SABBATH VS. SUNDAY AN INTERNET DEBATE

Transcription

1 SABBATH VS. SUNDAY AN INTERNET DEBATE Is the Saturday Sabbath a creational institution for mankind, or a Mosaic ordinance for the Jews alone? Do Christians need to observe the Sabbath, or has Jesus Christ fulfilled its typological function by becoming our salvation rest? Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, professor of Theology and Church History at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan and Dale Ratzlaff, pastor of the Christian Community Church in Glendale, Arizona agreed to debate their opposing views regarding the Sabbath/Sunday question on the Internet.

2 Sabbath vs. Sunday An Internet Debate Is the Saturday Sabbath a creational institution for mankind, or a Mosaic ordinance for the Jews alone? Do Christians need to observe the Sabbath, or has Jesus Christ fulfilled its typological function by becoming our salvation rest? 2

3 Format/Layout: Freetoshare Publications, 2010/ For inquiry, at: 3

4 Installment #1/Introduction The Internet Debaters Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi Dale Ratzlaff Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi has published several books supporting the keeping of a Saturday Sabbath, the most famous of which is his doctoral dissertation From Sabbath to Sunday, originally published by the Pontifical Gregorian University Press with the official Catholic imprimatur. Dr. Bacchiocchi's Web site is at: Mr. Ratzlaff has published his views in a book entitled The Sabbath in Crisis and believes that the Sabbath is not a creational/moral institution for mankind, but a ceremonial/old Covenant ordinance given to the Jews. Christians, according to Mr. Ratzlaff, no longer need to observe the Sabbath. Mr. Ratzlaff's Web site is at: The general format of this debate will be that Dr. Bacchiocchi will give an analysis of Mr. Ratzlaff's arguments found in his book The Sabbath in Crisis, after which Mr. Ratzlaff will give his response and offer his own arguments for Dr. Bacchiocchi to answer. 4

5 Sabbath vs. Sunday An Internet Debate Installment #1 Links to significant points in this installment Argument/Response 1 Argument: In Gen (2:1-3), the omission of "the evening and the morning" with the seventh day indicates the Sabbath is a symbolic time representing eternal rest. (Dale Ratzlaff) Argument/Response 2 Argument: In Gen. 1-2 there is no mention of the word 'Sabbath'. (Dale Ratzlaff) Response: Four reasons the symbolic interpretation of the creation-seventh-day does not negate its literal 24-hour duration. (Samuele Bacchiocchi) Response: Cognate verbal form shabat-rested (to cease, to stop) is used in Genesis and contains an allusion to the name 'the Sabbath day.' (Samuele Bacchiocchi) THE SABBATH A CREATIONAL OR CEREMONIAL INSTITUTION? Note: The page references given in parenthesis are from the 1990 edition of Mr. Ratzlaff's book The Sabbath in Crisis. Dale Ratzlaff's First Argument (as stated by Samuele Bacchiocchi) The omission in the creation account of "the evening and the morning" in connection with the seventh day indicates that the Sabbath is not a literal 24-hour day like the preceding six days, but a symbolic time representing eternal rest. 5

6 "The Genesis account does not mention an end to God's seventh-day rest. Rather it is presented as an ongoing state by the omission of the formula 'and there was evening and morning, a seventh day' " (p. 24). "Therefore we can conclude that the conditions and characteristics of that first seventh day were designed by God to continue and would have continued had it not been for the sin of Adam and Eve" (p. 22). Samuele Bacchiocchi's Response to First Argument Both Rabbis and Christian writers have interpreted the absence of any reference to "the evening and morning" in connection with the seventh day of creation as representing the eternal rest of God which will be ultimately experienced by the redeemed. Augustine offers a most fitting example of this interpretation in the last page of his Confessions, where he offers this exquisite prayer: "O Lord God, grant Thy peace unto us... the peace of rest, the peace of the Sabbath which has no evening. For all this most beautiful order of things, 'very good'... is to pass away, for in them there was morning and evening. But the seventh day is without any evening, nor hath it any setting, because Thou hast sanctified it to an everlasting continuance;... that we also after our works... may repose in Thee also in the Sabbath of eternal life." This spiritual, eschatological interpretation of the creation Sabbath has some merits, because, as shown in my two books Divine Rest For Human Restlessness and The Sabbath in the New Testament, the vision of the peace, rest, and prosperity of the first Sabbath inspired the prophetic vision of the peace, delight, and prosperity of the world-to-come. This interpretation is also found in Hebrews 4 where believers are urged to strive to enter into the Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God (vv. 9, 11). The symbolic interpretation of the creation-seventh-day which has no evening, does not negate its literal 24-hour duration, for at least four reasons: First, the seventh day is enumerated like the preceding six days. Note that 6

