At https://deepspringschurch.com/ we have been going verse-by-verse through the book of Galatians on Wednesday nights. This week we will be in chapter four of Galatians. Paul reproves the Galatians (who were Gentile Christians) for their slavish observance to the Mosaic calendar (Gal 4:10). Due to the influence of the Judaizers, they believed that adopting selected portions of the Law (which is what the legalist must always do, for they know it’s impossible to keep the entire Torah) would bring them closer to God. I thought it might be helpful for us to take several studies to look at the topic of the Sabbath more in-depth. A book I highly recommend is “The Sabbath” by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, a Messianic Jew. (You can order the book from Ariel Ministries here https://www.ariel.org/store/product/the-sabbath). I will share some of my thoughts from his book below and in subsequent entries.
To begin with, we must remember that the concept of the Sabbath was not introduced until the book of Exodus. There are many that maintain that Sabbath-keeping is part of a Creation ordinance. What does the book of Genesis tell us about the Sabbath, though?
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
We read that God rested on the seventh day. There is no mention of the word “Sabbath” whatsoever. It is merely called the seventh day. God hallowed this day. There is no concept of observance here, but rather cessation from work. The emphasis is on rest. And it must be noted that man did not rest on this day, God did! As a matter of fact, there are no mentions of any man keeping the Sabbath from the time period from Adam to Moses (roughly 2500 years!). There is no record of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Job (who many believed lived during the patriarchal period) keeping the Sabbath. This is quite instructive when you consider that there were several covenants made with God and man during this time period.
In Eden, God gave Adam instructions to be fruitful and multiply, have dominion, etc. The only prohibition is that he was forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There was no mention of the Sabbath day (Gen 1:28-30 & Gen 2:15-17). Even after the Fall, Adam isn’t given any instructions regarding the Sabbath day (Gen 3:14-19). After the Flood, Noah receives information regarding capital punishment but isn’t given any instructions regarding the Sabbath (Gen 9:1-17). Abraham eventually receives instructions about circumcision (Gen 17:10) but not until he was already justified before God by faith in Gen 15:6 (some thirteen years earlier!). In all of the passages concerning the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 12:1-7, 13:14-17, 15:1-21, 17:1-21, 22:15-18) there are no commands regarding the Sabbath. If this were a Creation ordinance for man, that’s a rather glaring omission from the text!
In future posts, we will see how the issue of the Sabbath is treated in the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, and the New Testament. If you would like to study along with us in Galatians, the teachings are on our YouTube channel. Just click on the YouTube icon on the right sidebar.
Tags: bible, christianity, god, jesus, sabbath
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