The Saturday Sabbath

[FaithfulPilgrim]

I have been studying what the Bible says about the Sabbath, particularly in the NT.

I am convinced that Saturday remains to be the Sabbath, but I don't want to be legalistic about it.

I first heard of the Sabbath and Saturday worship when I went to an SDA private school. I think the Adventists make a lot of very good points regarding Saturday, but idk if it is strictly necessary to worship on Saturday or if there is anything wrong with worshiping on a Sunday.

Supposedly Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, though the ancient Greek translation uses "Mia ton sabbaton" for "the first day." The Jews also counted time differently than we do. To them, the Sabbath is from Friday evening to Saturday evening, IIRC.

The Sabbath also precedes the 10 Commandments as it was created on the Seventh Day and God blessed it and made it holy.

While Christians may have worshiped on Sunday for centuries and you could argue that the church in acts assembled on "the first day", I don't see any reason to believe Jesus suggested that the Sabbath be moved to Sunday. The shift was likely to accommodate the Gentile concerts and the Church eventually lost its Jewish roots.

Thoughts?

 

[JM]

I guess you have to figure out which calendar to use. Is the Sabbath the current 7th day according to our modern calendar? Shouldn't you be using an old Hebrew calendar? Gregorian? Julian? If it's not a big deal which 7th day as long as it is a 7th day, then it must be a principle of keeping one day set aside... If it's just a principle than what's wrong with having a Sunday as the Lord's Day or Sabbath?

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

I don't think it matters which day, provided a day a week is kept aside for the Lord.

The Rabbis in the Talmud concur saying that if someone is unsure which day is the Sabbath, they should arbitralily assign a day to be one and count the next sabbath as falling seven days from that one.

Besides, its not like the Sabbath was held from creation. It was instituted under Moses according to the OT and even then, the Israelites abandoned it periodically when chasing after strange gods. I find the idea of a fixed, definite, continuous seven day cycle going back into the misty days of the bronze age highly improbable.

The NT with its emphasis on 'circumcision of the heart'-esque interpretation of minutiae of OT commandments makes the argument of whether Saturday or Sunday should be hallowed quite moot, in my opinion.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

There's never been any question nor confusion in SCRIPTURE.
The enemy of Christ brought the confusion in , as prophesied in SCRIPTURE.
YHWH set apart the 7th day as HOLY, and sanctified it. Not any other day.
Talk to HIM about this, as HE talked with ADAM and HAVAH , and many others.
JOHN 17.

 

[JM]

The 7th day according to which calendar?

 

[Uncle Tommy]

The Sabbath is part of the Mosaic law. Christians are free from the Mosaic Law. Besides the calendar has changed in many different ways. My calendar starts with Monday. According to my calendar Sunday is the seventh day. Considering the fact that the workweek starts on Mondays it makes sense to consider Sunday as the seventh day anyway. But as my first two sentences state Christians aren't bound by the Mosaic Law.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

There's never been any question nor confusion in SCRIPTURE.
The enemy of Christ brought the confusion in , as prophesied in SCRIPTURE.
YHWH set apart the 7th day as HOLY, and sanctified it. Not any other day.
Talk to HIM about this, as HE talked with ADAM and HAVAH , and many others.
JOHN 17.

Hmmmm.......
I think MOSES lived later than this.
i.e. YHWH didn't wait for MOSES, did HE ?

 

[rob_aston]

I don't see any reason to believe Jesus suggested

bro, great to catch up
(the blue word below is a link to my blog, where by the rules of this forum, i place prophetic words)

 

[1John2:4]

I have been studying what the Bible says about the Sabbath, particularly in the NT.

I am convinced that Saturday remains to be the Sabbath, but I don't want to be legalistic about it.

I first heard of the Sabbath and Saturday worship when I went to an SDA private school. I think the Adventists make a lot of very good points regarding Saturday, but idk if it is strictly necessary to worship on Saturday or if there is anything wrong with worshiping on a Sunday.

