What
is the Covenant of the Law?
What
were the Ten Commandments given in the Exodus 34:10-28
text?
How
come the Commandments in Exodus 34:10-28 are not the same as Exodus
20:3-17?
The
Torah
Jesus
Reveals The Purpose Of God, The Law Does Not
What is
the Book of the Law?
What was
Abolished?
The
Ark disappeared and fake substitutes appear
The
Artificial And Fake Substitutes Shall Arise
What
does the word "abolished" mean?
All
Jewish sabbaths were abolished at the same time as the Mosaic
law.
The
Apostolic Church Reacts To Law Keeping
Twenty-four
Reasons Why Messianic Christians Worship On The First Day Of The
Week:
Give
Offerings On The First Day
The
Lord's Day Proven To Be The First Day Of The Week
What
the Bible does not say about the sabbath
These issues must be answered for a person to obtain the truth about the
Ten Commandments and the Law being abolished and replaced by the New Covenant.
The answers must conform to the intent and the content of the Scriptures.
Opinions and conjecture can play no role in resolving the conflict
between the Concision who advocate Law keeping (ordinances also), and those
who claim salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of Calvary.
What
is the Covenant of the Law?
"And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did
neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the
words of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments" (Exo 34:28).
The Covenant of the Law, is the promise God unilaterally made with Israel
prior to his giving the Ten Commandments. This Covenant is simple in language
but is great in complete application: "And he
said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels,
such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the
people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible
thing that I will do with thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this
day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and
the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite."
This is the Covenant: "marvels that are miracles, wonders, and blessings";
the "terrible thing" is not something frightening to the Israelites, the
word means instead fearful in the sense of reverence, God would force the
Gentle pagans to be in reverence of the Israelites and this brought about
by terrible or fearful things that the LORD would do on behalf of the Israelites.
This one part of the Covenant comes with the idea of salvation, protection,
and security, guaranteed to them alone if the provisions of the Ten Commandments
were observed.
This Covenant of the Law cannot include Gentiles. Therefore, Gentiles
have no business thinking they are part of the Covenant of the Law, by adopting
observances of the Ten Commandments or keeping the "regulations" contained
in other Commandments in the Book of the Law. In fact, the Israelites
were not sent into the holy land to convert Gentiles to observe the Ten
Commandments or invite them to join in the Covenant of the Law, but to drive
them out. The Covenant was not with those Gentile nations or any other
Gentile nation. This is a Covenant of the Law with Israel alone. It
is the Covenant that Jesus abolished that the Gentiles might be made joint
heirs through a New Covenant that contains: marvels, miracles, wonders,
salvation, protection, and security; and through which the nations would
be brought to reverence and fear of the judgment of the Lord Jesus Messiah
and his Saints, the true Israel of God.
What
were the Ten Commandments given in the Exodus 34:10-28 text?
The
Covenant
And he said,
Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such
as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people
among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible
thing that I will do with thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this
day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and
the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the
Jebusite. |
The Ten
Commandments
According to Exodus 34:10-28 |
Commandment #1
Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants
of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of
thee:
Commandment #2
But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut
down their groves:
Commandment #3
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name
is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants
of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto
their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And
thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring
after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their
gods.
Commandment #4
Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
Commandment #5
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou
shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month
Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
|
Commandment #6
All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among
thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass
thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou
break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none
shall appear before me empty.
Commandment #7
Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest:
in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. And thou shalt observe the
feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering
at the year's end.
Commandment #8
Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before
the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee,
and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou
shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
Commandment #9
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither
shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the
morning.
Commandment #10
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto
the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's
milk. |
And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou
these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with
thee and with Israel.
And he was there with the LORD forty days
and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote
upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten
commandments. |
There is an obvious problem here with Law-keepers who claim the Ten
Commandments are still binding upon Gentiles and to be observed by the New
Testament Church. Those who claim the Ten Commandments are binding
usually run to Exodus chapter 20 for the list of the Commandments and these
are no where called the Ten Commandments that were placed into the Ark. We
can see then why it is important for Law-keepers to ignore Exodus 34:10-28
and the Covenant of the Law and the Ten Commandments listed there that
specifically says these "were" put into the Ark.
If the Ten Commandments are binding and the correct Ten Commandments are
those in Exodus 34:10-28, then Law-keepers are in serious trouble because
they do not keep these Ten Commandments. Observance of the Ten Commandments
put into the Ark requires breaking down pagan altars, images, and sacred
trees; observing the seven days of unleavened bread; redemption of the
firstborn; going to Jerusalem three times a year on Passover, Pentecost,
and Atonement; animal sacrifices; observance of old Passover rituals; and
giving the firstfruits into the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. The difficulty
here is great for Law-keepers. Because the Ten Commandments of Exodus
34:20-28 totally nullify the New Testament Church, the local Churches, the
New Testament Ministry, and returns all Jews and Gentiles under the jurisdiction
of the Pharisees whom Jesus resisted and rejected.
There is absolutely no New Testament Ministry of the Law to replace the
Levitical priesthood of the Law. The qualifications for an Apostle,
Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teachers, Elders, and Bishops do not include
anything whatsoever about Law-keeping or Old Testament observances. Any
Old Testament observances of the Law resurrects the Levitical priesthood
and destroys the priesthood of Jesus Messiah. That Jesus was prophesied
to be of the Melchizedec (Gentile) priesthood more than demonstrates that
the priesthood of Mt. Sinai was not transferred to him or to any of those
upon whom he laid hands and ordained. Ordination then into the New
Testament Ministry requires submission to the Melchizedec Priesthood of Jesus
Messiah and subsequently that of the Apostles. No one may claim to
be Apostolic who does not accept and embrace this priesthood. This
priesthood forever separates the Church from practice of the Law to practice
and the faith of Jesus Messiah.
How
come the Commandments in Exodus 34:10-28 are not the same as Exodus
20:3-17?
Some scholars believe that the Commandments Moses gave in Exodus 20:3-17
were not the Ten Commandments but were Commandments God to Moses prior to
the giving of the Ten Commandments. The whole delusion by Law-keepers
is that Moses only went one time up on Mt. Sinai and on this one time trip
he received the Ten Commandments. That is not true. The trip
up on the Mountain when Moses stayed forty days and received the Covenant
and the Ten Commandments was not his first trip.
The Israelites were already living by some Commandments in Exodus 15:26,
but they were not the Ten Commandments:
"And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD
thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear
to his commandments, and keep his statutes, I will put none of these
diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the
LORD that healeth thee."
Whatever these Commandments and Statutes were, and they were not the Ten
Commandments, but God expected the Israelites to observe them.
"And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments
and my laws" (Exodus 16:28).
Here we see that God gave the commandment about gathering the manna and
the Sabbath day before Moses ever went up on the Mount for forty days to
receive the Covenant and the Ten Commandments which when received contained
the observance of the Sabbath day.
Moses went up on the Mount in Exodus 19:20 and God sent him back down.
