이상에서 우리는 성경의 일치된 증거에 의하여 안식일의 기원이 창조의 사건에 뿌리를 두고 있으며 인간 역사의 개시를 나타내는 것임을 살펴 보았다. 이와같은 성경의 가르침은 기독교 신앙에 대하여 실제적으로 어떠한 연관 의미들을 가지고 있는가? 첫번째로 이 가르침은 안식일 준수가 유대인의 일시적인 예식법이 아니라 모든 피조물에 관련된 영구한 계명이라는 사실을 의미 하고 있다.198 (49.5)
두번째로 그것은 엘리자벳 E. 플랏트(Eizabeth E. Platt)가 적절히 표현했듯이, “안식일 속에 우리의 뿌리가 내려 있으며 하나님의 계획안에서 창세기에서 부터 영원까지 우리가 안식일에 속해 있다”199는 것을 의미하고 있다. 세째로 이 가르침은 우리 선조들의 뿌리가 하나님 자신 속에 뿌리를 둔 것이었기 때문에 참으로 선한 것임을 의미한다. 마지막으로 그것은 우리들의 세계와 우리들의 존재는 그것들이 기회의 한 산물이 아니라 사랑의 하나님의 직접적인 창조물이기 때문에 가치를 가지고 있음을 뜻하고 있다.200 (49.6)
우리는 이미 완전한 태초의 시기에 있지를 않고 불의와 탐욕과 폭력과 부패와 고통과 죽음으로 특징지어진 불완전한 중간시대를 살아가고 있다. 이 시대의 혼돈과 무질서의 한 가운데에서 우리는 확실성과 의미와 희망을 찾고 있는 것이다. 안식일은 우리들에게 일주일에 한번씩 우리에게 희망과 안도를 가져다 준다. 안식일은 우리에게 우리의 기원과 운명이 하나님 안에 뿌리박고 있음을 우리에게 확인시켜 준다. 안식일은 우리들에게 과거와의 지속감(持續感) 과 미래에 대한 희망의 감정을 준다. 안식일은 쉼이 없는 중간시대에서 다함이 없는 마지막 안식과 하나님의 평화(히 4:9)를 고대하면서 살고 있는 우리들을 하나님 안에 있는 안식으로 초청한다. 따라서 창조의 안식일의 기별은 인간의 뿌리에 대한 기쁜 소식 그것이다. (49.7)
태만성이 자라나서 회의적인 태도로 발전할 수가 있다. 창조의 기념일인 안식일을 소홀히 여기는 사람은 급기야 창조의 하나님을 잊어버리고 하나님에 대하여 회의적인 정신을 갖게될 것이다.
참고문헌
69. Cf. also Jub. 2:20-22. Such an exclusive interpretation of the Sabbath led some Rabbis to teach that non-Jews were actually forbidden to observe the Sabbath. For example, Simeon b. Lagish said: “A Gentile who keeps the Sabbath deserves death” (Sanhedrin 586). Earlier, “R Jose b. Hanina said: A non-Jew who observe the Sabbath whilst he is uncircumcised incurs liability for the punishment of death. Why? Because non-Jews were not commanded concerning it” (Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:21).
70. Genesis Rabbah 11:7; 64:4; 79:6.
71. See below, p. 43.
72. Cf. Genesis Rabbah 11:2, 6, 8; 16:8; 79:7; 92:4; Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 18, 19, 20; The Books of Adam and Eve 51:1-2; Apocalypse of Moses 43:1-3; Yoma 28b. In these references, however, one can at times detect a tension between the universalistic creation-Sabbath and the exclusivistic Mosaic-Sabbath. The Book of Jubilees (second century B.C.) offers an example. While on the one hand it says 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), on the other it holds that God “allowed no other people or peoples to keep the Sabbath on this day, except Israel only”(Jub. 2:31). For a discussion of the question, see Robert M. Johnston, “Patriarchs, Rabbis, and Sabbath,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 12 (1974): 94-102.
73. The argument appears for the first time in the writings of Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 19, 6; 23, 3; 27, 5; 29, 3; 46, 2-3. Cf. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses 4, 16, 2; Tertullian, Adversus Judaeos 2; Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 1, 4, 8; Demonstratio evangelica 1, 6; Coinmentaria in Psalmos 91. The argument is also found in the Syriac Didascalia 26, “If God willed that we should be idle one day for six, first of all the patriarchs and the righteous men and all that were before Moses would have remained idle (upon it)” (Connolly, p. 236). For an analysis of Justin Martyr, see S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 223-233.
74. For example, John Gill, The Body of Divinity, 1951, 965. The view is expressed emphatically by Robert A. Morey, “Is Sunday the Christian Sabbath?,” Baptist Reformation Review 8 (1979): 6: “But isn’t the Sabbath creation ordinance found in Gen. 2:1-3? No, the word ‘Sabbath’ does not appear in the text. A biblical-theological approach would show that Gen. 2:1-3 is Moses’ comment looking back to the creation period within the context of his own understanding of the Ten Commandments, and not a reference to Adam’s understanding in the beginning of history.” Similarly Harold H. P. Dressler (n. 62) p. 28, “Genesis 2 does not mention the word ‘Sabbath.’ It speaks about the ‘seventh day.’ Unless the reader equates ‘seventh day’ and ‘Sabbath,’ there is no reference to the Sabbath here.” But, isn’t the equation between the “seventh day” and the “Sabbath” explicitly made in Ex. 20:8-11?
75. U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, 1961, p. 63.
76. U. Cassuto (n. 75), p. 68, explains: “The Torah, it seems to me, purports to say this: Israel’s Sabbath day shall not be as the Sabbath of the heathen nations; it shall not be the day of the full moon, or any other day connected with the phases of the moon, but it shall be the seventh day (this enables us to understand why this particular name, the seventh day, is emphasized here), the seventh in perpetual order, independent and free from any association with the signs of the heavens and any astrological concept.” Cf. N. M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis, 1923, p. 23. The reason for the use of the “seventh day” instead of the Sabbath must be seen in the light of the whole purpose of the creation story, which is to challenge, as Herold Weiss point out, “a mythological understanding of the world where brooks, mountains, animals, stars or trees have ‘powers’ of their own. Here we have a secular world. God is clearly outside it, but He left His mark in it when He trusted man with His image” (“Genesis, Chapter One: A Theological Statement,” Spectrum 9, 1979: 61). The same observation is made by Harvey Cox, The Secular City, 1965, pp. 22-23.
