THE SABBATH: From Shadow to Substance
By Patrick Pierce

     Are Christians obligated to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy? Are Christians sinning if they choose to worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, rather than Saturday, the seventh? These are questions answered in the affirmative by uninformed Sabbath keepers. Whether or not Christians should be Sabbath keepers as were the Jews of the Old Testament becomes an issue when Sabbatarians zealously apply pressure on others to adapt their view. It would be a mistake for Christians to be pressured to accept their views without being able to examine the evidence for and against their position. This article is written to counter false Sabbatarian arguments without having to address each individually. This will be done by exposing the faulty premise of the position. Cause for this error is the faulty application of key Scriptures.

     Christians with integrity will seek to answer the question, "What does the Bible have to say about it? They may also ask, "Has Sabbath keeping historically been the practice of the New Testament church?" Another question we might ask ourselves is, "Are defenders of the position being rational in their defense of it? We will examine the issue with these questions in mind.

The Sabbath Not a Creation Ordinance

     Sabbatarians use Genesis 2:1-3 as a main argument for their position that God has always demanded people of all ages to honor the Sabbath. This passage is alleged to teach a "creation ordinance." Sabbatarians claim that this verse will show that since it was on the seventh day God rested from His creation work, it was at that time He instituted the Sabbath as a creation ordinance. But a close examination of this passage reveals that it says no such thing.⁽¹⁾ Genesis 2:3 speaks of the seventh day as sanctified by God "because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." There is not a hint of the idea that God instituted the Sabbath here. Why did God bless and sanctify the seventh day? It was because God finished His divine creative work. A case for a creation ordinance cannot be made here.⁽²⁾

     When did the Sabbath come into practice and who was charged to keep it? The answer can be found in Exodus 31:13-17. Here we find that the Sabbath was actually a sign of the Covenant between God and Israel. "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever, for in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed" (v. 17). Exodus 20:11 holds out no hope for this tired argument either. This verse first gives the affirmation of the creation account; "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day." This is a statement of fact of which the Sabbath, instituted later, was patterned after. The verse continues, "Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." In the Genesis 2 account the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy. In Exodus 20:11 the Sabbath is blessed and made holy. It is not a parallel account. The Sabbath came later and was patterned after the seventh day rest of God. Sabbath day rest is based upon the seventh day rest of God. Two observations from Exodus 20:11 demonstrate this interpretation to be correct.⁽³⁾ First we compare Ex. 20:11 with Deut. 5:15. In the Deut. text the Sabbath commandment is based upon a previous historical event.⁽⁴⁾ Because the Hebrews were rescued from Egyptian bondage with it's taxing physical labor then, God has since (at Sinai) commanded that they always remember their deliverance by observing the Sabbath. In Ex. 20:11 the Sabbath is based upon the previous historical event of God's creation.⁽⁵⁾ Secondly, Harold Dressler, in his contribution to From Sabbath to Lord's Day,⁽⁶⁾ (which gives unanswerable arguments against Sabbatarian claims) points out that the Hebrew participle translated "therefore" in both the above texts is used "to connect causally an event in the past with a situation sometime later, hence, it is better translated 'consequently now' (in the sense of post hoc ['after this'] and propter hoc [ 'on account of this']."⁽⁷⁾

     The Sabbath was based upon the Genesis 2 account, but was instituted later as a covenant sign for Israel and anticipated a future redemptive rest in Christ.⁽⁸⁾ The relationship of the Sabbath to the creation week of Genesis 2 has far greater significance than Sabbatarians acknowledge. There are clear spiritual and eschatological implications about the Sabbath that are completely missed by Sabbath keepers. Those who keep the physical Sabbath day sadly are honoring a tradition that long ago gave way to a new and more meaningful spiritual identity; eternal Sabbath rest in Christ.

The Sabbath and the Law of Moses

     It has been demonstrated that the Sabbath was not instituted as a creation ordinance. This is significant because now we can place it in its rightful context of Old Testament law. J. Daniel Hayes has written the following:

The Law, therefore, is clearly part of the Pentateuchal narrative and is firmly embedded into the story of Israel's exodus, wandering, and conquest. One's interpretive approach to the Law should take this into account. Connecting texts to their contexts is a basic tenant of proper interpretive method. The Law is part of a story, and this story thus provides a critical context for interpreting the Law. The method of interpreting Old Testament Law should be similar to The method used in interpreting Old Testament narrative, for the Law is contextually part of the narrative.⁽⁹⁾

     What hermeneutic can be used to fix the law in the context of the New Covenant? Sabbatarians ignore the exclusive place of the Sabbath in Old Testament narrative.