7 in the Bible whenever "day-yom" is accompanied by a number it always means a day of 24 hours. When "day-yom" is used in a figurative way such as "the day of trouble" (Ps 20:1) or "the day of salvation" (Is 49:8), it is never accompanied by a number. Second, the Decalogue itself clearly states that God, having worked six days, rested on the seventh day of creation week (Ex 20:11). If the first six days were ordinary earthly days, we have reasons to understand the seventh in the same way. Third, every passage which mentions the creation-seventh-day as the basis of the earthly Sabbath regards it as an ordinary day (Ex 20:11; 31:17; cf. Mark 2:27; Heb 4:4), and not as a symbol of eternal rest. Last, the commandment to keep the Sabbath as a memorial day of the creation-sabbath (Ex 20:11) implies a literal original 24-hour Sabbath. God could hardly command His creatures to work six days and rest on the seventh after His example, if the seventh day was not a literal day. Dale Ratzlaff's Second Argument (as stated by Samuele Bacchiocchi) "There is no mention of the word 'Sabbath' in the Genesis account" (p. 21). This omission indicates that the Sabbath as a day to be observed originated not at creation but later at the time of Moses. Samuele Bacchiocchi's Response to Second Argument It is true that the name "Sabbath" does not occur in Genesis 2:2-3, but the cognate verbal form shabat-rested (to cease, to stop) is used and the latter contains an allusion to the name 'the Sabbath day.' Moreover, as Cassuto sagaciously remarks, the use of the number "seventh" day rather than the name "Sabbath" may well reflect the writer's concern to underline the perpetual order of the day, independent and free from any association with astrological "sabbaths" of the heathen nations. It is a known fact that the term shabbatu, which is strikingly similar to the 7

8 Hebrew word for Sabbath (shabbat), occurs in the documents of ancient Mesopotamia. The term apparently designated the fifteenth day of the month, that is, the day of the full moon. By designating the day by number rather than by name, Genesis seems to emphasize that God's Sabbath day is not like that of heathen nations, connected with the phases of the moon. Rather it shall be the seventh day in perpetual order, independent from any association with the cycles of heavenly bodies. By pointing to a perpetual order, the seventh day strengthens the cosmological message of the creation story, precisely that God is both Creator and constant controller of this cosmos. In Exodus, however, where the seventh day is given in the context of the genesis not of this cosmos but of the nation of Israel, the day is explicitly designated "sabbath," apparently to express its new historical and soteriological function. Dale Ratzlaff's Third Argument "There is no command for mankind to rest in the Genesis account" (p. 25). "Nothing is expressly mentioned regarding man in the seventh-daycreation rest" (p. 26). This indicates that the Sabbath is not a creation ordinance binding upon mankind, but a temporary institution introduced by Moses for Israel alone. Samuele Bacchiocchi's Response to Third Argument There is no command to keep the Sabbath in Genesis 2:2-3 most likely because Genesis is not a book of commands but of origins. None of the Ten Commandments are ever mentioned in Genesis, yet we know that their principles were known because we are told, for example: "Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws" (Gen 26:5). Another reason for the absence of a command to keep the Sabbath in Genesis, is the cosmological function of the Sabbath in the creation story. It tells us how God felt about His creation. It was "very good" so He "stopped-shabat" to celebrate the goodness of His creation. In Exodus, however, the function of the Sabbath is anthropological. It invites mankind to celebrate God's perfect creation by following His example. Note that in 8

9 Genesis God's Sabbath rest is a rest of CESSATION-SHABAT, because is meant to dramatize how God felt about His creation: it was perfect, so He stopped. In Exodus, however, the Sabbath rest of God is a rest of RELAXATION-NUAH (Ex 20:11), because it serves as model for human rest. The fact that the Sabbath is established in the creation story by a divine example rather than by a divine commandment for mankind, could also reflect what God intended the sabbath to be in a sinless world, namely, not an alienating imposition but a free response to a gracious Creator. By freely choosing to make himself available to his Creator on the Sabbath, man was to experience physical, mental, and spiritual renewal and enrichment. Since these needs have not been eliminated but heightened by the Fall, the moral, universal, and perpetual functions of the Sabbath precept were repeated later in the form of a commandment. The argument that the Sabbath originated at Sinai makes Moses guilty of distortion of truth or, at least, a victim of gross misunderstanding. He would have traced back the Sabbath to creation when in reality it was his own new creation. Such a charge, if true, would cast serious doubts on the integrity and/or reliability of anything else Moses or anyone else wrote in the Bible. What is it that makes any divine precept moral and universal? Do we not regard a law moral when it reflects God's nature? Could God have given any stronger revelation of the moral nature of the Sabbath than by making it a rule of His divine conduct? Is a principle established by divine example less binding than one enunciated by a divine command? Do not actions speak louder than words? In the next installment Mr. Bacchiocchi will examine Mr. Ratzlaff's argument that the Sabbath is part of the Old Covenant that terminated at the Cross. 9

10 Sabbath vs. Sunday An Internet Debate Installment #2 In the first installment Samuele Bacchiocchi responded to the three basic arguments Dale Ratzaff presented in his book The Sabbath in Crisis to deny the creation origin of the Sabbath and to reduce the Sabbath to a Mosaic institution given exclusively to the Jews and abrogated by Christ together with the rest of the Mosaic laws. In this installment Sam mentions two important New Testament texts that clearly affirm the creation origin of the Sabbath. These comments are a continuation and conclusion of his initial comments made in Installment #1. Links to significant points in this installment Explanation 1 An explanation of "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27) (Samuele Bacchiocchi) Explanation 2 An explanation of "God rested on the seventh day from all his works." (Hebrews 4:4) (Samuele Bacchiocchi) Continuation of Samuele Bacchiocchi's Initial Comments Note: The page references given in parenthesis are from the 1990 edition of Mr. Ratzlaff's book The Sabbath in Crisis. Mark 2:27 The first New Testament reference that teaches the creation origin of the Sabbath is found in Mark 2:27. In this passage Jesus refutes the charge of Sabbathbreaking leveled against His disciples who were relieving their 10

