Jesus said much on excessive preoccupation with the details of the Law. He healed on the Sabbath. That was considered a sin in the eyes of the religious of the day as it apparently in some perverted way was defined as labor and labor was forbidden on the Sabbath. It is amazing how far away from original intent some definitions can become!
There are those who elect to keep and observe traditional Jewish customs and feasts. That’s fine. There is no sin in that. The sin comes from the condemnation of those who do not elect to follow those traditions.
Jesus, Paul and other writers of the Epistles had much to say on such legalisms. One would think that after nearly two thousand years of having the written Scripture, we as believers would have learned by now. There are still those who focus on one tiny element, and generally a non-essential one at that, and make major doctrine of it.
Do we worship on Saturday, or do we worship on Sunday? The claim is that it was the seventh day upon which God rested and thus that day is the Sabbath. Upon that precept, those who worship (or rest) on the first day of the week are in error.
The problem with that argument is twofold. One, Romans 14:5 should put that argument to rest as far as God’s judgment of our choice of days. Secondly, God rested on the seventh day. The seventh day from what? Seven days from Saturday is indeed Saturday. But, think about this. Seven days from Tuesday is Tuesday. What if God in the calendar at His disposal began His work on Tuesday? Then the Sabbath would be Tuesday.
That may seem like a simpleminded point but the truth is, God set aside the seventh day from today, meaning once every seven days, regardless of your starting day as a time of rest and thus becoming the Sabbath. Calendars have changed significantly since the beginning of recorded history so it would be impossible for anyone to say with any certainty just what day God rested on.
That said, there is no harm in the tradition of setting aside one day for a particular purpose. The same applies to setting aside specific days of the year to celebrate holidays. Whether or not the event celebrated occurred exactly on that day in history is not important. What is important is that we celebrate the reason for the day.
Dan W. Dooley
Dooley’s Treasure Chest
