SABBATH DENIGRATION
by Avram Yehoshua
(Endnotes in red. Click on the number to go to endnote. Click the BACK button on your browser to return to the article)
In Matthew 24:20, Yeshua says: 'Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.' Yeshua himself is acknowledging the Sabbath well into the future. Also, we have to remember that even though Yeshua said it at the time that He was in the midst of His Apostles, the accounts of Matthew (Mark & Luke) weren't written until around 60 A.D. 1 The Gospels therefore reveal what was important to those believing communities at that time, many years after the death and resurrection of Yeshua. If Sabbath had changed by then, the Gospels would have reflected it. Since there is no indication of any shift to Sunday assembly, or 'holiness' of the day (like the Sabbath), we can safely say that the Sabbath and therefore the Torah (Law) were still in effect for all believers.
It wouldn't be till around 100 A.D. that it would begin to be replaced by the Church at Rome, which would become the Roman Catholic Church, and also the church at Alexandria. They were the first to rebel against God's Word in this area. But it wasn't for any alleged theological reasons, although shameful theological notions would be given as justification for Sunday over Sabbath.
The historical reason those churches severed themselves from Sabbath and Torah was because in 70 A.D., the Temple in Jerusalem, along with the entire city and one million Jews, was wiped out. The Roman legions boxed in not only the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but doing it at Passover of 68 A.D., they trapped many hundreds of thousands of Jewish pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire, who were in Jerusalem, for the Passover.
News of the Roman slaughter spread like wildfire among the Jews throughout the Empire. Outraged and pierced to the heart at the desecration of the Temple, the annihilation of the people and the leveling of the City, many Jews rebelled and rioted. Rome crushed them and began legislating persecutions, progressive taxes and other anti-Jewish measures throughout their Empire. Gentile believers in Rome and Alexandria, not wanting to get caught in the cross-fire, bolted away from the most obvious sign of their linkage to the Jew, the Sabbath. Fear of persecution by the Roman Empire (of being counted with the Jews), was the major motivation for changing the Sabbath to Sunday.
In order to justify the change of day, they had to have some 'theological' reasons to cover their flight from God's Word. The Sabbath had to be denigrated and Sunday elevated. It would be 'proven' that the Sabbath was only given to the Jews because of their stubbornness and sin, sort of as a curse, until Christ should come and do away with it. For instance, in the Letter of Barnabas 2 (not to be confused with Paul's companion), Bacchiocchi states,'attempts to demolish the historical validity of Judaism by voiding its historical events and institutions of their literal meaning and reality' are presented. 'Though the covenant, for example, was given by God to the Jews, 'they lost it completely just after Moses received it' (4:7) because of their idolatry and it was never reoffered to them.' 'Justin similarly by a tour de force establishes a causal connection between the 'murdering of Christ and of His prophets' by the Jews, and the two Jewish revolts of A.D. 70 and 135, concluding that the two fundamental institutions of Judaism, namely circumcision and the Sabbath, were a brand of infamy imposed by God on the Jews to single them out for punishment they so well deserved for their wickedness.'3Of course the sheer absurdity that God withdrew His covenant from Israel after their sins in the Wilderness, is fully proven false to anyone who has read about Joshua's conquest of the Promised Land. God's plans for Israel, for their good, are an integral part of the Bible, from start to finish. But in a day when not many had access to the Bible, it was easy for the 'leaders' to concoct these lies and distortions and pass them on to their people. In another instance, the Epistle of Barnabas attacks both the Jews and their God given Torah. Bacchiocchi writes,'As a people, the Jews are described as 'wretched men' (16:1) who were deluded by an evil angel (9:5) and who 'were abandoned' by God because of their ancient idolatry (5:14).' 'As to the fundamental Jewish beliefs (such as the sacrificial system, the covenant, the promised land, the circumcision, the levitical laws, the Sabbath and the temple) the writer endeavors to demonstrate that they do not apply literally to the Jews, since they have a deeper allegorical meaning which finds its fulfillment in Christ and in the spiritual experience of the Christians.'4Justin, in his Apologies and Dialogue with Trypho in Rome (about 148-161 A.D.)5'ignored the moral and corporal value of the Mosaic legislation, and regarded the law, as James Parkes states, 'an unimportant portion of the Scriptures, a temporary addition to a book otherwise universal and eternal, added because of the special wickedness of the Jews.'6As Justin speaks to Trypho of the reason why the Sabbath and Feasts days were given to the Jews, he explains that they 'were imposed upon you, namely, because of your sins and your hardness of heart.'7
'While Paul recognizes the educative value of the ceremonial law, Justin considers it 'in a negative manner as the punishment for the sins of Israel.'8
'The Sabbath then, according to Justin, is a temporary ordinance deriving from Moses, enjoined to the Jews on account of their unfaithfulness for a time, precisely until the coming of Christ.'9
Isn’t this what one might hear today from many Christians? It isn’t new. Of course, nowhere can one find any Scripture to substantiate this denigration of God’s Jewish people, His Sabbath or His Law, but these are some of the initial ‘theological’ reasons that overrode the Sabbath and God’s Law, to give Christianity Sunday and Easter, etc. The time period was after all the Apostles had died. If they would have been alive they would have rightly condemned those Christian men.