11 hunger by plucking raw ears of grain, by saying: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). It is noteworthy that Christ refuted the charge of Sabbathbreaking by referring to the original purpose of the Sabbath which is to ensure physical and spiritual well-being: "The Sabbath was made on account of man and not man on account of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Our Lord's choice of words is significant. The verb "made-ginomai" alludes to the original "making" of the Sabbath and the word "mananthropos" suggests its human function. Thus to establish the human and universal value of the Sabbath, Christ reverts to its very origin, right after the creation of man. Why? Because for the Lord the law of the beginning stands supreme. The importance of God's original design is emphasized in another instance when in reproving the corruption of the institution of marriage, which occurred under the Mosaic code, Christ reverted to its Edenic origin, saying: "From the beginning it was not so" (Matt 19:8). Christ then traces both marriage and the Sabbath to their creation origin in order to clarify their fundamental value and function for mankind. Ratzlaff rejects this interpretation because he says: "This interpretation runs contrary to the Jewish understanding that the Sabbath was given ONLY to the nation of Israel" (p. 110). This argument ignores two fundamental facts. First, the meaning of a Bible text is not determined by Jewish tradition but by the internal evidence of Scripture. In this case, Scripture clearly attest to the creational origin of the Sabbath, as we have already seen. Second, Ratzlaff ignores that the Jewish attempt to reduce the Sabbath from a creation ordinance established for mankind to a Mosaic ordinance given exclusively to Israel, was developed by Palestinian rabbis to preserve a Jewish identity, at a time when the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes implemented a program of radical Hellenization of the Jews through the prohibition of sacrifices and Sabbathkeeping (175 B.C.). The result was that many Jews fell away, "sacrificed to the gods and desecrated the Sabbath" (1 Macc. 1:43). Pious Jews resisted passionately against such 11

12 Hellenization, preferring to be slaughtered rather than desecrating the Sabbath (1 Macc. 2 :32-38). The need to preserve a Jewish identity at that critical time inspired an exclusivistic and nationalistic view of the Sabbath. Some Rabbis taught that the privilege of Sabbathkeeping was denied to the Gentiles and reserved exclusively to Israel. As stated in the book of Jubilees, "He [God] allowed no other people or peoples to keep the Sabbath on this day, except Israel only; to it alone he granted to eat and drink and keep the Sabbath on it" (2 :31). If the patriarchs are sometimes mentioned as keeping the Sabbath, this is regarded as an exception "before it [the Sabbath] was given" to Israel. The notion of the Sabbath as an exclusively Jewish institution, established not at creation for all mankind but by Moses for Israel alone, makes God guilty, to say the least, of favoritism and discriminatory practices. It must be said, however, that such a view represents a late secondary development rather than an original tradition. This is borne out by the fact that even in Palestinian literature there are references to the creation origin of the Sabbath. For example, the Book of Jubilees (about B.C.), while on the one hand it says that God allowed "Israel only" to keep the Sabbath (Jub. 2:31), on the other holds that God "kept Sabbath on the seventh day and hallowed it for all ages, and appointed it as a sign for all His works" (Jub. 2:1). In Hellenistic (Greek) Jewish literature the Sabbath is unmistakably viewed as a creation ordinance designed for all people. For example, Philo, the famous Jewish philosopher, not only traces the origin of the Sabbath to creation, but also delights to call it "the birthday of the world." Referring to the creation story, Philo explains: "We are told that the world was made in six days and that on the seventh God ceased from his works and began to contemplate what had been so well created, and therefore he bade those who should live as citizens under this world order to follow God in this as in other matters." Because the Sabbath exists from creation, Philo emphasizes that it is "the festival not of a single city or country but of the universe, and it alone 12

13 strictly deserves to be called public, as belonging to all people." The recognition of the creation origin of the Sabbath is also found in the documents of the early Church. Anyone interested in this question is welcomed to read chapter 1 of my book Divine Rest for Human Restlessness where all the documentation is found. Hebrews 4:4 The second and most explicit reference to the creation Sabbath is found in the book of Hebrews. In the fourth chapter of the book, the author establishes the universal and spiritual nature of the Sabbath rest by welding together two Old Testament texts, namely Genesis 2:2 and Psalm 95:11. Through the former, he traces the origin of the Sabbath rest back to creation when "God rested on the seventh day from all his works" (Heb 4:3; cf. Gen 2:2-3). By the latter (Ps 95:11), he explains that the scope of this divine rest includes the blessings of salvation to be found by entering personally into God's rest (Heb 4:3, 5, 10). Our immediate concern is not to understand the meaning of the rest mentioned in the passage, but rather to note that the author traces its origin back to the time of creation, when "God rested on the seventh day from all his works" (Heb 4:4). The context clearly indicates that the author is thinking of the "works" of creation, since he explains that God's "works were finished from the foundations of the world" (Heb 4:3). The probative value of this statement is heightened by the fact that the author is not arguing for the creation origin of the Sabbath, but rather he takes it for granted to explain God's ultimate purpose for His people. Thus, in Hebrews 4, the creation origin of the Sabbath is not only accepted but is also presented as the basis for understanding God's ultimate purpose for His people. This fact helps us to appreciate why the writer of Hebrews declares the Levitical priesthood and its services "abolished" (10:9), "obsolete" and "ready to vanish away" (8:13), but he explicitly presents the "Sabbath rest" as a divine benefit that still "remains" (4:9). The verb "remains-apoleipetai," literally means "to be left behind." 13

