I have a question about irony

[Laura]

@Dale

That may be a big reason why the Lord’s Day of rest has fallen into disrepute, that, and the failure (demonstrated here) of failing to distinguish Mosaic law from moral law.

I don’t think it’s “fallen into disrepute” – I think the Church has developed more diversity in what Sabbath-keeping looks like. I’m going to go with Paul on this one. Thanks for sharing your views.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

@Laura

I’m going to go with Paul on this one.

Paul said “sabbaths”, plural, not Sabbath, singular. And Paul was a Jew, and we are part of the true Israel. The Lord’s Day is still the Christian Sabbath and the commandment, a law of love to our Father, is still in effect, morally. I am not condemning my brothers and sisters, and thankfully punishment is no longer a threat, but you are missing out. (Don’t blame me! )

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

Leaders, however, do bear responsibility.

[Sealkin (Quinn)]

@Laura

I think the Church has developed more diversity in what Sabbath-keeping looks like.

Indeed that is true, but the Lord’s Day is kept one way or another, one may not be as conservative as me and avoid heavy secular works on Sunday but that is fine, it isn’t a salvation issue.

@Dale

but you are missing out.

The Lord’s Day is a day of rest indeed and a day to plug into God and rest in His grace. I myself am chilling out and finally finishing up on a NT commentary book and enjoying the Autumn colors outside of my house.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

I think there is reward to be gained in eternity, too. (I am sure I have forfeited reward in many other areas!) Seek Father’s heart.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

I have a question about irony.

I still do.

Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

And commerce is burdening, and a god of this age.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

@Laura

I think the Church has developed more diversity…

Moral diversity is ignorance or rebellion.

[Laura]

Sorry, I don’t see it as moral diversity.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

You would be mistaken.

[glipsnort (Steve Schaffner)]

@Dale

Paul said “sabbaths”, plural, not Sabbath, singular.

I’m afraid that doesn’t actually tell us anything. In Greek, “Sabbaths” (σαββατα) can have either singular or plural meaning, both in the New Testament and outside it. For example, in the opening of Matthew 28:1, ὀψέ σαββάτων, Sabbath is plural in form but singular in meaning.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

It is the first thing recorded in scripture that he sanctifies (the first time the word “holy” is used in scripture) is the Day of Rest. (Genesis 2:3)

It is a good thing that it is not our holiness but our Lord’s that Father sees! “Make every effort to… be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14.

It is the principal one [of the Ten Commandments] that Jesus used to show the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and to get himself sacrificed for our redemption.

It is the only one that involves redemption. (Deuteronomy 5:15)

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. - Deuteronomy 5:15

Father likes an arbitrary command or three:

1. “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
   but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’” Genesis 2:16-17.
2. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are
   to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.’” Exodus 16:4-5.
3. The other nine of the Ten make implicit and intuitive sense in terms of loving Father and loving others, so the commandment to rest, and especially to rest on the seventh day, is effectively arbitrary compared to the others.

(Any of Father’s wishes is righteous, even if it is arbitrary. “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” Jeremiah 9:23-24)

Its inclusion immediately after the massively important first part of Isaiah 58 is a good example. Something about its importance could certainly be inferred from that.

It is an enduring metaphor for grace and justification by faith: “…to the man who does not work but trusts God…” Romans. 4:5.

One important point about why the first day of the week is the Christian day of rest: that is the day when our Lord Jesus rested from what was truly work for him. Creation was “no sweat” for him in his power, so to speak, but he sweat blood and his work for our redemption was immeasurably and unspeakably more arduous, and from which he rested on the Lord’s Day.

Obedience to the commandment to rest is no longer obligatory?!

[sfmatheson]

@glipsnort

For example, in the opening of Matthew 28:1, ὀψέ σαββάτων, Sabbath is plural in form but singular in meaning.

I mean, that’s like rain on your wedding day.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

@glipsnort

I’m afraid that doesn’t actually tell us anything. In Greek, “Sabbaths” (σαββατα) can have either singular or plural meaning, both in the New Testament and outside it. For example, in the opening of Matthew 28:1, ὀψέ σαββάτων, Sabbath is plural in form but singular in meaning.

There it is plural in meaning. There were two sabbaths that week, the ceremonial one for the passover celebration and the weekly one. Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

I don’t pretend to be a Greek scholar, but I presume this is modern Greek, and the plural has a different ending vowel than the singular:

[Laura]

@sfmatheson

@glipsnort

For example, in the opening of Matthew 28:1, ὀψέ σαββάτων, Sabbath is plural in form but singular in meaning.

I mean, that’s like rain on your wedding day.

That’s what I assumed this topic was going to be about, but here we are.

[glipsnort (Steve Schaffner)]

@Dale

There it is plural in meaning. There were two sabbaths that week, the ceremonial one for the passover celebration and the weekly one. Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights .

Matthew 12:1 “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath…”
Mark 1:21 “They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came…”
Mark 2:23 “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields…”
Luke 4:31 “Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people.”
Acts 13:14 “From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.”

All plural in form.

[glipsnort (Steve Schaffner)]

@sfmatheson

I mean, that’s like rain on your wedding day.

Like the song named ‘Ironic’, this thread contains no actual irony. (Which is, of course, rather. . . what’s the word I’m looking for?)

[sfmatheson]

@glipsnort

Like the song named ‘Ironic’, this thread contains no actual irony.

Well, IMO, a thread devoted to the earnest discussion of whether the Sabbath is a commandment that requires obligatory obedience is pitifully ironic. That the pursuit involves the ruthless torture of at least two languages is, you know, a free ride when you’ve already paid.

[DennisVenema]

Actually, it’s more like good advice that you just can’t take.

[DennisVenema]

@Sealkin

I feel the Lord’s Day should be seen as a special day of rest as in when we can for once a day cease from our secular works

All of life is sacred, and all work is sacred (in my opinion). I don’t have a “Christian” part of my week and a “secular” part of my week, unless one counts the rhythms of my own piety and hypocrisy.