Then God commanded Moses to bring Aaron back up with him on the Mount
in Exodus 19:24. This we assume Moses did because after this trip follows
Exodus 20 and Moses giving to the Israelites commandments of God but they
were not called the Ten Commandments.
It appears that the Commandments given in Exodus 20:3-17 were all given
to Moses prior to his forty day mountain trip when he went up a third time
alone. Because it is not until Exodus 24:12 that Moses is summoned up to
the Mount by God to receive the Ten Commandments:
"And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be
there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments
which I have written; that thou mayest teach them."
What is the point here? The point is that there were Commandments
given prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments and some of these Commandments
were incorporated into the Ten Commandments, and some were not. To
confuse the Commandments prior to the Ten Commandments as being the Ten
Commandments before they were assembled by God and classified as the Ten
Commandments, is wrong. It does not change that they were Commandments,
it changes that they were not selected out to be the Ten specific Commandments
of the Covenant. Prior to the specific assembly of the Ten to be the
basis of the Covenant of the Law, these were not individually or collectively
considered the Covenant or having any connection to a Covenant. It
was only after God assembled the Ten Commandments that he made a Covenant
of the Law and the Ten Commandments that are found in Exodus 34:10-28.
The Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17 missing in Exodus 34:10-28 are: Thou
shall not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; Honor thy father
and mother; Thou shall not kill; Thou shall not steal;
Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor; and Thou
shall not covet.
Are they still Commandments? Why of course! But they are concluded
to be Commandments contained in the Book of the Law apart from the true and
actual Ten Commandments given in Exodus 34:10-28.
Some scholars are of the opinion that "adultery" in the Exodus 20 Commandment
is described clearly in the Exodus 34:10-28 Commandments of sons and daughters
going a whoring after the sons and daughters of Gentile pagans. The
word "whoring" means fornication and is taken from the Hebrew word for
fornication (see Strongs #2181-"zana"). The first meaning of
"zana" is to commit adultery although it is the Hebrew word for
fornication (all sexual immorality). The adultery comes in with
the acts of these fornications breaking the Covenant Commandment. Adultery
is then breaking a covenant by committing a forbidden sin. Thus, when
a covenant of marriage is entered into between a man and a woman, to fornicate
with someone outside of the covenant would be the act of adultery of breaking
the covenant of marriage. This means one act can result in two sins
not one sin as so many teach from Catholic teachings on adultery and fornication.
Thus whoring or fornication is the sex act sin with someone outside
the marriage covenant and adultery is the sex act sin that would be breaking
the marriage covenant by the whoring or the act of fornication. It is understood
within Jewish teachings that anytime adultery has been committed, an act
of sexual fornication has also been committed. There can be no adultery
without an act of fornication (sexual immorality). So in this regard,
adultery would be contained in the Exodus 34:10-28 Ten Commandments under
"a whoring."
So then, it appears that of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17, only
six are found in the Covenant of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34:10-28
that Moses was to place inside of the Ark. As already mentioned, it
is indeed interesting that the traditional Ten Commandments are not once
called the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20.
The words "Ten Commandments" appears three times in the books of Moses
and not one time in relationship to those commandments found in chapter 20.
(Please take notice that all of God's statutes, ordinances, and laws
are Commandments. But concerning the identity of the Ten Commandments
we find first mention in Exodus 34:10-28, then in Deut 4:13, and lastly in
Deut 10:4.) The commandments in Exodus are Commandments but the question
is, are they the original Ten Commandments or are they just Commandments
taken to be the original Ten and they are not? One thing is certain,
there cannot be two Ten Commandments with one set disagreeing with the other
set on what those Ten Commandments are. We shall let the Bible decide
which is the true Ten Commandments, and the Bible says Exodus 34:10-28 are
the Ten Commandments.
The word "commandments" is found 136 times in the Bible beginning in Genesis
26:5 and lastly in Revelation 22:14. But it must be remembered that
in using the words "Commandment or Commandments" the meaning does NOT describe
only those Ten given in Exodus 34:10-28 but also ALL the other precepts,
ordinances, and statutes given under the Law. In the New Testament
it must be determined if the Commandments of Jesus are being indicated, because
the Commandments of Jesus are falsely attributed to the Ten Commandments
or even other Commandments of the Law. This is false. The
Commandments of Jesus are no where called or connected to any Commandments
of the Law, as if Jesus is continuing Commandments of the Law by they becoming
a part of his Kingdom doctrine or Gospel message.
The Torah
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law (Torah), or the prophets:
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matt 5:17).
The Law is here the Torah, the whole Book of the Law that contains also
the Covenant of the Law and the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments
do not exist today except in the Torah. Law-keepers quote this verse
as if to say that Jesus would continue the practice of the Law over in the
Kingdom of God. This is false!
True, Jesus did not come to destroy the Law, and he did not destroy the
Law. No one has said that he did. But we do say and teach that
he fulfilled the Law. The passing away of the Covenant of the Law does
not mean it was destroyed. A marriage covenant is in force until one
of the parties die, and then the marriage covenant is fulfilled. We
do not say that because one of the parties has died that the covenant of
marriage was destroyed. Yet we know that upon the death of one of the parties
the marriage covenant is ended and it does not exist any longer. All
the vows of the marriage covenant come to an end. The only thing that
can survive the end of a marriage covenant through death is the blessings
the covenant brought. So blessings can survive a marriage covenant
and the blessings of God survived the end of the Law at Calvary. Now
these blessings come also upon the Gentiles where before the Gentiles could
not share in the blessings and hope of the promises under the Law.
The Covenant of the Law was a marriage covenant between God and Israel.
When the Lord Jesus died, the Covenant ended by his death, ...not by
destruction. Thus, the Lord Jesus was free to get him another Bride
the Church. There cannot be two marriage Covenants in existence at
the same time. If the Covenant of the Law was still alive after Calvary,
then that would mean there were two Covenants and God had a wife and a Bride
in the waiting. This cannot be! To claim to be under the Law
would place a person under the Covenant of marriage to Israel. No Gentile
can do this! Why then are there so many who are ignorant and unlearned
about the marriage of Israel and God by the Covenant of the Law? This is
plain in Paul's writing to the Romans:
"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the
body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (Romans
7:4).
Any Law-keeper who claims to be under the Covenant of the Law that God
made with Israel is NOT MARRIED or in Covenant with the Lord Jesus Messiah.
You can not be in both Covenants. Paul said we were dead to the
law by the body of Christ, meaning his crucifixion and death, and that this
death into which we are baptized, frees us from all the Covenant of the Law
to enter into a New Covenant with Jesus Messiah for salvation. Those
Jews and Gentiles who claim to live under the Law who do not grasp this or
who refuse to believe and receive it will be lost outside of the Kingdom
of God. You may say: "Brother I have the Holy Ghost." So what,
many of those who also received the Holy Ghost after the day of Pentecost
when back under the Law, fell from grace, and returned to the Temple and
the Pharisee priesthood. Do not take the striving of the Spirit as
a means of self-justification of Law-keeping, you may end up like those other
apostates who went out from the Apostles and who never found a place of
repentance like Essau. Let the Spirit do its perfect work and bring
you fully into the light of the Covenant and Gospel of Jesus Messiah.