14 Literally translated verse 9 reads: "So then a Sabbath rest is left behind for the people of God." The permanence of the Sabbath is also implied in the exhortation to "strive to enter that rest" (4:11). The fact that one must make efforts "to enter that rest" implies that the "rest" experience of the Sabbath also has a future realization and consequently cannot have terminated with the coming of Christ. What is the nature of the "Sabbath rest" that is still outstanding for God's people (4:9)? Is the writer thinking of a literal or spiritual type of Sabbathkeeping? Verse 10 describes the basic characteristic of Christian Sabbathkeeping, namely, cessation from work: "For whoever enters God's rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his" (4:10). Historically, the majority of commentators have interpreted the cessation from work of Hebrews 4:10 in a figurative sense, namely as "abstention from servile work," meaning sinful activities. Thus, Christian Sabbathkeeping means not the interruption of daily work on the seventh day, but the abstention from sinful acts at all times. In support of this view, appeal is made to Hebrews' reference to "dead works" (6:1; 9:14). Such a concept, however, cannot be read back into Hebrews 4:10, where a comparison is made between the divine and the human cessation from "works." It would be absurd to think that God ceased from "sinful deeds." The point of the analogy is simply that as God ceased on the seventh day from His creation work, so believers are to cease on the same day from their labors. This is a simple statement of the nature of Sabbathkeeping which essentially involves cessation from works. Further support for a literal understanding of Sabbathkeeping is provided by the historical usage of the term "sabbatismos-sabbath rest" found in Hebrews 4:9. This term occurs only once in the New Testament, but is used several times as a technical term for Sabbathkeeping in post-canonical literature by Plutarch, Justin, Epiphanius, the Apostolic Constitutions and the Martyrdom of Peter and Paul. Prof. A. T. Lincoln, a contributor to the symposium FROM SABBATH TO THE LORD'S DAY, acknowledges that in each of the above instances "the term denotes the observance or celebration of the Sabbath. This usage 14

15 corresponds to the Septuagint usage of the cognate verb sabbatizo (cf. Ex 16:23; Lev 23:32; 26:34f.; 2 Chron 36:21), which also has reference to Sabbath observance. Thus the writer to the Hebrews is saying that since the time of Joshua an observance of Sabbath rest has been outstanding." We would conclude then that both the reference to cessation from work found in v. 10 and the term "sabbatismos-sabbathkeeping" used in v. 9 make it abundantly clear that the writer is thinking of a literal Sabbath observance. Is the author of Hebrews merely encouraging his readers to interrupt their secular activities on the Sabbath? Considering the concern of the writer to counteract the tendency of his readers to adopt Jewish liturgical customs as a means to gain access to God, he could hardly have emphasized solely the physical "cessation" aspect of Sabbathkeeping. This aspect yields only a negative idea of rest, one which would only serve to encourage existing Judaizing tendencies. Obviously then, the author attributes a deeper meaning to the resting on the Sabbath. This deeper meaning can be seen in the antithesis the author makes between those who failed to enter into God's rest because of "unbeliefapeitheias" (4:6, 11)-that is, faithlessness which results in disobedienceand those who enter it by "faith-pistei" (4:2, 3), that is, faithfulness that results in obedience. The act of resting on the Sabbath for the author of Hebrews is not merely a routine ritual (cf. "sacrifice"-matt 12:7), but rather a faith-response to God. Such a response entails not the hardening of one's heart (4:7) but the making of oneself available to "hear his voice" (4:7). It means experiencing God's salvation rest not by works but by faith, not by doing but by being saved through faith (4:2, 3, 11). On the Sabbath, as John Calvin aptly expresses it, believers are "to cease from their work to allow God to work in them." The Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God (4:9) is not a mere day of idleness for the author of Hebrews, but rather an opportunity renewed every week to enter God's rest, that is, to free oneself from the cares of work in order to experience freely by faith God's creation and redemption rest. 15

16 The Sabbath experience of the blessings of salvation is not exhausted in the present, since the author exhorts his readers to "strive to enter that rest" (4:11). This dimension of the future Sabbath rest shows that Sabbathkeeping in Hebrews expresses the tension between the "already" and the "not yet," between the present experience of salvation and its eschatological consummation in the heavenly Canaan. This expanded interpretation of Sabbathkeeping in the light of the Christ event was apparently designed to wean Christians away from a too materialistic understanding of its observance. To achieve this objective, the author on the one hand reassures his readers of the permanence of the blessings contemplated by the Sabbath rest and on the other hand explains that the nature of these blessings consists in experiencing both a presentsalvation-rest and the future restoration-rest which God offers to those "who have believed" (4:3). CONCLUSION The conclusion that emerges from the two texts briefly considered is that the New Testament agrees with the Old Testament in viewing the Sabbath as a creation institution intended for mankind. Those who, like Razlaff, attempt to reduce the Sabbath to a Mosaic ordinance given to the Jews, deprive themselves and others of the spiritual, physical, and social renewal God intended the Sabbath to provide. 16

