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Can we get out of context when we overlook about the Sabbath 7th.Day from the begining Genesis 2:2 ? but was that day set apart for man to fellowship with his maker for a particular reason? and was that day santified on a certain day of the week like Mon. -Sun. or was it from its origin on that 7th day like it says from Gen. 2:2 ? It is our belief that The Sabbath Day was and still is the 7th. day of GOD's creation of this universe on earth. Eventhough we are among different sequence of calendars for different nations. How would one discover how to keep the 7th. day Sabbath holy from all the rest of the days like it says in Exodus 20:8, Luke 4:16, Acts 17:2. surely Moses, Jesus, and the apostle Paul did not break the context of the holy scriptures. but are we suppose to do likewise or go about doing our own way shape, form, or fasion? Because some of us use to keep Sunday or on any day of the week or still do count from Sun. to Sun. (like we use to) until we had stuided through the different times of sequences to get to the full knowledge of the love of the truth by doing so inorder to come under certain scriptures rightly dividing the words of the truth II Tim. 2:15. Would there be a difference in the way that you would remember to keep the Sabbath Day Holy? or do you keep any or all days the same?

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Love always, Walter and Debbie

W&D -- i gotta tell you it's hard for me to get your meaning from your posts -- toss a paragraph break in there or something maybe

the Christian is not under the Law so why should we honor the Sabbath? -- Col. 2:16-17

every day is a Gift of God -- the day of the week doesn't change that -- Rom. 14:5-6 applies

I reckon every day as holy unto the Lord. Every day belongs to him, as do I. And all that I do is in his service.

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Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!

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Out of tradition I hold to Sunday as the day of rest or the seventh day. However, all days are important and all days should have a time of our devotion to God.

Col 2:16-17 "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day -- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." NASB

The Old Testament 7th day Sabbath is different than the New Testament Lord's Day -- the 1st day of the week when Jesus Christ rose from the dead -- Lord's Day worship. And - in part - it's also acknowledging that we accept Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah.
We also need to take a weekly break from work -- God didn't need it -- He gave it as an example to Us. We need to set aside a day to stop and worship.

I don't know why this seems complicated.

Keeping the Sabbath is part of the old covenant law handed down by Moses.

Paul makes it clear in Galatians that we are not under the law. He also makes it clear that if you place yourself under even one ordinance of the law, then you are required to keep every ordinance of the law (you cannot pick and choose, it's all or nothing). Paul also said in Galatians that those under the law are under a curse.

In Paul's day the "old covenant" issue was whether to continue circumcision according to the law. Paul's attitude about circumcision advocates was:

"I would they were even cut off which trouble you." Gal 5:12

The Greek word that is translated "cut off" literally means to amputate an entire body part. I doubt Paul was talking about circumcision advocates amputating their foot. Would Paul have anything kinder to say about those today that advocate going back under the old covenant law and keeping the Sabbath?

We also need to understand that when Paul says we are not under the law, he is speaking covenantally. Paul is not saying that we shouldn't keep the law. He is saying that we do not live by the law. That is to say, observance of the law is not the path to justification, for in that case we would have to keep the law perfectly throughout our entire lives and we would all come up short. Rather, we are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not to say that we should disregard God's commandments in the law, for Paul recognizes that the law is holy and righteous and good (Rom 7:12), and he makes the point that he himself is not without law, but is under the law of Christ (1 Cor 9:21). Moreover, our Lord Jesus links personal righteousness to obeying God's commandments, saying:

Matthew 5:17-20 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. 19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Context (NET)

and

Matthew 7:21-23 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ Context (NET)

So then, we are not justified by legal observances, but by God's grace through faith in his Son. But we are justified so that we might be conformed to the image of the Son. If we love the Lord, we will want to please him, which we cannot do if are disobedient to his commands. Therefore the love of God constrains us to walk according to the Spirit's leading and not according to the desires of the flesh. As Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (Jn 14:15). And if we follow the Spirit's leading so as to walk in love toward God and others, we will fulfill the righteous requirement of the law (Rom 8:4; 13:8-10).

Obviously this does not mean that we should try to observe all of the law in a literal sense. For example, we don't offer animal sacrifices for sin because Jesus has become our Passover Lamb who offered himself up once for all (1 Cor 5:7; Heb 7:26-27). Nor are we obliged to follow dietary laws (1 Tim 4:1-5). How, then, are we to understand the meaning of the law and its commandments for us who are in Christ? We must do so in light of the gospel.