77. Harold H. P. Dressler, for example, writes: “There is no command of God that the seventh day should be kept in any way. In retrospect we are told that God ‘rested’(Ex. 20:11) and was ‘refreshed’(Ex. 31:17)” (n. 62, p. 22 manuscript). Cf. Gerhard von Rad, The Problem of the Hexateuch and other Essays, 1966, p. 101, n. 9; Robert A. Morey (n. 74), p. 6; C. H. MacKintosh, Genesis to Deuteronomy, 1965, p. 23).
78. John Murray, Principles of Conduct, 1957, p. 32.
79. The universal implications of the creation Sabbath are recognized by numerous scholars. U. Cassuto (n. 75), p. 64, for example, comments: “Every seventh day, without intermission since the days of creation, serves as a memorial to the idea of the creation of the world by the word of God, and we must refrain from work thereon so that we may follow the Creator’s example and cleave to His ways. Scripture wishes to emphasize that the sanctity of the Sabbath is older than Israel, and rests upon all mankind.” The Interpreter’s Bible I, p. 489: “The fact that P thus connects the origin of the sabbath not with some event in the life of the patriarchs—as he connected circumcision in ch. 17—or in the history of Israel, but with Creation itself, is of significance. For the implication of this passage is that observance of the day∙∙∙ is really binding upon all mankind.” Cf. W. H. Griffith Thomas, Genesis, 1960, p. 33; Joseph Breuer, Commentary on the Torah, 1948, pp. 17-18; Frank Michaeli, Le Livre de la Gen~se, 19, pp. 30-31; Julian Morgenstern, The Book of Genesis, 1965, p. 38; C. Westermann, Genesis, 1974, p. 236; NielsErik Andreasen (n. 65), p. 75).
80. This argument is presented by Roger D. Congdon in his doctoral dissertation. He writes: “There is absolutely no mention of the sabbath before the Lord said to Moses∙∙∙ These words indicate that the event was bound to the Decalogue of Sinai. The quoted words are recorded in Exodus 16:4. The first mention of the sabbath in the Bible and the first known chronological use of the word in all history is in Exodus 16:23” (“Sabbatic Theology,” [Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theoogical Seminary, 1949], pp. 122-12). Cf. Robert A. Morey (n. 74), p. 6.
81. This does not imply that the ethical principles of the Ten Commandments were unknown. Is not Cain condemned for murdering his brother (Gen. 4:9-11) and Abraham commended for keeping God’s commandments?
82. Cf. Ex. 7:25; 12:15, 16, 19; 13:6, 7.
83. This is not to deny that the Sabbath may have been viewed by some Israelites as a relatively new institution, especially because of its inevitable neglect during the Egyptian oppression.
84. Note the emphasis on the home celebration of the Sabbath in Lev. 23:3: “The seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.” Cf. Ex. 16:29. Jacob Z. Lauterbach (n. 12), p. 440, points out that “the main center of the Sabbath observance is in the family circle at the home and many of its ceremonies are calculated to strengthen the bonds of love and affection between the members of the family, to emphasize the parental care and duties, and to increase the filial respect and reverence for parents.”
85. It was primarily this concern over legalistic Sabbatarianism that led Luther and other radicals to view the Sabbath as a superseded Mosaic institution. See below p. 47. In our time this view is popular among dispensationalists and antinomian Christians.
86. J. Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1972, II, p. 339. Cf. K. Barth, Church Dogmatics, 1958, III, part 2, p. 50.
87. For a survey of creationistic theories, see Frank Lewis Marsh, Studies in Creationism, 1950, pp. 22-40.
88. Herold Weiss (n. 76), p. 59.
89. See below chapter V.
90. Note that the construction in Greek is dia followed by an accusative which denotes the reason for the making of the Sabbath, namely “on account of man,” or as expressed by H. E. Dana, “For the sake of, for, Mark 2:27” (A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, 1962, p. 102).
91. For an examination of Mark 2:27, see S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 55-61. That Christ’s saying alludes to the original (creation) function of the Sabbath is recognized by numerous scholars. See, among others, Charles E. Erdman, The Gospel of Mark, 1945, p. 56; H. B. Swete, The Gospel According to St. Mark, 1902, p. 49; J. A. Schep, “Lord’s Day Keeping from the Practical and Pastoral Point of View,” in The Sabbath-Sunday Problem, 1968, pp. 142-143; Roger T. Beckwith and W. Stott, This is the Day, 1978, p. 11; Francis Nigel Lee, The Covenantal Sabbath, 1966, p. 29.
92. D. A. Carson argues that the verb ginomai should not be taken as “a technical expression for ‘created,’ since its meaning varies according to the context” (“Jesus and the Sabbath in the Four Gospels,” in From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation, to be published in 1980, p. 123 manuscript). The observation is correct, but the context does suggest that the verb refers to the original “making” of the Sabbath, for at least two reasons. First, because the statement (2:27) concludes Christ’s argument on the humanitarian function of the Sabbath (2:23-26) by pointing to its original and thus ultimate purpose. Second, because Christ’s claim of Lordship over the Sabbath (2:28) depends upon the fact that He made the day for man’s benefit (2:27). For further discussion, see S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 59-61.
93. D. A. Carson objects to drawing a parallel between Matt. 19:8 and Mark 2:27, because in the latter the phrase “from the beginning” is absent. Thus, Carson argues, Jesus is appealing “not to a determinate time, but to a determinate purpose” (n. 92, p. 125). But, can time and purpose be really separated? Did not Christ establish the purpose of marriage by referring back to the time of its origin? Similarly, is not the human purpose of the Sabbath established with reference to the time the day was made?
