Did scripture mention that? About sabbath out?
Circumcision was out, yes, scripture mentioned it.
Some thoughts on the Sabbath...
- Thread starter Seeker47
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Circumcision was out, yes, scripture mentioned it.
If Paul was not having a problem with religious Jews wanting to dominate over Gentile converts?
We may have never learned that circumcision in the Law was to be discontinued.
For those who knew what the problem was?
They had no problem to understand we were not mandated to keep a sabbath.
But if you want to keep one? That's up to you.
Besides, they were also not mandated to keep kosher anymore.
But, if you want to? That's up to you.
It has nothing to do with the church age. The Sabbath was made for man - see Genesis. It is the only Holy day made by God. As I mentioned in the earlier post, it is not one of the sabbaths (small s) but The Sabbath.
No the mystery gentile Bride Church does NOT need to keep the 7th day Sabbath.
Paul was quite clear on this. But why you may ask?
Here is why:
Exo 31:13
“Tell the people of Israel: ‘Be careful to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you from generation to generation. It is given so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
Exo 31:16
The people of Israel must keep the Sabbath day by observing it from generation to generation. This is a covenant obligation for all time.
Eze 20:12
And I gave them my Sabbath days of rest as a sign between ***them*** (The people of Israel) and me. It was to remind them that I am the LORD, who had set them apart to be holy.
Eze 20:20
and keep my Sabbath days holy, for they are a sign to remind ***you*** (The people of Israel) that I am the LORD your God.'
There are also important passages that don't necessarily use the noun “sign” but establish the same Israel-covenant framework:
Exodus 16:23–30 — before Sinai's tablets are given, Israel receives the Sabbath command in connection with the manna. Verse 29 says:
The audience is Israel.
Deuteronomy 5:12–15 is especially significant. Moses connects Israel's Sabbath observance to Israel's deliverance from Egypt:
So in Deuteronomy the Sabbath is not merely a creation principle; it has become a national-redemptive memorial for Israel.
Nehemiah 9:13–14 likewise ties it directly to Sinai:
Again, Sabbath revelation is situated within God's covenant dealings with Israel.
Isaiah 56:2, 4–7 describes Sabbath keeping as characteristic of those attaching themselves to Yahweh and His covenant, even including foreigners who “join themselves to the LORD.” That actually reinforces the covenantal nature of Sabbath observance rather than making it a generic institution independent of Israel.
Isaiah 58:13–14 calls it:
and associates proper Sabbath observance with covenant faithfulness and enjoyment of “the heritage of Jacob thy father.”
A particularly important summary is therefore:
Exodus 31:13 → Exodus 31:16–17 → Ezekiel 20:12 → Ezekiel 20:20
Together they make essentially the same declaration:
YHWH ↔ Israel
Sabbath ↔ covenant sign
Purpose ↔ identification/sanctification
And Exodus 31:17 removes much ambiguity:
So biblically, the Sabbath is not merely called a sign in some vague universal sense. It is repeatedly identified as a specific covenant sign between Yahweh and the nation Israel, comparable structurally to circumcision as the sign of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 17:11).
Scripture never says that Abraham kept the seventh-day Sabbath.
What it does say is that Abraham obeyed God broadly: Genesis 26:5 says he “obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” But that verse does not identify Sabbath observance specifically.
The first explicit command for humans to observe the seventh-day Sabbath appears with Israel in Exodus 16, in the manna episode, and then formally in the Mosaic covenant at Sinai in Exodus 20:8–11. Nehemiah 9:13–14 is especially significant because it says God came down at Sinai and “madest known unto them thy holy sabbath.” That wording strongly suggests the Sabbath, as a commanded covenant observance, was being revealed to Israel there.
Genesis 2:2–3 says God rested on and blessed the seventh day after creation, but it contains no command to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob to keep that day as Sabbath. Nor does Genesis record any patriarch observing a weekly Sabbath.
So the safest biblical conclusion is:
God established and sanctified the seventh day at creation, but Scripture does not show Abraham keeping a commanded seventh-day Sabbath. The Sabbath as an obligatory covenant sign is explicitly given to Israel under Moses.
That fits Exodus 31:16–17 particularly well: “the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath … it is a sign between me and the children of Israel.”
[Exo 16:22-30 KJV]
22 And it came to pass, [that] on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one [man]: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
23 And he said unto them, This [is that] which the LORD hath said, To morrow [is] the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake [that] which ye will bake [to day], and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day [is] a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, [which is] the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
27 And it came to pass, [that] there went out [some] of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
28 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?
29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
The New Testament never gives one external observance the exact title “the sign of the New Covenant” in the same formula used for circumcision or the Sabbath. But the closest thing to the New Covenant's identifying seal/sign is the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Paul says believers are:
- “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” — Ephesians 1:13
- given the Spirit as “the earnest of our inheritance” — Ephesians 1:14
- “sealed unto the day of redemption” — Ephesians 4:30
- God “hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” — 2 Corinthians 1:22
- God has given us “the earnest of the Spirit” — 2 Corinthians 5:5
That language is remarkably close to covenant-identification language. The Spirit marks out the people who belong to Christ and guarantees the future completion of redemption.
