What about the Sabbath?
This question was recently posed to a pastor I know who is in fact right now dealing with two long-standing members leaving his the church he pastors because of this question. Not just this question, but the deeper question behind it: what about the law?
When they say, “law”, what they’re referring to is the law of the Old Testament, the Jewish law set forth in the Old Testament. This is called the mitzvot, and it is 613 laws derived from commands and conversations the Lord had with people recorded in the Old Testament. Some Jewish scholars say the number is slightly less than 613, and there are some who say that the number is actually much higher than 613. But, regardless of the exact number of laws, there are a lot of laws to follow. A lot.
Part of the problem here is that we couldn’t even keep one law: don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How then could we be expected to keep 613 laws? We can’t. It’s impossible. But still, God’s people tried, and many Christians even now get hung up on trying to abide by some of the laws of the Old Testament. Now, there are definitely some of the Old Testament laws that still apply to us today. It’s still wrong to murder someone. It’s still wrong to worship something or someone other than the Lord. It’s still wrong to lie. But how do we, as Christians, sort between what is still applicable, if any, and what is not?
Fortunately, our passage in Galatians will help us with this. Turn with me if you will to Galatians 2:16-21. Remember that Paul wrote this to try to encourage the church in Galatia to hold firm to what the truth about Christ was and reject false teachings, regardless of where or whom they came from.
Paul wrote, “Here is what we know. No one is made right with God by obeying the law. It is by believing in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus. This is so we can be made right with God by believing in Christ. We are not made right by obeying the law. That’s because no one can be made right with God by obeying the law. We are seeking to be made right with God through Christ. As we do, what if we find that we who are Jews are also sinners? Does that mean that Christ causes us to sin? Certainly not! Suppose I build again what I had destroyed. Then I would really be breaking the law. By the law, I died as far as the law is concerned. I died so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ. I don’t live any longer, but Christ lives in me. Now I live my life in my body by faith in the Son of God. He loved me and gave himself for me. I do not get rid of the grace of God. What if a person could become right with God by obeying the law? Then Christ died for nothing!” (NIRV)
Paul’s words here were addressing a specific false teaching that had come up in the Galatian church that had some accusing Paul of sinning! Now, we’ve already seen through our look at Galatians 1 last week that once Paul came to Christ and was saved, he completely turned away from a life of sin and lived to serve Christ in word and deed. So when he was accused of sinning, it was a serious accusation and he was adamant about addressing it so others wouldn’t question their faith.
The false teaching here was that Christ was causing Jewish believers to sin. This is where we, as 21st century Christians get to scoff and roll our eyes and say, “what?” How does that make any sense? How could a teaching that Christ was causing Jewish believers to sin actually be taken seriously enough that people believed it?
Well, here was their argument: the Jewish law said that God’s people were not allowed to eat with those who weren’t Jewish, because gentiles, or the non-Jewish, were unclean, and Jewish persons could not eat with those who were unclean. But, when Jews became Christians, they had begun to associate with Gentile Christians, including eating meals with them. Jewish Christians began to do things that were against Jewish law.
So, there were some teaching the false teaching that because Jewish Christians were eating with Gentile Christians, then a Jewish person who became a Christian was being caused to sin because of their Christian faith. Put simply, this teaching was saying that Jewish Christian’s identity in Christ led them into sin.
When Paul asks the question, “Does that mean that Christ causes us to sin?” He answers immediately with, “Certainly not!” Christ doesn’t make anyone sin. That is opposite of His character and the essence of who He is. Paul then feels it is necessary to explain why Jewish Christians were not sinning by eating with Gentile Christians.
Paul proves his point by talking about the relationship of the Jewish law to Christians. He answers questions that still come up today about whether the law still applies to Christians or not, and to what extent.
Let’s look at this part of Paul’s words again, “Here is what we know. No one is made right with God by obeying the law. It is by believing in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus. This is so we can be made right with God by believing in Christ. We are not made right by obeying the law. That’s because no one can be made right with God by obeying the law. We are seeking to be made right with God through Christ.” (v. 16)
Paul says that no one is made right with God by obeying the law. History proved that. Even the giants of the Jewish faith: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and so on; not one of them was made right by obeying the law. It’s impossible because the law was so extensive, and even the best people with the best intentions can’t keep every law.
But, the only way that God could be with people was if they were without sin, if they kept the law perfectly. Someone had to keep the law. Jesus did. He kept the law, but not as man had interpreted it, He kept the law the way God intended it. In keeping the law the way God ascribed it, He fulfilled it. Through His death and resurrection, He justified all those who would come after Him if they believe in Him and live for Him. Justified means that He makes it just as if we had never sinned. He forgives us, but goes further than just forgiving us, He wipes our sin from memory and makes it as if it had never happened.
Paul asserts, and says correctly that we can only be made right with God by believing in Christ, because Christ was the only one who was able to keep the law because He was God in the flesh. We cannot be made right by obeying the law. So, if we are going to try to be right with God, the only way to do that is through faith in Christ. Remember Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (NIV)
When Christ kept the law, and then died and was resurrected, He made a new covenant. The old covenant in the Old Testament was complete. All the terms were met by Jesus. So, since he completed the old covenant, He had the right to make a new covenant. In that new covenant, He makes the “rules” and “requirements”. Now, in Christ’s new covenant, He gets to say what is righteous and what is sin, and He was given authority to do this because God the Father gave Him that authority.
Ephesians 1:22-23 says this, “And He (that’s God the Father) put all things in subjection under His (that’s Christ) feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (NASB) That last phrase, that Jesus is Him who fills all in all, is a reference to the law. Jesus is the one who fills the whole of the law. And because He fills the whole of the law, God the Father put all things under Christ’s feet, including the authority to be over the church and the new covenant that started the church!
Hebrews 8:7-9:28 is an entire section of the New Testament devoted to the authority that God gave to Christ to establish the terms of the new covenant.
The new covenant in Christ is what establishes what is righteous and what is sin. God said that through the new covenant, He would write His laws on our hearts. Sin can no longer be measured by the law, but rather by God’s law written on our hearts. Again, we ask, what about the law? Does this new covenant not include any part of the old covenant? Does that mean that now we can murder and lie and not keep the Sabbath?
Let’s go back to what Paul said to the Galatians. “Suppose I build again what I had destroyed. Then I would really be breaking the law. By the law, I died as far as the law is concerned. I died so that I might live for God.” (Vv. 18-19) We died to the law. We died to all parts of the old covenant, and any sort of past relationships we might have had to the law have been destroyed so we might live for God. Dying to the law means that we have no further relation to it.
We live according to the new covenant in Christ! Galatians 3:24-25 says this, “So the law was put in charge of us until Christ came. He came so that we might be made right with God by believing in Christ. But now faith in Christ has come. So the law is no longer in charge of us.” (NIRV) What does the new covenant require of us then?
Faith. That’s the simple answer. It requires faith in Christ. That’s more than mere belief, remember we were reminded by Jesus that even the demons believe in Him and tremble. Faith in Christ is marked by a few characteristics that Christ-followers display that we see throughout the New Testament which tells us about the new covenant we are under. Faith in Christ, the new covenant looks like this:
Love for God
Love for Christ
Sacrificial love for others
Unity and equality of all believers
Repentance and humility
Dying to self and living for Christ
Walking by the Spirit
Now, some of the old covenant “laws” do fall into this new covenant. It’s still wrong to murder because that doesn’t show love for others. It’s still wrong to lie for the same reason, and because lies are usually constructed to protect ourself, and we are meant to die to self and live for Christ. But, things like keep the Sabbath from Friday at sundown to Saturday sundown…well, depends on why you’re doing it. If it’s just to check a box because that’s the “law”, it’s not necessary. If that’s the time that the Spirit has impressed upon you to take a day of rest and to honor the Lord, then you should do that…but that doesn’t mean it’s a sin if someone else doesn’t.
This is the new covenant.
Not Christ or the law.
Not Christ and the law.
Only Christ.
1. Are there any “laws” of the old testament that you have heard should still be obeyed? What are they? Do they line up with the “requirements” of the new covenant in Christ?
2. There is significant freedom in Christ and His new covenant. What guide does Galatians 5:13 offer us for how to use our freedom in Christ?
3. What is the promise for those walking by the Spirit in Galatians 5:16?