The Epistle of Barnabas and Justin totally miss that all the first believers in Jesus were Jews until the spectacular inclusion of the first Gentile, Cornelius, in Acts 1010 and that all of the Apostles kept the Sabbath day holy and observed the Law of Moses more than 25 years after the Resurrection (Acts 21:20).Sunday Justification
The first 'positive' theological justification for Sunday that we have comes from the Epistle of Barnabas. The writer introduces 'the eighth day' concept as a way of 'one-upping' the 7th day Sabbath. (For example, Jesus allegedly rose on the '8th day'.)
Sunday, which Barnabas 'designates as the 'eighth day,' is the prolongation of the Sabbath of the end of time and marks 'the beginning of another world' (15:8).'11
Justin, like Barnabas, also uses the 8th day as the primary reason for its priority over the 7th day 'Jewish' Sabbath. Even though they both speak of the resurrection as happening on Sunday, the value of the 8th day takes precedence over the resurrection. As W. Rordorf states,'the primary motivation for the observance of Sunday is to commemorate the first day of the creation of the world and only secondarily, in addition, the resurrection of Jesus.'12Bacchiocchi writes that it'is noteworthy that both Barnabas and Justin who lived at the very time when Sunday worship was rising, present the resurrection as a secondary motivation for Sunday-keeping, apparently because initially this was not yet viewed as the fundamental reason. Nevertheless, the resurrection of Christ' would 'emerge as the primary reason for the observance of Sunday.'13What Barnabas and Justin were trying to do was to show that the first day of Creation was superior to the 7th Day Sabbath and could be seen at the end of time as well. Unfortunately, there is no eighth day of the week. There are only seven and then Sunday becomes again the first day of the week, as at Creation. The 8th day though was a pagan mystical concept that Barnabas and Justin 'borrowed' from paganism that spoke of the end of time. It is not found in the Bible. But what of the resurrection? Can that provide biblical justification for Sunday?
Silent on Sunday
Viewing all the resurrection texts 'reveals the incomparable importance of the event'14 but
'it does not provide any indication regarding a special day to commemorate it. In fact, as Harold Riesenfeld notes, 'in the accounts of the resurrection in the Gospels, there are no sayings which direct that the great event of Christ's resurrection should be commemorated on the particular day of the week on which it occurred.'15
'Moreover, the same author observes, 'the first day of the week, in the writings of the New Testament, is never called 'day of the Resurrection.' This is a term which made its appearance later.'16
As interesting as the above two quotes are, they assume a Sunday resurrection. What most don't seem to realize though, is that although Yeshua was first seen on Sunday, the actual time and day of His resurrection is not given in the New Testament (see Mark 16:9 and the Resurrection for why Mark 16:9 doesn't help us with the day of the resurrection). In other words, when the women got to the tomb and saw the angel, Messiah had already been raised from the dead. The angel didn't say, 'He was just raised before you got here', but that 'He has risen, just as He said.''He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.' (Mt. 28:6)Although the writers may not have recorded exactly the words of the angel, the essence is identical: Messiah rose from the dead. As to time or day, the angel (and the rest of the New Testament), is silent. Therefore, to think that Jesus rose on Sunday is an assumption that cannot be verified by the New Testament. We believe that Yeshua rose from the dead on Saturday afternoon, just a few hours before, or near sundown, which would have been the Sabbath.
