Genesis 26:3-5
[SUP]3 [/SUP]Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
[SUP]4 [/SUP]And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
[SUP]5 [/SUP]Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Was Abraham ever charged or commanded to rest on saturdays? No.
Well why not? Didn't God want Abraham to be 'complete' and blessed?
Abraham was not commanded to rest on saturdays because Abraham believed God, trusted in God and it was accounted as Righteousness unto him.
Abraham already learned the lesson. He already rested in the provision and grace of God. He didn't transgress against the grace of God.
The Sabbath is a very important spiritual principle. But resting on saturdays is just a shadow of what the True Rest that the Lord Jesus Christ would give us would look like.
I don't understand how keeping a saturday sabbath is not working at the law. I don't understand how people who have come to Christ would want to compel saved Christians to go back to working at the law. I don't understand why people wouldn't want to rest in Christ every day, if that is what their 7th day sabbath truly is.
Matthew 22:35-40
[SUP]35 [/SUP]Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
[SUP]36 [/SUP]Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
[SUP]37 [/SUP]Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
[SUP]38 [/SUP]This is the first and great commandment.
[SUP]39 [/SUP]And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
[SUP]40 [/SUP]On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Really? ALL the law and the prophets?? Even the command to rest on the 7th day?? How does loving God and loving my neighbor cause me to rest on saturdays??
Well I don't see how it would cause me to rest on saturdays but I can definitely see how it would cause me to trust in Him and rest in His Grace and Goodness. By faith... Just like Abraham...
The stuff about Abraham is an assumption is it not, do you know for sure that Abraham did not keep the Sabbath?
I agree its not specifically mentioned nor can I say he definitely did keep it.
The very fact that Abraham obeyed laws and statutes etc suggests God did indeed instruct Abraham.
anyway,
As to your Matthew 22:35-40 you do know that these are Old Covenant teachings?
Lev 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
and:
Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Yet they still obeyed the Sabbath. In fact love is even part of the commandments:
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Love has always been the foundation of the 10 commandments.
So indeed all the law rests on these two as it did in the Old Covenant also. even some Jews got that:
Luk 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Luk 10:26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
Luk 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Luk 10:28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
so hear Jesus asks what the law teaches and the man quotes those same two and Jesus says he was right.
So this is not new covenant only it was the very basis of the old Covenant. Yet they still kept the Sabbath as God commanded.
case in point,
what does it mean to love your neighbor according to the bible?
Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
So does love replace these things?
no love fulfills them. If I love my neighbor as God asks then I will not kill, steal, covet, spread false witness etc.
IF I do these things then I do not love.
SO what do you think then would cover the first four?
If the last 6 clearly are attached by Paul to loving our neighbor then loving God would naturally attach to the first Four with have to do with loving God.
When we love God we obey Him, we will always have no Gods before Him cause we love Him.
We will not worship anything els because we love Him
We would never take His name in vain because we love Him
We remember the Day that He blessed and set apart as Holy because we love Him.
Its all about loving God. and those who love God love those who are made in His image.
I am confused about something, people keep quoting those two commandments to love God and love our neighbor as if they are some replacement or different from the 10.
But they are not new as has been conclusively shown. Even When Israel was given the 10 commandments it was on the basis that we love God and love our neighbor. It was always meant to be by faith it was always in the heart.
So why do people keep using those two as if they are not connected to the 10?