17 Sabbath vs. Sunday An Internet Debate Installment #3 The essay below is Dale Ratzlaff's first response to Dr. Bacchiocchi's two-part analysis of his arguments about the Mosaic origin of the Sabbath. Links to significant points in this installment Response 1 We should not jump from Genesis to Mark to Hebrews in one leap seeking to prove or disprove anything. Fifteen tentative conclusions we can make from Genesis. (Dale Ratzlaff) Dale Ratzlaff's first response to Dr. Bacchiocchi I believe we are going about this discussion in the wrong way. We cannot (should not) jump from Genesis to Mark to Hebrews in one leap seeking to prove or disprove anything so fast. If this is going to be a serious RE-study of the Sabbath let us not reach conclusions so fast! Rather, let us look at each new development of Sabbath understanding as it unfolds in Scripture. Let us agree on the data before we seek to reach a conclusion. Let us come to this study, laying aside our preconceived opinions, and seek only to find what Gods Word says. Let us look at ALL the data and THEN reach conclusions. Let us start with Genesis, agree on what Genesis says about the Sabbath. Then let us go to Sinai, find what the Old Covenant says about the Sabbath. Then, and then only, are we prepared to go to the New Covenant. In each unfolding let us seek to discover all that a given portion says and let us not try to immediately impose upon a section that which we think it means based upon our understanding of other references. This we can and should do at the CONCLUSION of our study and then only after we have agreed on the data step by step. 17

18 I sincerely believe that if we come to the Bible with the spirit of a learner, not me trying to disprove your conclusions, or you mine, we stand a better chance of allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us. In the Sabbath study I was involved with, we listed our tentative conclusions after each portion of the Bible we studied. Our goal was to simply state in summary fashion nothing more or nothing less than what was taught in THAT section of Scripture. We found these summary conclusions to be very helpful when later we drew our final conclusions. Following are the fifteen tentative conclusions we came to from our study of Genesis. Tell me which of the conclusions you accept and which ones you reject. Lets agree here on the data we jointly accept. If we do this now and at each new, unfolding of Sabbath section, then we may well reach the same conclusion, Gods truth! 1. Creation was completed in six days. 2. God rested on the seventh day. 3. God blessed the seventh day. 4. God sanctified the seventh day. 5. The reason God sanctified the seventh day was because He rested on it. 6. The seventh-day account does NOT have the formula "and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day" as do the six days of creation. 7. The creation record is carefully constructed. 8. There is no mention of the word "Sabbath" in the book of Genesis. 9. There is no command for mankind to rest in the Genesis account. 10. Nothing is expressly mentioned regarding man in the seventhday-creation rest. 11. The seventh-day "rest" of God was most likely characterized by His delight in His new creation and by open fellowship with Adam and Eve in the sin-free, perfect environment of Eden. 12. The conditions which characterized the "rest" of God would probably have continued had it not been for man's sin. 13. The seventh day of Gen. 2:2, 3 may have been a regular day as were the first six days of creation, or it may have been an 18

19 indefinite period of time. 14. The fact that the Genesis account is so carefully constructed indicates that the omission of "and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day" was intentional. 15. When man sinned, he was excluded from Gods presence and God began His "work" of redemption to restore man back to Himself. 19

20 Sabbath vs. Sunday An Internet Debate Installment #4 Dr. Bacchiocchi's opening comments Several ministers of the Worldwide Church of God have complained about what they perceive to be the "unfairness" of the debate, since Ratzlaff is a pastor and I am a professor. They suggest that to be fair I should debate scholars with similar academic preparation. May I reply by saying two things. First, anyone who reads my three volumes on the Sabbath can tell immediately that I have interacted through the years with hundreds of scholars of all persuasions. Second, I did not initiate this discussion. I was invited by KJSL radio station of St. Louis to respond to Ratzlaff's abrogation view of the Sabbath which he had presented in previous radio programs. Since Ratzlaff's views are influencing many people who heard him on the radio and who read his book The Sabbath in Crisis, I feel a moral obligation to help sincere people to see what I consider to be some fundamental fallacies in Ratzlaff's interpretation of Biblical and historical data. May I remind the reader that both Ratzlaff and myself view this discussion not as a boxing match in which one of us will eventually knock out the adversary. Rather, we view this discussion as an opportunity to reexamine commonly held views about the Sabbath/Sunday question, in order to help people make a more informed decision on whether to accept or reject the principle and practice of Sabbathkeeping for their lives today. Links to significant points in this installment Argument/Response 1 Argument: We should not jump from Genesis to Mark to Hebrews in one leap seeking to prove or disprove anything. (Dale Ratzlaff) Argument/Response 2 Argument: Fifteen tentative conclusions we can make from Genesis. Response: Ignoring witness of the rest of Scripture is senseless methodology and unbiblical way of study. Further comments on Mark 2:27 and Hebrews 4:4. (Samuele Bacchiocchi) Response: "Tentative" conclusions are arbitrary interpretations of texts--serves as pretext for what is intended to be 20

21 (Dale Ratzlaff) Argument/Response 3 Argument: Creation was completed in six days. (Dale Ratzlaff) Argument/Response 4 Arguments: 2. God rested on the seventh day. 3. God blessed the seventh day. 4. God sanctified the seventh day. 5. The reason God sanctified the seventh day was because He rested on it. proved in final analysis. (Samuele Bacchiocchi) Response: Genesis 2:2 says: "And on the SEVENTH day God finished his work which he had done." Creation completed in seven days, not six. (Samuele Bacchiocchi) Response: God did rest, bless, and sanctify the seventh day. God sanctified the seventh day by desisting from creating in order to be with His creatures. In Exodus the holiness of the Sabbath is elucidated by means of its explicit association with the manifestation of God's glorious presence. (Samuele Bacchiocchi) (Dale Ratzlaff) Argument 5 Arguments: 6. The seventh-day account does NOT have the formula "and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day" as do the six days of creation. 7. The creation record is carefully constructed. 8. There is no mention of the word "Sabbath" in the book of Genesis. 9. There is no command for mankind to rest in the Genesis account. Response: See Installment 1. Dr. Sam dealt with statements 6 to 10 in first installment (Samuele Bacchiocchi). 21