Jesus
Reveals The Purpose Of God, The Law Does Not
We are met with great revelations through the teachings of Jesus. The
word "Law" in his teachings is the Hebrew word "Torah" (Strongs 8451), and
the word "Torah" describes the whole Law containing all of the 613 Commandments,
Precepts, Statutes, and Laws within the five books of Moses. To say
the word "Law" is to say "Torah" but to say "Torah" does not mean to say
the Ten Commandments alone. The Ten Commandments are "Torah," that
is Law, but the Torah or Law does not consist only of Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are contained in the Torah or the whole body of the
Law. So then, any of the statutes, precepts, laws, ordinances, or
commandments may be referred to as commandments, statutes, precepts, laws,
or ordinances. To say "Law" is to say "Torah" and mean the entire religious
system given to Israel. This must be remembered when we study Paul's
writing to the Galatians or someone will want to divorce the word "Law" from
the Ten Commandments as if the "Law" is different from the Ten Commandments
and remove the Ten Commandments from the Torah, as if they stand alone, aloof,
and apart from the whole Torah or Law. Any Jew knows this is falsehood.
The meaning of the word "Law or Torah" is that of "regulations".
Regulations that are religious in nature and are associated with man's
relationship with God and with others. Thus, Jesus reduced the whole
Torah, the whole Law, down to two ideals: 1.) To love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, mind, and soul; and 2.) To love thy neighbor
as thyself. Jesus said that upon these two Commandments hang ALL
THE TORAH (Law) and the Prophets.
Thus, upon two nails, were suspended all the Torah, the Law, the Commandments.
And when those two nails were driven into the hands of Jesus, he suffered
for all the sins of those who violated these two Commandments and finished
the transgression and penalty of sin and let the sinner go free. He
died for us in our place and removed from us both the penalty of the Law
and also the force of the Law itself. The blood that came out from
around those two nails became the blood of the New Covenant, and it is to
this blood and this New Covenant that we observe the Lord's annual Passover
memorial.
Jesus also gives us revelation in regards to the Ten Commandments. He
does not mention them once by the title "Ten Commandments" in all of his
teachings. Yes, he mentions Commandments, but did he say they were
of the Ten Commandments of Exodus chapter 20:3-17 or of the Ten Commandments
in Exodus 34:10-28? No he did not. Or did he call them Commandments
because they are simply laws, statutes, precepts, and ordinances found in
the Torah, the Book of the Law, the Book of Commandments? Yes he did?
In Mark 10:19, Jesus said the first of all Commandments was: "Hear
O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord." But is this Commandment
the first of the Ten Commandments? Answer: No! This statement is not
even found in the Ten Commandments which ever set you choose. What
are we to conclude? We must accept that the words "Commandment and
Commandments" mean more than just those we call the Ten Commandments.
If there are 613 Commandments, Precepts, Statutes, Laws, and Ordinances:
then there are 613 Commandments and of these there are Ten that were written
upon tables of stone and placed into the Ark. The Ten Commandments
that were placed into the Ark are found in Exodus 34:10-28. These were
placed in the Ark because they contained the Covenant. The Commandments
in Exodus 20:3-17 are often wrongly called the Ten Commandments and we know
these are not the Covenant of the Law because ...THEY DO NOT CONTAIN THE
COVENANT. The Ark had to contain the Covenant that was incorporated
with the Ten Commandments in order for it to be called the Ark of the Covenant
and the Covenant and the true Ten Commandments are found in Exodus
34:10-28.
What is the
Book of the Law?
"Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the
covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against
thee" (Deut 31:26).
The book of the Law is the Torah. The Torah consist of the five
books of Moses. Therefore, the "Book of the Law" must describe the original
"one book" that contained all of the other Commandments or regulations by
which the people of Israel were to worship God and govern their affairs with
one another.
The first thing here to notice is that the "Book of the Law" contains
all the Law, including the content of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments
that were written upon the tables of stone inside the Ark. So, the
Ark had the witness of God's Covenant and Law both within and without. If
a person wanted to know the Covenant and the Ten Commandments that were in
the Ark, they could not look in there, they were forbidden, only the highpriest
could do this: but they could look into the Torah, the "Book of the Law"
and read there what was in the Covenant and upon the tables of stone inside
the Ark.
What was on the inside was recorded in a Book upon the outside. What
was on the outside in the Book was the testimony of what was on the inside.
When the Ark and all that was on the inside disappeared after Solomon's
death, all that remained as the testimony was the "Book of the Law" that
is now called the Torah. Hilkiah found the "Book of the Law" that had been
lost for hundreds of years (2Kings 22:8). Ezra read the complete Book
of the Law over a period of seven days (Neh 8:1-18). He read for a
fourth of a day and the Israelites being stirred up to repentance worshiped
for a forth of the day. If it was not for this "Torah," this "Book
of the Law," NO ONE WOULD KNOW WHAT THE COVENANT WAS OR WHAT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
WERE! When we see later, that all the Law, the Torah, was fulfilled
by Jesus Messiah and replaced with the New Covenant, then we can understand
why the Ten Commandments within the Book of the Law and the Book of the Law
containing the Old Covenant ceased, and were abolished, it matters not where
the tables of stone are located or if they even exist. The Kingdom
of God was being established upon a New Covenant with the Commandments of
Jesus Messiah which all must follow and live to enter into heaven (Rev
22:14).
What was
Abolished?
By "abolished" the Apostle Paul does not mean something thrown away out
of hate, spite, or lawlessness. The Law was not abolished by a vote of sinners.
It was not abolished by the Christian religion coming in and taking
over. It was not abolished by joint agreement among a religious hierarchy
to modernize to adapt to main-stream society social trends. What Jesus
did on Calvary to abolish the Law was by love, grace, and mercy. The
complete Torah, the Law, including the Ten Commandments were made null, void,
of none effect, erased, rubbed out, abolished, put away, and ceased, by the
Messiah's sacrifice of LOVE! When Paul used the word "abolished" it
was in reference to the Hebrew meaning of something being erased, abolished,
and wiped away as would a marriage covenant upon the death of one of the
spouses. But notice that Paul is not personally abolishing the Law,
he claims that Jesus Messiah did this through the suffering of his death
through LOVE (2Cor 5:14; Eph 5:2; Rev. 1:5).
"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and took "it" out of the way, nailing
"it" to his cross" (Col 2:14; note: the word "it" in the verse is talking
about the Law Covenant).
For Law-Keepers to confront the Love of Jesus, challenge him for satisfying
the judgments of sin under the Law, and for replacing the Old Covenant with
the New Covenant in his blood, is outright evil. It has been my experience
in dealing with Law-keepers that they have the same spirit of conceit and
contempt as the Jews who nailed Jesus to the Cross. The hatred is there
against salvation by grace without Law. The arrogance is there that
they will keep the Law anyway and the death of Jesus will not end it. The
sniveling mockery is there. And the challenge: "we will be Moses' disciples
fills the air."
