Sabbaths (of Sabbaths)

The Bible teaches us about the Weekly Sabbath and namely the 'Sabbath of Sabbaths' (generally translated with 'Extraordinary Sabbaths'), and we should be very careful to distinguish those accordingly when we read the word 'Sabbath' in a verse.

Lev 23:3 Greek OT: "ΕΞ ΗΜΕΡΑϹ ΠΟΙΗϹΕΙϹ ΕΡΓΑ, ΚΑΙ ΤΗ ΗΜΕΡΑ ΤΗ ΕΒΔΟΜΗ ϹΑΒΒΑΤΑ ΑΝΑΠΑΥϹΙϹ ΚΛΗΤΗ ΑΓΙΑ ΤⲰ ΚΥΡΙⲰ. ΠΑΝ ΕΡΓΟΝ ΟΥ ΠΟΙΗϹΕΙϹ. ϹΑΒΒΑΤΑ ΕϹΤΙΝ ΤⲰ ΚΥΡΙⲰ ΕΝ ΠΑϹΗ ΚΑΤΟΙΚΙΑ ΥΜⲰΝ."

Translation: "For six days work is to be done, and on the seventh day shall be a [Weekly] Sabbath of complete rest, a holy assembly; you shall not do any work; it shall be a Sabbath of KYRIOS in all your dwellings."

Lev 23:32 Greek OT: "ϹΑΒΒΑΤΑ ϹΑΒΒΑΤⲰΝ ΕϹΤΑΙ ΥΜΙΝ, ΚΑΙ ΤΑΠΕΙΝⲰϹΕΤΕ ΤΑϹ ΨΥΧΑϹ ΥΜⲰΝ. ΑΠΟ ΕΝΑΤΗϹ ΤΟΥ ΜΗΝΟϹ ΑΠΟ ΕϹΠΕΡΑϹ ΕⲰϹ ΕϹΠΕΡΑϹ ϹΑΒΒΑΤΙΕΙΤΕ ΤΑ ϹΑΒΒΑΤΑ ΥΜⲰΝ."

Translation: "A Sabbath of Sabbaths it will be to you. And you shall humble your souls from the ninth of the month. From evening to evening you shall observe the Sabbath of your Sabbaths."

Translation from Hebrew OT: "It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening - from evening to evening you must observe your Extraordinary Sabbath."

The Sabbath Day was already instituted by THEOS Himself through the creation week (Gen 2:3, Exo 20:8-11, 20).

The Israelites failed the Sabbath test already several months (= 4 Bible chapters) before the laws had been formalized on Mt. Sinai (Exo 16:22-30). It took more than 4000 years (~5500 until 1446 BC; more than half of the time humanity currently exists!), until this commandment found its way into the written Moral Law.

In the very same way the Sabbath Day was already instituted through the creation week, so all the other 10 commandments - prohibiting murder (Cain), lying (Cain), adultery (Joseph was tempted and called it an evil), covetousness (Adam & Eve) et al. ... - came into force with or directly after Creation:

Matthew 5:21 makes it also clear that the Moral Law had not only been given to any 'ancients' or any 'people of old' -as commonly translated while lacking definition-, but more precisely to the very first humans - the word ΑΡΧΗ (arche, Greek G746) always expressing an absolute (!). A better translation is therefore 'first men'. The wording ΕΝ ΑΡΧΗ ("in the beginning") is also prominently being used in Gen 1:1 and Joh 1:1, and even more prominently in Rev 22:13 'I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning (ΑΡΧΗ) and the End.'

Source: e-sword.net

Israel as a name or nation did not even exist for the first 3500 years of human history (Jacob lived ~2006-1859 BC), and it is an abstruse thought that for 3500 years people would have worked 30 days a month and 360 days a year, without any rest. The '6+1 day week' had been undoubtedly instituted with creation, not at Mt. Sinai as many believers and teachers of our times state, in order to justify the Protestant 9/10 obedience, while Catholics obey even less, 6/10 commandments.

It would never occur to us to permit murder based on the fact that it was only codified as sin after ~4000 years, so why are we doing the same for another Moral Law?

Jesus

JESUS consistently observed the Weekly Sabbath before-, and did not abolish it through- the cross. He only abolished the death penalty and many of the sub-laws pertaining to the Weekly Sabbath included in the 600+ Old Covenant laws, but not the Weekly Sabbath itself which had always been an integral and inseparable part of the Moral Law.

Luk 4:16 'And He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read.'

Luk 4:31 'And He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And He was teaching them on the Sabbath ...'

The Weekly Sabbath is (one of) the main reason(s) why JESUS had been persecuted (see Joh 5:16, 18)! Without the Sabbath, there would be consequently no cross nor redemption!

CHRIST demonstrated that the Weekly Sabbath is not broken in cases of necessity or by acts of charity. He did this by opposing the Pharisee Laws which added many rules THEOS never instructed; such as:

No sex on a Sabbath;
No war on a Sabbath;
No spitting on a Sabbath;
No swatting of a fly on a Sabbath;
Not allowed to look at a reflection in the water (mirror) on a Sabbath;
No carrying of clothes out of a burning house on a Sabbath, except wearing those in multiple layers . . .