'And he said to them, 'Do not be amazed. You are looking for Yeshua the Nazarene who has been crucified. He has risen! He is not here. Behold! Here is the place where they laid Him.' (Mk. 16:6)
'He is not here but He has risen! Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee'. (Lk. 24:6)
The Sabbath is one of God's great theological gems. It is the 'Crown of His Creation', (it was made last but it was the only day that was both blessed and called holy by God; Gen. 2:1-3). It is also the day of Redemption or Salvation, a very fitting epitaph to the Resurrection of Yeshua. In Deut. 5:12-15, the reason God gives for keeping the Sabbath day holy is because He delivered Israel from Egypt, and the Sabbath day was to typify or reflect that salvation experience. For Yeshua to resurrect on Sabbath would coincide with the Sabbath's two major themes of Creation and Redemption (see also Ex. 20:8-11).
His appearance on Sunday morning is not in doubt, but to use this as a reason for Sunday over Sabbath flies in the face of biblical reality as that Sunday was known as First Fruits and shows us what He did after His resurrection. It was the Sunday of Passover week (Lev. 23:9-14) and as such, provides the reason why Yeshua tells Miryam (Mary), not to cling to Him as He still needed to ascend to the Father (John 20:17). He would be mirroring what the High Priest in the Temple was doing in offering up the very first grain as first 'fruits' to God, that the rest of the grain would be able to be eaten by Israel. God demanded that no new grain (at the beginning of spring), could be eaten before the first part of it was offered to Him (Lev. 23:14). In other words, the first of the grain that would sustain Israel was first offered in thanksgiving to God, then Israel could eat of it. Yeshua was first raised from the dead on the holy Sabbath of God. This is the reason why the Sabbath was made holy, it reflected Him. The grain, offered as a thanksgiving to God on the Sunday of Passover week (again, the theme of salvation), pictures Him as the First Fruits of the Resurrection, and then after His resurrection, believers in Him could partake of the Bread of Life, He having offered Himself to His Father in thanksgiving.17
They offer us a fuller understanding that the Sabbath and Passover were not done away with, but on the contrary, were super-saturated with the reality of Messiah Yeshua as our Savior. No one can have a biblical problem with the celebration of one's birthday or the anniversary of one's marriage. In this exact same concept, God calls us to remember the Sabbath day and Passover as holy because it commemorates not only His Creation of the world, and now the New Creation through the Blood of Yeshua, but also the salvation of Israel from Egypt by the blood of the lamb, and the salvation of Israel (both Jew and Gentile believer), from the Kingdom of Satan, by the Blood of the Lamb. How could anyone ever think that God's holy Sabbath and Passover were done away with? 18 These are the reasons we celebrate them. They honor and glorify the Lamb of God, and God has commanded it.
These two facts, that no Scripture tells us that Jesus rose on Sunday and Yeshua’s fulfillment of First Sheaf, blend together with both the Sabbath and Passover as repositories of God’s Salvation. They point to Yeshua’s resurrection on the 7th day Sabbath.
Whether one believes Yeshua rose on Sunday or Sabbath is immaterial to Sunday overpowering the Sabbath. First of all, there is nothing in the New Testament to authorize Sunday as the day of assembly (Lev. 23:1-3), or holy (Gen. 2:1-3, Ex. 20:8-11, etc.), or made a day of rest from one's work, to enter into God's Work (Heb. 4:9; Deut. 5:12-15). If Sunday cannot display any of these things that make the Sabbath day special, how can it overwhelm the Sabbath and take its place?
Second, for Sunday to obliterate the Sabbath of God, the New Testament would have to contain explicit statements and theological reasons for such an enormous shift of biblical reality. A passing reference to Sunday cannot provide sufficient justification for overturning the Sabbath.
