Sabbath Law and Christian Freedom

 In the New Testament, many of the Christians were slaves. It is interesting that Paul does not completely abolish the Ten Commandments in his letters. 

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, 
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 

envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal 5:19–21 NRSVue

(See also 1 Corinthians 6:9–10.)

Paul forbids idolatry, adultery, theft, greed, etc., but in no letter does he forbid work on the Sabbath.

Why?

Many Christians were slaves. If a slave was ordered to work on the Sabbath, he could be killed on the spot for disobedience. 

Paul claimed that we must be faithful to the ethical principles in the Old Testament, but we are no longer like the Jews under the law. 

In the Roman Empire, slaves had no human rights. A slave was the property of his master, just like a tool or a donkey. Some slave owners valued their slaves as human beings, but they were not obliged to do so.

There was a woman from Canada in Saudi Arabia. Her husband was Arab. She wanted to leave him and return to her homeland, but she was not allowed to because in Arabia a wife is the property of her husband.

The situation is similar for young Arab women. If they emigrate and want to lead a free and independent life in the West, they can be abducted or murdered because they are considered the property of their father.

When I read in a Christian devotional that I belong completely and unreservedly to God. I felt intimidated. 

As a young Christian, I attended churches where the pastors ruled over the members in a very authoritarian manner. It was like the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. If the priest or bishop condemned or excommunicated you, you thought you were lost and damned. 

I was excommunicated as a young Christian. I panicked and despaired. It took me years to learn that a pastor was not my master, that I was not an unemancipated child, that I did not have to tremble before God like a slave.

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” Rom 8:14–15 NASB95

Abba means daddy or papa. 

What does it really mean to be God's property?

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me.” 
“Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. 

“Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. Isa 49:14–16 NASB95

Grace and Truth

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jn 1:17 NIV

We need truth. God is not a fairy tale. God created the world. Jesus was and is the eternal Son of God. The Ten Commandments come from God. Idolatry, murder and adultery are sins. That is the truth.

But we also need grace. Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins. Only through God's grace do we receive forgiveness and eternal life, and much more.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Rom 8:31–32 NIV

All Bible-believing Christians agree that we need grace and truth, but in the minds of many Christians it is the other way round, that is not grace and truth, but truth and grace.

But is the order important? In the Bible, it is not just concepts that are important, but priorities.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jn 1:17 NIV

First came the Ten Commandments and then grace through Jesus. But we need to take a closer look at this teaching.

What came before the Ten Commandments?

And God spoke all these words:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Ex 20:1–2 NIV

Rescue from slavery in Egypt came first, and then the teaching of the Ten Commandments.
That is, first grace and then truth.

How did Jesus minister as a preacher? He began by healing the sick, and only later did he reveal the truth that he was the eternal Son of God. In the beginning, he appeared only as a miracle-working prophet. That means first grace and only later the full truth.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. Mt 16:13–17 NIV

Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Mt 16:20 NIV

What was Jesus' approach? First revealing God's love through miraculous healings and then, much later, proclaiming the truth of his heavenly identity.

Many Christians grumble because some are healed in charismatic events, but not all repent.

But Jesus himself healed many who did not become believing followers. This made Jesus very sad, but he continued to heal the sick even though not all became disciples.

Grace first and then truth. That was and is God's approach.

The Leading of the Holy Spirit

 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 2 Cor 3:5 NIV

It is very dangerous to be led by impressions or feelings without having firm grounding in biblical truth. All kinds of deceptions can lead to shipwreck. So many sects and false religions have arisen because of this.

Our foundation is God and his truth. Without the Bible, we are groping around in the dark.

Jesus himself said:

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Mk 13:31 NIV

We may be guided by our own thoughts, but we must submit to God's truth, and this truth is found in God's Word.

Paul wrote the above verse. He had a problem. He knew the Old Testament by heart. Contact with non-Jews was strictly forbidden in God's law. A Jew was not allowed to eat with non-Jews.

But Jesus had given the command:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  

and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Mt 28:19–20 NRSV

How was Paul to fulfil this commandment? Jesus lived as a Jew and so did his disciples, but many of the newly converted Christians were not Jews. Many were slaves who always had to obey their unbelieving masters.

If their masters ordered them to work every day, they were not allowed to observe a holy day. A man was allowed to simply execute his slave for disobedience.

Paul had to be guided by the Holy Spirit. For Paul, God's law was still holy. In his letters we find commands against idolatry, theft, murder, adultery, etc. That is, the Ten Commandments, but if we research Paul's writings in detail, we find only nine commandments. The commandment to keep the Sabbath is missing.

We must hold fast to God's Word, but like Paul, let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit.

Is a Christian allowed to visit a pub or a brothel? If we look in the Bible for fixed laws, perhaps we can make a rule against it. But there are Christians who do mission work in pubs.

But there are Christians who do mission work in pubs or brothels and win people for Jesus. We need to be led by the Holy Spirit. For many Christians, such places are terribly dangerous, but there are some Christians who, like Jesus, have the grace to be a friend of sinners.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor 3:6 NIV

We must never deviate from the truth in the Bible, but we must also, like Paul, be led by the Spirit of God.

We must read the Bible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we read with our own minds.

We can then become humanistic theologians or legalistic Pharisees.

If we understand the New Testament as an inflexible law book, without the guidance of God, we go wrong.

Jesus and Other Religions

 God has given us the Bible. The Bible is God's map, a totally reliable revelation. In the Bible, we find everything we need to recognise God.

In the Bible, we read that God created everything.

In the Bible, we read that many people believe in a god or gods that are different from the God of the Bible, but they are false gods.

This idea is horrible and repulsive to post-modern tolerant people, but that is exactly what the Bible says.

Many religious people claim to believe in the Ten Commandments, but they don't understand what that really means. The first commandment excludes all the other world religions.

“You shall have no other gods before me. Ex 20:3 NIV

Buddhists do not believe in an almighty creator.
The Hindus believe in many gods.

“This is what the LORD says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Is 44:6 NIV

Muslims also believe in an almighty God who created everything, controls everything and is supposed to be the judge of all people.

But is the God of the Muslims the same God? Is the God of Mohamed the God of Israel? The muftis and imams would find this idea repulsive.

But Jesus identified himself with the God of Israel.

But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you,
‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Mt 22:31–32 NIV

Many post-modern people speak of the Abrahamic religions. The father of the Arabs was Ishmael, not Isaac and Jacob.

In our time, countless Muslims are converting to Jesus, but in the Bible the King of Israel, one hundred per cent Jew and Son of God, is not an Islamic prophet.   

Jesus said to him: ‘I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

The Qur'an teaches that Jesus was a prophet of Allah, but not the son of God.

The God in the Qur'an is Creator and Judge, but there is no Father God in the Islamic scriptures.

In Islam, Allah is the ruler God and judge but not a father. He has no children. This is said to contradict his nature.

‘Believe in Allah and his Messenger (Muhammad), but say nothing of a trinity. There is only one God, far from him, that he has a son. Verily these are unbelievers who say: Allah is Christ, the son of Mary. Whoever joins someone to Allah, Allah excludes him from paradise, and his dwelling place will be hellfire’ (Suras 4, 172; 5, 73f.)

But the core of our Christian faith can be found in this wonderful statement by Jesus.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Do you find this teaching too narrow-minded? But have you read the Bible yourself?

It is not wise to reject a book if you have not read it.

There are also people who think they believe in the Bible to some extent, but also in other religions to some extent.

But have you really read the Bible? I know Christians who were convinced Muslims until they read the Bible for themselves.