10 Moral Law vs. 600+ Old Covenant Laws

Many Christians are sadly not aware of those differences between biblical and unbiblical laws (see study 'Laws' for details on the 3 groups of laws; Moral-, Old Covenant- and Oral Law), and erroneously assume that CHRIST watered down the Weekly Sabbath. But nowhere in Scripture is e.g. healing on a Sabbath disallowed.

Jesus' Followers

His followers obeyed the Weekly Sabbath after Golgotha:

Mat 28:1 and Luk 23:55-56 [~33 AD] The 2 Marys kept the Weekly Sabbath immediately before His resurrection holy, waited until the very minutes the Sabbath was over and used the very first opportunity to visit the grave.

Acts 1:12 [~33 AD] The 11 Apostles travelled within the limit of 'a Sabbath day's journey away'. [This is a very clear reference to the Weekly Sabbath being in full force in the New Covenant!].

Acts 13:27 [~48-49 AD] When Paul taught about CHRIST, he spoke about 'the voices of the prophets that are being read on every Sabbath' [Greek Participle 'anaginoskomenas' = ongoing, continuous action from the perspective of the speaker!] While the Greek Participle usually refers to the wider time frame the main action in a sentence is occurring in, it is clear here by the addition of 'every' (=multiple) 'Sabbath' (=week), that not only an ongoing, but clearly continuous action is meant which encompasses at least some months and is therefore a custom. In conclusion, Paul had nearly 2 decades into the New Covenant the custom to teach on the Weekly Sabbath. This custom was repeated in different places he stayed for shorter and longer periods of time, making it clear that it was not connected to a local or temporary custom, but to a biblical principle which had been carried on for thousands of years.

Act 15:21 [~50 AD] This verse once again states that 'he [Moses; see also Deut 31:24] is being read aloud in the synagogues [where also Gentile believers initially met; see study 'Church History · From the Tabernacle, Tent of David, House of the Lord and Synagogues over to Churches, Houses and Open-Air Services'] on every Sabbath' [Same Greek Participle as previous verse].

Paul

Paul not only observed the seventh-day Sabbath himself, he taught Jews and Gentiles / Greeks / 'Worshiping Proselytes' on the Weekly Sabbath day at least on 11 occasions (Act 13:14, 27, 42-45, Act 16:12-13, Act 17:2, Act 18:4-11; some sources even state on up to 84 occasions, but it is unclear if the 18 months in Act 18:11 refer to regular teachings on the Weekly Sabbaths)

Decisive is the fact that this most often happened outside of Israel. This is especially remarkable when considering that he left the new converts in Ephesus behind, when he had to hurry back to Israel for celebrating Ceremonial Sabbaths such as Pentecost.

Act 20:7 does -contrary to the very widespread notion- not imply a regular Sunday teaching: "And on the first day of the week, when we had assembled to break bread, Paul began conversing with them, because he was going to leave on the next day [extraordinary teaching, because Paul was leaving the next day as clearly stated in verses 11-13; no indication for a First-Day Sabbath on the 'First Day of The Week'], and he extended his message until midnight ... when he had eaten and talked for a long time, until dawn, then he departed." The common misinterpretation is a classic example of not reading a Bible verse in context.

Topics such as circumcision or foods offered to idols were readily challenged by early Gentile Christians in the church (Assembly of Jerusalem in 50 AD). If there would have been a switch from the Sabbath to the First Day of the Week, then the controversy amongst the Apostles would have been more explosive than any other topic.

Future References

The Bible also includes various future references, such as Mat 24:20 and Isa 66:22-23, and including the commonly misinterpreted passage of Heb 4:1-11 which includes very specific terms such as the 'seventh day', a 'certain day' and a 'Sabbath rest' in an affirmative context:

Last but not least - the seventh day is numbered like the other days in the creation account, and we have therefore no allowance to accommodate its duration to particular doctrines, where some claim that the 7th day is longer than 24 hours, only based on the missing marker of morning and evenings.

After all, we should ignore the 60+ rules added by the Pharisees and keep the Sabbath simple (7th day, morning-morning rhythm, keep it holy, rest, worship of THEOS, no work, no shopping or restaurants, share meals with believers and stay local following the example of the disciples after the ascension; Act 1:11, 12).

Lord's Day

The term behind 'Lord's Day' in Rev 1:10 occurs only once in the entire Bible and is simply an unfortunate translation of (ΚΥΡΙΑΚΟϹ, kuriakos; adjective, not a noun!!!), literally meaning 'pertaining to the Lord'. It simply describes the Weekly Sabbath (modern Saturday) through an adjective (the Weekly Sabbath, the day pertaining to the Lord).

John, who wrote the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of John, never called the First Day a Sabbath, but constantly used the term 'First Day of The Week' (Joh 20:1 and Joh 20:19) for referring to a modern Sunday.

The term 'Lord's Day' applied to Sundays is a human tradition that had initially nothing to do with the Weekly Sabbath, but had been celebrated as a separate memorial day dedicated to CHRIST, who rose the day after the Weekly Sabbath, on a Sunday.

If your local church celebrates Pentecost on Sunday, then it already acknowledges the Weekly Sabbath to occur on the modern Saturday (see Lev 23:16 'the day after the Sabbath').

The Gregorian equivalent to a Weekly Sabbath is Saturday, not Sunday.