passage and the terms used.


Reformed Baptist Theological Review
vl. 1.2 A Sabbath Remains.. The Place of Hebrews 4:9 in the New Testament's Witness to the Lord's Day by Robert P. Martin
(Heb 4:9) There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

In it he notes the Word used here is σαββατισμός and not κατάπαυσις

(rest).
G4520
σαββατισμός
sabbatismos

This is an obscure term evidently that is used in just a few other places outside of the scriptures but used only once in the New Testament. Robert Martin says,

"I think that it is of interest that "in each of these places the term [σαββατισμός] denotes the observance or celebration of the Sabbath," i.e., not "a Sabbath rest" as a state that is entered into but "a Sabbath-keeping" as a practice that is observed. This, of course, corresponds to the word's morphology, for the suffix -μός indicates an action and not just a state. see A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in Light of Historical Research (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1934), 151.
Reformed Baptist Theological Review Vl. 1;2 p.5

In other words there is still a 1 in 7 day where we are still required to observe a sabbath.

Obviously the article consists of the surrounding verses but it is a good read and quotes John Owen who is one of my faves.

I do believe there is New Covenant exhortations to keep a sabbath day.
 
Last edited:
At creation God imposed the perfectly numbered seven day week on a good but not perfect creation. Only the seven day week is a unit of time revealed by special revelation. The day, month and year are revealed by the good but not perfect creation.

The cycle of six days of work, rest, play and worship followed by one day of rest and worship was to remain until unfallen Man had fulfilled the probation and creation/cultural mandate. Then the world was to be transformed into the incorruptible and perfect eternal state.

After the Fall the pattern remains. Each Sabbath is a stepping stone or rung in the ladder to the perfect world. After the Fall, in a sense, the weekly day of rest and worship is even more of a practical and moral necessity, and even more is the pattern of six days for work, rest, play and worship and one for rest and worship, a typologial anticipation of a better world, perfect,incorruptible, undefiled and separate from sin.

In that eternal world there will be another arrangement of the functions of worship, work, rest and play, than there is in this world.

Re the other Sabbaths of the Jews, which unlike the weekly Sabbath were not made for all men, there are still moral and practical principles which we can learn from those e.g. look after God's earth in a reasonable manner.

The working week and the weekly Sabbath are not Jewish types, but types that were given to Man as Man before the Fall and which continue until we all reach the consummated kingdom.


I have never heard pre-fall earth explained as anything but perfect, but I guess God did only call it good. Except, isn't good for God, perfectly good?
Something for me to chew on...
 
At creation God imposed the perfectly numbered seven day week on a good but not perfect creation. Only the seven day week is a unit of time revealed by special revelation. The day, month and year are revealed by the good but not perfect creation.


I have never heard pre-fall earth explained as anything but perfect, but I guess God did only call it good. Except, isn't good for God, perfectly good?
Something for me to chew on...

I'm not sure the perfect/not-perfect distiction is really germane to the discussion. The point is that God instituted the Sabbath at creation, and its continuing validity as a day of rest and worship of God means that there is no need for it to be "reaffirmed" in the NT in order for us to understand that setting that day apart for those God-ordained purposes hasn't passed away with the Jewish economy.
 
At creation God imposed the perfectly numbered seven day week on a good but not perfect creation. Only the seven day week is a unit of time revealed by special revelation. The day, month and year are revealed by the good but not perfect creation.


I have never heard pre-fall earth explained as anything but perfect, but I guess God did only call it good. Except, isn't good for God, perfectly good?
Something for me to chew on...

I'm not sure the perfect/not-perfect distiction is really germane to the discussion. The point is that God instituted the Sabbath at creation, and its continuing validity as a day of rest and worship of God means that there is no need for it to be "reaffirmed" in the NT in order for us to understand that setting that day apart for those God-ordained purposes hasn't passed away with the Jewish economy.

I know...I just so do not have ADD that I need to deal with every thing posted, and for me, the tangents don't take me off track.

-----Added 6/12/2009 at 01:12:08 EST-----

I wasn't asking for it to be "reaffirmed," but trying to see if the early church had any directives.
 
I am not sure of the greek wording here or if it is the one used in Genesis in the Septuigent.

(Mar 10:18) And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

I really don't think it matters. I think my previous post shows that the sabbath day (1 in 7) is still in effect.
 
Moderation Note: Evidently I was unclear. We will NOT argue contra-confessionally on the PB AT ALL. If you hold other views, please refrain from arguing them here or this thread will be closed.
 
First point: Bunyan's whole point was to rescue the pattern of six days work/one day rest from the SATURDAY Sabbath. All the Puritans thought that it was the proportion of one day of rest for every six days of work that was of creational and moral force, not the Saturday itself (see Dennison's book "The Market Day of the Soul"). The day was something that God could change by a positive law. The problem here is that you say "Sabbath" when Bunyan says "Saturday Sabbath." Bunyan's whole point was to prove the Sunday Sabbath, as he says (p. 361 of volume 2 of his works):

The seventh day sabbath was not moral. For that must of necessity be done, before it can be made (to, LK) appear that the first day of the week is that which is the sabbath day for Christians. But withal it follows, that if the the seventh day sabbath was not moral, the first day is not so. What is it then? Why, a sabbath for holy worship is moral; but this or that day appointed for such service, is sanctified by precept or by approved example. (emphasis original)

His position is therefore quite vanilla Puritan: the moral precept and creational precept is not this or that day, but the proportion of one day in seven. This is true in my own argumentation as well. When he says that the first day is not moral, he is NOT saying that the idea of the proportion of one day in seven is not moral. He is rather saying that the day on which it is celebrated is not an issue of the moral law. All the Puritans said this. What day the Sabbath is celebrated on is determined by positive command from God. In the OT, the positive command was the seventh day. In the NT, the positive command was the first day. The positive command comes from John 20, Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, and Revelation 1:10, not to mention Hebrews 3 and 4.
 
