There are some Christians who think that the New Testament doesn’t support the administration & observance of the Sabbath. In their minds, the 4th Commandment no longer applies whereas the other 9 do.
One way they articulate this runs through drawing a sharp distinction between what they call the Old Covenant & another covenant they call the New Covenant.
What follows comes from an interaction I myself had on social media a day or 2 ago.
The Bible itself uses “new covenant” language, not merely as a casual descriptor. Jeremiah 31:31 says, “I will make a new covenant.”
Notice that the text uses the word A not THE. God says He will make A new covenant not THE New Covenant.
Hebrews 8:8-13 quotes that and says the first covenant became old.
Which means old is a descriptor of A previous covenant **The Old Covenant.**
The proper name of the covenant that precedes the one you call The New Covenant is not “The Old Covenant,” it’s The Davidic Covenant,” which follows the Mosaic, Abrahamic, Noahic, Adamic, & Edenic (or Creation Covenant aka “The Covenant Of Works”).
Hebrews 10:9 says Christ “taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”
The words “first” & “second” are adjectives not **titles.**
So yes, there is a New Covenant, and the Bible contrasts it with the first/old covenant.
No, there is a **new** covenant that contrasts (via expansion) with a previous covenant. The term “Old Covenant” & “old (ie former/previous) covenant* are not convertible.
You are committing semantic anachronism — reading “old covenant” & “new covenant” via the lens of a particular view on these covenants, perhaps Dispensationalisn or New Covenant Theology) into the text.
The texts of Jeremiah & Hebrews aren’t simply referencing the Davidic & Mosaic Covenants. They are prophesying over **every** covenant in the past & the future. The words “old” & “new” corespond generally to “previous/first” &
“new/second.” The authors did not intend those terms to be titles. The are adjectives” not adjectives that serve as de jure adjectives that serve as de facto nouns.
Also, the claim “every covenant includes Sabbath law” is asserted, not proven. Where did God command Adam, Noah, Abraham, or Christians to keep the seventh-day Sabbath as covenant law?
You sound like you don’t believe in the concept of unenumerated rights that exist even though not enumerated.
This is the form of a suzerain covenant:
Shema, Historical Prologue, General Stipulations, Specific Stipulations, Covenant Renewal, Document Clause, Witnesses.
Eden
- God models the Sabbath by resting & the entrusting of general dominion includes the administration & observance of worship. To eat the fruit of the Tree of Life promises life & peace. To eat from the Tree of Knowledge shackles Adam & Eve to toil & sorrow (work(s))
Adam
After the Fall, God tasks Adam & Eve with work & with rest. How does God triumph over the serpent?
- He puts enmity between the Tempter/Accuser & Adam & Eve.
- Rather than take dominion away from them, God restates the Edenic Covenant by promising victory (salvation) through the seed of promise. He tells the serpent that the woman will bear offspring, thus entrusting her (& Adam) with protecting, sustaining, teaching, &tc themselves & especially their children forever.
- He retasks them both with work, now in toil & sorrow.
- God, just as He blessed the Sabbath Day & made it holy, modeled the work, worship, rest cycle for us all, is now seen to clothe them with animal skins.
- The Sabbath is about worship & rest. In chapter 4, we see both Cain & Abel engaging in sacrifice in imitation of God who did not leave Adam & Eve naked.
- Ask yourself how the original audience who read this would view this. Even though God doesn’t deliver the 4th Commandment in enumeration fashion, He models it for Adam & Eve who clearly got the message.
Noah
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give •you •everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And •for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from •every beast I will require it and from•• man. From •his fellow man I will require a reckoning •for the life of •man. (Genesis 9:3–5, ESV)
- The Bible teaches the 3 uses of the Law (individual/familial; ecclesiastical, & governmental)
- These correspond to 3 sets of keys which correspond to the 3 offices of Christ.
- Prophets, priests, & kings are charged with judgment. Sabbath regulations are prophetic, priestly, & kingly. The observance of judgment via the passing down of the Law & Gospel & the judgment of the people is contained in what the Mosaic Covenant.
- Notice that this is tied to food (both vegetation & animals) just as it was in the Eden narrative both before & after the Fall. When you see food & sacrifice together with an altar, Sabbath regulations are lurking in the background.
Abraham
- Genesis 12: How are people blessed in & through Abraham? They find proper worship & rest by way of living out the Law & Gospel.
- Genesis 15:
- Sabbath regulations are contained in the promise of deliverance of Abram’s people & great possessions (which we learn in Exodus - Deuteronomy are indexed to the worship (work - worship - rest) cycle.
- & to Abram’s own old age, rest, & peace.
- The LORD Himself passed between the pieces of animals while carrying the smoking pot & flaming torch. Again we see sacrifice.
- Sabbath regulations here are present by God’s promise & case law (God’s example).
Genesis 17
- Circumcision!
- Sabbath regulations include the administration of ordinances/sacraments.
The Bible recognizes the fact that what we know about God from Scripture turns on the concept of progressive revelation.
From Adam to Abraham, the Sabbath Commandment like the others is there by way case law. God leads by example. We to emulate His behavior. When the covenant itself appears by legislation, we can look to the words themselves & the events into which God speaks Truth.
As to the Sabbath Commandment, look for words about life & peace and for prophetic / ecclesiastical or quasi-ecclesiastical activity like altars, sacrifice, circumcision, prayer, worship, giving gifts, etc.
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