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Luke 4:16 says,
“Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had
been brought up, and went into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He
stood up to read.” (NET)
And Acts 17:2
says, “And Paul went in, as was his custom,
and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with
them from the Scriptures.”
A custom
is defined as, “a traditional and widely
accepted way of behaving or doing something
that is specific to a particular society,
place, or time.”
Keeping a custom does not make
that activity a requirement for everyone else.
Jesus and Paul were both Jews who were
trying to reach Israel with the good news of
the gospel.
When Jesus was
on earth, He said that His mission was to
reach the “lost sheep of the house of
Israel” (Matt. 10:6; 15:24; Luke 24:47; John 4:22; c.f. Gal. 4:4-5). He would at times
minister to non-Jews, but at this point in
God’s plan of redemption, Jesus was focused
on reaching his fellow Jews and caring for
their spiritual needs. But later, his
apostles would carry out his command to take
the message of the gospel to the rest of the
fallen world (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 22:21; 26:17, 18, 23;
cf. Luke 24:47; John 10:16).
Because
Jesus was without sin he was able to meet
the just requirements of the law to be the
perfect sacrifice for our sins. His death
redeemed those who follow him from the curse
of the law so we could have eternal life by
trusting in him alone for our salvation
(Rom. 5:19; Gal. 3:13).
Christians
are freed from trying to be saved by keeping
the Old Covenant Law. The Law has no power,
or authority over us. Christ has taken away
our bondage to the Law and given us freedom
in place of our slavery (Gal. 4:4-7; cf.
John 1:17; 8:32, 36; Acts 15:10-19; Rom.
3:21-26; 6:14; 7:1-8; 8:15; 10:4; 2 Cor.
3:3; Gal. 2:4; 3:13, 14, 15, 25; 5:1; Eph.
2:14-15; Phil. 3:9; Col. 2:13-17; Heb. 7:19;
10:1).
Christ freed us from our bondage to the
Law to live the Christian life out of love.
1 John 4:7-8 declares, “Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is from God, and
whoever loves has been born of God and knows
God. Anyone who does not love does not know
God, because God is love.” Then 1 John 5:3
continues, “This is love for God: to obey
His commands. And His commands are not
burdensome.”
When Jesus announced the
New Covenant to his disciples the night
before he died (Luke 22:20), he was
literally declaring his last will and
testament. A new legal agreement that would
come into effect when he died.
Christians are under a completely
different covenant than Israel was when they
lived under the Old Covenant Law.
Christians are not required to keep any
of the laws of the Old Covenant (Heb. 8;
2 Cor. 3:1-11; 3:12-18). The two covenants are
separate and distinct covenants given to
different people, at different time periods,
in God’s redemptive history.
Paul repeatedly said that it was his mission
to go and preach the gospel “to the Jew first”, and then to the
Gentiles.
Romans 1:16 says,
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it
is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek.”
Acts 9:20 says,
“And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the
synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
Acts 13:13-14 says, “Now Paul and his
companions set sail from Paphos and came to
Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and
returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from
Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on
the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue
and sat down” (cf. Rom. 9:1-5; 10:1-3;
Acts 14:1; 17:2; 18:4; 19:8).
Paul
would continue to preach to the Jews
in the synagogues on the Sabbath until they rejected him.
Acts 13:44-49 says, “The next Sabbath
almost the whole city gathered to hear the
word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the
crowds, they were filled with jealousy and
began to contradict what was spoken by Paul,
reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke
out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that
the word of God be spoken first to you.
Since you thrust it aside and judge
yourselves unworthy of eternal life,
behold,
we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the
Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made
you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may
bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began
rejoicing and glorifying the word of the
Lord, and as many as were appointed to
eternal life believed. And the word of the
Lord was spreading throughout the whole
region.” (cf. Acts 17:5; 18:6-8; 28:23-28).
How the New Covenant is different:
According to Acts 15, no one is required
to become a Jew, or keep the laws of the Old
Covenant anymore (Acts 15:1-11; 15:28-29).
There is no command anywhere in the New
Testament for Christians to keep the weekly,
seventh day
Sabbath from the Old Covenant. Gentiles were
never required to keep it. In fact, there is
no command anywhere in the New Testament for
Christians to keep any day of the week holy.
Every day is a Sabbath rest for those who
put their trust in Jesus Christ alone for
their salvation (Matt. 11:28-30; Heb. 4:9-11).
Paul’s mission was
to reach Israel with the gospel first.
Paul always sought out his countrymen
first (Rom. 9:1-5; 10:1-3; Acts 14:1; 18:4; 19:8 etc.). Paul attended the Jewish
synagogues for the sole purpose of sharing
the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ
with his fellow Jews.
The synagogues were
the perfect place to meet with the most Jews
in a new community at one time because they
were accustomed to keeping the Sabbath and
meeting together to have the Old Covenant
scriptures read to them (Acts 15:21). Going
to the synagogues offered Paul the
opportunity to share with the Jews the good
news that Israel’s Messiah had come in
fulfillment of the Old Covenant scriptures
and given them the promised new covenant to
live by (Jer. 31:31-33; cf. Deut. 18:15-18;
Ezek. 36:26-27); but none of these passages
say Paul thought he was required to keep the
Old Covenant Sabbaths and Holy days
according to the Law. Once the Jews rejected
the gospel message his obligation to them
was complete and he turned his attention to
the Gentiles exclusively (Acts 13:46; 18:6; 28:25-28).