94. See S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 38-48; idem, “John 5:17: Negation or Clarification of the Sabbath,” Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 11, 1978; cf. below pp. 155-158.
95. The passage is examined at length below in chapter V.
96. The author suggests at least three different levels of meaning. See below, p. 136.
97. The statement is reported by Eusebius in Praeparatio evangelica 13, 12.
98. Philo, De Opificio Mundi 89; De Vita Mosis 1, 207; De Specialibus Legibus 2, 59.
99. Philo, De Decalogo 97.
100. Philo, De Opificio Mundi 89.
101. Syriac Didascalia 26, ed. Connolly, p. 233.
102. Athanasius, De sabbatis et circumcisione 4, PG 28, 138 BC. For additional examples and discussion, see S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 273-278.
103. Constitution of the Holy Apostles VII, 23, Ante-Nicene Fathers VII, 469.
104. Ibid., VII, 36, p. 474; cf. II, 36.
105. Jean Danielou, The Bible and Liturgy, 1966, p. 276.
106. Augustine, The City of God, XXII, 30, trans. Henry Bettenson, 1972, p. 1090.
107. The fact that in the creation story there is no mention of “eve, morning” for the seventh day is interpreted by Augustine as signifying the eternal nature of the Sabbath rest both in mystical and in eschatological sense.
108. Augustine, Confessions XIII, 35-36. Cf. Sermon 38, PL 270, 1242; De Genesis ad litteram 4, 13, PL 34, 305. The “already” and the “not yet” dimensions of the Sabbath rest are concisely presented by Augustine in his Commentary on Psalm 91, 2: “One whose conscience is good, is tranquil, and this peace is the Sabbath of the heart. For indeed it is directed toward the hope of Him Who promises, and although one suffers at the present time, he looks forward toward the hope of Him Who is to come, and then all the clouds of sorrow will be dispersed. This present joy, in the peace of our hope, is our Sabbath” (PL 27, 1172).
109. In his Epistula 55 ad lanuarium 22, Augustine explains: “Therefore of the ten commandments the only one we are to observe spiritually is that of the sabbath, because we recognize it to be symbolic and not to be celebrated through physical inactivity” (CSEL 34, 194). Ope wonders, How is it possible to retain the Sabbath as the symbol of mystical and eschatological rest in God, while denying the basis of such a symbol, namely, its literal Sabbath rest experience? For a discussion of this contradiction, see below pp. 55-56 and 167-168.
110. Eugippius (about 455-535), for example, quotes verbatim from Augustine, Adversus Faustum 16, 29 (Thesaurus 66, PL 62, 685). Cf. Bede(about 673-735), In Genesim 2, 3, CCL 118A, 35; Rabanus Matirus (about 784-856), Commentaria in Genesim 1, 9, PL 107, 465; Peter Lombard (about 1100-1160), Sententiarum libri quatuor 3, 37, 2, PL 192, 831.
111. Chrysostom, Homilia 10, 7 In Genesim, PG 53, 89. Ephraem Syrus (about 306-373) appeals to the Sabbath “law” to urge that “rest be granted to servants and animals” (S. Ephraem Syri hymni et sermones, ed. T. J. Lamy, I, 1882, p. 542). For a brief survey of the application of the Sabbath law to Sunday observance, see L. L. McReavy, “‘Servile Work’: The Evolution of the Present Sunday Law,” Clergy Review 9 (1935): 273-276. For a sampling of texts, see Willy Rordorf, Sabbat et dimanche dans l’Eglise ancienne, 1972, nos. 140, 143. H. Huber describes the development until the late Middle Ages (Geist und Buchstabe der Sonntagsruhe, 1958, pp. 117ff).
112. Peter Comestor, Historia scholastica: liber Genesis 10, PL 198, 1065. On the development of the principle of “one day in seven,” see discussion in Wilhelm Thomas, “Sabbatarianism,” Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 1965, III, p. 2090.
113. The distinction was explicitly made, for example, by Albertus Magnus (about 1200-1280). See Wilhelm Thomas (n. 112), p. 2278.
114 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part I-lI, 0. 100, 3, 1947, p. 1039. The distinction between the moral and ceremonial aspects of the Sabath is clearly stated also in Pt. Il-Il, 0. 122, 4: “It is a moral precept in the point of commanding man to set aside a certain time to be given to Divine things. For there is in man a natural inclination to set aside a certain time for each necessary thing∙∙∙ Hence according to the dictate of reason, man sets aside a certain time for spiritual refreshment, by which man’s mind is refreshed in God. And thus to have a certain time set aside for occupying oneself with Divine things is the matter of a moral precept. But, in so far as this precept specializes the time as a sign representing the Creation of the world, it is a ceremonial precept. Again, it is a ceremonial precept in its allegorical signification, as representative of Christ’s rest in the tomb on the seventh day: as also in its moral signification, as representing cessation from all sinful acts, and the mind’s rest in God, in which sense, too, it is a general precept. Again, it is a ceremonial precept in its analogical signification, as foreshadowing the enjoyment of God in heaven” (n. 114, p. 1701).
115. Aquinas subdivided the Mosaic law into moral, ceremonial and judicial precepts. The moral precepts of the decalogue are viewed as precepts also of the Natural Law, that is to say, they are precepts binding upon all men because they are discoverable by all through human reason without the aid of special revelation. Cf. Aquinas (n. 114), Part I-Il, 0. 100, 1 and 0. 100, 3, pp.1037, 1039.
116. Thomas Aquinas (n. 114), Part I-Il, Q. 100, 5, p. 1042. See also above n. 114.
117. See n. 116. Note also that Aquinas attributes a similar symbolic function to Sunday: “As to the sabbath, which was a sign recalling the first creation, its place is taken by the Lord’s Day, which recalls the beginning of the new creature in the Resurrection of Christ” (n. 114, Part I-Il, 0. 103, 3, p. 1085).
