Creation and Covenant - A Hermeneutical Approach to the Correlation of the Seventh-day and the Biblical Sabbath (original) (raw)

In Light of Genesis 1-2: What did the Seventh Day Represent for its swath of Biblical Practitioners?

Adventist Peace Fellowship Conference, 2022

With the Christian scriptures presenting a multiplicity of perspectives as to what the Sabbath is and how it is to be used, this paper works to formulate a hermeneutical lens through which a cohesive understanding of biblical Sabbaths can be seen. This is done by looking at several leading models in scripture, beginning with Genesis’ creation accounts and terminating with Jesus’ own Sabbath behavior, concluding that the Sabbath was not intended to be seen as a temporal space within time, but instead of an eternal fashion.

The Beginning and the Sabbath: Indicators for the Perpetuity of the Sabbath

Puritan Reformed Journal, 2017

Scripture gives indicators that the Sabbath is a binding institution for all mankind until the time of the new creation. One such indicator is the nature of God’s work and Sabbath in Genesis 1–2 and its obligatory pattern for mankind as God’s vice-regent and image. The ideas of consummation, divine enthronement, and consecration are explored under the nature of God's sabbath. The ideas of imitation, blessing and consecration, and Exodus 20 and corporate Adam are explored under the nature of man as God's vice-regent and image.

The Seventh-Day Sabbath and Sabbath Theology in The Book of Revelation: Creation, Covenant, Sign

2011

The word “Sabbath” is never mentioned in the book of Revelation; yet, as “the last book of the Bible,” Revelation gives promise of yielding Scripture’s “final word”1 on the seventh-day Sabbath for those who would follow Christ. Revelation’s “last words” are significant because “they memorably summarize and conclude centuries of biblical insight, counsel, and experience.”2 There “all the books of the Bible meet and end.”3 So much so that when reading Revelation one is plunged fully into the atmosphere of the OT— theologically, spiritually, morally.4 Through images drawn from the past both the present and the future unfold in a way that greatly resembles the past and in which the same relationships of cause and consequence are observable that have been at work throughout God’s dealings with humanity.5 The cascade of OT allusions seems to assert that no matter the times, spiritual/moral issues

The Role of God’s Moral Law, Including Sabbath, in the “New Covenant”1

2004

Many Christians today believe and teach that when the “old covenant” of the Old Testament gave way to the “new covenant”/New Testament of Christianity, the entire “old covenant” law became obsolete.2 Since the seventh day Sabbath was part of that law, it is logical to conclude that literal Sabbath observance is no longer relevant or required. This approach has been adopted by a broad spectrum of Christians, from those (especially evangelicals) who hold that Christians are not bound to keep any particular day3 to others (including Pope John Paul II) who slide aspects of the Old Testament Sabbath over to Sunday in order to make it a Christian “Sabbath.”4 The line of reasoning just described is logical: “Old covenant” law, which includes seventh day Sabbath, is replaced by “new covenant.” Therefore seventh day Sabbath comes to an end. However, this logic is founded on an assumption, namely, that the Bible teaches such a sharp break between “Old” and “New” Testament religion that there ...

The Sabbath commandment in Exodus 20:8-11 in the light of the first creation account