None of these passages about Paul going to
the synagogues in the book of Acts refer to
Christians coming together for fellowship
and worship like Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:1-2
do. Paul,
and the other apostles consistently taught that the Old Covenant
law, including the Sabbath was not legally
binding on God’s people who live under the
terms of the New Covenant
(Acts 15:1-11; 15:28-29; Gal. 3:24-25; 4:10-11; 4:21; 5:1-4;
Rom. 7:4-8; 14:5-12; 2 Cor. 3:3-11;
Col. 2:13-17; Eph. 2:11-16; cf.
Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8;
Heb. 3:7-4:13; 8:6-9:4; 10:23-25).
God never intended for the
Sabbath to be a permanent ordinance. It
functioned as a covenant sign for the people
of Israel alone under the Old “Mosaic”
Covenant (Exod. 31:12-14; Ezek. 20:12, 20).
Some people think the Old
Covenant Sabbath never ends because we are
told that “it is a sign forever” of the
Lord’s covenant with Israel in Exodus 31:17, but
it is clear from the New Testament that the
Old Covenant Law is no longer in force. The
Sabbath was never viewed as a universal
ordinance for all mankind to keep, but as a
specific institution for Israel as a
ceremonial sign of
the covenant. The Sabbath was only meant to
last as long as the Mosaic Covenant lasted.
No one has the right to insist
that Christians have to keep the Holy
days from the Old Covenant.
Colossians 2:13-17 says, “When you were dead
in your sins and in the uncircumcision of
your sinful nature, God made you alive with
Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having
canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that
stood opposed to us; he took it away,
nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed
the powers and authorities, he made a public
spectacle of them, triumphing over them by
the cross. Therefore do not let anyone judge
you by what you eat or drink, or with regard
to a religious festival, a New Moon
celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a
shadow of the things that were to come; the
reality, however, is found in Christ.” (NIV)
And Galatians 4:9-11 says, “But now that
you have come to know God, or rather to be
known by God, how can you turn back again to
the weak and worthless elementary principles
of the world, whose slaves you want to be
once more? You observe days and months and
seasons and years! I am afraid I may have
labored over you in vain.”
The Mosaic Law was done away in
its entirety as a legal code. It has been
replaced by the law of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul explained
why he kept the Jewish Holy days and rituals
when he was with the Jews (Acts 21:15-25),
but didn’t require the Gentile converts keep
the laws of the Mosaic covenant (Acts 15:1-28).
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
says, “For though I am free from all, I have
made myself a servant to all, that I might
win more of them. To the Jews I became as a
Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under
the law I became as one under the law
(though not being myself under the law) that
I might win those under the law. To those
outside the law I became as one outside the
law (not being outside the law of God but
under the law of Christ) that I might win
those outside the law. To the weak I became
weak, that I might win the weak. I have
become all things to all people, that by all
means I might save some. I do it all for the
sake of the gospel, that I may share with
them in its blessings.”
Paul wasn't
being hypocritical. He was
saying that he adopted certain Jewish
customs when he was among the Jews, even
though he was not under the Old Covenant law
anymore; and that he adopted some of the
customs of the Gentiles when he was with
them so he could win as many people as
possible to Christ. Paul said he was under
what he called, “the law of Christ” which is
the law of love. Love is the fulfillment of
the law (cf. Gal. 6:2; Rom. 13:8-10).
The day we go to church to
worship God is not an issue in the New
Covenant.
Just because Jesus
and Paul had the same custom of going to the
synagogues on the Sabbath day to preach to
their fellow Jews does not make that custom
a requirement for everyone else. We have to
see what the rest of the New Testament says
about Sabbath-keeping to know what we are to
do about it, and as already pointed out, the consistent teaching of
the New Testament book of Acts and the epistles is that
Christians are not under any of the laws of
the Old Covenant, including the weekly,
seventh day Sabbath (Acts 15:1-28;
Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11; Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-18;
Heb. 3:7-4:13; 10:23-25). Christians live under the New
Covenant that Jesus Christ gave us in its
place (cf. Jer. 31; Ezek. 36; Luke 22:19-20;
Heb. 8:6-13; 9:15; 2 Cor. 3:6).
The
Old Covenant Sabbaths and Holy days were only shadows
pointing forward to Christ (Col. 2:16-17; Heb. 8:5; 9:9; 10:1). Now that He
has come, there is no reason to keep the shadow. John 8:12
says, “Again Jesus spoke to them,
saying, “I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Christ is the light that dispels all of the
Old Covenant shadows.
The New
Covenant rest God wants us to enter into is
the rest of faith in our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
Matthew 11:28-30 says, “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.”
Jesus Christ provides the true rest our
souls need. His rest is an eternal rest for
all who seek the forgiveness of their sins
and freedom from the legalistic burden and
guilt of trying to earn salvation by good
works.
The Jews often spoke of the
Sabbath as a foretaste of the unending
Sabbath rest we will get in the age to come.
Hebrews 4 does the same thing where the
author links the Sabbath rest God wants us
to enter into with the divine rest of
salvation offered to us by Jesus Christ in
the gospel.
Every
day is a Sabbath rest for those who put
their trust in
Jesus Christ alone for their salvation (Heb. 4:9-11).
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