Question:  I have a problem with your comments concerning the sabbath.  You state the sabbath as a covenant sign between old testament Israel and God, but in Genesis 2:2 it reads, “By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work.  And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.”

            Here we read that God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.  This was just after the creation of Adam and Eve, who all mankind descend from.  My question is, did God remove His blessing from the sabbath or did He now render it unholy?

            Ola

Answer:  Dear Ola,

            At the heart of your question is the view that one takes toward the old covenant.  For example, the Pentateuch commands that annual holy day observances be kept “forever”.

            The old covenant itself includes the seventh day sabbath as well as a myriad of other regulations – some that modern Christians see as obviously “not binding”.  But, how do we pick and choose?  What are the criteria that one uses to decide that some parts of the old covenant should continue to be kept as necessary for salvation, while others are not?

            The answer, of course, lies in the cross, and in the new covenant given to us in and through the blood of Christ.  Books like Galatians, Romans, Hebrews, Colossians, not to mention the Gospels, and passages such as II Corinthians 3:7-18 help us understand the new covenant.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht