The Sabbath, to keep or not to keep....

[PaulSacramento]

27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; [p]if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.”

No mention of Sabbath at all.

Which of the 10 commandments says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind" ?
Which of the 10 commandments commands to "Love your neighbour" ?

Do you believe that this letter is meant to be an EXHAUSTIVE summary of Christ's commands?

Also, can anyone explain to me "things strangled" means?

Thanks,

E

No, it was not an "exhaustive" summary of Christ's commands but it was, just as it stated, what gentiles were to do in regards to the Old Covenant Laws.
If we go strickly on what was written in the Gospels then you have Jesus Commanding many things, but you never read him commanding to keep the Sabbath.
Of course he wouldn't have to because the Jews already kept the sabbath, even though they over legalized it and made the sabbath about rules and regulation as opposed to being about God and rest.
The prohibition of "things strangled" is that they were not allowed to eat animals that were killed via strangulation ( it was a dietary restriction from the Levitical law).
One should be clear that Paul does address the issue of "special days" and festivals, as has been noted already- he leaves them as a matter of personal conscience.
As should we.

[BavarianWheels]

One should be clear that Paul does address the issue of "special days" and festivals, as has been noted already- he leaves them as a matter of personal conscience. As should we.

Agreed.

However...the sabbaths mentioned in Colossians 2:16 is not the Sabbath of the 10 Commandments as the Sabbath of the 10 Commandments is not a shadow of anything to come. It is a memorial to the creative work that God did at the beginning. It is worship because God is...

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The Sabbath commandment is not about a shadow of things to come, but a memorial of God's work. Exodus 20:8 is the actual commandment. Exodus 20:9,10 is a broad "how-to" ( correctly interpreted through Christ's life example ) and Exodus 20:11 is WHY it is a commandment.

The Sabbath is not part of the ceremonial sabbaths of days, weeks, and years. THOSE sabbaths are the sabbaths spoken of by Paul in that no one should judge another on since these are the shadows of THINGS TO COME. The proof of this is that those sabbaths are lumped with circumcision, festivals, eating and drinking...all of which were signs that pointed to the promise of a Messiah...which were done away with at the cross.

In short anyway.
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[RickD]

Romans 14:5
One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

You consider the Sabbath as more holy than the other six days of the week. Some of us see every day as alike. It's a matter of conscience.

[PaulSacramento]

Bav, you view that Sabbath that way and we all respect that.
You interpret what Paul wrote that way, and we all respect that.
We simply ask the same for our views.

[BavarianWheels]

Romans 14:5
One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

You consider the Sabbath as more holy than the other six days of the week. Some of us see every day as alike. It's a matter of conscience.

Again, the context is clear.

One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

He's not speaking about THE Sabbath day, but ceremonial days where one festival was about this or that and another was about something else.

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

Clearly one can see that eating and drinking and the days spoken of are the many sabbaths of days, weeks, and years and not the Sabbath of the 10.

Take a look at Hebrews 9 and 10. The law spoken of there is clearly the ceremonial law that required sacrifice, blood, the sanctuary on earth as a copy.

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered?

because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

And again it is so clear which law is done away with. It is the ceremonial laws of sacrifice, that were the shadow of things to come--Christ.
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[BavarianWheels]

Bav, you view that Sabbath that way and we all respect that.
You interpret what Paul wrote that way, and we all respect that.
We simply ask the same for our views.

It's not my view or interpretation. I'm giving you text after text after text about the context of these things and you and Rick are simply giving snipets of things, cherry-picking texts that in and of themselves SEEM to say or teach what you claim, but when weighed with the WHOLE of scripture do not stand up to scrutiny.
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[PaulSacramento]

Bav, you view that Sabbath that way and we all respect that.
You interpret what Paul wrote that way, and we all respect that.
We simply ask the same for our views.

It's not my view or interpretation. I'm giving you text after text after text about the context of these things and you and Rick are simply giving snipets of things, cherry-picking texts that in and of themselves SEEM to say or teach what you claim, but when weighed with the WHOLE of scripture do not stand up to scrutiny.
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You are proof texting, just like Rick and I.
You may not see it that way, but you are.
And so are we.
In Romans Paul makes it clear and the Jerusalem council mentioned nothing about the sabbath for gentiles.

[BavarianWheels]

Bav, you view that Sabbath that way and we all respect that.
You interpret what Paul wrote that way, and we all respect that.
We simply ask the same for our views.

It's not my view or interpretation. I'm giving you text after text after text about the context of these things and you and Rick are simply giving snipets of things, cherry-picking texts that in and of themselves SEEM to say or teach what you claim, but when weighed with the WHOLE of scripture do not stand up to scrutiny.
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You are proof texting, just like Rick and I.
You may not see it that way, but you are.
And so are we.
In Romans Paul makes it clear and the Jerusalem council mentioned nothing about the sabbath for gentiles.

There is no mention because:

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

I'm not proof-texting with only one or two texts that SEEM to say one thing. I'm taking the many texts, OT and NT, that mention our discussion and putting them together to promote a consistent interpretation.
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[PaulSacramento]

Yeah you are, if there is no difference between Jew and gentile ,then the gentile should be cirumcized according to the Law.
If the Sabbath was Made for MAN, then MAN decides when and how to keep it, yes?

[BavarianWheels]

Yeah you are, if there is no difference between Jew and gentile ,then the gentile should be cirumcized according to the Law.
If the Sabbath was Made for MAN, then MAN decides when and how to keep it, yes?

Sure if it was not the case that Christ has come and done away with the law of circumcision...the ceremonial laws that are the shadow of grace by faith through Christ. All these laws pointed at a coming Messiah and the work of redemption.

The Sabbath, however, is a memorial to a work completed and an act of worship because God is creator and worthy of worship. A memorial of the work of creation.

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The commandment is clear. The WHY is built right into the commandment.
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[PaulSacramento]

So, by working 6 days and resting the 7th, all that do that are keeping the sabbath?

[BavarianWheels]

So, by working 6 days and resting the 7th, all that do that are keeping the sabbath?

I have no clue if there is a question in the above quote.
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[PaulSacramento]

There's a question mark....

[BavarianWheels]

There's a question mark....

Yes there is, however I cannot make out exactly what the question is. Maybe it's because I cannot "hear" your inflection into the words. Can you reword your question, plz?
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[PaulSacramento]

The sabbath "rule" is to work 6 days and rest the 7, yes?
So anyone that works 6 days and rest the 7th is keeping the sabbath?