Several months ago (maybe even over a year past) I debated on this forum that the Sabbath was completely fulfilled in Christ, and that if we are in Him, then we thereby are keeping the Sabbath command.
I am now convinced that I was wrong.
I would like to thank those, who in recent weeks, on this forum, have reopened disscussion on the Sabbath. Although I chose not to participate in the disscussion, I did keep close tabs on the conversation.
Recently, I have pondered through Hebrews 3 and 4, over exactly what the author of Hebrews was trying to portray through his discourse concerning the rest unto which we are to labour to enter.
I noted the following:
1. The church in the wilderness, because of the hardness of their hearts, was not able to enter into His rest.
2. When David warned Israel (Psalm 95:8-11) in his day to harden not their hearts in the same manner as did their fathers, it was to a nation who had already entered into Canaan. Hence, if the land into which Israel had entered with Joshua were the fulfilment of the promised rest, then David's psalm would have no meaning. Why would David warn those who have already entered, that they may not be able to enter?
3. The author of Hebrews is extending the same warning to his readers (Heb 3:7-11). All to whom the author was writing were living after the first advent of Christ. Hence, the rest into which we are labour to enter (Heb 4:11), is a future rest.
4. The word translated "rest" in Hebrews 4:9, "[i:b923dbd86d]sabbatismos[/i:b923dbd86d]" is not the same as the word translated "rest" throughout this passage, "[i:b923dbd86d]katapausin[/i:b923dbd86d]. This word, according to Alfred Marshall, [i:b923dbd86d]Nestle Greek Text, Literal English Translation[/i:b923dbd86d], is "a sabbath rest".
5. The "he" in verse 10 is singular.
6. Never does the author say that either he, nor his audience, have already entered into that rest. The author says that "we...do enter into rest" (4:3), but never that we "are entered." (I'm no Greek scholar, but from the English translations that I have, there appears to be a difference in tenses here. [b:b923dbd86d] Can someone here confirm this?[/b:b923dbd86d]).
7. The subject of verse 10 is one who is already entered into his rest; hence (per #6 above), can not be the author, nor his audience.
8. The author refers to his audience as "partakers of the heavenly calling" (3:1). The author refers to Christ as One who "is passed into the heavens(vs 14)." ([b:b923dbd86d]Help needed, I wonder if "is passed" is in the same tense (in Greek) as "is entered"?[/b:b923dbd86d])
9. This passage is littered with the "already/not yet":
a.) We are partakers of the heavenly calling, but have not yet entered into heaven (3:1, 4:14).
b.) We have "confidence...of the hope", but have not yet arrived at the end (3:6).
c.) We have the "beginning of our confidence" to which we must hold "steadfast unto the end (3:14).
d.) We do enter that rest (4:3), but must labour that we may enter thereinto (4:11).
10. Just as the Sabbath pointed to the work of God in creation, so also the "Sabbatismos" that remains points to the work of him (Christ) who is entered into his rest.
11. Since that rest to which we look forward has yet to be fully consummated, there remains for us a "Sabbatismos" in which we look back at the finished work of Christ while eagerly awaiting the final consummation of that rest.
Anyway, to the Sabbatarians on the board, thank you for your persistance. I owe much gratitude to Pipa, Chantry and Barcellos; and to the pastors of my own church who have tried to make me see these things (though, being such a blockhead, it has taken much time for it to sink into my thick skull. ).
Primarily, I thank God who has opened my eyes. How dreadful a state I was in, denying the obligation that I have to keep His Sabbath, making the ordinance of our Lord a matter of "Christian liberty". May God be merciful, and may I, along with His church, call His Sabbath a delight!!!
[quote:b923dbd86d]
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 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 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.
( Exodus 20:8; 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2; Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10 )
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 an 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.
( Isaiah 58:13; Nehemiah 13:15-22; Matthew 12:1-13 )
[b:b923dbd86d]LBC1689 XXII:7,8[/b:b923dbd86d]
[/quote:b923dbd86d]
[Edited on 4-11-2004 by Dan....]