Naturally, there will be great arguments if the handwriting Paul mentions
was God's own when he wrote with his finger the Covenant and the Ten Commandments
in stone, or if this writing was also the Book of the Law which some claim
Moses wrote, as if what Moses wrote was not instructed by God or was written
from God's own mouth. Some think that what God wrote with his finger
in stone is greater than what God says with his mouth. Thus, they claim
that the Book of the Law that Moses wrote from the mouth of God is not as
holy as the stone tablets in the Ark. What so many fail to realize
is that the stone tablets represent the hardness of the hearts of the Israelites,
while the Book of the Law represents the Words of God written in flesh
(parchments made of skin). The New Covenant would be written in hearts
of flesh, not again in tables of stone or even yet on parchments made of
skin. The New Covenant is the Love of God. And the love of God
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, not observances of the Law.
The point here is that Paul did not abolish anything, which is what the
Law-keepers erroneously project into the arguments about observing the Ten
Commandments and the Torah or the whole Law. If Jesus Messiah brought
to an end the Covenant of the Law which was for Jews only and established
a New Covenant that would include all nations, then the Cross of Calvary
became salvation for Jews and Gentiles, otherwise, salvation would still
be for Jews only if the Law Covenant remained in force and was not
abolished.
When Paul called the whole Law, ..."the law of commandments" he
was refering to the Ten Commandments as well as the rest of the Law. We
must take notice that the record of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments
is contained in the Book of the Law. We understand the "Book of the
Law" to at first be the book of Deuteronomy and then later Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, were added. We are not saying nor have we ever
said that God was abolishing history. What was abolished at Calvary
was a Covenant given at Sinai contained in the history. The point here
is that apart from the actual Ten Commandments and the tables of stone, there
is no record of the Ten Commandments except in the Book of the Law. In other
words, the Ten Commandments are contained in the Book of the Law that also
contains other Commandments or regulatory ordinances.
When Paul wrote Ephesians 2:15 his point was this very fact. The
Law of Commandments was contained in the Book of the Law that contained the
ordinances. The actual Ten Commandments with the Covenant upon the tables
of stone disappeared many hundreds of years before Jesus Messiah. So
Paul would not need to address the stone tablets in particular, all he had
to do was mention the Covenant of the Law and this identified the stone tables
because the Book of the Law was the only record of them. For anyone
to say that the Covenant of the Law was the Book of the Law, in order to
force observance of the Ten Commandments as the New Covenant, is false.
Absolutely no one can produce the Ten Commandments except from two
sources: 1.) the tables of stone; and 2.) the Book of the Law. The
tables of stone and the Ark containing them disappeared many centuries prior
to the birth of Jesus Messiah.
We know the Covenant and the Ten Commandments are the Covenant. In
first Kings 8:21 Solomon makes the following statement:
"And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant
of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of
the land of Egypt" (see also 2Chron 6:11).
If we now go back to verse 9 we will see that all that remained in the
Ark were the two tables of stone:
"There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses
put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the Children of Israel,
when they came out of the land of Egypt."
The Ark was called the "Ark of the Covenant" because it contained the
Covenant and the original Ten Commandments. The pot of manna was not
the Covenant. Aaron's rod was not the Covenant.
The curses contained in the Book of the Law were called curses of the
Covenant.
"The LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel,
according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book
of the law" (Deut 29:21).
So, we see that the curses and punishments for not obeying the Covenant
of the Ten Commandments are part of the Covenant but laid up on the outside
of the Ark. Without the Book of the Law there would have been no recorded
punishments for breaking the Covenant or any of the Ten Commandments. The
Ten Commandments contained no judicial procedure. The Covenant and
the Ten Commandments collectively became the Constitution of Israel and the
Book of the Law became the Bill of Rights and the judicial procedure underlying
the Constitution and upholding it.
A law without a penalty is no law. If the penalty of breaking all
the Ten Commandments have been nailed to the Cross, then how can anyone say
that the Ten Commandments remain in force? The Ten Commandments even
without the Book of the Law would have ceased by the death of Jesus upon
the Cross.
Everyone knows that if a man guilty of crimes dies and is buried before
he is caught and punished, his death ends the law and the punishment of them
when he died. Laws have no effect upon a dead man. What court
or judge will try a dead man for his crimes? Why is it a great mystery
then that we who are dead in Christ are freed from the Law and its judgments.
We are raised up after water baptism, after we died to our sins and
their penalties, to walk in a newness of life after the likeness of Jesus
after his resurrection. After death there is no manner in which to
judge a person for breaking any of the Ten Commandments or the Law or for
any other sin.
The Ten Commandments and the Book of the Law all come in one package and
are identified simply as the "Law". It is necessary to understand this
in order to comprehend what the Apostle Paul is meaning when he uses the
word "Law" to describe the Ten Commandments, the Book of the Law, and both
together as the whole Law.
The
Ark disappeared and fake substitutes appear
The Ark was last seen in Solomon's Temple. At this time all that
was in the Ark was the original Covenant and Ten Commandments. Solomon makes
no mention of the Book of the Law:
"There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein
at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the Children of Israel, when
they came out of Egypt" (2Chron 5:10).
Solomon started building the Temple in the fourth year of his reign (2Chron
3:2). It took seven years to build the Temple (1Kings 6:38). Thus,
in the 11th year of his reign the Temple was completed and the Ark of the
Covenant set in its place. Solomon reigned forty years (2Chron 9:30),
so from the time of dedication of the temple until Solomon's death was twenty
nine years.
In 1Kings 14:26 a horrible event happened. Thirty four years after the
Temple was dedicated, and only five years after Solomon died, his son Rehoboam
did great evil and all Judah joined him. This angered God and so he
allowed the temple to be plundered twenty nine years after the great edifice
of perfection had been dedicated. All the treasures were stolen and
taken down into Egypt and disappeared forever.
In the fifth year of Rehoboam God sent Shishak king of Egypt to Jerusalem
and Shishak took away to Egypt all the treasures of the House of God. Scholars
believe the Ark was taken at this time also because after Solomon it is not
mentioned ever again in connection with the house of God. The disappearance
of the Ark containing the Covenant and the Ten Commandments was a great loss,
a loss mourned by Jews ever since. All that remained to even document
there ever existed two tables of stone containing the Covenant, was the Book
of the Law. It is within this Book of the Law that we find the Covenant
of the Ten Commandments and what they contained.
Because the tables of stone disappeared, all the Jews could refer to was
the Book of the Law and point out in this sacred Book, the recording of the
Covenant of the Law and the Ten Commandments as found in Exodus chapter 38:10-28.
