Expert: Todd Tyszka - 5/31/2010

Question
QUESTION: In a past answer you stated "Scripture never mentions any Sabbath (Saturday) gatherings by believers for fellowship or worship"

Would you be so kind and explain these verses?

"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath." Acts 13:42 KJV

"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath." Verse 44  

"And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont(custom) to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Acts 16:13 KJV

thank you in advance.

ANSWER: Hi Peter,
Thanks for the question! The last verse is talking about Paul and his companions ministering to Jews, not Gentiles or Christians. At that time, Philippi didn't have a synagogue, so the Jews there met for prayer along the Gangites River. Nowhere does it say this was a Christian meeting and we know historically and from the context that it was a Jewish meeting. Why else would Lydia and her family members open their hearts to respond to Paul's message and be baptized? She then says, "if you consider me a believer in the Lord" implying that Paul may not believe she was converted. They were  not Christians and Paul and his companions went there for ministry, and it was clearly not a gathering "by believers for fellowship or worship."

As far as the first two verses you mentioned, the second verse only confirms the first, that the people ("ethnos" is the word used and probably referred to the Gentiles) wanted them to speak on the next Sabbath. The verse 44 which you incorrectly quoted, says that "almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord." Nowhere does it say or imply that this was a weekly church meeting for the Gentiles, it was an isolated incident which featured the Jews (v. 46), and was probably in the Synagogue since that's where the first meeting was.

I hope you see that this teaching does not contradict the Bible as you stated and Galatians 3:28 only means that there is no difference between Jew and Greek "through faith in Christ Jesus." I'm not sure your point in quoting that single verse out of context. Lastly, you state that the NT authors referred to the 7th day as the Sabbath day. It was to the Jews, however stating that does not mean it was evidence that they honored it and like I said, there is no Scriptural of historical evidence that they used Saturday for "gatherings by believers for fellowship or worship."

I hope that clears up the confusion and thanks for the question.

Todd

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I am not going to debate you since I know; you pick and choose what to believe from the Bible. You already changed your previous answer and that shows me that you are not a sincere person seeking God.

A) You use “believer” to try to make a difference between Jews and Gentiles--what Jews are not believers? That is why I quoted Galatians 3:28 which you think I used out of context. (How do you read?)

B) The quotes from the book of Acts which the Apostle Luke authored, and for your information Luke was a Greek and a Gentile, referred to the 7th day as the Sabbath. The Greek word sab'-bat-on--- therefore, Luke honored the 7th day as such.
Had he not why call it the Sabbath? (You will come up with a ridiculous excuse to why he did) And yes all of the authors in the Bible call the 7th day the Sabbath and the other days they just call them by their number.

God stated clear that the 7th day is the Sabbath day, holy to Him. I do not follow doctrines of man like you, but the word of God.

ANSWER: Peter,
I cannot change my answer and be a "sincere person seeking God?" Really? I am not perfect and make mistakes. I encourage you to be humble enough to admit the same and not put down others because they disagree with you on a "non-essential." You are completely out of line (Read Colossians 2:16–17) and you apparently don't even know what I meant by "Believer." The original question I replied to (please read it again) was  concerning "a Christian Sabbath Keeper."

So we are back to the same statement and question... "Scripture never mentions any Sabbath (Saturday) gatherings by believers for fellowship or worship." The verses you provided are not "gatherings by believers for fellowship and worship" and by believers, we are talking about Christians. I answered very clearly why the three verses you provided do not apply.

Lastly, what is the point of your second point? I NEVER said the Sabbath was not the 7th day of the week. What does this have to do with the original question?

If you cannot provide a Scripture that mentions Sabbath gatherings (i.e. church gatherings) by Christians than your question has been answered correctly. It is my contention that Christians in the early Church met on Sunday while Jews continued to meet on the Sabbath (Saturday) and Scripture does not say different.

I hope this satisfies your questions. As I said, you are welcome to try to keep the Sabbath and not do anything on Saturday (Galatians 4:9–10). This is what is commonly called a non-essential "personal conviction." However, you are commanded to not judge someone who doesn't keep it (Colossians 2:16).