Sabbath Among the Early Gentile Believers
Just a glimpse at Church history will reveal that Sunday did not come immediately after the resurrection, or even within the first fifty years:
'We have indications, however, that in the East' (modern day Turkey and Syria where many churches were ), 'the substitution of the Sabbath by Sunday worship was gradual since Jewish observances there constituted, as A. P. Hayman points out, 'a perennial attraction...for the Christian.'19
In the 'Gospel of Thomas', written about 150 A.D. it states,'(Jesus said): 'If you fast not from the world, you will not find the kingdom; if you keep not the Sabbath as Sabbath, you will not see the Father' (E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 1963, I, p. 514.'20Also, the Martyrdom of Polycarp 8, 1, records that Polycarp's death occurred on 'a festival Sabbath day.'21 Polycarp died in 155 A.D. These are just a small portion of what Church history records in terms of those who 'obstinately refused' to follow Sunday, holding unto God's Sabbath day.
Conclusion
In order for the Church of Rome to supplant the 7th day Sabbath of Yahveh, it had to first denigrate it. This they did by saying that it was only given to the Jews as a curse for their sins but that with Christ, it would be done away with.
Sunday was made to appear as first in prominence, to justify it. This they got from their perception of Creation Week. Unfortunately, they left out that God made the 7th day then, before any Jews were around, and elevated it to prominence, not Sunday. But this didn't phase them because things can be said 'to be hidden until the time of Christ,' when Sunday would take its alleged rightful place over Sabbath due to it's mystic quality of being 'the 8th day'.
Although the resurrection, in the early post New Testament documents, wasn't the primary reason used to elevate Sunday, it would soon become so. Eventually, it would supersede both the negative arguments of Jewish sin and the 8th day. But as we saw, the resurrection most likely took place on the Sabbath, for theological reasons (creation and redemption). Sunday therefore is very suspect. Yet, even if it weren't, there is no scriptural authorization in the New Testament for Sunday claiming to be a day that God wanted observed for any reason, resurrection or otherwise.22Therefore, to place it in the position of God's 7th day Sabbath is both unjustifiable and sin:Deut. 12:32: 'Whatever I command you, you must be careful to do. You must not add to nor take away from it.'The Word of God must be our authority as to what God wants of us, how He wants us to walk out this new life in Messiah Yeshua, not the traditions of men that nullify His Word (whether Jewish or Christian traditions).
'The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.' (Is. 40:8)Matt. 15:3: 'And He answered and said to them, 'Why do you yourselves transgress the Commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?'Most of Christianity has been entrapped by the theology of the Catholic Church concerning God's 7th day Sabbath. It is not too late to study the matter out and change one's thinking and behavior. This is an indication that one is not only teachable, but also a follower of the Messiah of Israel.
Matt. 15:7-9: 'You hypocrites! Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'This people honors Me with their lips but their heart is far away from Me! But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'
ENDNOTES:
1. R. T. France, M.A., B.D., Ph.D., Author; The Rev. Leon Morris, M.Sc., M.Th., Ph.D., General Editor, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Matthew (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000), p. 29. And the account of John was written about 90 A.D. (R.V.G. Tasker, Author and General Editor, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: John (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000), p. 20.
2. Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath To Sunday (Rome, Italy: The Pontifical Gregorian University Press, 1977), p. 218. The epistle is dated between 130 and 138 A.D. It was 'written by a pseudonymous Barnabas probably at Alexandria, a cosmopolitan cultural center where the conflict between Jews and Christians was particularly acute.'
3. Ibid. p. 184. 'Cf. Dialogue 16, 1 and 21, 1.'
4. Ibid. p. 219.
5. Ibid. p. 223-224, also note 31.
6. Ibid. p. 224. In note 32: 'James Parkes (fn. 19), p. 101; cf. Dialogue 19 and 22.'
7. Ibid. In note 33: 'Justin, Dialogue 18, 2, Falls, Justin's Writings, p. 175.'
8. Ibid. Note 34: 'W. Rordorf, Sabbath, p. 37, fn. 1.'
9. Ibid. p. 225.
10. To understand that Cornelius was the first Gentile to come to the Jewish Messiah for salvation, we need only display Acts 11:18 which is spoken by the Jewish Elders who believed in Yeshua, having taken Peter to task for eating with Cornelius. After Peter explains what God did, they say, 'When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, 'Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.' Their shock at a Gentile believing in Jesus is evidence that Cornelius was the first to believe, and this, about ten years after the resurrection.
11. Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath To Sunday, p. 271.