118. Thomas Aquinas (n. 114), Part I-Il, 0. 107, 3, p. 1111.
119. See L. L. McReavy (n. 111), pp. 279f. A brief survey of the development of Sunday laws and casuistry is provided by Paul K. Jewett, The Lord’s Day, 1972, pp. 128-169. A good example of the adoption of Aquinas’ moral-ceremonial distinction can be found in the Catechism of the Council of Trent. See below n. 142.
120. Karlstadt’s concept of the Sabbath rest contains a strange combination of mystical and legalistic elements. Basically he viewed the day as a time to abstain from work in order to be contrite over one’s sins. For a clear analysis of his views, see Gordon Rupp, Patterns of Reformation, 1969, pp. 123-130; idem, “Andrew Karlstadt and Reformation Puritanism,” Journal of Theological Studies 10 (1959): 308-326; cf. Daniel Augsburger, “Calvin and the Mosaic Law,” Doctoral dissertation, Strasbourg University, 1976, pp. 248-249; J. N. Andrews and L. R. Conradi, History of the Subbath and First Day of the Week, 1912, pp. 652-655.
121. Luther, Against the Heavenly Prophets, Luther’s Works, 1958, 40:93. A valuable study of Luther’s views regarding the Sabbath is to be found in Richard Muller, Adventisten-Sabbat-Reformation, Studia Theologica Lundensia, 1979, pp. 32-60.
122. Concordia or Book of Concord, The Symbols of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1957, pp. 174.
123. Augsburg Confession (n. 122), p. 25; cf. Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, 1919, III, p. 69.
124. The Large Catechism (n. 122), p. 175.
125. Erlanger ed., 33:67, cited in Andrews and Conradi (n. 120), p. 627.
126. Melanchthon, On Christian Doctrine, Loci Communes 1555, Clyde L. Manschreck, ed. and trans., 1965, p. 96.
127. Melanchthon (n. 126), p. 98. In his first edition of the Loci Communes (1521) Melanchthon acknowledges his indebtedness to Luther’s Treatise on Good Works (1520) for his understanding of the Fourth Commandment.
128. The concept of the Sabbath as “renouncement and renewal” is discussed below, pp. 120-123. I do not share, however, Melanchthon’s understanding of Sabbathkeeping as self-mortification, since the Sabbath is not a day of gloom but of gladness. Cf. Loci Communes Theologici (1521), in Melanchthon and Bucer, L. J. Satre and W. Pauck, trans., 1969, p. 55.
129. See note 127. This aspect of the Sabbath is considered in several places below; see chapters III, IV, VI and VII.
130. Luther (n. 121), p. 93; cf. p. 97.
131. Melanchthon (n. 126), pp. 96-97.
132. Melanchthon (n. 126), p. 97.
133. It should be noted, however, that the theological orientation of the Sabbath rest “to the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:11; 31:17; Deut. 5:14) could imply a call to cease from all work in order to worship God in a public assembly. This is suggested by the fact that in the annual feasts, the prohibition of work and the list of persons who were to rest (strikingly similar to that of the Sabbath commandment) are given to ensure the participation of all inthe “holy assembly” (Num. 28 :18; 25, 26; 29:1, 7, 12, 35; Lev. 23:7, 21, 23-25, 28-32, 35; Deut. 16:8, 11). While acknowledging this possibility, the fact remains that the emphasis of the Fourth Commandment is not on “the office of preaching” but on rest from work. The act of making oneself available for God on the Sabbath does represent a meaningful worship response to God. See below, pp. 174-180.
134. An incisive criticism of the Natural Law theory is offered by D. J. O’Connor, Aquinas and Natural Law, 1967.
135. Melanchthon (n. 126), p. 96, labels this antinomian position as “childish contention.” He them refutes it by appealing to the distinction between the specific and the general aspects of the Sabbath. Calvin also in 1562 wrote a pamphlet to refute a book written by a Dutchman who advocated that Christ abolished all ceremonies, including the observance of a day of rest (Response d un Holandoi’s, Corpus Reformatorum 1863, 9:583-628). In a letter against antinomians (“Wider die Antinomer,” 1539), Luther wrote: “I wonder exceedingly how it came to be imputed to me that I should reject the law of ten commandments∙∙∙ Can it be imaginable that there should be any sin where there is no law? Whoever abrogates the law, must of necessity abrogate sin also” (Erlanger ed. 32:4, cited in Andrews and Conradi [n.120], p. 626).
136. Augsburg Confession (n. 122), p. 25. The Confession arraigns especially the Catholic Church for requiring the observance of holy days as a condition to salvation: “For those who judge that by the authority of the Church the observance of the Lord’s Day instead of the Sabbathday was ordained as a thing necessary, do greatly err” (bc. cit.). Luther recognized that his harsh statements against the Decalogue were necessitated by prevailing perversions. In response to an antinomian, Luther wrote in 1541: “If heretofore I in my discourses spoke and wrote so harshly against the law, it was because the Christian church was overwhelmed with superstitions under which Christ was altogether hidden and buried;∙∙∙ but as to the law itself, I never rejected it” (cited in Robert Cox, The Literature of the Sabbath Question, 1865, I, p. 388).
137. Augsburg Confession (n. 122), p. 25.
138. See below, pp. 120-122, 169.
139. Luther, Treatise on Good Works (1520), Selected Writings of Martin Luther, 1967, 1:154b.
140. Luther (n. 122), p. 174.
141. Winton V. Solberg, Redeem the Time, 1977, pp. 15-19; A. G. Dickens, The English Reformation, 1964, p. 34; George H. Williams, The Radical Reformation, 1962, pp. 38-58, 81-84, 815-865.
142. Catechism of the Council of Trent, J. Donovan, trans., 1908, p. 342.
143. Ibid., p. 343.
144. The Catholic deletion of the second commandment is compensated by advancing the position of the remaining eight and by treating as two distinct precepts the tenth commandment. This arbitrary re-arrangement shows its inconsistency, for example, in the Catechism of the Council of Trent where all the ten commandments are examined individually with the exception of the ninth and tenth which are treated as one (see n. 142, p. 401).