Todd

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: First of all, I'm not judging you in not keeping the Sabbath Commandment found in the Law of God, if you do not want to keep it, that is your problem.

Your are quoting Col. 2:16-17 out of context, which eating and drinking is Paul referring to? By the way you and the majority of Christians use it, then we can drink and eat what ever we want! The Bible is clear on the alcohol and unclean animals, and the Sabbath days (Notice that it is plural) is not the one found in the Law of God, but the many sabbath days in the Mosaic Law. Paul is referring to the Sacrificial rituals  found in the Law of Moses and not the Ten Commandments.

Romans 2:13 is clear only those that obey God's Law are just before Him.

Answer
Peter,
Well, I appreciate your persistence, however, you made no attempt to answer my questions or provide Scriptural (or even historical) evidence that what I said was untrue (early Christians didn't meet on the Sabbath, they met on Sunday). I believe I answered your question thoroughly and completely.

I am not sure what you mean by I am "quoting Col. 2:16-17 out of context." Eating and drinking refers to the dietary laws and Christians are not bound by the dietary laws, just like they are not bound by keeping the Sabbath as the Jews did. Like I said, these are "non-essentials" or "personal convictions." We are only bound by the moral law. The dietary rules were never intended to apply to anyone other than the Israelites. The purpose of the food laws was to make the Israelites distinct from all other nations and probably keep them healthy. After this purpose had ended, Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19). God gave the apostle Peter a vision in which He declared that formerly unclean animals could be eaten: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15). When Jesus died on the cross, He fulfilled the Old Testament law (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:24-26; Ephesians 2:15). This includes the laws regarding clean and unclean foods.

Romans 14:1-23 teaches us that not everyone is mature enough in the faith to accept the fact that all foods are clean. As a result, if we are with someone who would be offended by our eating “unclean” food, we should give up our right to do so as to not offend the other person. We have the right to eat whatever we want, but we do not have the right to offend other people, even if they are wrong. For the Christian in this age, though, we have freedom to eat whatever we wish as long as it does not cause someone else to stumble in his/her faith.

I encourage you to do more reading on this subject as this is pretty clear within Orthodox Christianity. A reputable website that answers questions like this is www.gotquestions.org, I encourage you to look at the answers related to this subject.

Some Related Pages:
- Do Christians have to obey the Old Testament law? - http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-law.html
- Does God require Sabbath-keeping of Christians? - http://www.gotquestions.org/Sabbath-keeping.html
- What day is the Sabbath, Saturday or Sunday? Do Christians have to observe the Sabbath day? - http://www.gotquestions.org/Saturday-Sunday.html
- How is Jesus our Sabbath Rest? - http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Sabbath.html
- What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the law, but did not abolish it? - http://www.gotquestions.org/abolish-fulfill-law.html
- What does the Bible say about what foods we should eat (kosher)? Are there foods a Christian should avoid? - http://www.gotquestions.org/foods.html
- Does God hate shrimp? - http://www.gotquestions.org/God-hates-shrimp.html

NEW:
Your comments when you rated me poorly again said I need to read a book to get the Scriptural evidence. Are you serious? You accuse me of saying something unscriptural, yet you cannot provide a single verse? Then you have the nerve to give me a poor rating again? Your response reveals a lot about you Peter. The same when I changed part of my answer and you judged me, saying, "you pick and choose what to believe from the Bible. You already changed your previous answer and that shows me that you are not a sincere person seeking God." I encourage you to read through our discussion and ask yourself if you have been Christ-like in your responses. You interjected into a discussion you weren't even a part of to criticize, yet you never provided a single Scriptural, or even historical basis for your position. You provided misinformation. You also completely disobeyed Colossians 2:16, Ephesians 4:29, and a number of other verses. You are so concerned about not eating unclean animals... "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' - Mark 7:18-20. I will sincerely pray that you realize your sin, beside the obvious legalism. I welcome a response but I will not answer any more questions from you.