Thus, it came to pass among the Israelites that in speaking of the
Covenant of the Law and the Ten Commandments and or the ordinances in the
Book of the Law, all the Law was called the Torah and seen as a singular
Covenant. Neither Jesus nor the Apostles altered this recognition.
In some cases Jesus referred to things written in the Psalms as being
written in the Law. He quotes Psalms 82:6 and calls this text the Law
in John 10:34. In John 15:23 he quotes Psalms 69:4 as being the Law
and containing a prophecy of they who hate him without a cause.
The
Artificial And Fake Substitutes Shall Arise
Rehoboam made an artificial fake substitute of everything in the Temple
after Shishak took the Ark and the Ten Commandments and the other treasures
to Egypt. What is strange is that the Israelites did not seem to care.
They accepted the substitutes as equal to the authentic treasures.
And these fake substitutes took upon them the honor and glory of the
originals that were now in Egypt. There was absolutely no effort of Israel
to go to Egypt and bring back the original treasures. The Ark of the
Covenant and the original Ten Commandments disappeared into Egypt and have
not been seen since.
There is an old fable that Solomon has a son by the Queen of Sheba named
Menlik and this son staged a wild party where Solomon and all the Priest
were made drunk. During the drunken stupor Menlik is claimed to have
replaced the Ark with a fake one, stole the original together with the Ten
Commandments and took them to Ethiopia and they are there in secret today.
This myth is not Biblical and the alleged Ark protected there by Ethiopian
Jews is nothing but a false substitute like that which Rehoboam himself made.
Absolutely every claim of having found the original lost Ark and the Ten
Commandments that show alleged photographs, show Exodus chapter 20 style
Commandments and missing altogether is the Covenant written upon those stones
with the Ten Commandments. This proves them all false.
The Ark and the Ten Commandments cease from the history of Israel forever.
We would not know what was on those two tables of stone if it was not
for the Book of the Law that contains the history and the record of these
Commandments. Thus, Paul wrote Ephes. 2:15 and said:
"Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of
commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace."
Paul could not point to the tables of stone, they had disappeared centuries
before. So he pointed to the Book of the Law that contained the Covenant,
Ten Commandments, and the ordinances. Paul viewed the Law as did all
other Jews for centuries, as the whole collection of writings we now call
the Old Testament. But more importantly, the Law was a term used to
describe that which was given at Mt. Sinai and which governed Israel in matters
of religious faith and practice. Accordingly, Paul groups together
the Ten Commandments and the other Commandments called ordinances in the
New Testament, into one classification and calls them collectively the "Law".
This is not strange, all Jewish scholars do the same.
We are now prepared to see what was abolished, brought to an end, finished,
completed, and fulfilled in the very person of Jesus Messiah and what was
nailed to his cross.
What
does the word "abolished" mean?
"Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of
commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace" (Ephes. 2:15).
a.---[abolished]
Greek: (katargeo), make of no effect. The word 'kataregeo' is translated
"bring to naught" in Romans 3:3; Romans 4:14; Galatians 3:17;
Galatians 5:4; 1 Cor. 1:28; 1 Cor. 2:6; done away in (1 Cor. 13:10;
2 Cor. 3:7,11,14); fail in 1 Cor. 13:8); cease in (Galatians
6:11); vanish away in (1 Cor. 13:8); make void in (Romans 3:31);
cumber in (Luke 13:7); deliver in (Romans 7:6); loose
in (Romans 7:2); put away in (1 Cor. 13:11); put down in (1
Cor. 15:24); destroy in (Romans 6:6; 1 Cor. 6:13; 1 Cor. 15:26; 2
Thes. 2:8; Hebrews 2:14); and abolish in (2 Cor. 3:13; Ephes. 2:15;
2 Tim. 1:10).
It is clear from these passages that whatever was abolished completely
became null and void. Did man do it? No! Who took away the Law then?
Jesus Messiah took away the Law Covenant and instituted in its place
the New Covenant. What did Jesus abolished? He caused to cease, to
vanish away, to be fulfill by him, all the Covenant of the Law in the original
Ten Commandments contained in the Book of the Law. The word ordinances
in the Greek means dogma, also translated "decree" (see Luke 2:1; Acts 16:4;
Acts 17:7) and "ordinance" (see Ephes. 2:15; Col. 2:14). The word "ordinance(s)"
in the Old Testament means "statutes" and this means regulations that were
considered "laws." The "laws" were also called Commandments. The
term then is changeable. The Ten Commandments were ordinances and statutes.
The Book of the Law contained ordinances of the Old Covenant. So,
Paul's "commandments contained in ordinances' is easily here understood to
be both the Ten Commandments and the other Commandments contained as ordinances.
Through the Covenant of the Law sin was identified and exposed (Romans
3:19-20; Romans 7:13; Galatians 3:19-25). The Law Covenant was God's
purpose to keep the Jews a distinct Godly people until Messiah would come
and usher in the New Covenant. Moses prophesied that after Messiah came all
Israel would be gathered to him to be taught and whosoever would not hearken
to that prophet would be destroyed from among the people (Acts 3:22-23).
The New Covenant would be placed into the hearts of the people by teaching
and Jesus did this for three and a half years:
"For this people's heart is waxed gross (hard), and their ears are
dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should understand
with their heart, and should be converted, and I would heal them"Matt
13:15).
Salvation was not by that written on tables of stone or in the Book of
the Law, it was by a person, ...Jesus Messiah! Conversion was not by
the keeping of the Law or by the hearing of the Law, it was by hearing Jesus
Messiah expound the Commandments of the Kingdom of God! Healing for
the soul, the making whole of that lost to the world by Adam and Eve, was
not by the Law written in tables of stone or the Ten Commandments, but by
Jesus Messiah. What the Law could not do, Jesus Messiah did. Jesus
Messiah was greater than both the Ten Commandments in tables of stone and
the Book of the Law. He was the walking WORD OF GOD! Those who trust
in his WORD completely for salvation will receive into their heart his New
Covenant, his doctrine, his Commandments, and these ONLY shall have right
to the tree of life and the New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:14).
b.---[Abolish] or to make dead through the death of his flesh on Calvary:
[through the death of his flesh the enmity (hatred against sin), even the
law of commandments contained in ordinances] This means that by the death
of Jesus taking the penalty for all sins under the Law, the Law was completely
satisfied according to condemnation and judgment and fulfilled, thereby eternally
abolished (Ephes. 2:14-15; Col. 2:14-17; 2 Cor. 3:6-15). Jesus fulfilled
the Law, not by observance, but by taking the punishment for the sins of
the Law and fulfilled the death penalty which the Law demanded to fulfill
a person's obligation after breaking it.
c.---[to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace]. The purpose
of ending the Law, the Ten Commandments, and the Book of the Law was to do
away with the law that had enmity (hatred against sin) directed only at Jews,
and where the Gentiles were under no obligations. Thus in the body
of his flesh, Jesus Messiah destroyed the enmity (hatred against sin) against
all Jews and removed the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles
that shut the Gentiles out of the Temple. God planned to make both
Jews and Gentiles into one new Israel, one new class of holy saints, one
new man, the church, so making peace between the righteous judgments of the
Law, God, and all nations (Ephes. 3:6; 1 Cor. 12:13; Galatians 3:28; Col.