22 10. Nothing is expressly mentioned regarding man in the seventh-day-creation rest. (Dale Ratzlaff) Argument/Response 6 Arguments: 11. The seventh-day "rest" of God was most likely characterized by His delight in His new creation and by open fellowship with Adam and Eve in the sin-free, perfect environment of Eden. 12. The conditions which characterized the "rest" of God would probably have continued had it not been for man's sin. 13. The seventh day of Gen. 2:2, 3 may have been a regular day as were the first six days of creation, or it may have been an indefinite period of time. 14. The fact that the Genesis account is so carefully constructed indicates that the omission of "and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day" was intentional. Response: Seventh day IS definite period of time-1) Seventh day is enumerated like the preceding six. 2) First six days were ordinary earthly days, seventh day was the same. 3) Every passage which mentions the creation-seventh-day as the basis of the earthly Sabbath regards it as an ordinary day. (Samuele Bacchiocchi) (Dale Ratzlaff) Argument/Response 7 Argument: Response: Statement is mostly correct. Fundamental function of the Sabbath in Old/New Covenants is to help believers 22

23 15. When man sinned, he was excluded from Gods presence and God began His "work" of redemption to restore man back to Himself. to conceptualize reality of redemption. For Christ the Sabbath is the day to work for the redemption of the whole man. (Samuele Bacchiocchi) (Dale Ratzlaff) Master Index to major arguments in all installments. Dr. Bacchiocchi's analysis of Mr. Ratzlaff's arguments Note: The page references given in parenthesis are from the 1990 edition of Mr. Ratzlaff's book The Sabbath in Crisis. Mr. Ratzlaff stated: I believe we are going about this discussion in the wrong way. We cannot (should not) jump from Genesis to Mark to Hebrews in one leap seeking to prove or disprove anything so fast. If this is going to be a serious RE-study of the Sabbath let us not reach conclusions so fast! Rather, let us look at each new development of Sabbath understanding as it unfolds in Scripture. Let us agree on the data before we seek to reach a conclusion. Let us come to this study, laying aside our preconceived opinions, and seek only to find what Gods Word says. Let us look at ALL the data and THEN reach conclusions. Let us start with Genesis, agree on what Genesis says about the Sabbath. Then let us go to Sinai, find what the Old Covenant says about the Sabbath. Then, and then only, are we prepared to go to the New Covenant. In each unfolding let us seek to discover all that a given portion says and let us not try to immediately impose upon a section that which we think it means based upon our understanding of other references. This we can and should do at the CONCLUSION of our study and then only after we have agreed on the data step by step. 23

24 Dr. Bacchiocchi replies In theory the methodology you propose makes sense. In fact, in my first post I dealt exclusively with your Genesis-arguments against the creationorigin of the Sabbath. But in my sleep I felt overwhelmed by the fact that we cannot use only Genesis to decide whether Sabbath is a creational or Mosaic institution. To ignore the witness of the rest of Scripture would mean to follow the senseless methodology of some dispensationalists who read the OT as though the NT had never been written and Jesus had never come. This leads them to believe that God has two people (the Jews and the church), two plans of salvation (the Old and New Covenants), and two eternal destinies, one for the church and the other for the Jews, who will be second class citizens for all eternity. This theological scenario is not only unbiblical, but appalling to say the least. It makes God guilty of perpetrating discriminatory practices, not only through human history, but throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. It is unfortunately that some have accepted some aspects of the dispensational theological construct which is contrary to Scripture and reason. These night reflections caused me to raise up at 4:00 a. m. last Sunday and post a follow up to my first installment by adding the compelling witness of Jesus (Mark 2:27) and Hebrews (4:4) about the creation origin of the Sabbath. I make no apology for jumping from Genesis to Jesus and Hebrews, because after all their witness regarding the creation origin of the Sabbath settles the question for anyone who accepts the UNITY of the Bible. The fact that Christ established the human value of the Sabbath by referring to its very origin, right after the creation of man, proves conclusively that for the Lord the Sabbath was made by God at creation for mankind and not introduced later at the time of Moses for the Jews. If Jesus believed that the Sabbath was a Mosaic ordinance soon to be eclipsed at His death on the Cross, most likely He would have capitalized on the temporary and Mosaic nature of the Sabbath to refute the charges of Sabbath breaking. Presumably Christ would have told His accusers that after all "the Sabbath was made for the Jews" as a sign of the Sinai Covenant based on works. Therefore, there was no reason for His followers to be bound by it since 24

