Expert: Elder Greg Madden - 5/4/2007

Question
I first learned of the Seventh Day Baptist about 10 years ago. I grew up in the Baptist church (Missionary) and heard of and visited several kinds of Baptist churches from freewill to primitive, but had never heard of Seventh Day Baptists until researching different sabbath keeping groups. When I first came across the name, I thought it was one small independent church but to my surprise it was a small denomination with roots in United States as early as the 1600s and even before then in Europe as an independent group of believers that followed the Waldenses. I would constantly mention and inquire about them to other Sunday keeping Baptist pastors who said they had also never heard of them, not even the Baptist Conference in Augusta Ga. They seemed to be surprised at their existence and well established history. But, I surprisingly found a link to a letter written by the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference to Sunday Keeping Baptists in 1843, titled "An Address to the Baptist Denomination of the United States On the Observance of the Sabbath From the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference." You can read it if you go to their home page and select Beliefs/History and then Historical Resources, and finally Letter to the Baptists. With their books, articles, magazines, quarterlies, publishing houses and two or three colleges they began, Alfred University in NY and Salem in W. Va and one other, I'm surprised that more Baptist clergy aren't familiar with them. Although still small, there are still active congregations as old as 350 years old in the US alone. Do you know of them and why are they not that well known among their Sunday keeping brethren? According to their website, with the exception of worshipping on the Sabbath, they share the same beliefs as Sunday Baptists. If you've ever heard of them, do you know about any history or interaction they've had with Sunday Baptist brethren over the years and why not more cooperation being that with the exception of the Biblical Sabbath observance, they have more doctrine in common with traditional Baptists than do the primitive Baptists?


Answer
Sky,

I apologize for the late reply. To be frank with you, I have never heard of "Seventh Day Baptists". I did check out their web site. They seem to be sound in everything that I read. And as far as I know, there is not much (if any) interaction between these two groups of Baptist (though I do not claim to speak for all).

However Sky, like to give you a few things to consider about worshiping on Saturday. Not as a point of contention, but simply "food for thought".  


You see Sky, it was the custom of the Jews to come together on the Sabbath, which is Saturday, cease work, and worship God.  Of the 10 commandments listed in Exodus 20:1-17, only nine of them were reinstituted by in the New Testament. (Six in Matthew 19:18, murder, adultery, stealing, false witness, honor parents, and worshiping God; Romans 13:9, coveting. Worshiping God properly covers the first three commandments) The one that was not reaffirmed was the one about the Sabbath. Instead, Jesus said that He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8).

In creation God rested on the seventh day. But, since God is all powerful, He doesn't get tired. He doesn't need to take a break and rest. So, why did does it say that He rested? The reason is simple:

Mark 2:27
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:  

In other words, God established the Sabbath as a rest for His people, not because He needed a break, but because we are mortal and need a time of rest, of focus on God. In this, our spirits and bodies are both renewed.

The O.T. system of Law required keeping the Sabbath as part of the overall moral, legal, and sacrificial system by which the Jewish people satisfied God’s requirements for behavior, government, and forgiveness of sins. The Sabbath was part of the Law in that sense. In order to "remain" in favor with God, you had to also keep the Sabbath. If it was not kept, then the person was in sin and would often be punished
(Ezekiel 18:4; Deut. 13:1-9; Num. 35:31; Lev. 20:2).

But with Jesus’ atonement, and justification by faith (Rom. 5:1), we no longer are required to keep the Law and hence the Sabbath which was only a shadow of things to come.

Colossians 2:16
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:  
2:17
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.  

This passage is critical to understanding how the New Testament sees the theme of the Sabbath, together with its sub-themes of rest and worship, are fulfilled in the person of Christ. Paul declares that the old Sabbath law is no longer applicable, because the reality to which the law pointed has arrived. The rest which the Sabbath promised is found in Jesus and his finished work, the worship which the Sabbath enjoined is offered through Christ. We are not under Law, but grace (Rom. 6:14-15). The Sabbath is fulfilled in Jesus because in Him we have rest.  

Matthew 11:28
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Therefore we are not under obligation to keep the Law and this goes for the Sabbath as well.

However Sky, we would all do well to recall the words of the Holy Spirit through Paul, who warned against divisions over these matters, saying that the "strong" should bear with the "weak", not causing them to stumble, and that while two may disagree over whether one day is more sacred than another, each should be fully convinced in his own mind (Rom. 14:1–8).

Please let me know what you think, and thanks again for your question.

Elder Greg Madden
http://www.forministry.com/USOKPENTEMMM1