The law, the commandments, and Christians.
- By DamianWarS
- Sabbath and The Law
- 252 Replies
the OC points to Christ and everything the OC was, Christ is better; therefore looking to Christ over the precepts of the law is a better way. People seem to think this is too abstract and we need a more concrete list to follow, this is what the holy spirit is for. but the NT is full of examples of Christian living, all aligned to Christ's law, and even explicitly saying to love your neighbour as yourself. This is the line the NT authors quote but it is a quote from Christ and includes first to love God with all your heart then love each other as yourself. Where this easily aligns with most of the 10, the 4th commandment is not a natural product and this seems to trouble people.Because they both understood that, while the law was incapable of actually producing holinesss in us, it was nonetheless holy, right, spiritual and good as per Rom 7, testifying to another righteousness that could actually accomplish what the law could not. So the OC was made obsolete only because the NC could actually produce the authentic obedience that the old could not. Basil of Caesarea, a 4th century bishop, sheds some light here:
“If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children.”
This forces us to critically look at the 4th commandment. After doing so, we must admit it is ritually based and there is no NT commandment to keep it. There is also no biblical teaching that bifurcates law, the 10 are a part of a greater covenant, and if we bring in 1 (or 10) we bring in them all because they are not meant as a single unit. When we attempt to separate the 10 from the rest of law, we do so without biblical support. what is all of them? well start reading Exodus 20 (when the 10 are first introduced) and keep going to Exodus 24 (where the blood covenant is made). that very clearly shows the covenant is greater than the 10 alone and that the 10 do not stand apart.
I have no issue with keeping the day, I myself defacto keep the day out of tradition and habit, but I do not see it as a NT commandment and gatherings in the NT has a different focus. There is no commandment to rest in the NT outside of seeking spiritual rest from Christ. Gatherings also do not have a focus of rest and are aligned to community and teaching/preaching. Simply saying "its the God's law" has no logic as it's all his law, not just the 10. Mat 5:17 the context is establishes "the law and the prophet" Jesus is not trying to isolate the 10. what he says he says regarding all the law.
There are also explicit verses to speak against forcing the practice of keeping days. You may interpret these differently, but it builds an expectation for specific teaching regarding the keeping sabbath if it were to be valued in the same way as the old and that teaching is missing. Based on how the NT presents it, there is no reason why we should look at the 4th commandment as a requirement of the faith.
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