145. For example, the Catechism of the Council of Trent, part III, chapter 4, questions 18 and 19 (n. 142), p. 347. In his address before the Council of Trent, Caspar della Fossa stated: “The Sabbath, the most glorious day in the law, has been changed into the Lord’s day∙∙∙ This and similar matters have not ceased by virtue of Christ’s teaching (for he says he came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it), but they have been changed by virtue of the authority of the church. Should this authority cease (which would surely please the heretics), who would then witness for truth and confound the obstinacy of the heretics?” (Mansi 33:533, cited in Andrews and Conradi [n.120], p. 589). On the use of this argument by Catholic authorities in French Switzerland, see Daniel Augsburger, “Sunday in the Pre-Reformation Disputations in French Switzerland,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 14 (1976): 265-277.
146. Johann Eck, Enchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherum et alias hostes ecclesiae, 1533, p. 79.
147. Ibid.
148. Catechism of the Council of Trent (n. 142), pp. 344-345.
149. Ibid., p. 346.
150. Ibid., p. 347.
151. See below ns.154, 155.
152. A valuable survey of the ideas and influence of these Sabbatarians is provided by G. F. Hasel, “Sabbatarian Anabaptists,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 5 (1967): 101-121; 6 (1968): 19-28. On the existence of Sabbathkeepers in various countries, see Andrews and Conradi(n. 120), pp. 633-716. Cf. Richard Muller (n. 121), pp. 110-129.
153. In a list of eleven sects by Stredovsky of Bohemia, “Sabbatarians” are listed in the third place after Lutherans and Calvinists. The list is reprinted by Josef Beck, ed.. Die Geschichts-Bücher der Widertäufhr in Österreich-Ungarn (“Fontes Rerum Austriacarum,” Wien, 1883), 43:74. For an analysis of this and three other lists, see Hasel (n. 152), pp. 101-106, who concludes: “These early enumerations seem to indicate that Sabbatarian Anabaptists were considered to be an important and strong group” (p. 106). Cf. Henry A. DeWind, “A Sixteenth Century Description of Religious Sects in Austerlitz, Moravia,” Mennonite Quarterly Review (1955): 51; George H. Williams (n. 141), p. 676, 726, 732, 848, 408-410, 229, 257, 512.
154. Desiderius Erasmus, “Amabili ecclesiae concordia,” Opera Omnia V: 505-506; translation by Hasel (n. 152), p. 107.
155. Luther reports: “In our time there is a foolish group of people who call themselves Sabbatarians [Sabbather] and say one should keep the Sabbath according to Jewish manner and custom” (D. Martin Luthers Werke, Weimer ed. 42:520). In his Lectures on Genesis (4:46) Luther furnishes similar information: “I hear that even now in Austria and Moravia certain Judaizers urge both the Sabbath and circumcision; if they should boldly go on, not being admonished by the work of God, they certainly might do much harm” (cited in Andrews and Conradi [n. 120], p. 640.
156. J. G. Walch, ed.. Dr. Martin Luthers sämmtliche Schrften, 1910,20: 1828ff. Cf. D. Zscharnack, “Sabbatharier,” Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 1931, 5: 8.
157. On Oswald Glait, see the recent study of Richard Muller (n. 121), pp. 117-125. Cf. Hasel (n. 152), pp. 107-121.
158. On Andreas Fisher see the treatment by Richard Muller (n. 121), pp. 125-130; Petr Ratkos, “Die Anfange des Wiedertknfertums in der Sbwakei,” Aus 500 Jahren deutsch-tschechoslowakischer Geschichte, Karl Obermann, ed., 1958, pp. 41-59.
159. Caspar Schewenckfeld’s refutation of Glait’s book is found in S. D. Hartranft and E. E. Johnson, eds., Corpus Schwenckfeldianorum, 1907, 4: 451ff.
160. Ibid., p. 458. The translation is by Hasel (n. 152), p. 119.
161. Ibid., p. 491.
162. Ibid., pp. 457458.
163. An Anabaptist (Hutterian) Chronicle provides this moving account of Glait’s final days: “In 1545 Brother Oswald Glait lay in prison in Vienna for the sake of his faith∙∙∙ Two brethren also came to him, Antoni Keim and Hans Standach, who comforted him. To them he commended his wife and child in Jamnitz. After he had been in prison a year and six weeks, they took him out of the city at midnight, that the people might not see or hear him, and drowned him in the Danube” (A. J. F. Zieglschmid, ed., Die lilteste Chronik der Hutterischen Brilder, 1943, pp. 259, 260, 266, trans. by Hasel [n. 152], pp. 114-115).
164. A brief historical survey of seventh-day Sabbathkeepers from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century is found in Andrews and Conradi (n. 120), pp. 632-759. A more comprehensive and critical study of Sabbathkeeping through the ages is scheduled for early publication (1980?) by the Review and Herald under the title The Sabbath in the Scriptures and History. About 20 scholars have contributed chapters to this new study.
165. R. J. Bauckham, “Sabbath and Sunday in the Protestant Tradition,” (n. 62), p. 526 manuscript. In 1618, for example, John Traske began preaching that Christians are bound by the Fourth Commandment to keep Saturday scrupulously. Under pressure, however, he later recanted in A Treatise of Liberty from Judaism (1620). Theophilus Brabourne, also an Anglican minister, published in 1628 A Discourse upon the Sabbath Day where he defended the observance of Saturday instead of Sunday. The High Commission induced him to renounce his views and to conform to the established church. Cf. Robert Cox, The Literature of the Sabbath Question, 1865, 1:157-158.
166. Cf. W. Y. Whitley, A History of British Baptists, 1932, pp. 83-86; A. C. Underwood, A History of the English Baptists, 1947, chaps. 2-5.
167. Seventh Day Baptist General Conference, Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America, 1910, I, pp. 127, 133, 153. Cf. Winton U. Solberg (n.141), p. 278.