3:11). Until the Law was abolished, the Gentiles had no means of salvation
under the Law because salvation under the Law was for Jews only, and the
Jews only because of the Covenant of the Ten Commandments. Salvation of Gentiles
during the Law period was not by Law but by faith and continuing in a righteous
life as that found in Noah, Abraham. Melchizedec, Job, and other great Gentiles
who showed the pattern of a Godly life and acceptance before God.
All
Jewish sabbaths were abolished at the same time as the Mosaic
law.
Those who claim the seventh day Sabbath is still binding, will often not
observe the other Sabbaths. All festivals were Sabbaths as well as
every seventh year and every fiftieth year (Jubilees). Sabbath keepers
make a lot of excuses why they do no observe the other sabbaths. Some
confess that yes, they were ended at the Cross. But they maintain that
the seventh day Sabbath was started by God at creation and it will never
end. But Jesus did not teach the Sabbath would be binding because it
existed since the creation and neither did the Apostles. So this
argument is novel but it is not true. This is not honesty in Biblical
interpretation or in observance of the New Covenant of Jesus Messiah.
While it is true that Jesus lived and died under the Law, he observed
the Law, he fulfilled the Law, it is not true that he intended for the Law
to be the Gospel of salvation that he taught to the Apostles and sent by
them to all nations. They understood perfectly that they had a great
commission to carry to the world the Commandments of Jesus Messiah. And
on the final day of his being on earth in Acts 1 Jesus gave the Apostles
Commandments and none of them was about Sabbath keeping or the Apostles would
not have missed preaching it. The only fault of the Apostles, if it
can be deemed such, was the delay in going to all nations and staying among
Israel and Jews. Because of this, the first ten years of the Kingdom
of God was in the transition from worship in the Temple and synagogues to
worship in Church groups; from rituals of the Law and the Levitical Priesthood
to the teachings and Commandments of Jesus as preached by the Apostles as
the new priesthood and Ministers of God; and from atonement by animal sacrifices
to atonement by the blood of Jesus. Some, wanting so much to confuse this
transition period as if any connection to Law and the Temple was a sure practice
the Law was being observed for salvation. Those who claim to keep the
Law, try to take the three and one half years of Jesus under the Law and
his fulfilling the Law by observance, as their authority to force Law-keeping
on Church members. This shows a great lack of knowing New Testament truth
and also a great darkness of mind about the entire purpose of ushering in
a New Covenant.
The
Apostolic Church Reacts To Law Keeping
"Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have
troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised,
and keep the law: to whom we gave NO such commandment" (Acts 15:24).
a.---[subverting your souls] To subvert is to destroy a person's faith
by falsehood.
b.--- [Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law] Circumcision was the
issue but the purpose of circumcision was the obligation to keep the whole
Law. A male was not considered to be a son of the Law until he had
been circumcised and reached the age of bar mitzvah. Thus, the purpose
of the Judaizers in conflict with the Apostles was they wanted Gentile converts
to the Messianic Judaism of Jesus to keep the Law and the way to seal this
requirement was to command them to be circumcised. Any man who claims
to be a Law-keeper and who does not practice circumcision as the seal of
the Law is a plain fraud. The Law was given to those circumcised and
those males under the Law who observed the Law were all circumcised. To
claim observance of the Law demands circumcision and the Apostles sent out
letters to all the world that they DID NOT GIVE SUCH COMMANDMENTS!
Keeping the Law or the Sabbath was NOT required by the Apostles in Acts
15:5-29; Romans 14:5-6; Galatians 4:9-11; or Col. 2:14-17.
Twenty-four
Reasons Why Messianic Christians Worship On The First Day Of The
Week:
1. All seven day, seven year, and sabbath of sabbaths in the law of Moses
have been abolished.
2. The new covenant does not command any particular day to be observed
by Christians (Romans 14:5-6; Galatians 4:9-11).
3. Christians are free to choose their own day of Sabbath and worship (Romans
14:5-6).
4. Christians are commanded not to permit any man to judge them regarding
a sabbath (Col. 2:14-17).
5. Christian observance of certain days is rebuked by Paul (Galatians
4:9-11).
6. Observing the Sabbath is not named as a requirement of the gospel (Acts
15:1-29).
7. The real and eternal sabbath is in Jesus Messiah, not in a day (Matthew
11:28-29; Hebrews 4).
8. The fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) was left out of the new covenant
(note, Acts 15:24).
9. The Jewish sabbath commemorated deliverance from Egyptian bondage in which
Christians had no part (Deut. 5:15).
10. Going under the law to observe a sabbath would obligate one to keep the
whole law of Moses including circumcision (Galatians 3:10-14; Galatians 5:3,9-11;
James 2:10).
11. Worship on the first day of the week or on any other day of the week
serves the same purpose as on the Sabbath.
12. After the resurrection of Jesus, first Christians met and worshiped on
the first day of the week (John 20:1,19,26-29; Acts 20:6-12; 2 Cor.
16:1-2).
13. The Lord Jesus fulfilled the last Sabbath while lying in the tomb.
There he completed the redemptive work and his victory over death,
hell, and the grave. He arose early on the first day of the week and
it is into this death, burial, and resurrection, that Christians are baptized
to begin a newness of life in honor of the resurrection on the first day
of the week.
14. Christ's special manifestations to His disciples after the resurrection
were on the first day of the week. IF he wanted them to meet with him on
the Sabbath for worship he would have appeared unto them on the Sabbath but
he appeared unto them on the first day of the week (Matthew 28; Mark 16;
Luke 23-24; John 20:19,26).
15. After the resurrection, there was no recognition given by Jesus or any
apostle to the old Jewish seventh-day sabbath.
16. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-4 was on the first day
of the week, the day after seven Jewish sabbaths were ended, to signify that
all the requirements of the Sabbath were fulfilled when a person receives
the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
17. After Christ's ascension, the first sermon was preached on the first
day of the week, and the first conversions (about 3,000) took place on the
first day (Acts 2:1-42). We hold high honor that the Lord Jesus would
begin his work of the world-wide Kingdom salvation upon the first day of
the week. So we do not hesitate to hold Church on the queen day of
the week, the first day, for that is when the Bride as the Queen received
her promise as the future wife. Sabbath worship is to revert back to
the old whore, the old queen day of she who was divorced and put away by
Calvary. We are not children of she who was divorced and so we cannot
worship on her old queen day as if we are a part of her.
18. The absence of any warning by Jesus or the apostles regarding of breaking
the Sabbath and doing so being sinful or "the mark of the beast" (as some
teach). To observe the first day of the week shows it was acceptable
as a day of Sabbath and worship but Sunday Sabbath was not a New Testament
law.
