Gentlemen,
Please allow me to say thank you for making this thread such a delight to skim through.  I appreciate everyone’s kindness and insight.  In my search for God’s truths, one of the greatest gifts I have found in knowing Jesus Christ is that I no longer need to “fear” entering into a debate.  When Jesus is the center of conversation, we can agree to disagree and still feel good about the debate.

One book of the Bible that I have not heard anyone refer to is Hebrews.  As a woman, I like to believe Hebrews was written by a woman (someone close to Paul like maybe Lydia???)...of course, I have no proof but I still like the thought anyway!

Hebrews is dedicated to showing the superiority of Christ to all of the Old Testament systems.  It was written to Jewish believers whom the author ad a deep concern for.  They had heard and embraced Christianity but seemed to be drawing back into Judiaism, thus turning their backs on the One and Only sufficient Savior.

Hebrews 1:5-14 talks of the joining of the O.T. and the N.T. in Jesus.  It is to remind us that the whole Bible is about Jesus from beginning to end.  Christ is superor to the whole O.T. scripture and prophets (Hebrews 1:1-3).  When you reference back to Matt. 17:1-8, the scene at the transfiguration shows Moses (the law) and Elijah (the prophets) have their place but fade into insignificance next to Jesus.

Regarding the Sabbath in Hebews - Hebrews 3 and 4 talk of the day we are to rest - “Today”.  The obedience I give God is that of complete trust in His finished work - entering by faith into His rest.  It is a matter of obeying the Spirit not the Old Covenant rules (Hebrews 8:13).

The Sabbath-like rest that is offered to me in Christ is a TODAY experience.  It is mine today - everyday - as I trust Christ’s righteousness and rest from any trust in my own works.

So there you have one woman’s view point - to me (a busy mom with two hungry kids waiting for supper) Hebrews lays out the beauty of Jesus.  He s my rest today and everday as I trust Him.  He is the True Temple, the True Passover, the True Law and the True Sabbath.

Thanks, again, for the good conversation.

Denise

Denise,

Thanks for offering your insights on this topic.  You are right, Jesus is the true fulfillment of the Old Covenant types and shadows, and is our true Sabbath rest.

Paralleling Hebrews 4:1-11, Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)

“...again he appoints a certain day, ‘Today,’...” (Hebrews 4:7)

Greg

Denise,

I just came off a long evening shift at the hospital taking care of very sick patients. Your post really lifted my spirits.

We like women’s views of things on here! (smiley)

We should not have neglected Hebrews, as I believe it is one of the most important books in the New Testament.

And again, the writer of the Hebrews had every opportunity to stress the importance of keeping the actual day of Sabbath, but instead the writer uses the word Sabbatismos rather than sabbaton. How can he talk so clearly about the seventh day and quote Genesis 2, but then not say one word about how important it is to keep the Sabbath commandment? Instead, he clearly relates Jesus as our Sabbath rest.

Stan

[quote author="Stan Ermshar"]And again, the writer of the Hebrews had every opportunity to stress the importance of keeping the actual day of Sabbath, but instead the writer uses the word Sabbatismos rather than sabbaton. How can he talk so clearly about the seventh day and quote Genesis 2, but then not say one word about how important it is to keep the Sabbath commandment? Instead, he clearly relates Jesus as our Sabbath rest.

Stan

Stan, ‘sabbatizmos’ has been used many times as a reference to literal Sabbath keeping and this was even admitted by one of the contributers to the “From Sabbath to the Lord’s Day” symposium.

Second the use of the word ‘today’ cannot be used in the context you’d like for it compares it to David’s time. Basically David would have had to have fulfilled Sabbath rest in Christ for it to work.

As Bacchiocchi says in his rebuttal against Ratzlaff’s arguments:

The function of the adverb “today–semeron” is not to teach a continuous Sabbath rest of grace that replaces literal Sabbathkeeping; it is to show that Sabbathkeeping as an experience of rest in God was not experienced by the Israelites as a people because of their unbelief (Heb 4:6). To prove this fact, the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95:7 where God invites the people to respond to Him, saying: “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 4:7, cf. Ps. 95:7).  

The “today” simply serves to show that the spiritual dimension of the Sabbath as rest in God still remains because God renewed the invitation at the time of David. To argue that “today” means that “New Covenant” Christians observe the Sabbath every day by living in God’s rest is to ignore also the historical context–namely, that the “today” was spoken by God at the time of David. If Ratzlaff’s interpretation of “today” were correct, then already, at the time of David, God had replaced the literal observance of the Sabbath with a spiritual experience of rest in Him.

Third, the link between god resting and man resting is important. It is foolish to think that God rested in Himself. We are to rest just as God rested.

What I see too much of the time for ‘Sabbath abrogators’ is a knee jerk reaction to the English translation of Paul’s words without taking into account the context and culture. This same methodology, Stan, is how people insist that eternal torment is true an everthing else is a ‘false gospel’. I believe that Paul’s simple act of preaching to the Gentiles on Sabbath and no clear direction on abolishing it shows a continuity in the life of Jewish Christians and not evidence of it’s abrogation.