There is also an important connection with the actual New Covenant prophecy. Jeremiah 31:31–34 says God will put His law “in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” Ezekiel develops this further:
and:
— Ezekiel 36:26–27.
So the New Covenant moves dramatically from an external identifying sign toward an internal divine work.
That gives a striking progression:
Abrahamic Covenant: circumcision — Genesis 17:11
Mosaic Covenant: Sabbath — Exodus 31:13, 17
New Covenant: the Holy Spirit dwelling within and sealing God's people — Eph. 1:13–14; 2 Cor. 1:22.
There are two other New Covenant ordinances that should be distinguished from this.
The Lord's Supper explicitly commemorates the New Covenant:
— Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25.
So the bread and cup are certainly visible covenant memorials, especially the cup representing Christ's covenant blood. But Scripture calls the Supper a remembrance/proclamation, not specifically God's “sign between me and you” in the Exodus sense.
Likewise, water baptism visibly identifies a believer with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3–4; Colossians 2:12), but the NT never explicitly calls baptism the sign of the New Covenant.
And there is an even deeper identifying mark:
— John 13:35.
But that is an evidential mark of discipleship rather than a formal covenant sign.
So I would formulate it this way:
The New Covenant has no mandated weekly-day “sign” comparable to Israel's Sabbath. Its fundamental divine seal is the indwelling Holy Spirit; its visible covenant memorial is the Lord's Supper.
That distinction is actually quite powerful against the argument that Christians must retain the Sabbath because “every covenant requires the same kind of external sign.” The NT replaces the Mosaic covenant's external national marker with something far greater: God Himself dwelling in His people and sealing them unto redemption.
Circumcision was never "out". It was not prohibited or even discouraged. Messianic Jews continued the practice or did not as they saw appropriate. It was eliminated as a requirement for gentiles participating in the Synagogue. Conflating circumcision with God's law is error.
And please, please define what you mean by 'law". There is God's direct Law; His Commandments. There is His indirect Law, often called the Mosaic law. And there is church "Law" called Halakah for Hebrews, and church doctrine for Christians. Without these definitions discussions become nonsensical.
In the current discussion it would be correct to say the circumcision requirements for gentiles was removed. but only from the laws of Halakah.
And please, please define what you mean by 'law". There is God's direct Law; His Commandments. There is His indirect Law, often called the Mosaic law. And there is church "Law" called Halakah for Hebrews, and church doctrine for Christians. Without these definitions discussions become nonsensical.
In the current discussion it would be correct to say the circumcision requirements for gentiles was removed. but only from the laws of Halakah.
Sabbath (a day of rest) was made for man.
But? Saturday only?
Don't we all have a day of rest?
Israel was a theocracy.
We are not a theocracy.
People who work in a hospital may have a day in the middle of the week as their day of rest.
One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers
every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind." Romans 14:5
.......
My understanding sabbath is every 7 days, at least 1 day for gathering, holy convocation. It is a commandment, as well as a blessing.
My church met six nights a week for intense Bible teachings.
You want that?
You have your own chosen group you wish to follow.
Not everyone is the same in their walk with God.
We are not to be cookie cutter Christians.
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall.
And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike.
Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special
does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and
whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. Romans 14:4-6
.....
Circumcision is the SIGN OF THE COVENANT given to Abraham.
Gen 17:10
This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
Gen 17:13
He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
[Gen 17:7-9 KJV]
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
Good grief man did you read my posts?
"SIGN OF THE COVENANT"
Do you know what a covenant is?
Do you know what a sign is?
Medical evidence shows that circumcision can be healthier than uncircumcised.
Medical evidence indicates that circumcision can lower the risks of urinary tract infections,
sexually transmitted infections, and penile cancer compared to being uncircumcised.
However, the American Academy of Pediatrics states that the benefits are not strong enough
to recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns, leaving the decision to parents.
Can you show me a verse in the Bible that specifically says that the Sabbath day has been replaced by Sunday?
[2Ti 4:3 KJV] 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
It says that Jesus rose on the first day of the week.
One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike.
Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special
does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and
whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. Romans 14:5-6
grace and peace
True, there is not a single verse explicitly commanding the Christian church to switch its weekly day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. Nevertheless, it is a known historical fact that the Church introduced that change at a very early date, and there are a few verses here and there that show signs of it.
One example is Acts 20:7. The expression "breaking bread" usually refers to Holy Communion (the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper) and at this early date Paul was evidently celebrating that sacrament on the first day of the week, in this case for the church in Troas.
Which ever day in a week you choose for Holy convocation is fine. Any day in one week.