19. Typology of the old Covenant makes the first day of the week prominent.
The feasts of firstfruits and Pentecost were observed on the first day, as
well as the feasts of unleavened bread and tabernacles (Leviticus
23:8-14,34-39).
20. God honored the first day by stepping out of the darkness of eternity
and showing that he was God on that day. The Jews claim that God gave
the law on the first day of the week (Exodus 19:1,3,11; Leviticus 23:5-6
with Exodus 12:2-18).
21. God honored many first days of the week in Israel (2 Chron. 7:10; 2 Chron.
29:17; Ezra 3:6; Neh. 8:14-18; etc.).
22. God honored the first day again by giving the book of Revelation on that
day (Rev. 1:10, notes; Acts 20:7, (note: The Lord's day cannot refer to the
Sabbath, because it refers to Jesus as Lord and his day must refer to his
resurrection on the first day of the week).
23. The new Covenant frees all converts from bondages to the old Covenant
such as the death penalty for cooking, making fires, and performing other
duties on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:23; Exodus 20:8-10; Exodus 31:15; Exodus
35:2-5; Leviticus 23:3; Numbers 15:32).
24. The New Testament never records a distinctive gathering of a Messianic
Christian Church on the Jewish sabbath. To the contrary, Messianic Christians
gathered on the first day of the week, which was called "the Lord's day"
(Rev. 1:10; John 20:1,19; note, Acts 20:7; 2 Cor. 16:2). That this
first day was later named "Sunday" means nothing.
Of the 60 times the word "sabbath" is found in the New Testament, it is
used 50 times BEFORE the new Covenant was made. Of the remaining 10
times, 6 occurrences refer to Paul preaching to the Jews (at non-Messianic
gatherings). When attending Synagogues on Jewish sabbath days (Acts
13:14,42,44; Acts 17:1,2; Acts 18:4) these instances refer to the law of
Moses being read by Jews on Jewish sabbaths (Acts 13:27; Acts 15:21) and
not one time that they were meetings of Messianic Christians; one place refers
to Jewish travel as not more than a mile on the sabbath (Acts 1:12); and
one place plainly says that all sabbaths were abolished (Col. 2:14-17).
If there had been commands to worship on any day, even the first day,
it would have brought about the same bondage as the law of Moses. The higher
principles of Christianity would have then been regulated to days and seasons
which God promised to abolish (Isaiah 1:13; Hosea 2:11) and did abolish (2
Cor. 3:6-15; Galatians 3:19-25; Galatians 4:21-31; Galatians 5:1-3; Ephes.
2:14-15; Col. 2:14-17; Hebrews 6:20-10:18). Whereas Israel was obliged to
commemorate freedom from bondage with a yoke of bondage which included the
sabbath-keeping law, Christians are free to commemorate their freedom and
salvation from the bondage of sin on any day they choose (Romans 14:5-6).
Give Offerings
On The First Day
Christians gathered for worship and fellowship on the first day of the
week. If they had been meeting on the Sabbath day it would stand to
reason Paul would have designated that day as the one on which to make offerings
and receive collections. But he did not. He pointed out the first
day of the week for these events:
"Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in
store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come"
(1 Cor. 16:2).
a.---[Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in
store] Collections were to be taken up on the first day of the week (our
Sunday today), the day all early Christians observed as their day of Sabbath
and worship (John 20:1,19,26; Acts 20:7) but it was not made into a binding
Sabbath law.
The
Lord's Day Proven To Be The First Day Of The Week
The disciples of Moses teach that the sabbath was changed from Saturday
to Sunday by Constantine in 321 A.D., and by the Catholic Church in 364
A.D.
The following facts from history prove they are wrong:
1. The Encyclopedia Britannica under "Sabbath" and "Sunday" says. "In the
early Christian Church Jewish Christians continued to keep the sabbath, like
other points of the law ... On the other hand, Paul from the first days of
Gentile Christianity, laid it down definitely that the Jewish sabbath was
not binding on Christians. Controversy with Judaizers led in process of time
to direct condemnation of those who still kept the Jewish day ... In 321
A.D. Constantine made the Christian sabbath, Sunday, the rest day for the
Roman Empire, but it was observed by Christians for nearly 300 years before
it became law by Constantine."
2. The New International Encyclopedia on "Sunday" says, "For some time
after the foundation of the Christian Church the converts from Judaism still
observed the Jewish sabbath to a greater or lesser extent, at first, it would
seem, concurrently with the celebration of the first day; but before the
end of the apostolic period, Sunday, known as the Lord's day, had thoroughly
established itself as the special day to be sanctified (set apart) by rest
from secular labor and by public worship. The hallowing of Sunday appears
incontestably as a definite law in the Church by the beginning of the fourth
century; and the Emperor Constantine confirmed the custom by a law of the
state."
3. The Catholic Encyclopedia on "Sunday" says, "Sunday was the first day
of the week according to the Jewish method of reckoning, but for Christians
it began to take the place of the Jewish sabbath in apostolic times as the
day set apart for public and solemn worship of God." This volume quotes a
number of early Christian writings of the first, second, and third centuries
to prove that Sunday was kept by Christians from the earliest times.
4. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on "The Lord's Day" says,
"The Lord's day in the New Testament occurs only in Rev. 1:10, but in
post-apostolic literature we have the following references: the Epistle of
Ignatius to the Magnesians, IX, 1, `No longer keeping the sabbath but living
according to the Lord's day, on which also our light arose ... Acts
2:46 represents the special worship as Daily. But this could not continue
long ... A choice of a special day must have become necessary, and this day
would, of course, have been Sunday ... Uncircumcised Gentiles, however, were
free from any obligation of sabbath observance' ... No observance of a special
day of rest is contained among the necessary things of Acts 15:28,29 ....
A given day as a matter of divine obligation is denounced by Paul as forsaking
Christ (Galatians 4:10), and sabbath-keeping is condemned explicitly in Col.
2:16. As a matter of individual devotion to be sure, a man might do as he
pleased (Romans 14:5,6), but no general rule as necessary for salvation could
be compatible with liberty wherewith Christ has made us free (Galatians 2:1-21;
Galatians 3:1-14; Galatians 5:1-4,13)."
5. We next quote from the ten volumes called, "The Ante-Nicene Fathers,"
the writings of the early church fathers down to A.D. 325 and before Constantine
and the Catholic Church are supposed to have changed the sabbath from Saturday
to Sunday:
(1) Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who lived at the time of the apostles,
30-107 A.D. He, like Polycarp, was a disciple of John and one who should
know Christian practice among the early Christians as to the sabbath. He
wrote, "And after the observance of the sabbath (that the Jews kept), let
every friend of Christ keep the Lord's day as a festival, the resurrection
day, the queen and chief of all days of the week ... on which our
life sprang up again, and victory over death was obtained in Christ ... it
is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the
mind a Judaism which has come to an end .... If any man preach the Jewish
law unto you, listen not to him. For it is better to hearken to Christian
doctrine from a man who is circumcised, than to a Judaism from one
uncircumcised" (Vol. 1, pages 63-82).