25 they were now living under the New Covenant of grace. (I will discuss this senseless construct in another post). But Christ appeals to the original making of the Sabbath for mankind, because for Him, as I stated in my previous post, what God established at the beginning regarding the Sabbath and marriage are normative for the whole of human family and history. The witness of Hebrews 4:4 regarding the creation-origin of the Sabbath is equally compelling, because the author is not arguing for the creation origin of the Sabbath, but rather he takes it for granted to explain God's ultimate purpose for His people. In other words, not only Hebrews accepts the creation origin of the Sabbath, but presents it as the basis for understanding God's ultimate purpose for His people. Dale, your criticism of my jumping from Genesis to Jesus and Hebrews would be justified if these two texts had nothing to say about the origin of the Sabbath. But since both of them provide a compelling NT witness to the creation-origin of the Sabbath, I feel that no discussion of this subject can be complete without mentioning them. A fundamental principle of Biblical interpretation is to consider all the significant texts which are relevant to the specific subject under consideration. Mr. Ratzlaff stated: In the Sabbath study I was involved with, we listed our tentative conclusions after each portion of the Bible we studied. Our goal was to simply state in summary fashion nothing more or nothing less than what was taught in THAT section of Scripture. We found these summary conclusions to be very helpful when later we drew our final conclusions. Dr. Bacchiocchi replies I have read the list of your "tentative" conclusions at the end of each chapter. The problem I see is your methodology. First, you submit your "tentative" conclusion by your arbitrary interpretations of texts (often ignoring the vast amount of scholarly research that contradicts your conclusion), and then you use your "tentative" conclusions to set the stage for your ultimate conclusion. In other words, your "tentative" conclusions serve as a pretext for what you intend to prove in the final analysis. Any 25

26 analytically minded person will have problems in accepting your methodology. Mr. Ratzlaff stated: Following are the fifteen tentative conclusions we came to from our study of Genesis. Tell me which of the conclusions you accept and which ones you reject. Lets agree here on the data we jointly accept. If we do this now and at each new, unfolding of Sabbath section, then we may well reach the same conclusion, Gods truth! 1. Creation was completed in six days. Dr. Bacchiocchi replies I cannot accept several of the fifteen tentative conclusions that you submit because they lack Biblical support. For example, the first conclusion that "Creation was completed in six days" is wrong, because Genesis 2:2 clearly says: "And on the SEVENTH day God finished his work which he had done." Creation was completed in seven days, and not on six days as you stated. It is evident that you do not want to recognize that God's establishment of the seventh day is the final act of His creation, because this would make the Sabbath a creational institution, a fact that you are trying hard to deny. Like the translators of the Septuagint, you argue that since nothing was created on the seventh day, the text should be changed to read: "And on the sixth day God finish his work" (Septuagint reading). Personally I accept what the Biblical text tells us, namely that God finished his creation on the seventh day by resting, blessing, and sanctifying the seventh day. The crowning act of creation was indeed the creation, not of material things, but of holy time so that human beings can experience God's sanctifying presence. Thus, contrary to what you state, the Bible tells us that creation was completed on the seventh day with the creation of holy time for the benefit of the human family. 26

27 Mr. Ratzlaff stated: 2. God rested on the seventh day. 3. God blessed the seventh day. 4. God sanctified the seventh day. 5. The reason God sanctified the seventh day was because He rested on it. Dr. Bacchiocchi replies You are correct in stating that God rested, blessed, and sanctified the seventh day, but you are wrong in your interpretation of the sanctification of the seventh day. You argue that what God sanctified is not the seventh day as such, but the "conditions of that day were sanctified and blessed" (p. 24). By "the conditions" you mean the condition that existed on "the first day after creation was completed" (p. 24). In other words, for you the sanctification of the seventh day refers primarily to the "conditions" of completion and celebration of the creation seventh day, rather than to God setting aside the seventh day for mankind to experience in a special way His sanctifying presence. Dale, please note that nowhere the Bible suggests that the sanctification of the seventh day at creation refers to the sanctification of the conditions that existed "the first day after creation was completed" (p. 24). God did not sanctify "conditions" but the seventh day itself by "resting": "because on it God rested from all his work" (Gen 2:4). As I explained in my previous post, the SHABAT-rest of God in Gen 2:2-3 is a rest of CESSATION and not a NUAH-rest of RELAXATION as that found in Exodus 20:11. In other words, God sanctified the seventh day by desisting from creating in order to be with His creatures. The sanctification of the seventh day is God's commitment to make this day the vehicle through which His sanctifying presence can be experience by His creatures. A fundamental problem of your analysis, Dale, is your failure to realize that the creation week is a HUMAN WEEK, established by God for regulating our human life. God did not need six days to create our solar system. He could have spoken it into existence in a second, since His creation was accomplished by the spoken word (Ps 33:6). But He chose to 27

28 establish a human week of seven days and to use it Himself in order to give a divine perspective to our six days of work and to our seventh day of rest. When we work during the six days and rest on the seventh day we are doing in a small scale what God has done in a much larger scale. God's willingness to enter into the limitations of human time at creation is a marvellous revelation of His willingness to enter into human flesh at the incarnation to become Immanuel, God with us. The numerous circumstantial evidences we have in the book of Genesis for the existence of the seventh day week (Gen 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12; 29:27; 50:10; cf. Job 2:13), presuppose the existence of the Sabbath as well. Please note that the Sabbath is not only the culmination but also the foundation of the week. In the Bible the days of the week are numbered with reference to the Sabbath. The verbal form (Piel) of the Hebrew verb "to sanctify" (yeqaddesh), as H. C. Leupold explains, has both a causative and a declarative sense. This means that God declared the seventh day holy and caused it to be a means of holiness for mankind. (See H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, p. 103). It is noteworthy that the word "holy" is used here for the first time in the Bible with reference, not to an object such as an altar, a tabernacle or a person, but with regard to time, the seventh day. In Genesis the sanctification of the Sabbath hides a certain mystery, which is gradually unveiled with the unfolding of the history of salvation. In Exodus, for example, the holiness of the Sabbath is elucidated by means of its explicit association with the manifestation of God's glorious presence. From Mount Sinai, which was made holy by the glorious presence of God, the Sabbath is explicitly proclaimed to be God's holy day: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Ex. 20:8). The commandment, it should be noted, not only opens with the invitation to remember and keep holy the Sabbath (cf. Deut. 5 :15), but also closes reiterating that its holiness is grounded in God's sanctification of the day at creation (Ex. 20:11). In Hebrew the identical verb is used in both instances. The experience of God's glorious presence on Mount Sinai served to educate the Israelites to acknowledge the holiness of God manifested in time (the Sabbath) and later in a place of worship (the Tabernacle). The motif of God's glory is found in all of these (Sinai, Sabbath and 28