At creation God imposed the perfectly numbered seven day week on a good but not perfect creation. Only the seven day week is a unit of time revealed by special revelation. The day, month and year are revealed by the good but not perfect creation.

The cycle of six days of work, rest, play and worship followed by one day of rest and worship was to remain until unfallen Man had fulfilled the probation and creation/cultural mandate. Then the world was to be transformed into the incorruptible and perfect eternal state.

After the Fall the pattern remains. Each Sabbath is a stepping stone or rung in the ladder to the perfect world. After the Fall, in a sense, the weekly day of rest and worship is even more of a practical and moral necessity, and even more is the pattern of six days for work, rest, play and worship and one for rest and worship, a typologial anticipation of a better world, perfect,incorruptible, undefiled and separate from sin.

In that eternal world there will be another arrangement of the functions of worship, work, rest and play, than there is in this world.

Re the other Sabbaths of the Jews, which unlike the weekly Sabbath were not made for all men, there are still moral and practical principles which we can learn from those e.g. look after God's earth in a reasonable manner.

The working week and the weekly Sabbath are not Jewish types, but types that were given to Man as Man before the Fall and which continue until we all reach the consummated kingdom.


I have never heard pre-fall earth explained as anything but perfect, but I guess God did only call it good. Except, isn't good for God, perfectly good?
Something for me to chew on...

Maybe the expression "imperfect" is infelicitous, as whatever God does is perfect in the sense that He does/makes whatever He wants to, and all His actions are good/perfect and morally holy.

I'm just making the distinction between the world Adam and Eve were brought into which was capable of corruption and the curse if Adam fell, and the eternal New Heavens and New Earth which Adam could have inherited if he had passed the test, and which we inherit in Christ, which is incorruptible i.e. not capable of corruption and will be the best of all possible worlds because it is made for Christ and His people.

Is the New Creation portrayed in the book of Revelation better than what Adam and Eve had?

With Jesus' resurrection the New Creation has begun in principle and the Sabbath changes from the last to the first day of the week thus having a more forward-looking aspect. But until the consummation, the moral and practical necessity of one day cleared of work and play and devoted to rest and worship remains, unless we are more godly than the pre-Fall Adam, than the Lord Jesus Himself, or any of the Patriarchal or Old Covenant Saints.

What has changed in the New Covenant saints that means that we are so "spiritual" that we can do without/should disobey this provision written on stone? Surely it is one of the commandments now written on our hearts?
 
Last edited:
Moderation Note: Evidently I was unclear. We will NOT argue contra-confessionally on the PB AT ALL. If you hold other views, please refrain from arguing them here or this thread will be closed.

Does that include arguments that are contra-confessional concerning who antichrist is?
 
Just to clear this up. We all agreed when we signed up that we subscribed the WCF, 3 Forms of Unity, London Baptist Confession or Second Helvetic, with the WCF being the official governing standard of the board. We do not have to hold every detail of the confession to be a member, but we cannot advocate that which is contrary thereunto. Honest inquiry to help understand the confessional position is always welcome, however. To remove any ambiguity, all the confessions speak to the requirement of one day in seven. See below.

Westminster Confession
VII. As it is of the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which in Scripture is called the Lord's Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath.

VIII. This Sabbath is to be kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations; but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

Heidelberg Catechism
Question 103. What does God require in the fourth commandment?

Answer: First, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained; (a) and that I, especially on the sabbath, that is, on the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God, (b) to hear his word, (c) to use the sacraments, (d) publicly to call upon the Lord, (e) and contribute to the relief of the poor. (f) Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works, and yield myself to the Lord, to work by his Holy Spirit in me: and thus begin in this life the eternal sabbath. (g)

Second Helvetic Confession
THE LORD'S DAY. Hence we see that in the ancient churches there were not only certain set hours in the week appointed for meetings, but that also the Lord's Day itself, ever since the apostles' time, was set aside for them and for a holy rest, a practice now rightly preserved by our Churches for the sake of worship and love.

SUPERSTITION. In this connection we do not yield to the Jewish observance and to superstitions. For we do not believe that one day is any holier than another, or think that rest in itself is acceptable to God. Moreover, we celebrate the Lord's Day and not the Sabbath as a free observance.
Note that Bullinger's statements of rejecting the Sabbath in favor of the Lord's day are to distance it from the superstitions of the Jews; not to eliminate the moral aspect of one day in seven. If there is any doubt as to Bullinger's view of the 4th commandment, see the applicable portions of his Decades, where he states of those who do not observe the Sabbath day "do err from the truth as far as heaven is wide."

1689 London Baptist Confession
Paragraph 7. As it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God's appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he has particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day: and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.


Paragraph 8. The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe a holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top