AboutBrad Varvil Expertise I am happy to field questions regarding Lutheran theology and practice, and it's context
within the western catholic tradition. General questions on the Christian faith are also
welcome.
Experience I have served in lay ministry for over ten years, and am currently a pastor in a small, confessional Lutheran communion in the Evangelical Catholic tradition. I have worked with several Lutheran and non-Lutheran communions over the years, and have a particular fondness for catholic ecumenism.
Education/Credentials I have a BA in Religion and Philosophy from a small midwestern Lutheran college, and am completing an M.Div. at a small, independent, Lutheran seminary in the Pacific Northwest.
Question I’m searching for a certain denomination and was hoping that by contacting you, you could help me in my search. This denomination or church will need to have God’s law, the Ten Commandments, and the second coming of Jesus as the basis for their beliefs.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Jesus write the following Ten Commandments with His own finger and give them to Moses and the Children of Israel?
1) Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
5) Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
6) Thou shalt not kill.
7) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8) Thou shalt not steal.
9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's
Some people have mentioned to me that this is the Jewish Law and does not apply to Christians in general. What do you think? After creating the first man and woman, Adam and Eve kept the Sabbath holy with Jesus. Adam and Eve were not Jewish. Do you think that God was only applying these Ten Commandments to one certain group of people or to all people?
I have found in Genesis that when God created the earth, He created something on every day and then on the seventh day, He created the Sabbath. Also found that Jesus worshiped on His Sabbath day. His disciples worshiped on the Sabbath day. John 14:15 says “If you love me, keep my commandments”. Revelation 14:12 says, “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus”. It seems to me that these two texts, which both are found in the New Testament, point back to the law, the Ten Commandments, which God gave to the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai. God did not just give these Ten Commandments to the Jews, but to the whole world.
I understand that Jesus was raised from the grave on the first day of the week. This event, in itself, is very important and has great meaning to the salvation of mankind, but nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day because of His resurrection. Matthew 5:18 says “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled”.
When God made the Sabbath on the seventh day, He blessed and hallowed it (to make holy). As I see in the Scriptures, nowhere does God bless and hallow the first day of the week because of His resurrection. As I can see, the disciples were meeting on the first day of the week sometimes just like we meet in church in the middle of the week for prayer meeting.
Man has no right to change God’s commandment’s to meet his/her needs or wants. God is infinite and eternal. Man is sinful and mortal. It seems like the Sabbath has been changed by man and not by God. Why should a God who “changes not” change His own commandments. Is it better to obey God or to obey man?
Why do most denominations, Baptists included, worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, and not on Saturday, the seventh day of the week which God has pointed out as the Sabbath?
God wrote His commandment’s in stone so that man would know that they do not change just as God Himself does not change.
Why does it seem like that the only commandment that people don’t keep is the one that starts with the word “Remember”?
I’ve seen other versions of the fourth commandment which only say, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”. Man changes it to fit his needs. The full text is as above and was given by God Himself. The text points out that the seventh day is the Sabbath.
A person told me once, who really knows what day is the seventh day. God made the seven day week and I believe that He has kept a meticulous eye on the days of the week and that Saturday, the seventh day, is the Sabbath.
Do you worship on the Bible Sabbath? If not, I would like to ask why not and do you think that the Ten Commandments, God’s Law, are still prevalent today.
I am again looking for a church that worships God and follows all Ten Commandments. I would like to have your input in this matter.
Sincerely,
Craig E. Latham
Answer Craig,
There's a lot in your question, and there are many good resources you could reference to debate your points. Due to this medium, I won't debate your points, but I will address your final questions from a Lutheran perspective. If you have follow-on questions, I'll be happy to tackle those, as well.
You ask, "Do you worship on the Biblical Sabbath?" Yes, we do. In Hebrew, the word for Sabbath simply means "7th" and in that sense, there is always a seventh day of the week. The Ten Commandments articulate a special remembrance of the Sabbath on the 7th day from creation, and the Hebrews kept that tradition well. In the New Testament, we have references to the gathering of Christians on the first day of the week, for the reading of Scripture, prayer, and the breaking of the bread (the Sacraments.) From a New Testament context, the law regarding the keeping of the Sabbath was re-interpreted into the new covenant of grace under Christ, like all the laws of the Old Testament... since we know that all the OT scriptures point to Christ, as types and shadows of what is made perfect in Christ (cf. Matthew 5-7, and St. Paul's references to the Law and the Gospel in Galatians and Ephesians, not to mention Romans.) From this perspective, the Christian's whole life is a sacrifice to God, not just one day, and not just 10% of his earnings-- all of the Christian's life belongs to Him who died to save all of us from our sins. We die to this world, and to the Old Covenant, to be reborn into the new life of grace in Christ (cf. Hebrews.)
So, rather than having just one day out of seven that we hallow, we hallow all of them. The day of particular worship centers on the miraculous ressurection of Jesus on Easter Morning, which was the first day of the week. From a Lutheran perspective (and that of the early Church, as recorded by the Scriptures and the Fathers) we know that Christians gathered to worship especially on Ressurection Day (Sunday) and also on most other days of the week... but the standard day amongst all those that had been hallowed by Christ, was Sunday, when the Christian people came to hear the Word of God preached, to pray and sing psalms together, and to receive the Sacraments. It's also interesting to note, that amongst all the Apostolic writings of the New Testaments, from Acts through every epistle, when the Apostles speak of the laws that should bind the consciences of the Christian Churches, specific worship on any particular day is never mentioned... except to note that Christians gathered together on the Lord's Day, which was the first day of the week. The writings of the early Church bear out this same understanding, from the years 80 AD or so and on (cf. Didache, Justin Martyr, etc.)
So, yes, we do worship on the Biblical Sabbath, and yes, the Law is still in force for Christians. However, we have a more perfect lense to see that Law with: Christ Jesus, the risen and living Lord, who delivers to us the Gospel of Salvation by His grace, received by us through faith in Him alone.