2015

This study is an attempt to define more clearly the Sabbath institution as it is presented in Exodus 20:8-11. It begins by describing the big-picture contours of the Sabbath institution as it has been depicted by various scholars during the last century. Many of these studies focus on delineating what proper Sabbath observance entails or describing how Sabbath rest mirrors God's rest on the seventh day of creation. However, little investigation has been conducted into the relationship between the fourth commandment in Exodus 20 and the shape of humanity's task and relationship with God on the seventh day. The study then examines the nature of God's rest in the first creation account, describing what "rest" entailed for God, and the work from which he rested. It suggests that this "rest" is from the creational activity of the first six days and that it continues on into the present. It also discusses the relationship between the concept of rest offered by the first creation account and the concept of rest in the understanding of the Ancient Near East and Israel. Humanity's role in the created order is also examined. While humans share some qualities with other creatures, such as an embodied existence, they are also distinct from the rest of creation. Only humans are created in the image of God. As such, they are given tasks unique to their status: subduing the earth, exercising dominion over the creatures of the earth, and expanding the borders of the garden as they multiply and fill the earth. These form the heart of their God-given task that they will carry out as God enjoys his seventh-day rest. Next, the study investigates the particulars of Exodus 20:8-11 and suggests a reading of these particulars against the backdrop of the seventh day as it is described in chapters 3-4. While the rationale for the Sabbath commandment is grounded in the events of the first creation account, the commandment itself also needs to be understood in the context of the Decalogue and, in turn, in the context of the law's reception at Sinai. The law, and hence the fourth commandment, are central to the calling and purpose of Israel. As Israel fulfils its mandate to be a light to the nations, it will reflect the ideals of the seventh day as they are encapsulated in the law. Far from simply mirroring God's rest, the fourth commandment reflects the relationship between God and humanity and humanity's role on the seventh day of creation. The study concludes by drawing together various pieces of the argument and makes suggestions for further research.

The Role of God’s Moral Law, Including Sabbath, in the "New Covenant

2004

M any Christians today believe and teach that when the "old covenant" of the Old Testament gave way to the "new covenant"/New Testament of Christianity, the entire "old covenant" law became obsolete. 2 Since the seventh day Sabbath was part of that law, it is logical to conclude that literal Sabbath observance is no longer relevant or required. This approach has been adopted by a broad spectrum of Christians, from those (especially evangelicals) who hold that Christians are not bound to keep any particular day 3 to others (including Pope John Paul II) who slide aspects of the Old Testament Sabbath over to Sunday in order to make it a Christian "Sabbath." 4 The line of reasoning just described is logical: "Old covenant" law, which includes seventh day Sabbath, is replaced by "new covenant." Therefore seventh day Sabbath comes to an end. However, this logic is founded on an assumption, namely, that the Bible teaches such a sharp break between "Old" and "New" Testament religion that there is no continuity between the covenants that they represent. This assumption has a profound effect upon the nature of Christianity, so that many Christians reject the divine authority and value of much or all of the Old Testament. 5 If we examine the crucial assumption that there is no continuity between the "Old" and "New" Testament cov

THE EIGHTH DAY ARGUMENT: A JEWISH RATIONALE FOR THE REJECTION OF THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH

THE EIGHTH DAY ARGUMENT: A JEWISH RATIONALE FOR THE REJECTION OF THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH, 2024

Building from the assumption of the Sabbath’s obsolescence much has been argued for the prominence of Sunday gatherings already in the New Testament corpus, or even that Jesus, though a Sabbath keeper, paved the way for the substitution of the seventh day Sabbath, which is by no means self-evident and therefore deserves further investigation. Ad interim, irrespective of the proper biblical interpretation of the continuity of the seventh day Sabbath, only voluntary blindness would deny the clear presence of the Sunday as a day to gather and worship within the Apostolic Fathers’ literature only a few decades after the last documents of the New Testament were written, at the pace that rejecting that which is Jewish was on vogue. Undoubtedly, the post apostolic treatment of the Sabbath is unprecedented given the Jewish origins of most New Testament writers, at the pace that the resurrection of Jesus became the main reason to account for the novelty of either worshiping on or keeping the Sunday. But how? What was the theological route that brought about such a phenomenon, i.e., that the Old Testament Sabbath became void on the basis of the resurrection of Jesus. Whereas Bacchiocchi, and many in his footsteps, find in the confluence of paganism, anti-Jewish sentiment and the prominence of the church in Rome as reasons that account for the suppression of the Sabbath in favour of the Sunday or Lord’s Day, there remains a need to explore the process through which such a belief came to be in the first place, hence the question: how did the resurrection of Jesus become the hermeneutical framework for the rejection of the