Supposedly Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, though the ancient Greek translation uses "Mia ton sabbaton" for "the first day." The Jews also counted time differently than we do. To them, the Sabbath is from Friday evening to Saturday evening, IIRC.

The Sabbath also precedes the 10 Commandments as it was created on the Seventh Day and God blessed it and made it holy.

While Christians may have worshiped on Sunday for centuries and you could argue that the church in acts assembled on "the first day", I don't see any reason to believe Jesus suggested that the Sabbath be moved to Sunday. The shift was likely to accommodate the Gentile concerts and the Church eventually lost its Jewish roots.

Thoughts?

You don't need to be legalistic with it. Just read what the Bible states and keep it like that ") I find it really rewarding to read scripture on the Shabbat, I have pre planned for the day so I don't have any worries I can just spend time with God. I feel, I have been very blessed by keeping it, hope you will too.

 

[prodromos]

If the Sabbath was made Holy by God resting, then imagine what became of the Sunday by God rising from the dead!
In the Orthodox Church we refer to Sunday as the eighth day. We understand that this eighth day is prefigured in many places through the Old Testament and see it as a new day outside of the endless cycle of seven days. The eighth day is eternal, having no sunset.
We also understand that when the Scriptures state that God rested on the 7th day, that this was a prophetic reference to when Christ, the God man, would 'rest' in the tomb. God is spirit and does not tire or have need of rest, so Genesis was speaking of God become flesh.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

If HE rose on 1st day, SCRIPTURE would say so.
English Bibles often do,
but I think that's a mis-translation of the original text.

 

[JackRT]

The early Christian Church was originally no more than another branch of Judaism. They worshipped in temple and synagogue with their Jewish brothers and sisters. In some rare cases, they constituted the majority and were able to control the order of service, readings and such. However, in most cases they were a minority and could not insist on their own readings or rituals. The custom arose that these Jewish-Christians would meet again on the day (our Sunday) following the Sabbath for a service on their own. Tensions rose within the Jewish community until about AD90 when the rabbinical council of Jamniah decided upon the scriptures that would be permissible for use in synagogue services. This effectively ended Christian participation in Sabbath synagogue worship. They did however in most cases continue the tradition of the Sunday service which became known as "the Lords's Day". This eventually became the norm and was in fact made law by Constantine. In due course theology was invented to justify the change.

 

[prodromos]

If HE rose on 1st day, SCRIPTURE would say so.
English Bibles often do,
but I think that's a mis-translation of the original text.

Greek Orthodox do not read the Scriptures in translation.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

the tradition of the < 1st day > service which became known as "the Lords's Day".

Yes.

 

[JackRT]

Greek Orthodox do not read the Scriptures in translation.

Do all Greek Orthodox read Hebrew as well as Koine Greek?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Greek Orthodox do not read the Scriptures in translation.

I probably shouldn't ask this then, but why then do they go along with the change of the day of resurrection that tradition imposed on Christianity?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Do all Greek Orthodox read Hebrew as well as Koine Greek?

COOL but still; if someone knows Hebrew, Aramaic and greek,
but goes along with tradition by some necessity (which we can't possibly get to),
then
it won't help, will it ?

 

[JackRT]

COOL but still; if someone knows Hebrew, Aramaic and greek,
but goes along with tradition by some necessity (which we can't possibly get to),
then
it won't help, will it ?

I am not at all sure what that post meant.

 

[prodromos]

Do all Greek Orthodox read Hebrew as well as Koine Greek?

They use the Septuagint which was the Old Testament translation by the Jews for the Jews in the diaspora who were not literate in Hebrew. In response to YSJ, I am of course referring to the New Testament, as it is in the Gospels we learn that Christ rose from the dead on Sunday.

 

[prodromos]

I probably shouldn't ask this then, but why then do they go along with the change of the day of resurrection that tradition imposed on Christianity?

Yes, you shouldn't ask leading questions.
Have you stopped beating your wife?