Were Jesus and the apostles "shadow keepers" ?
Paul explains what it means to keep the Spirit of the law, which is love.
If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—
are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.
Romans 13:8-10 NLT
Love does not do away with the commandments. It is because we love God and others that we keep the commandments. I can’t say I love my neighbor if I lie about her and steal from her. Love fulfills the Spirit of the law, which is love and consideration for God and others, while a sense of self preservation and selfishness fulfills only the letter of the law.
Hebrews 10:16
New King James Version
“This
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put
My laws into their hearts, and in their minds
I will write them,”
That’s because the new covenant is of the spirit, and not of the old letter.
The reason the Decalogue (Ten Commands) are no longer in effect, but have ended, is found in 2 Corinthians chapter three, wherein we find that the Ten Commands are: the ministration of DEATH, the letter which KILLS, and the ministration of CONDEMNATION which is contrasted with the new covenant (testament) of the spirit, that gives life.
2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2Co 3:7 But if the ministration of death, written andengraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glorywas to be done away:
2Co 3:8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
2Co 3:9 For if the ministration of condemnation beglory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
2Co 3:10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
2Co 3:11 For if that which is DONE AWAY wasglorious, much more that which remaineth isglorious.
The reason the Ten commands kills, brings death, and condemnation is due to the fact that the penalty under the law for breaking any of the Ten, was being put to death by stoning.
The penalty for homicide - being put to death:
Exo 21:12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.
The penalty for not honoring your mother and father: put to death by stoning:
Lev 20:9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put todeath: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall beupon him.
The penalty for adultery: put to death by stoning:
Lev 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with anotherman's wife, even hethat committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
The penalty for breaking the sabbath by doing any work, such as picking up sticks for kindling: put to death by stoning:
Exo 31:14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it isholy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth anywork therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
If the Ten Commands are still in effect, the penalty for breaking them is still in effect, thus those who insist on keeping the ended covenant that contained the Ten Commands, are breaking the law themselves, by not stoning to death those who break the commands.
You can't have one without the other.
Imagine you were doing a ride along with a police officer, and you see that he ignores traffic law violations: speeding, running red lights, reckless driving, drunk driving, etc.
During the conversation you have with the officer, he says, "yes, I believe in the traffic laws. I keep those laws, myself - I just don't enforce them".
Sabbath day keepers, and Ten Commandment keepers are saying, those commands are still in effect and we keep them, but we don't enforce the law, as is required BY the law.
The ten commands ended when the old covenant ended, because the ten are called “the covenant on two tables of stone” in scripture - thus when the old covenant ended, the ten commands ended with it - including the fourth command.
Deu 9:11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, thatthe LORD gave me the two tables of stone, eventhe tables of the covenant.
Invariably some people will claim that the new covenant is simply the old covenant restated, but that argument won’t hold water.
Scripture says the new covenant is a BETTER covenant, founded on BETTER PROMISES - not the old one recycled.
Heb 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a BETTER covenant, which was established upon better promises.
And says if the old one was faultless, there’d be no need for a new covenant.
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenanthad been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
The truth of the matter is, God rested on the seventh day one time only - not weekly - but did not command anyone else to keep a seventh day sabbath at that time.
You won’t find the word sabbath anywhere in Genesis, nor find Abraham or anyone else in Genesis resting on the 7th day - because there was no such command until God gave it to Israel as a covenant sign of His freeing them from slavery in Egypt, after their Exodus.
Moses said no one had the law the law God gave to Israel, until God gave it to him on Mount Sinai:
Deu 5:1 And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
Deu 5:2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
Deu 5:3 The LORD made NOT this covenant with our fathers, but with US evenus, who areall of us here alive THIS day.
And God says why and to who, He first gave the command to keep the 7th day:
Deu 5:15 And REMEMBER that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and thatthe LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: THEREFORE the LORD thy God commanded THEE to keep the sabbath day.
The sabbath day command was given only to Israel as a covenant sign and memorial of their being set free from slavery in Egypt.
Exo 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of ISRAEL, saying, Verily my sabbaths YE shall keep: for itisa SIGN between ME and YOU throughout YOUR generations; that yemay know that I amthe LORD that doth sanctify YOU.
God divorced Israel for spiritual adultery in Jeremiah 3:8, which ended their covenant with God - and the Decalogue is called the COVENANT on two tables of stone - thus obviously when the old covenant ended, the ten commands ended.