168. Raymond F. Cottrell notes: “The extent to which pioneer Seventh-day Adventists were indebted to Seventh Day Baptists for their understanding of the Sabbath is reflected in the fact that throughout the first volume [of Advent Review and Sabbath Herald] over half of the material was reprinted from Seventh Day Baptist publications” (Seventh Day Baptists and Adventists: A Common Heritage, Spectrum 9 [1977]: 4).
169. The Church of God Seventh Day traces their origin back to the Millerite movement. Mr. Gilbert Cranmer, a follower of Miller’s views, who for a time associated himself with the Seventh Day Adventists, in 1860 was elected as the first president of a group known first as Church of Christ and later Church of God Seventh Day. Their 1977 report gives an estimated membership of 25,000 persons (“Synopsis of the History of the Church of God Seventh Day,” compiled in manuscript form by their headquarters in Denver, Colorado).
170. The 1974 Directory of Sabbath-Observing Groups, published by The Bible Sabbath Association, lists over 120 different denominations or groups observing the seventh-day Sabbath.
171 A comprehensive study of Calvin’s understanding of the Fourth Commandment is provided by Daniel Augsburger (n. 120), pp. 248, 284.
172. John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis, trans. John King, 1948, p. 106. The same view is repeated a few lines below: “Inasmuch as it was commanded to men from the beginning that they might employ themselves in the worship of God, it is right that it should continue to the end of the world” (p. 107).
173. John Calvin, Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony, trans. Charles William Bingham, 1950, p. 437.
174. Ibid., p. 439.
175. Ibid., p. 440. Zwingli also accepted the Sabbath as a creation institution, designed to serve as a type of the eternal Sabbath and to provide time to “consider God’s kind deeds with thankfulness, hear His law and Word, praise Him, serve Him and finally care for the neighbor” (H. Zwinglis Sdmtliche Werke. Corpus Reformatorum, 1905-1953, 13:16, 395). Cf. Edwin Kunzli, “Zwingli als Ausleger von Genesis und Exodus,” Th.D. dissertation, Zurich, 1951, p. 123.
176. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge, 1972, I, p. 341.
177. John Calvin (n. 172), p. 106.
178. Ibid.
179. John Calvin (n. 176), p. 343.
180. Ibid. Calvin summarizes the distinction between the ceremonial and moral aspects of the Sabbath, saying: “The whole may be thus summed up: As the truth was delivered typically to the Jews, so it is imparted to us without figure; first, that during our whole lives we may aim at a constant rest from our own works, in order that the Lord may work in us by his Spirit; secondly, that every individual, as he has opportunity, may diligently exercise himself in private, in pious meditation on the works of God, and at the same time, that all may observe the legitimate order appointed by the Church, for the hearing of the word, the administration of the sacraments, and public prayer: and, thirdly, that we may avoid oppressing those who are subject to us” (ibid.).
181. John Calvin (n. 173), pp. 435436.
182. Zacharias Ursinus, The Summe of Christian Religion, Oxford, 1587, p. 955.
183. On the enormous influence of Nicolas Bownde’s book, The Doctrine of the Sabbath, see Winton U. Solberg (n. 141), pp. 55-58. The book was enlarged and revised in 1606. Bownde insists that the Sabbath originated in Eden and consequently the Fourth Commandment is a moral precept binding on both Jews and Christians. The latter are urged to observe Sunday as carefully as the Jews did their Sabbath.
184. In the 163rd session of the Synod of Dort (1619) a commission of Dutch theologians approved a six-point document where the traditional ceremonial/moral distinctions are made. The first four points read as follows:
“1. In the Fourth Commandment of the Law of God, there is something ceremonial and something moral.
2. The resting upon the seventh day after the creation, and the strict observance of it, which was particularly imposed upon the Jewish people, was the ceremonial part of that law.
3. But the moral part is, that a certain day be fixed and appropriated to the service of God, and as much rest as is necessary to that service and the holy meditation upon Him.
4. The Jewish Sabbath being abolished, Christians are obliged solemnly to keep holy the Lord’s Day” (Gerard Brandt, The History of the Reformation and Other Ecclesiastical Transactions in and about the Low Countries, London, 1722, 3: 320; cf. pp. 28-29, 289-290).
185. The Westminster Confession, chapter 21, article 7, reads: “As it is of the law of nature, that in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week” (Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, 1919, 3:648-649).
186. R. J. Bauckham, “Sabbath and Sunday in the Protestant Tradition,” (n. 62), p. 510 manuscript.
187. Willem Teellinck, De Rusttijdt: Of te Tractaet van d’onderhoudinge des Christelijken Rust Dachs (The Rest Time: Or a Treatise on the Observance of the Christian Sabbath), Rotterdam, 1622. William Ames, Medulla Theologica, Amsterdam, 1623, trans. John D. Eusden, The Marrow of Theology, 1968, pp. 287-300, provides a theoretical basis for Sunday observance. Antonius Walaeus, Dissertatio de Sabbatho, seu Vero Sensu atque Usu Quarti Praecepti (Dissertationon the Sabbath, Or the True Meaning and Use of the Fourth Commandment), Leiden, 1628. Walaeus’ work represents a major literary defence of the Edenic origin of the Sabbath and of its application to Sunday observance.
188. An earlier treatise against Sabbatarianism was produced by Jacobus Burs, Threnos, or Lamentation Showing the Causes of the Pitiful Condition of the Country and the Desecration of the Sabbath, Tholen, 1627. Andreas Rivetus refuted Gomarus’ contention that the Sabbath was a Mosaic ceremony abrogated by Christ in his Praelectiones (Lectures), 1632. Gomarus replied with a voluminous Defensio Investigationis Originis Sabbati (A Defense of the Investigation into the Origin of the Sabbath), Gronigen, 1632. To this Rivetus countered with Dissertatio de Origine Sabbathi (Dissertation on the Origin of the Sabbath), Leyden, 1633.