Resting in Christ in no way negates the function and purpose of the Sabbath. Instead, I see a past, presnet and future usae of the Sabbath throughout biblical history that furthers our ‘rest in Christ’, not becomes it.

Bacchiocchi here, IMO, fully develops this argument in replying to Ratzlaff’s claims on Hebrews 4.

http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/books/sabbath_under_xfire/3.htm

[quote author="guibox"]Stan, ‘sabbatizmos’ has been used many times as a reference to literal Sabbath keeping and this was even admitted by one of the contributers to the “From Sabbath to the Lord’s Day” symposium.

Guibox, consulting a Greek lexicon yielded exactly one reference to “sabbatismos,” found only in Hebrews 4:7.  Perhaps you mean references found in the extra-biblical Greek literature, in which case you would be correct. This does not negate the “resting in Christ” application of “sabbatismos,” however, since Hebrews 4:5-6 implies that the Jews (who jealously guarded the ceremonial weekly Sabbath) never entered entered into “sabbatismos” because of disobedience.

[quote author="guibox"]Second the use of the word ‘today’ cannot be used in the context you’d like for it compares it to David’s time. Bacchiochi quote follows, asserting the link between “Sabbatismos” and Sabbath-keeping.

We’ve talked about the problems with using Bacchiochi as a primary source before.  His work has been criticized in “From Sabbath to Lord’s Day” by respected theologians because of his propensity to over-state the biblical evidence for Christian Sabbath-keeping.

I would not recommend anyone rely upon Bacchiochi as an isolated source.  Guibox, again I would challenge you to consult other sources outside of Bacchiochi to see if what he is teaching is held by others.  If there is truth in it, surely other well-trained theolgians will have come to similar conclusions.

In the work I cited above, here is some of what is written in the chapter by A.T. Lincoln entitled “Sabbath, Rest and Eschatology in the New Testament.” This chapter deals directly with the Hebrew text in question and comes to very different conclusions than Bacchiochi.

“...the writer to the Hebrews is saying that since the time of Joshua an observance of Sabbath rest has been outstanding.  What is the Sabbath rest that the New Testament people of God must observe?  It is to enter God’s rest (reference to Genesis 2:2) and theeby cease from one’s own works (Hebrews 4:10).  This is analogous to God’s ceasing from His works at the creation (cf. also 4:4).  As we have seen, God’s rest is entered by believing (4:3).  Therefore the New Covenant people of God discharge their duty of Sabbath observance, according to this writer, by exercising faith.  Thereby they participate in God’s gift of eschatalogical salvation and cease from their own works, which here have not a physical reference but as elsewhere in the New Testament a salvation connotation, that which this writer in (Hebrews) 6:1 and 9:14 calls dead works.  They cease from their own works so that God may work in them (cf. 13:21).  Of course the consummation of this salvation rest that is anticipated now by faith will involve the removal of all curse on work and the enjoyment of that state of contemplation and harmony experienced by God after His creative work and intended by Him for humanity.  The Christian Sabbath-keeping will involve the realization of everything that God intended by His own Sabbath rest.” -From Sabbath to Lord’s Day, pg. 213

“It has become clear from these passages that the coming of Jesus Christ fulfills the concept of rest tied up with the Old Testament Sabbath and that because of the situation of the church between the Resurrection and the Parousia of Christ, there is an “already” and “not yet” to that fulfillment.  But it is not as if the “already” and the “not yet” balanced the scales exactly.  The fact that the decisive turn of events has already occurred in Christ shows that the “already” outweighs the “not yet.” As should also have become clear from these passages, the “already” is of such profound epoch-making significance that in the process of fulfillment the old categories are reinterpreted and transformed.  Thus the true Sabbath, which has come with Christ, is not literal, physical rest but is seen as consisting in the salvation that God has provided.  The passages unfold what this Sabbath means.  It includes the good news of deliverance, liberation and forgiveness brought by the mighty works of preaching of Jesus (Luke 4), release from the burden of the law (Matt. 11), the accomplishment of eschatological salvation with its giving of life (John 5), the fulfillment of the divine rest of Genesis 2:2-3, which was intended for humanity to share (John 5 and Hebrews 3, 4), and that salvation rest as a present heavenly reality entered by believing and ceasing from one’s own works (Hebrews 3, 4).  In short the physical rest of the Old Testament Sabbath has become the salvation rest of the true Sabbath.  Believers in Christ can now live in God’s Sabbath that has already dawned.  Jesus’ working to accomplish this superseded the Old Testament Sabbath (John 5:17) and so does the doing of God’s work that He now requires of people–believing in the one God has sent (John 6:28-29).  In fact the Sabbath keeping now demanded is the cessation from reliance on one’s own works (Hebrews 4:9-10).” -From Sabbath to Lord’s Day, pg. 214-215

[quote author="guibox"]What I see too much of the time for ‘Sabbath abrogators’ is a knee jerk reaction to the English translation of Paul’s words without taking into account the context and culture.

The passages I’ve supplied above come from a book that liberally quotes from the Greek and Hebrew text (almost to the point of being difficult to read), taking both context and culture into account.  Just because Bacchiochi says he’s the only one who takes these things into account doesn’t make it so.

Greg