I am now convinced that I was wrong.
I would like to thank those, who in recent weeks, on this forum, have reopened disscussion on the Sabbath. Although I chose not to participate in the disscussion, I did keep close tabs on the conversation.
Recently, I have pondered through Hebrews 3 and 4, over exactly what the author of Hebrews was trying to portray through his discourse concerning the rest unto which we are to labour to enter.
I noted the following:
1. The church in the wilderness, because of the hardness of their hearts, was not able to enter into His rest.
2. When David warned Israel (Psalm 95:8-11) in his day to harden not their hearts in the same manner as did their fathers, it was to a nation who had already entered into Canaan. Hence, if the land into which Israel had entered with Joshua were the fulfilment of the promised rest, then David's psalm would have no meaning. Why would David warn those who have already entered, that they may not be able to enter?
3. The author of Hebrews is extending the same warning to his readers (Heb 3:7-11). All to whom the author was writing were living after the first advent of Christ. Hence, the rest into which we are labour to enter (Heb 4:11), is a future rest.
4. The word translated "rest" in Hebrews 4:9, "[i:b923dbd86d]sabbatismos[/i:b923dbd86d]" is not the same as the word translated "rest" throughout this passage, "[i:b923dbd86d]katapausin[/i:b923dbd86d]. This word, according to Alfred Marshall, [i:b923dbd86d]Nestle Greek Text, Literal English Translation[/i:b923dbd86d], is "a sabbath rest".
5. The "he" in verse 10 is singular.
6. Never does the author say that either he, nor his audience, have already entered into that rest. The author says that "we...do enter into rest" (4:3), but never that we "are entered." (I'm no Greek scholar, but from the English translations that I have, there appears to be a difference in tenses here. [b:b923dbd86d] Can someone here confirm this?[/b:b923dbd86d]).
7. The subject of verse 10 is one who is already entered into his rest; hence (per #6 above), can not be the author, nor his audience.
8. The author refers to his audience as "partakers of the heavenly calling" (3:1). The author refers to Christ as One who "is passed into the heavens(vs 14)." ([b:b923dbd86d]Help needed, I wonder if "is passed" is in the same tense (in Greek) as "is entered"?[/b:b923dbd86d])
9. This passage is littered with the "already/not yet":
a.) We are partakers of the heavenly calling, but have not yet entered into heaven (3:1, 4:14).
b.) We have "confidence...of the hope", but have not yet arrived at the end (3:6).
c.) We have the "beginning of our confidence" to which we must hold "steadfast unto the end (3:14).
d.) We do enter that rest (4:3), but must labour that we may enter thereinto (4:11).
10. Just as the Sabbath pointed to the work of God in creation, so also the "Sabbatismos" that remains points to the work of him (Christ) who is entered into his rest.
11. Since that rest to which we look forward has yet to be fully consummated, there remains for us a "Sabbatismos" in which we look back at the finished work of Christ while eagerly awaiting the final consummation of that rest.
Anyway, to the Sabbatarians on the board, thank you for your persistance. I owe much gratitude to Pipa, Chantry and Barcellos; and to the pastors of my own church who have tried to make me see these things (though, being such a blockhead, it has taken much time for it to sink into my thick skull. ).
Primarily, I thank God who has opened my eyes. How dreadful a state I was in, denying the obligation that I have to keep His Sabbath, making the ordinance of our Lord a matter of "Christian liberty". May God be merciful, and may I, along with His church, call His Sabbath a delight!!!
[quote:b923dbd86d]
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 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 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.
( Exodus 20:8; 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2; Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10 )
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 an 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.
( Isaiah 58:13; Nehemiah 13:15-22; Matthew 12:1-13 )
[b:b923dbd86d]LBC1689 XXII:7,8[/b:b923dbd86d]
[/quote:b923dbd86d]
[Edited on 4-11-2004 by Dan....]