189. The controversy flared up again in Holland in the 1650’s. Gisbertus Voetius and Johannes Cocceius were the two opposing leaders in the new round. For a brief account see Winton U. Solberg (n. 141), p. 200. Solberg provides an excellent survey of the controversy over the Sabbath
in seventeen-century England (pp. 27-85) and especially in the early American colonies (pp. 85-282).
190. Willy Rordorf’s book (n. 43) was first published in 1962 in German. Since then it has been translated into French, English and Spanish. Its influence is evidenced by the many and different responses it has generated.
191. Roger T. Beckwith and Wilfrid Stott, This is the Day. The Biblical Doctrine of the Christian Sunday, London, 1978.
192. Rordorf’s denial of any connection between Sunday and the Fourth Commandment can be traced historically in the writing of numerous anti-Sabbatarian theologians, such as Luther (n. 122, 123); William Tyndale, An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue (1531), ed. Henry Walter Cambridge, 1850, pp. 97-98; the formulary of faith of the Church of England known as The Institution of a Christian Man (1537); Franciscus Gomarus (n. 188); Francis White, A Treatise of the Sabbath-Day: Concerning a Defence of the Orthodox Doctrine of the Church of England against Sabbatarian Novelty (London, 1635); Peter Heylyn, The History of the Sabbath (London, 1636); James A. Hessey, Sunday: Its Origin, History, and Present Obligation (London 1866); Wilhelm Thomas, Der Sonntag im fri.ihen Mittelalter (Gbttingen, 1929); C. S. Mosna, Storia della Domenica dalle Origini fino agli Inizi del V Secolo (Rome, 1969); D. A. Carson, ed., From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical and Theological Investigation (to be published in 1980).
193. This concern is expressed, for example, by P. Falsioni, in Rivista Pastorale Liturgica (1967): 311, 229, 97, 98; (1966): 549-551. Similarly Beck-with and Stott point out: “Whether the Christian Sunday could have survived to the present day if this sort of attitude [Rordorf’s view] had prevailed among Christians in the past is extremely doubtful, and whether it will survive for future generations if this sort of attitude now becomes prevalent is equally uncertain” (n. 191, p. ix).
194. Beckwith points out, for example, that “if Jesus regarded the sabbath as purely ceremonial and purely temporary, it is remarkable that he gives so much attention to it in his teaching, and also that in all he teaches about it he never mentions its temporary character. This is even more remarkable when one remembers that he emphasizes the temporary character of other parts of the Old Testament ceremonial—the laws of purity in Mark 7:14-23 and Luke 11:39-41, and the temple (with its sacrifices) in Mark 13:2 and John 4:21. By contrast, we have already seen, he seems in Mark 2:27 to speak of the Sabbath as one of the unchanging ordinances for all mankind” (n. 191), p. 26; cf. pp. 2-12.
195. Beckwith (n. 191), pp. 45-46. Beckwith and Stott’s view of the Sabbath as an unchanging creation ordinance upon which the observance of Sunday rests, can be traced historically in the writings of theologians such as Aquinas (partly—n. 114, 115, 116); Calvin (partly—n. 172-180); Richard Hooker, Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1597), V: 70, 3; Nicholas Bownde (n. 183); William Teellinck, William Ames and Antonius Walaeus (n. 187); formularies of faith such as the Westminster Confession (n. 185) and the Synod of Dort (n. 184); E. W. Hengstenberg, Uber den Tag des Herrn (1852); recently by J. Francke, Van Sabbat naar Zondag (Amsterdam, 1973); Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 1956, III, pp. 47-72; Paul K. Jewett (partly), The Lord’s Day: A Theological Guide to the Day of Worship (1971); Francis Nigel Lee, The Covenantal Sabbath (1966). Lee’s study, though sponsored by the British Lord’s Day Observance Society, can hardly be taken seriously on account of its eccentric nature. He speculates, for example on “The Sabbath and the time of the fall” (pp. 79-81).
196. Beckwith and Stott (n. 191), pp. 141, 143.
197. See especially the first four chapters of my book From Sabbath to Sunday, where the alleged Biblical evidences for an apostolic origin of Sunday are examined.
198. Nahum M. Sarna (n. 76), p. 21, points out that “The seventh day is what it is because God chose to ‘bless it and declare it holy.’ Its blessed and sacred character is part of the divinely ordained cosmic order. It cannot, therefore, be abrogated by man and its sanctity is a reality irrespective of human activity.”
199. Elizabeth E. Platt, “The Lord Rested, The Lord Blessed the Sabbath Day,” Sunday 66 (1979): 4.
200. This aspect of the message of the Sabbath is examined in the following chapter and in chapter VI, part 4, under the heading of “The Sabbath and the Ecological Crisis.”(50.2)
70. Genesis Rabbah 11:7; 64:4; 79:6.
71. See below, p. 43.
72. Cf. Genesis Rabbah 11:2, 6, 8; 16:8; 79:7; 92:4; Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 18, 19, 20; The Books of Adam and Eve 51:1-2; Apocalypse of Moses 43:1-3; Yoma 28b. In these references, however, one can at times detect a tension between the universalistic creation-Sabbath and the exclusivistic Mosaic-Sabbath. The Book of Jubilees (second century B.C.) offers an example. While on the one hand it says 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), on the other it holds that God “allowed no other people or peoples to keep the Sabbath on this day, except Israel only”(Jub. 2:31). For a discussion of the question, see Robert M. Johnston, “Patriarchs, Rabbis, and Sabbath,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 12 (1974): 94-102.
73. The argument appears for the first time in the writings of Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 19, 6; 23, 3; 27, 5; 29, 3; 46, 2-3. Cf. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses 4, 16, 2; Tertullian, Adversus Judaeos 2; Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 1, 4, 8; Demonstratio evangelica 1, 6; Coinmentaria in Psalmos 91. The argument is also found in the Syriac Didascalia 26, “If God willed that we should be idle one day for six, first of all the patriarchs and the righteous men and all that were before Moses would have remained idle (upon it)” (Connolly, p. 236). For an analysis of Justin Martyr, see S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 223-233.