In particular, how should we comprehend the Sabbath commandment? If we go to the gospel, we find that Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around (Mark 2:27). In other words, the Sabbath was meant to be a blessing and not a burden. Jesus also said, "have you not read in the law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are not guilty?" (Mat 12:5). And he said, "Would not any one of you, if he had one sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, take hold of it and lift it out? ...So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath" (Mat 12:11-12).

We know that in Christ, we are spiritually the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16; Eph 2:21-22) and we are priests unto God (Rev 1:4-6; 1 Pet 2:5,9). And we know that everything we do is to be in service to our Lord (Col 3:23-24). We are to be always doing good (Rom 2:6-7; Gal 6:9-10; Eph 2:10; Tit 3:8; Heb 10:24; 1 Pet 2:15). If the levitical priests did well to labor in God's service on the Sabbath, do we not also do well to labor in his service on that day? Surely, we do. And we also do well to rest on that day, just as the levitical priests did when it was not their turn to serve in the temple. We do well either way, just as Paul said, "One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. Each must be fully convinced in his own mind" (Rom 14:5). Whether we regard one day as more sacred than others or all days as equally sacred, we should do so to honor God, recognizing that Sabbath days are only a shadow of things to come, but the reality is in Christ (Col 2:16-17). Our true rest is in Christ, and the purpose of the Sabbath day is to point us to him.

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Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!

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Limeshark

I would agree with you. However in the SDA world, the Sabbath keeping is a Big deal. Because God Did set aside a Sabbath rest on the 7th day -- They feel it is to continue No Matter What at least until Christ returns. They make No distinction between the Ending of the Old Covenent of the Law and the New Covenant of Grace. But there is also a Scripture saying that those who feel so inclinded to Continue with Sabbath keeping Fine -- as long as it isn't for a 'good work' unto salvation. And those who feel led to worship on 1st day of week - the Lord's Day - Fine, also. But NOT to 'clobber each other over the head' for our decision.

SDA really need to study and understand Colossians regarding this!

So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. Col 2:16-17

Paul literally uses the Sabbath as an example of the kind of things we aren't supposed to worry about anymore are Christians. I don't know how he could have been any more blunt about it.

Lime shark

Totally agree -- I've been interacting with some of the SDA belief system. They Also believe that when we Really love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul then we will Also be willing to do His commandments which Includes following the Sabbath worship. They choose to by-pass Scriptures that don't agree with Their system or put their own spin on them.
In the New Testament there are lists of activities that are Not pleasing to God -- the day of worship is not mentioned.
And, yes, about the Colossians passage.

I Do have a question -- anyone -- in Revelation there is mention of the Sabbath -- concerning those who would be fleeing -- that it Not be on the Sabbath? Is Sabbath worship going to re-instated during the 7 yr tribulation? or during the 1,000 yr reign of Christ here on earth? Just wondering

Sue,

I don't know anything about the Sabbath during the end times than you do. Let me just share my opinion.

During the first century, Sunday worship in addition to Saturday worship was not uncommon among Christians, particularly Jewish Christians. Many synagogues did not put believers out of their congregation right away. Among those people, they could go to the synagogue on Saturday, and worship God alongside Jews who had not heard the gospel, or had heard it but didn't believe.

Then, on Sunday, they gathered amongst themselves to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. There would have been no reason for unbelieving Jews to join them. The idea of Sunday celebration replacing Saturday worship didn't come along until later.

This leaves unanswered the questions about all the other ways in which the Sabbath is different from the other days. I knew an orthodox Jew who would not open the regridgerator door on Saturday unless he had unscrewed the light bulb inside on Friday afternoon. It also leaves unanswered the question of whether SDAs are Christian or not.

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Not all those who wander are lost.

Strider 33

Thanks -- agree -- good point referring to SDA's.

Sue -- i don't believe there is though some passages in Isaiah & Ezekiel may refute that -- it's been a long time since i looked -- no mention in Rev

1 interesting thing is the Feast of Tabernacles will be in play during the Millenial Kingdom -- this makes sense since the other 2 mandatory feasts have already been fulfilled

Paco

There are passages in those books that are confusing -- whether they are refering to the 7-yr tribulation period or the beginning of the 1,000 yr reign of Christ on earth. And there are questions We have Now that we'll Never have an answer to until we are There. And Then it won't matter.