God allowed the Jewish temple to be destroyed because the mosaic covenant was no more, and ended the sabbaths:
Lam 2:5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
Lam 2:6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and SABBATHS to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.
Lam 2:7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
And in Galatians ch 4, Paul contrasts the two covenants, calling the one from Mount SINAI bondage.
Gal 4:21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
Gal 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
Gal 4:23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
Gal 4:24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount SINAI, bearing children for SLAVERY; she is Hagar.
Gal 4:25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the PRESENT JERUSALEM for she is in slavery with her children.
Gal 4:26 But the Jerusalem ABOVE is free, and SHE is our mother.
Gal 4:27 For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”
Gal 4:28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Gal 4:29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
Gal 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”
Gal 4:31 So, brothers, we are not children of the SLAVE but of the free woman.
The old covenant from Mount Sinai represents bondage, but we are under the new covenant, wrote Paul.
The Old Covenant ten has been replaced by the two love commands, neither of which include the requirement to keep the 7th day, or any day.
The two love commands are different from the old ten, because they are kept out of love, not out of fear of the punishment of death by stoning for breaking them.
When the New Testament mentions keeping the commandments, it’s NOT the Decalogue that is meant, but the TWO love commands:
The scripture makes it clear, that love fulfills the law of God.
Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there beany other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love isthe FULFILLING OF THE LAW.
And this:
Mat 22:36 Master, which isthe great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second islike unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these TWO commandments hang ALL THE LAW and the prophets.
One big difference between the old ten, and the two love commands, is that the two love commands far exceed how well you treat your neighbor.
If you love him as yourself, you’ll do many more acts of kindness for him than the Decalogue requires.
Some fallacious arguments: if the Ten Commandments are not in effect, that means we can lie, steal, kill, worship idols, etc.
On the contrary, it should be obvious that if you love your neighbor as yourself, you won’t do him any harm: you won’t steal from him, kill him, covet his wife or goods, bear false witness against him, etc.
Paul says exactly the same thing:
Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there beany other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love isthe fulfilling of the law.
And if you love God with all your heart, you won’t take His name in vain, or worship idols.
Another fallacious argument: Jesus kept the sabbath - of course He did, because the old covenant law was still in effect until He died on the cross.
Another one: Paul kept the sabbath over 80 times in Acts - Paul was found every sabbath preaching to the sabbath keeping Jews (who were only there to hear Paul evangelize on the 7th day), that Jesus is their Messiah.
If he preached in the synagogue on Sunday, he’d be preaching to empty seats.
The fact is, when the apostles assembled together for church, it was on the first day of the week:
Joh 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first dayof the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace beunto you.
The reason they were free to select Sunday to assemble together, is because there is no requirement to keep any days at all, in the two commandments.
Two scriptures cut to the chase about not having to keep the 7th day sabbath:
Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10 Ye observe DAYS, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
“Sabbaths, new moons, and set feasts” (1Ch 23:31; 2Ch 31:3), answer to “days, months, times.”
Look at 1 Chronicles 23:31
1 Chronicles 23:31 (KJV)
31 And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the LORD in the SABBATHS, in the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the LORD:
The word sabbaths is word H7676 in Hebrew:
H7676 (Strong)
שַׁבָּת
shabbâth
shab-bawth'
Intensive from H7673; intermission, that is, (specifically) the Sabbath: - (+ every) sabbath.
Total KJV occurrences: 111
Thus Galatians 4:9-11 is talking about sabbaths that includes the weekly sabbaths.
Next:
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:
Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body isof Christ.
The word sabbath above, is H4521 in Strongs:
G4521 (Strong)
σάββατον
sabbaton
sab'-bat-on
Of Hebrew origin [H7676]; the Sabbath(that is, Shabbath), or day of WEEKLY reposefrom secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself); by extension a se'nnight, that is, the interval between two Sabbaths; likewise the plural in all the above applications: - SABBATH (DAY), week.
Total KJV occurrences: 68
Colossians 2:16-17 states to let no one judge you for not keeping the sabbath day, because it’s a shadow of Jesus, (who’s the real rest for us Matthew 11:28-29 - every day we rest in Him, and no longer on a ceremonial day).
Sabbath day keepers are therefore shadow keepers.