(2) In the Epistle of Barnabas, ascribed to Paul's companion by Clement,
Origen, and others, we read, "He says to them. `Your new moons and your sabbaths
I cannot endure' (Isaiah 1:13). Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present sabbaths
are not acceptable to me ... I will make a beginning of the eighth day, that
is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also we keep the eighth day
with joyfulness, the day on which Jesus rose again from the dead" (Vol. 1,
Page 147).
(3) Justin Martyr, a Gentile born near Jacob's well about 110 A.D. writes,
"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country
gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings
of the prophets are read ... But Sunday is the day on which we hold
our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought
a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our
Savior on the same day rose from the dead" (Vol. 1, Page 186). In his dialogue
with Trypho, a Jew, Justin Martyr says, "Is there any other matter, my friends,
in which we are blamed, than this, that we live not according to the law,
and are not circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers were, and do
not observe the sabbaths as you do? ... Christians would observe the
law, if they did not know why it was instituted .... For we too would observe
the fleshly circumcision, and the sabbaths, and in short all feasts, if we
did not know for what reason they were enjoined you .... How is it, Trypho,
that we would not observe those rites which do not harm us—I speak of
fleshly circumcision, and sabbaths, and feasts? ... The Gentiles, who have
believed in Him, and who have repented of their sins ... shall receive the
inheritance along with the patriarchs ... even although they neither keep
the sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor observe the feasts .... Christ
is useless to those who observe the law .... The sabbath and sacrifices and
offerings and feasts ... have come to an end in Him who was born of a virgin
.... But if some, through weakmindedness, wish to observe such institutions
as were given to Moses ... along with their hope in Christ ... they shall
probably be saved" (Vol. 1, Pages 199-218).
(4) Tertullian, presbyter of the North African Church, who was born about
145 A.D., writes, "The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews for their holydays.
Your sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies my soul hateth .... By us
(Christians), to whom sabbaths are strange ... to the heathen each festive
day occurs but once annually: you (Christians) have a festive day every eighth
day .... Others suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because
it is a well-known fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make
Sunday a day of festivity ... you who reproach us with the sun and Sunday
should consider your own proximity to us. We are not far off from your Saturn
and your days of rest .... It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the
abolition of carnal circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having
been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the sabbath
is demonstrated to have been temporary" (Vol. III, Pages 70, 123, 155,
313-14).
(5) In the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (2nd century) we read, "Break
your fast ... the first day of the week, which is the Lord's day ...
After eight days let there be another feast observed with honor, the eighth
day itself" (Vol. VII, Page 447).
(6) In "The Teachings of the Apostles," written ? A.D., we read, "The
apostles therefore appointed: ... on the first day of the week let there
be service and reading of the Scriptures, and the oblation (Lord's Holy
Supper): because on the first day of the week our Lord arose upon the world,
and ascended to heaven" (Vol. VIII, Page 668).
(7) Irenaeus, 178 A.D., in arguing that the Jewish sabbaths were signs
and types and were not to be kept since the reality of which they were shadows
had come, says, "The mystery of the Lord's resurrection may not be celebrated
on any other day than the Lord's day and on this alone should we observe
the breaking of the Paschal Feast ... Pentecost fell on the first day of
the week, and was therefore associated with the Lord's day."
(8) Theophilus, pastor of Antioch, 162 A.D., says, "Both custom and reason
challenge us that we should honor the Lord's day, seeing on that day it
was that our Lord completed His resurrection from the dead."
(9) Origen, about 200 A.D., says, "John the Baptist was born to make ready
a people for the Lord, a people for Him at the end of the covenant now grown
old, which is the end of the sabbath ... It is one of the marks of a perfect
Christian to keep the Lord's day."
(10) Eusebius, the Father of Church History, who made a history of the
time between the birth of Christ and Constantine, and who lived 265-340 A.D.,
says, "From the beginning Christians assembled on the first day of the
week, called by them the Lord's Day, for the purpose of religious worship,
to read the Scriptures, to preach and to celebrate the Lord's Supper ...
the first day of the week on which the Savior obtained the victory over death.
Therefore, it has the preeminence, first in rank, and is more honorable than
the Jewish Sabbath."
(11) Victorianus, 300 A.D., says, "On the Lord's day we go forth
to our bread and giving thanks. Lest we should appear to observe any sabbath
with the Jews, which Christ Himself the Lord of the sabbath in His body
abolished" (Section 4, "On the Creation").
What
the Bible does not say about the sabbath
1. That first day worship on Sunday is a pagan worship day.
2. That Christians must keep the old Jewish sabbath.
3. That Christians are obligated to worship on any certain day.
4. That all who worship on Sunday have the mark of the beast.
5. That all who worship on Sunday sinners and are lost.
6. That Sunday worship was started by the Roman Catholic Church.
7. That Christians never held a religious service on the first day of the
week (Sunday).
8. That the Ten Commandments were NOT done away when the old covenant was
"abolished" and "done away" in Christ on the cross.
9. That the Lord's day is the seventh day or the old Jewish sabbath.
10. That the fourth commandment is part of the new Covenant.
11. That Christians are not to work on Saturday.
12. That the fourth commandment sabbath is not included in the "sabbaths"
that were abolished on the cross as taught in Col. 2:14-17; Galatians 4:9-11;
Romans 14:1-5; Ephes. 2:15.
13. That the law of Moses and the fourth commandment sabbath were for Gentiles
as well as Jews.
14. That the fourth commandment sabbath was a sign between God and Gentiles
as is stated of God and Israel in Exodus 31:13-17; Deut. 5:12-15; Ezekiel
20:12-13.
15. That Saturday is a holy day, the sabbath, a day of rest, a day of worship,
or a day sanctified in the new Covenant.
16. That Saturday was the only day the apostles recognized as a day of rest
and worship.
17. That Jesus instituted the Jewish sabbath as the worship day of the Church
(the Bible says that God gave the law and spoke in "times past" to people,
Hebrews 1:1,2; Romans 1:3; Acts 3:21-26; etc.) but now the voice of Jesus
prevails over all other witnesses and voices.
18. The Bible does not teach that all people observed the sabbath for about
about 2,500 years from creation to Exodus 16, at which time God first commanded
people to keep a certain day.
19. The Bible does not teach or say hat Sunday cannot be as holy as any other
day sanctified or set apart for the worship of God.
20. The Bible does not say that Christians are obligated to observe a particular
day of the week as people were bound to do under the old covenant. See Romans
14:5-6; Galatians 4:9-10; Col. 2:14-17; Hebrews 4.
The conclusion to the issues of Law and Sabbath observance will ultimately
be found in each person's heart. If a person does not accept the finished
work of Jesus Messiah on Calvary as it relates to the Law and the penalty
of sins under the Law, then they will likely continue as Law keepers. But
those who receive a revelation of salvation by grace through faith will not
be bound by the Old Covenant of the Law. These will embrace the New
Covenant and spread its glory and majesty throughout all nations.
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