12. Ibid. p. 272. Note 6: 'W. Rordorf, Sunday, p. 220.'
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid. p. 75. Note 3: 'The resurrection of Christ is presented in the New Testament as the essence of the apostolic proclamation, faith and hope; cf. Acts 1:22; 2:31; 3:75; 4:2, 10, 33; 5:30; 10:40; 13:33-37; 17:18, 32; 24:15, 21; 26:8; 1 Cor. 15:11-21; Rom. 10:9; 1:1-4; 8:31-34; 14:9; 1 Thess. 1:9-10.' (Acts 3:75 must be a typo for Bacchiocchi and refers to 3:15).
15. Ibid. Note 4: 'H. Riesenfeld, The Sabbath and the Lord's Day,' The Gospel Tradition: Essays by H. Riesenfeld, 1970, p. 124.'
16. Ibid. Note 5: 'H. Riesenfeld, Sabbat et Jour du Seigneur, in A. J. B. Higgins, ed., N.T. Essays: Studies in Memory of T. W. Manson, 1959, p. 212.'
17. For a fuller understanding of this, please see First Sheaf: http://www.seedofabraham.net/feasts4.html
18. Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath To Sunday, p. 81. 'Epiphanius (ca. A.D. 315-403) suggests that until A.D. 135 Christians everywhere observed Passover on the Jewish date, irrespective of the day of the week.' (Note 20: 'Epiphanius, Adversus haereses 70, 10, PG 42, 355-356'. This tells us that not only the Sabbath was kept by Gentile Christians (for if they kept the yearly Passover they certainly would have kept the weekly Sabbath), but that also, Passover, unlike 'Easter Sunday' (which has no basis in Scripture), comes on any day of the week. Christians for more than 100 years after the resurrection kept God's Passover. This flies in the face of so called theologians today who have theologized the Passover away. They have done this not because this is what is in God's New Covenant but because of their ignorance in interpreting God's Word and their lack of experience in not observing Passover. They have never celebrated Passover, having been taught from childhood in the Church, that it was done away with. They therefore have come to God's Word with false, preconceived notions about Passover and have gone about presenting their views, not according to Scripture, although they use Scripture, but according to their man-made traditions. Just like the Sadducees who thought they knew the Word (Mt. 22:9; Mk. 12:24), they too 'know the Word' but don't divide it rightly (2nd Tim. 2:15; 2nd Peter 3:16). The same holds true for their 'understanding' of Sabbath and the rest of Torah. It is very hard for Christians today, to think of Sunday and Easter, etc., as traditions of men that nullify God's Word, when they have been immersed in it from childhood. These traditions become 'God's Word' to them and unless the Holy Spirit opens their blind eyes, they remain captives of the Deceiver. What I have seen is that when it comes to understanding that Torah is for all of God's People today, the average Christian is just as blind to this, as the average Jew is to Yeshua being Messiah. Both are ensnared by Satan in these areas. Praise Yeshua for opening up blind eyes in both Camps.
19. Ibid. p. 217, note 13: 'A. P. Hayman, ed., and trans., The Disputation of Sergius the Stylite Against a Jew, CSCO 339, p. 75.' 'Sergius quotes them' (Christians), 'as saying: 'I will associate partly with Judaism that I might hold on to the Sabbath' (22, 15, p. 77'). This is about 115 A.D.
20. Ibid. Note 14.
21. E. A. Livingstone, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 458. Polycarp, 69-155 C.E. Bishop of Smyrna, in modern day Turkey. He was the leading believer of Messiah Yeshua in 'the Roman province of Asia' (Turkey) 'in the middle of the 2nd century.' He was a famous Gentile martyr who died for the Name of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua. It is believed that he was discipled by both the Apostles John and Philip.
22. Interestingly enough, the Sunday of Passover week, known as First Fruits, is not an annual Sabbath like the first day of Unleavened Bread or the first day of the seventh month, etc. So one cannot use the first appearance of Jesus on Sunday on First Fruits to even say that Yeshua was first seen on an annual Sabbath. Pentecost (Shavuot), however, seven weeks after First Fruits, is a Sabbath, the only annual Sabbath that always occurs on Sunday. (Today, Judaism doesn't view Shavuot as always falling on Sunday. They have misinterpreted Lev. 23:15-16.
Email Avram — avramyeh@netvision.net.il
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