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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Keep the Sabbath Holy? | Bible general Archive 3 | DocTrinsograce | 190884 | ||
Hi, only... Welcome to the forum! Hebrews 4 seems to be a a very good proof text on the adoption of Sunday by Christians for worship (i.e., God finished His work on the seventh day of the week, Christ finished His work on the first day of the week.) However, I'd like to quote from Chapter 22, paragraph 7 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, which states "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)" Be very careful about the SDA doctrines. They are rooted in the teachings of Ellen White, rather than the Scriptures alone. For example, see the following: "How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell. . . . And how utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body the soul of the impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! ... the doctrine of natural immortality first borrowed from pagan philosophy, and in the darkness of the great apostasy incorporated into the Christian faith, has supplanted the truth. ... The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon. ... But those who have not, through repentance and faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of transgression ... covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion. . . . There will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God as they writhe in never-ending torment; no wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved" (Ellen White, The Great Controversy, pages 469, 470, 477, 478, 483). You will note that Ellen White doesn't use Scripture to base her assertions on. "When they came to the point in their study where they said, 'We can do nothing more,' the Spirit of the Lord would come to me, I would be taken off in vision, and a clear explanation of the passages we had been studying would be given me. ... Thus light was given that helped us to understand the Scriptures... they accepted as light direct from heaven the revelations given [to Ellen White]" --Ellen G. White Messenger to the Remnant, pages. 34, 38, 39). In Him, Doc |
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2 | Keep the Sabbath Holy? | Bible general Archive 3 | onlyme | 190893 | ||
Doc, thank you for the response, and thank you for pointing out Hebrews 4: to me. What I think I read there indicates that the 'rest' we need is not so much a cessation of labor, but an experience of God's Rest. Also, the accent is no longer on a single specific day of the week (Sabbath) but it is on Today, meaning every day. Therefore every day we need to be resting in God. However, there is also a reference to 'Sabbath-rest'. Does this mean resting on the Sabbath, or does this mean a Sabbath-like rest Today (and every day)? As to your explanation that "Christ finished His work on the first day of the week" I must say I've never heard it phrased like that before but that is certainly one way to look at it. Is there a passage in scripture that you were quoting? 1 Corinthians 16:1,2 is only talking about collecting money on the first day of the week, not relevant to this discussion that I can see. The same holds true for Acts 20:7 which describes Paul breaking bread and later on raising Eutychus from the dead. Revelation 1:10 is about a vision that God gives to John. All three of these verses mention the first day of the week, however there is no apparent significance to the day, and nothing that I can see there to support the assertion in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith that "...the observation of the last day of the week being abolished" is valid. There seems to be no clear cut answer, which is a shame. There are valid arguments and scripture supporting both views of Sabbath keeping and Sunday Worship. |
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3 | Keep the Sabbath Holy? | Bible general Archive 3 | DocTrinsograce | 190895 | ||
Dear onlyme, Hebrews 4 is not about which day is the Sabbath. It simply uses the already extant change in the Sabbath -- and the reason for it -- as part of the argument being made in that passage. Hence, even at the time of the writing of this book, the practice had been established as normative by the church of that day. The old divines of the London Baptist Confession of Faith were simply restating the orthodoxy behind the orthopraxy. If you can't find a "clear cut answer" in Scripture, do not demean tradition. The old divines simply expressed the thought and practice of 2000 years of the Holy Spirit's guidance of the Saints. The strict Sabbitarian has a tendency to fall into an unhealthy nomianism, which thing is certainly unsupported by the clear doctrine of Scripture. In Him, Doc |
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4 | Keep the Sabbath Holy? | Bible general Archive 3 | onlyme | 190961 | ||
Doc, I realize that Hebrews 4 is not about which day is the Sabbath, I didn't mean to imply that it did. I'm not sure what 'already extant' change you are referring to, as I can determine no scriptural change in the Sabbath at all. Next, I'm wondering which change you claim had been established as normative at that time, since this (the writing of the book of Hebrews) was only 30 years or so after Jesus' Resurrection. I have not read the London Baptist Confession of Faith other than what has been quoted by you and some others, however there is a line in your quote of it that ends "the observation of the last day of the week being abolished." I can find absolutely no mention of that in scripture. Are you equating those writings with scripture? Finally I do not demean tradition, but in this case I am simply trying to understand it. 'This case' in this instance is really not one tradition but two, Sabbath worship vs. Sunday worship, both of which have existed as tradition for a very long time. I do agree that the SDA folks seem to have fallen into a mire of legalism, which is, as you say, unhealthy just as it was for the Pharisees. Thank you again for your time and thoughts. |
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5 | Keep the Sabbath Holy? | Bible general Archive 3 | DocTrinsograce | 190976 | ||
Dear onlyme, Briefly, what I was trying to say is that it is clear that the practice of the observance of the Sabbath on Sunday had been established by the apostles before Hebrews 4 was penned. Sabbatarianism was promoted by Judaizers at least as early as 56 AD, because of Paul's admonition to the gentile believers in Colossians 2:16b. This topic has been run into the ground long before we discussed it, and well past the point of rendering any real value to our forum readers. I expect that anything that can be said about it has already been said. The full spectrum of opinion -- and imagination -- on the topic can be found using the search option. Let us move on to other Biblical topics for the edification of us all. In Him, Doc |
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6 | Keep the Sabbath Holy? | Bible general Archive 3 | onlyme | 190995 | ||
Doc, Before I made my first post here I attempted to find any previous threads on the subject but my searches came up empty. I would be most appreciative if you could give me the parameter(s) to use in order to find previous discussions. I apologize to anyone who has been inconvenienced by my posts in any way. All I wanted was to hear people's opinions on the subject. For the last day or so I have been only replying to comments and observations made, not wanting to ignore anyone who bothered to post. If you are the forum moderator I will not take any offense if you (or whoever the moderator may be) should decide to lock this thread. In case that does happen I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who did share their thoughts and questions, and those who also pointed out relevant passages in the Bible to me. The whole topic was summed up nicely (in my mind anyway) by something that you yourself wrote: "God's work ended on the seventh day of the week, Christ's work ended on the first day of the week." We have our New Covenant in Christ. Amen. |
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