29 Tabernacle) and ties them together. The Israelites were instructed to prepare themselves for the encounter with God's holy presence (Ex. 19:10, 11), when the Lord would "come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people" (Ex. 19:11). The preparation included personal cleansing (Ex. 19:10, 14) and the setting of a boundary around the mountain (Ex. 19:12, 23) which was to be invested with God's glory. The nexus with the holiness of the Sabbath can hardly be missed. Indeed, personal preparation and the setting of a boundary between common and holy time are the basic ingredients necessary for the sanctification of the Sabbath. Can one enter into the experience of God's holy presence on the Sabbath without making necessary preparation? Or is it possible to honor God's presence on His holy seventh day without setting a boundary in time that fences off personal profits and pleasures? The meaning of the holiness of God is further clarified at Sinai by the invitation God extended to Moses "on the seventh day" to enter into the cloud and thus experience the intimacy of His presence. "Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the SEVENTH DAY he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people. And Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain" (Ex. 24:15-18). God's invitation to Moses to enter on the seventh day into His glorious presence unveils the cryptic meaning of God's sanctification of the Sabbath at creation. The holiness of the Sabbath is now explained to be not a magic quality infused by God into this day, but rather His mysterious and majestic presence manifested on and through the Sabbath in the lives of His people. This meaning of the holiness of the Sabbath is brought out even more forcefully a few chapters later, when, at the end of the revelation of the tabernacle, God says to the people of Israel, "You shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you" (Ex. 31:13). The sanctity of the Sabbath is now clearly equated with the sanctifying presence of God with His people. The mystery of the 29

30 sanctification of the creation-sabbath is now unveiled. It consists precisely of God's commitment to manifest His presence in the life of His people. For six days God filled this planet with good things and living beings, but on the seventh He filled it with His presence. As the symbol and assurance of God's sanctifying presence in this world and in human lives, the Sabbath represents a most sublime expression of God's loving care. Dale, rather than arguing against the Sabbath, why not accept God's invitation extended to us each week to stop our work so that we can allow Him to work in us more fully and freely, and thus experience His sanctifying presence? Mr. Ratzlaff stated: 6. The seventh-day account does NOT have the formula "and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day" as do the six days of creation. 7. The creation record is carefully constructed. 8. There is no mention of the word "Sabbath" in the book of Genesis. 9. There is no command for mankind to rest in the Genesis account. 10. Nothing is expressly mentioned regarding man in the seventhday-creation rest. Dr. Bacchiocchi replies I have dealt adequately with statements 6 to 10 in my first installment. Thus there is no reason for me to repeat myself. There is no command for mankind to keep the Sabbath in the creation story simply because, as I already stated, Genesis is not a book of commands, but a book of origins. It simply tells us how everything began, including the Sabbath. Its origin is traced to the divine act which blessed and sanctified the seventh day at the completion of creation. It is evident that God did not bless and sanctify the seventh day to be a blessing to the day itself, but to those who would use the day to experience God's sanctifying presence. A correct understanding of the blessing and sanctification of the seventh day, presupposes its human purpose and function. 30

31 Mr. Ratzlaff stated: 11. The seventh-day "rest" of God was most likely characterized by His delight in His new creation and by open fellowship with Adam and Eve in the sin-free, perfect environment of Eden. 12. The conditions which characterized the "rest" of God would probably have continued had it not been for man's sin. 13. The seventh day of Gen. 2:2, 3 may have been a regular day as were the first six days of creation, or it may have been an indefinite period of time. 14. The fact that the Genesis account is so carefully constructed indicates that the omission of "and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day" was intentional. Dr. Bacchiocchi replies You are correct in in saying that "the seventh-day 'rest' of God was most likely characterized by His delight in His new creation and by open fellowship with Adam and Eve in the sin-free, perfect environment of Eden," but you are wrong in assuming that the seventh day "may have been an indefinite period of time" because of the omission of "and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day." Let me repeat the three reasons I gave in my first post. First, the seventh day is enumerated like the preceding six days. Note that in the Bible whenever "day-yom" is accompanied by a number it ALWAYS means a day of 24 hours. When "day-yom" is used in a figurative way such as "the day of trouble" (Ps 20:1) or "the day of salvation" (Is 49:8), it is never accompanied by a number. The numerical specification of SEVENTH day unmistakenly denotes that it is a literal 24 hours day, and not an indefinite period of time. I challenge you, Dale, to find in the Bible one example in which a day designated by a number is NOT a literal day. Second, the Decalogue itself clearly states that God, having worked six days, rested on the seventh day of creation week (Ex 20:11). If the first six days were ordinary earthly days, we have reasons to understand the seventh 31