     Because the Sabbath is Old Testament law , it is of utmost importance to understand that the law is indivisible. When we say the law is indivisible, we mean that the categories of the law⁽¹⁰⁾ cannot be separated from one another as Sabbath keepers are forced to claim. Jesus makes this clear in Matthew 5:17-18 (which ironically is used by Sabbath keepers to demonstrate the law is still binding for believers today). That He taught the law as indivisible is revealed from the phrase, "not he smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law, until all is accomplished"(v. 18). Jesus states that He "did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them." The phrase, "the Law and the Prophets" is in reference to the entire Old Testament.⁽¹¹⁾ J. Daniel Hays reminds us that the distinctions people make from the law are arbitrary, and "imposed on the text from outside the text."⁽¹²⁾ The same law that said "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" (Ex. 20:8), also records that failure to keep the Sabbath results in the congregation stoning the offender to death (Numbers 15:32-36). Notice the apostle Paul who said, "For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law" (Galatians 5:3). The Galatians were attempting to make adherence to certain tenants of the law a litmus test. Those who really followed Jesus would obey those tenants of the law. Those who did not keep those laws could not be right with God. It is this attitude of legalism Paul is correcting in Galatians. Seventh day Baptists and others like them distance themselves from the Galatian error by claiming that they, unlike the Galatians, do not believe that one can be saved by law keeping because righteousness does not come by the law. But they mirror the Galatian legalists because they believe it is sin not to obey the command to keep the Sabbath. How can the Sabbatarians make the claim that righteousness does not come by the law (which is true) and yet keep the Sabbath in order to be right with God? Paul would correct the modern day Sabbath keepers too. New Testament Scholar A. T. Lincoln affirms; "In all of his discussions and terminology Paul treats the law of Moses as a total package and makes no distinction between moral and ceremonial elements within it.⁽¹³⁾ Keeping the Sabbath to maintain fellowship with God (righteousness by law) will require that all the other precepts be kept in order to keep that fellowship. Sabbatarians are inconsistent. They have broken the law in their zeal to keep it! But since righteousness does not come by the law, the entire exercise is in vain.

     Sabbatarians and other legalists, lest they try, cannot honestly level the charge at those who disagree with them as antinomian. We do not disregard God's law. Those who honor God's law will give it its proper place as recorded in His Word. But Sabbatarians, unfortunately, are of those who dishonor God's law. The Sabbath, as a part of God's law, is broken when any other precept is not kept. Take for example Ex. 21:17, which says, "And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death." Those who want to lay claim to the Sabbath as binding for Christians have nothing to say about the prescribed punishment for kids who sass their parents! Sabbatarians make no effort to keep the law in its entirety, nor should they. But their zeal to keep the Sabbath is vain unless they do.

     Now for a closer look at the penalty phase of the law. The penalties for breaking the law are just as important as keeping the Sabbath or any other precept. Alva J. McClain warns, "To emasculate the law of God of its divine penalties and still call it 'law' is a serious misnomer. It can only confuse the minds of men and finally bring all law, whether human or divine, into contempt or indifference. Moreover, eventually such a procedure tends to empty the cross of Christ of its deepest meaning. The law loses its absolute holiness, sin loses its awful demerit and Calvary loses its moral glory."⁽¹⁴⁾ Daniel Webster said, "A law without penalty is just good advice."⁽¹⁵⁾ Are Sabbatarians just giving us "good advice?"

     By tampering with the law, by divesting it of its penalties, by picking out one law and throwing away the rest, the law of God is broken. The Sabbath was, after all, a covenant sign that whoever keeps it does so as a sign that they are the people who keep the rest of it., ". . . You shall surely keep My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you" (Ex. 31:13).

The Fulfillment of the Law

     Christians are not identified with the Old Covenant, but with the New. Jesus made the change. That this was prophesied should not have been a surprise to the Jews, for it was clearly predicted in Jeremiah 31:31-33, which reads:

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them, and upon their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

     This brings us to Matthew 5:17-21 where Jesus spoke of "fulfilling" the law. The word "fulfill" does not simply mean that He obeyed it fully. It goes beyond that. The Greek word "pleroo" implies that Jesus is everything the law pointed to. It has the meaning of "to fill out" or "accomplish an end."⁽¹⁶⁾ Romans 10:4 tells us that "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." To come to Christ is to be removed from the realm or jurisdiction of the law. Christ is the end of it. Since Christ is truly the end of it, our relationship to the Sabbath has come to an end. The Sabbath has its completion, its end , in Christ.

