Question: .

How do you feel about the sabbatarian view of the Sabbath. Thanks for your thoughts!

-Duane

Answer:

Dear Duane,

The sabbatarian view of the Sabbath is that it is a 24 hour period of time that is to be kept holy. Holding such a view immediately begs for legislation and interpretation about what constitutes holy time, and how it should be "kept" and how it can be "broken". The view holds that the Sabbath was made from creation, was a part of the Mosaic law, and has not been changed. Some sabbatarians emphasize that the seventh day is mentioned in the ten commandments, and they have not been changed. Others would note that the mark of the beast in the book of Revelation are Christians who, while they mean well, are unfortunately keeping the wrong day - and because they "miss" holy time by 24 hours will have the mark of the beast.

Such views and interpretations fail to take into account at least two major points. First, the cross of Christ and what it means. The centrality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the fulcrum of all reality. The New Testament teaches that Jesus is our rest, that we come into the Sabbath rest by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and that he is Lord of all, even the Sabbath. The books of Romans (chapter 14 especially) Galatians (the entire book) Colossians (especially chapter 2) and Hebrews) all of the book, especially chapters 3 and 4 regarding this question) not to mention the Sabbath controversies of the Gospels make the New Covenant teaching about "holy time" clear. For the Christian all time is holy - there is no time Christians "keep" or "break".

The Jews, who were and are sabbatarians and monotheists because they live under the old covenant, sought to kill Jesus because he broke the Sabbath and because he claimed to be equal with and to the Father - the elementary beginnings of what we call the Trinity (see John 5: - especially vs. 18).

The New Testament emphasizes that days, months, and times are not the defining lines or boundary markers of Christianity.

Second, the history of the historic, orthodox Christian church clearly shows that Christians began to meet on Sunday - not as a replacement for old covenant shabbat, for Jesus fulfilled that, and he is our rest. But Christians began to assemble on Sunday, the first day, and indeed, the eighth day (much biblical symbolism here, including the old covenant that foreshadowed what was to come) in honor of Christ's resurrection.

For Christians, the central and defining moment of time is not the Sabbath, but the resurrection, which is the foundation stone of Christianity.

How do I feel about sabbatarian views? I spent almost 40 years of my life ensnared and enslaved by sabbatarian views before I turned to Jesus and the veil was lifted (2 Corinthians 3:12-16). I must be a slow learner!! It is sad to see that sabbatarian views continue to be so compelling, enslaving, and pervasive. They appeal to those who are deceived into thinking that Christianity is performance based and that salvation is meritorious and depends on human works. Unfortunately, Saturday sabbatarians are joined by Sunday sabbatarians in a legalistic devotion to the law.

One of our website visitors volunteered the following thesis addressing another critical, logical inconsistency which sabbatarians, whether they be Saturday or Sunday "keepers" fail to answer.

The notion that in different places the Sabbath begins at different times because the sun sets at different times in those places is totally unscriptural, and leads to three serious contradictions:

1) The International Date Line was arbitrarily set by man. If you have access to the Internet, you will find it helpful for the purposes of this discussion to visit either http://www.halyava.ru/tunguska/wordtm.htm (World Time Zone Map with current local times) or http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/faq/docs/world tzones.htm (US Naval Observatory World Time Zone Map). If you do not have access to the Internet, a world time zone map can be found in any good encyclopedia.

As one travels west over the surface of the earth, it gets earlier and earlier until the day of the week drops back to the preceding day of the week. It continues to get earlier and earlier as one moves west until one reaches the arbitrarily placed International Date Line. When one moves west across that line, it instantly becomes one day later, a full 24 hours later. Let me give you an example. The sun sets Friday evening on the easternmost tip of Siberia (just to the west of the International Date line in Zone M) at about 7 p.m. As one travels westward, the hour gets progressively earlier. For example when it is 7 p.m. Friday evening in Zone M, it is 7 a.m. Friday morning in London, England, and 3 a.m. Friday morning in New York City. It is also 11 P.m. Thursday evening in Los Angeles, California, and 9 p.m. Thursday evening in Alaska. But just off the westernmost tip of Alaska just to the east of the International Date Line it is 8 p.m. Thursday evening, and Sabbath does not begin for another 23 hours.

So we have the amazing circumstance that two people can be standing facing each other over the International Date Line, one just east of it on Thursday evening and the other just west of it on Friday evening at the start of Sabbath. At the commencement of Sabbath just west of the Date Line, although these two people are only a few inches apart, one is observing Sabbath but the other has to wait a full 23 hours to observe Sabbath. Can mere puny man arbitrarily determine a line which has Sabbath on one side of it and the following day on the other side of it? No!! The Sabbath was made by God, not by man!

And thus is exposed the falsity of supposing that places in different time zones can observe Sabbaths by the setting of the sun in their zone. God stands outside the earth. There are no time zones with Him. Nowhere in scripture is there even the slightest hint that peoples in different areas of the world must observe Sabbath at different times due to the revolution of the earth on its axis which causes the sun to set at different times in those areas. This is purely a man-made notion with no scriptural support whatsoever. To even hint that such should be done places the awesome responsibility in the hands of mere puny man of setting a date line somewhere on the round earth so that the time gained as we move from east to west can be given back again as we cross that line. And thus man determines in the area of the International Date Line when Sabbath is and when it isn't by his arbitrary placement of that line. Where one places the International Date Line is completely arbitrary but you MUST place it somewhere because the earth is round and not limitless in extent. And wherever one chooses to place that line, on the Sabbath day I am going there and straddling that line with the right side of my body in the Sabbath and the left side of my body in Thursday evening. My left hand can work real hard for the next 224 hours because it is only Thursday evening for the left side of my body. But my right hand must rest for the next 24 hours because the right side of my body is in the Sabbath!

Man's being able to arbitrarily set a date line wherever he pleases and thus to arbitrarily determine whether it will be Sabbath now or 24 hours from now in a given area shows that the entire man-made basis of Sabbath determination ("when the sun sets on what is one's Friday evening wherever one is upon the earth") is without any scriptural basis whatsoever.

2) In the vicinity of the North and South Poles, there can be daylight for many months before night finally comes. How is one supposed to observe a scriptural Sabbath in those regions.

3) And what of those in spacecraft far from the earth where there is no night. When shall they observe their Sabbath?

"The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).

Hope this helps.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht