The 4th Commandment (Part 7)

The Common Holidays are soon upon us, & with it come those who complain about strict 7 Day Sabbatarianism, Christmas Trees, Halloween, & the food laws. 

As a matter of review, these & other practices are encompassed by the 4th Commandment. 

The 4th Commandment declares that the people are to work 6 days & set aside the 7th day out of a 7-Day cycle. It does not prescribe a Friday @ sunset to Sat. @ sunset day to the exclusion of any others. You ought to be able to deduce that the actual day or days of the week can be legally expanded.  

Sabbath regulations are a package deal.  If Rigid Sabbatarianism is true, there can be no expansion of the Hebrew feast/festival calendar in Lev. 23.  There is no command to observe Purim, yet Esther gives the rationale for it.  Yeshua attended the Festival of Lights — and He did so without sinning. 

Changing the times & the Law isn’t limited to the abolition/repeal of worship & rest regulations.  It also includes prohibitions on expanding the liturgical calendar in a manner that enslaves people to time, dates, seasons, & years.

Universal Principle: Determine a day &/or days to rest & worship.    

Civil Code:  This is the day on which we are to worship & how to properly execute it. 

The universal principle is inelastic.  The civil code may be expanded & contracted wisely & circumspectly.   To say otherwise is to make man made for the Sabbath not the other way around.

If you’re going to argue that the food laws are inelastic for Christians (and &/or anybody else), then since the Sabbath Commandment encompasses all worship regulations, then you must include circumcision — the NT doesn’t repeal it, & it corresponds to baptism, yet the NT doesn’t require circumcision of all believers.