The Sabbath is a Shadow, The Teachings of Christ is the Substance

     The writer of Hebrews links Psalm 95:11 and Genesis 2:2 in Hebrews 4:3, 4. A.T. Lincoln contributes the following observation from those texts:

     Those who believe have entered into the creation rest of God. God finished His creation work and then rested from it. Man rested in it until something tragic happened. Man sinned which drove him away from that rest. Man can have that rest again only because God took up a new work following His rest from creation to repair the damage. This new work was designed to give that same creation rest back to man. This special work which repaired the damage caused by man is the work of Christ on the cross. Now man is once again able to enter into that same rest of Genesis 2, but only through Christ. This is the context of John 5:17. Here Jesus states that He and the Father are working to bring it all back to a consummation. The physical Sabbath day rest is a symbolic foreshadowing of the day Messiah would come and sacrifice Himself in order to once again enable man to enter into God's creation rest.⁽¹⁸⁾ So "the primal rest looks forward to the consummation rest."⁽¹⁹⁾ A proper response is to enter into that rest by receiving Christ (Heb. 4:1-3). When we receive Christ we acknowledge that Sabbath worship has been fulfilled. We are to move out from under the shadow into the One who is casting the shadow, Jesus Christ. It is not proper or God honoring to continue to observe the Sabbath, because in so doing the Sabbath keeper is testifying that Jesus has not yet come to finish His work (this would be the outcome providing Sabbath keepers knew what they were really doing). Sabbath keeping was intended to be temporary as it anticipated that Day. The apostle Paul warns not to be intimidated by the legalists who fail to grasp this truth while continuing to walk in the shadows; "Therefore let no one 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." (Colossians 2:16). Zealous Sabbath keepers have no choice but to simply deny what this verse clearly teaches. No attempt is made to honestly deal with what it says. They are forced to tell us that "Sabbath days" are not really Sabbath days at all. "We know this," they would say, because "the Bible teaches that we must obey the Sabbath". Therefore, this verse cannot mean what it says! We are told that the Sabbath days mentioned here refer to "Those based on the phases of the moon-the ceremonial days, not the weekly Sabbath."⁽²⁰⁾ Yet Paul already dealt with those based on the phases of the moon in this same verse. No, Sabbatarians, Paul is not being redundant. You are being dishonest with this text. Sabbatarians have as their mission to act as our judge in regards to the Sabbath. Who is really disobeying the clear teaching of God? Is it us who honor the Sabbath by resting in the eternal Sabbath rest of Christ, or is it the Sabbatarian who acts as our judge in this matter, against this clear warning from the Word of God? Now what of Romans 14:5? "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind." Remember the purpose of this article is to refute those who think it their purpose to compel Christians to be Sabbath keepers, because in their thinking, it is a serious error to forsake the Sabbath. Evidently, if they are right, Paul must be guilty of compromising the Word of God! Sabbatarians must see this statement by Paul the apostle as unfortunate. ("let each one be fully convinced in his own mind").

     To enter into the rest of which the Sabbath foreshadowed is equated with receiving Christ (Hebrews 4:3). To observe the Sabbath day today is to symbolically testify to a prophetic hope that has long since past. To observe the Sabbath is to proclaim that one day in the future Messiah will come to bring in the New Covenant and restore man's eternal creation rest which he forfeited by the fall.

     Jesus necessarily obeyed the law. The ceremonial element (Matthew 3:15), the civil (Matthew 26), and the moral (John 8:46). Jesus came under the law. "But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Galatians 4: 4, 5). D. A. Carson says; "Part of the problem in grappling with Jesus' view of the law is that although Jesus Himself lived under the Old Covenant, He was the messenger of the new, and actually introduced the eschatological aeon by His death, resurrection, and exaltation. The Christian community, then, becomes the heir and the validation of God's promises."^{(21)Jesus obeyed the Sabbath He instituted because the Law was still in effect untill He completed His redemptive work to usher in the New Covenant. Sabbath keepers are fond of pointing out that Jesus kept the Sabbath, not understanding He did so to deliver them from condemnation of the Law by fulfilling every aspect of it on their behalf.}

The New Law of Christ

     God's promises to which the old Mosaic system pointed were never meant to be realized in that old system, but rather in Christ and in His teaching. This new economy is called the New Covenant. The Bible refers to Christ's teachings as "the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). This new code is solely the demand of love. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments (which are all of His teachings, John 4:21; Gal. 5:14). It is important to remember that all the nobility of the Ten commandments is preserved in the new law of love. This love is active. Those who have it will move out on it. Those who love Christ also love His Word and His people. Those moral commandments of the Old Testament are no longer outwardly observed, but inwardly, with the whole heart. Looking forward to this dynamic new way of living in Christ, the Lord told Ezekiel, "And I shall give them one heart, and shall put a new spirit within them. And I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God" (Ezekiel 11:19-20). This is the future promise of the New Covenant for Israel, which also is a present reality for the Church. The inauguration of the New Covenant with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit began for the Church with the death and resurrection of Christ. It is now in the hearts of Christians to love and serve Christ and to love His people. For instance, "Thou shalt not steal." He who has the love of Christ will not steal from the one he loves. "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 5:14). This new law of love is superior to and has therefore superceded the law of Moses. It is a great pity that Sabbatarians will not give full honor to Christ by recognizing the full implications of His life and death for them. It was a pity that the Galatians were guilty of the same limited understanding; "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?" (Gal. 4:9). Notice the apostle Paul did not commend them for believing that salvation is by grace yet the law must still be obeyed. Rather he reprimanded them for turning to it at all. Christians who know better will walk by the rule of love. The foremost fruit of the Holy Spirit is love (Gal. 5:22). We are not to keep the commandments of Moses, but we are instead to be "Filled with the Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18).

     Old Testament ordinances, laws, and traditions that were tailored for the Old Covenant are not suited for the new era. We now have new ordinances, which represent the substance, who is Christ. We rest in the substance of Christ and the Christian ordinance of believers baptism is symbolic of that salvation rest. We have the Lord's Supper which is in remembrance of what Christ has done to usher in the New Covenant. We may honor a day, or we may chose not to honor a day. It is no longer relevant (Romans 14:5, 6).

     Sabbatarians who accuse Christians of sin because they have forsaken the Sabbath are framing the issue as a test of godliness. Unfortunately, they reveal their own trust in law rather than fully in the provision of Christ. ⁽²²⁾

The Historical Record

     Seventh day Adventists and Seventh day Baptists are among those who repeatedly charge that the early Church always observed the Sabbath until Constantine's edict on 3 March, A.D. 321, mandating Sabbath observance be changed to Sunday worship. But the edict did no such thing. The historical record on this count is unambiguous. The early church did not observe a Sabbath. They did, however, chose to worship on Sunday, the Lord's Day.⁽²³⁾ Constantine's edict facilitated a practice that had been the norm from the beginning. It did, however, insure that Christians would have time off from work on Sunday for worship. It was not until the seventh century that the church began to take up more fully a Sabbath transference theology.⁽²⁴⁾ The Sabbath transference theology that became popular during the middle ages brought back into practice a strict observance of yet another "holy day," by transferring Sabbath worship to Sunday. Those who see Sunday as the Sabbath commit the same error as the Saturday Sabbath keepers. Sunday is a day of the week which is equal to all the other days of the week. Christians customarily worship on Sunday out of honor for Christ's resurrection. We are resting in the eternal salvation rest of Christ to which the Sabbath day pointed. Therefore, we do not "observe" Sunday or any other day as a Sabbath. We today are free to worship on any day we chose. Even though we are free to chose any day, Sunday, which is the Lord's day, is our day of choice in honor of Christ's resurrection.

     I have read the arguments by Seventh day Baptists as well as literature by Seventh day Adventists and am amazed that while they insist that the early church kept the Sabbath, all the evidence clearly demonstrates otherwise.

     The following is a list of direct quotes from the early church fathers leaving no doubt that the church has historically met for worship on Sunday, and did not observe the seventh day as a Sabbath:

The Didache, or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, 90 AD:

This was written in the very days of the apostles. "The Lord's day" will be demonstrated to be Sunday, the first day of the week.

Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, 110 AD:

Do not be deceived by strange or antiquated myths since they are worthless. For if we continue to live in accordance with Judaism, we admit that we have not received grace. For the most godly prophets lived in accordance with Jesus Christ. This is why they were persecuted, being inspired as they were by his grace in order that those who are disobedient might be fully convinced that there is one God who revealed himself through Jesus Christ his Son, who is his Word who came forth from silence, who in every respect pleased him who sent him. If, then, those who had lived in antiquated practices came to newness of hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath but living in accordance with the Lord's day, on which our life also arose through him and his death (which some deny), the mystery through which we came to believe, and because of which we patiently endure, in order that we might be found to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our only teacher, how can we possibly live without him, whom even the prophets, who were his disciples in the Spirit, were expecting as their teacher? Because of this he for whom they rightly waited raised them from the dead when he came. Therefore let us not be unaware of his goodness. For if he were to imitate the way we act, we are lost. Therefore, having become his disciples, let us learn to live in accordance with Christianity. For whoever is called by another name than this one does not belong to God. Throw out, therefore, the bad leaven, which has become stale and sour, and reach for the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Be salted with him, so that none of you become rotten, for by your odor you will be examined. It is utterly absurd to profess Jesus Christ and to practice Judaism. For Christianity did not believe in Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity, in which "every tongue" believed and "was brought together" to God.⁽²⁶⁾

     Written shortly after the Didache, Ignatius equated Sabbath keeping with Judaism, which has nothing in common with Christianity.

The Epistle of Barnabus, approximately 70-135 AD:

Justin, philosopher and martyr, about 150-165 AD:

     In unison with apostolic teaching we see that Justin, who here is quoted from his Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, affirms the charge that Christians do not live after the law, and therefore do not keep the Sabbath.

Justin: Of the Observance of Days Connected With Idolatry:

Tertullian, 200 AD:

It follows, accordingly, that, insofar as the abolition of carnal circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary. . . For the Scriptures point to a Sabbath eternal and a Sabbath temporal.⁽³⁰⁾

     The above denouncements of Sabbath keeping by the apostolic fathers is by no means exhaustive. This has been a very small sampling, yet enough to show without doubt that the early church avoided Sabbath keeping because it was viewed as a return to Jewish legalism and the trappings of the law from which Christ through His death set us free. More writings of the apostolic fathers is readily accessible on the Internet free of charge to any who are willing to spend a little time and effort to search them out. A good example is the Christian Classics Etheral Library at ccel.org. The evidence is overwhelming that the early church met on the first day of the week, and did not keep the Sabbath,⁽³¹⁾ rightly viewing Sabbath keeping as Jewish legalistic error.

An Approach from Reason

     Sabbatarian literature is rife with poor interpretive methodology and logical error. There is no need to go beyond what I have already written to make the case. But in their writings they occasionally appeal to logic and point out alleged errors in the reasoning of those who appose them. The following four critical arguments will demonstrate errors in their own reasoning:

1. Argument: "The Sabbath originated in Genesis 2: 2,3 as a creation ordinance. This they state as a matter of fact, yet on examining Gen. 2: 2, 3 we find it does not speak of the institution of the Sabbath at all, but rather that God blessed and sanctified the seventh day because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (v. 3).Why did God bless and sanctify the seventh day? It was solely in honor of the completion of His glorious work of creation. Sabbath supporters have been conditioned to read into the text something that is not there. They know their case is considerably weakened if they cannot claim this "creation ordinance." This argument is lame because it commits the fallacy of begging the question. The premise (we should observe the Sabbath because God introduced it in Gen. 2: 2, 3 as a creation ordinance) does not support the conclusion which is merely a restatement of the premise; because God introduced the Sabbath as a creation ordinance.⁽³²⁾

2. Argument: Constantine's edict changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. But the record shows that the edict only served to facilitate the customary practice from the time of the apostles, who worshiped on Sunday, the Day of the Lord. This argument commits at least two fallacies of logical structure, (1) Post hoc.⁽³³⁾ The common argument runs like this: "Because Constantine's edict occurred before Sunday worship, it must have been the cause of Sunday worship." But Sunday worship was common before the edict, therefore the claim of cause and effect is imaginary. (2) False alternative.⁽³⁴⁾ Could there be another reason the church historically met on Sunday? Yes, in honor of Christ's resurrection.

3. Argument: Christ did not abolish the Sabbath when He ushered in the New Covenant. This is a straw man fallacy, building up a false position and attacking it rather than the position we really take. I have yet to read a refutation of the time honored position we have taken. When many say the Sabbath has been abolished, they simply mean it has its fulfillment in Christ. Its highest and most glorious honor is its ascendancy, or metamorphosis into spiritual Sabbath rest of salvation.

