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Bible Q & A
Q.
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I feel that your insistence on Sabbath keeping is an affront to the liberty of the gospel of Christ. I fail to see why Christians ‘have to’
keep the ritual law as given in the Pentateuch, but I agree that the moral law is unchangeable. As Christians, we must love God
and our neighbors, for ‘love is the fulfilling of the law.’
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A.
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We respect your right to have an opinion, but we also have an obligation to clarify the issues.
First of all, the Sabbath is not a part of a ritualistic law. It is one of the basic Ten Commandments (Ex. 20; Deut. 5). When a
young man asked Jesus how he could enter into eternal life, Jesus replied: “Keep the commandments.” Jesus
then proceeded to quote several of the commandments of the Decalogue
to show which law He meant (see Matt. 19:16-19).
Since the Sabbath is one of those Decalogue commandments, the breaking of which is sin (I John 3:4), a person who has
knowledge of the true Sabbath must observe it to avoid sinning.
Jesus Himself talked about the liberty of the gospel. He said: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Not understanding what Jesus meant, the Pharisees retorted that the “were never in bondage to any man” (verse 33). So Jesus answered them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin [transgression of the law] is the servant of sin” (verse 34).
Some of the Pharisees were indeed in bondage to sin. And anyone who knowingly breaks God’s Sabbath is committing a sin and is, therefore, in spiritual bondage.
It is fulfilling God’s law of love to keep the Sabbath. “For
this is the love of God, that we keep his commandment:
and his commandments [including the Sabbath] are not
grievous: (I John 5:3). Jesus said: “If you love me,
keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
In summary, obeying God by keeping His Sabbath shows God we
love Him. It is an
unchanging moral law – not a ritualistic law. |
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