4. Argument: Sunday worship is"Rome's day," simply one of her papal traditions⁽³⁵⁾. Here is an attempt to discredit Sunday worship by painting it with the broad brush of vain religion. This is an ad hominem fallacy. We have nothing to do with Catholicism. What they do is their business. We will follow the honorable tradition the true church has always followed by meeting on Sunday, the Lord's day..

Conclusion

     Any doctrine that takes away from the glory that belongs to Christ is a doctrine at odds with Scripture. The Sabbath, being a part of the old system, will honor the Lord Jesus Christ when we recognize His work and His teaching as the substance to which that shadow was intended to point. To linger in the shadows is to fail to grasp the fulness and the majesty of Christ's work, both of creation and redemption. Since the Sabbath position has been demonstrated to be a house of cards, Sabbath keepers who may read this article can now "rest" fully in the redemption that the Sabbath foreshadowed. Give Him the greater glory as the church biblically and historically has always done. ". . . to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 3:21).

Notes

1. D. A Carson, From Sabbath to Lord's Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation (Eugene, OR: Wilf and Stock, 1999), 28. Return to text

2. Ibid. Return to text

3. Ibid. Return to text

4. Ibid., 38. Return to text

5. Ibid. Return to text

6. Ibid. Return to text

7. Ibid. Return to text

8. Ibid., 30. Return to text

9. J. Daniel Hayes, "Applying the Old Testament Law today," Bibliothecra Sacra, 26. Return to text

10. Some today seek to divide the Law into segments of two or three. While there are those who say the Law has two categories., the moral and the ceremonial, others divide the Law into three separate categories, the moral, ceremonial, and civil. These aspects of the Law are genuine, but not divisible. Return to text

11. Alva J. McClain, Law and Grace, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH, 1954), 8, 9. Return to text

12. J. Daniel Hays, Applying the Old Testament Law Today," Bibliothecra Sacra 158 (January-March 2001): 22. Return to text

13. D. A. Carson, From Sabbath to Lord's Day, 370. Return to text

14. Alva J. McClain, Law and Grace, 8. Return to text

15. Ibid., 11. Return to text

16. Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete New Testament Word Study Dictionary Return to text

17. Ibid. Return to text

18. Such foreshadowing applies to all of the Mosaic law. Return to text

19. Ibid., 204. Return to text

20. Lester G. Osborn, "God's Holy Day," (Janesville WI: American Sabbath Tract and Communication Council), 13. Sabbatarians should see the obvious difficulty they face in light of Col. 2:16, 17, instead they are forced to accuse Paul of redundancy while unwittingly testifying to their inability to grasp the implications of the New Covenant. Return to text

21. D. A. Carson, From Sabbath to Lord's Day, 79. Return to text

22. One Sabbatarian tract concludes with the following warning: "God is giving a last solemn warning today to come out of those same traditions that most early Protestant leaders carried over from the Catholic Church. The attempted change of the Sabbath command (Exodus 20:8-11) is only part of the list. Tradition is vain worship. See Mark 7:6-13. Our eternal destiny is at stake in our decision, friends." From a tract by Frank M. Walker, "Why the Protestant Reformation Failed," The Bible Sabbath Association. Return to text

23. A. T. Lincoln, From Sabbath to Lord's Day, 390. Return to text

24. Ibid. Return to text

25. J.B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harner, The Apostolic Fathers, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1989), 157. Return to text

26. Ibid., 95, 96. Return to text

27. Ibid., 183. Return to text

28. Justin Martyr, Dialog, 10. Return to text

29. Ibid., On Idolatry, 13. Return to text

30. Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews, 4. Return to text

31. The early Palestinian church may indeed have kept their traditional temple worship and Sabbath keeping, but it is clear that the early Gentile church purposely avoided Judaism, as the quotations from the apostolic fathers in this article demonstrate. Return to text

32. Writing in the Jan.-Feb. Issue of The Sabbath Sentinel, Dr. Sidney Davis accuses his opposition of arguing from silence to prove a creation ordinance is not taught in Genesis. But it is no logical fallacy to point out that Sabbatarians cannot make their case from Genesis since no evidence in Genesis can be found. (See biblesabbath.org/tss/487/universa.html). Return to text

33. David Kelley, The Art of Reasoning, (London, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1988), 125, 126. Return to text

34. Ibid., 126, 127. Return to text

35. "Why the Protestant Reformation Failed," The Bible Sabbath Association, page 8. Return to text