74. For example, John Gill, The Body of Divinity, 1951, 965. The view is expressed emphatically by Robert A. Morey, “Is Sunday the Christian Sabbath?,” Baptist Reformation Review 8 (1979): 6: “But isn’t the Sabbath creation ordinance found in Gen. 2:1-3? No, the word ‘Sabbath’ does not appear in the text. A biblical-theological approach would show that Gen. 2:1-3 is Moses’ comment looking back to the creation period within the context of his own understanding of the Ten Commandments, and not a reference to Adam’s understanding in the beginning of history.” Similarly Harold H. P. Dressler (n. 62) p. 28, “Genesis 2 does not mention the word ‘Sabbath.’ It speaks about the ‘seventh day.’ Unless the reader equates ‘seventh day’ and ‘Sabbath,’ there is no reference to the Sabbath here.” But, isn’t the equation between the “seventh day” and the “Sabbath” explicitly made in Ex. 20:8-11?
75. U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, 1961, p. 63.
76. U. Cassuto (n. 75), p. 68, explains: “The Torah, it seems to me, purports to say this: Israel’s Sabbath day shall not be as the Sabbath of the heathen nations; it shall not be the day of the full moon, or any other day connected with the phases of the moon, but it shall be the seventh day (this enables us to understand why this particular name, the seventh day, is emphasized here), the seventh in perpetual order, independent and free from any association with the signs of the heavens and any astrological concept.” Cf. N. M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis, 1923, p. 23. The reason for the use of the “seventh day” instead of the Sabbath must be seen in the light of the whole purpose of the creation story, which is to challenge, as Herold Weiss point out, “a mythological understanding of the world where brooks, mountains, animals, stars or trees have ‘powers’ of their own. Here we have a secular world. God is clearly outside it, but He left His mark in it when He trusted man with His image” (“Genesis, Chapter One: A Theological Statement,” Spectrum 9, 1979: 61). The same observation is made by Harvey Cox, The Secular City, 1965, pp. 22-23.
77. Harold H. P. Dressler, for example, writes: “There is no command of God that the seventh day should be kept in any way. In retrospect we are told that God ‘rested’(Ex. 20:11) and was ‘refreshed’(Ex. 31:17)” (n. 62, p. 22 manuscript). Cf. Gerhard von Rad, The Problem of the Hexateuch and other Essays, 1966, p. 101, n. 9; Robert A. Morey (n. 74), p. 6; C. H. MacKintosh, Genesis to Deuteronomy, 1965, p. 23).
78. John Murray, Principles of Conduct, 1957, p. 32.
79. The universal implications of the creation Sabbath are recognized by numerous scholars. U. Cassuto (n. 75), p. 64, for example, comments: “Every seventh day, without intermission since the days of creation, serves as a memorial to the idea of the creation of the world by the word of God, and we must refrain from work thereon so that we may follow the Creator’s example and cleave to His ways. Scripture wishes to emphasize that the sanctity of the Sabbath is older than Israel, and rests upon all mankind.” The Interpreter’s Bible I, p. 489: “The fact that P thus connects the origin of the sabbath not with some event in the life of the patriarchs—as he connected circumcision in ch. 17—or in the history of Israel, but with Creation itself, is of significance. For the implication of this passage is that observance of the day∙∙∙ is really binding upon all mankind.” Cf. W. H. Griffith Thomas, Genesis, 1960, p. 33; Joseph Breuer, Commentary on the Torah, 1948, pp. 17-18; Frank Michaeli, Le Livre de la Gen~se, 19, pp. 30-31; Julian Morgenstern, The Book of Genesis, 1965, p. 38; C. Westermann, Genesis, 1974, p. 236; NielsErik Andreasen (n. 65), p. 75).
80. This argument is presented by Roger D. Congdon in his doctoral dissertation. He writes: “There is absolutely no mention of the sabbath before the Lord said to Moses∙∙∙ These words indicate that the event was bound to the Decalogue of Sinai. The quoted words are recorded in Exodus 16:4. The first mention of the sabbath in the Bible and the first known chronological use of the word in all history is in Exodus 16:23” (“Sabbatic Theology,” [Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theoogical Seminary, 1949], pp. 122-12). Cf. Robert A. Morey (n. 74), p. 6.
81. This does not imply that the ethical principles of the Ten Commandments were unknown. Is not Cain condemned for murdering his brother (Gen. 4:9-11) and Abraham commended for keeping God’s commandments?
82. Cf. Ex. 7:25; 12:15, 16, 19; 13:6, 7.
83. This is not to deny that the Sabbath may have been viewed by some Israelites as a relatively new institution, especially because of its inevitable neglect during the Egyptian oppression.
84. Note the emphasis on the home celebration of the Sabbath in Lev. 23:3: “The seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.” Cf. Ex. 16:29. Jacob Z. Lauterbach (n. 12), p. 440, points out that “the main center of the Sabbath observance is in the family circle at the home and many of its ceremonies are calculated to strengthen the bonds of love and affection between the members of the family, to emphasize the parental care and duties, and to increase the filial respect and reverence for parents.”
85. It was primarily this concern over legalistic Sabbatarianism that led Luther and other radicals to view the Sabbath as a superseded Mosaic institution. See below p. 47. In our time this view is popular among dispensationalists and antinomian Christians.
86. J. Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1972, II, p. 339. Cf. K. Barth, Church Dogmatics, 1958, III, part 2, p. 50.
87. For a survey of creationistic theories, see Frank Lewis Marsh, Studies in Creationism, 1950, pp. 22-40.
88. Herold Weiss (n. 76), p. 59.
89. See below chapter V.
90. Note that the construction in Greek is dia followed by an accusative which denotes the reason for the making of the Sabbath, namely “on account of man,” or as expressed by H. E. Dana, “For the sake of, for, Mark 2:27” (A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, 1962, p. 102).
91. For an examination of Mark 2:27, see S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 55-61. That Christ’s saying alludes to the original (creation) function of the Sabbath is recognized by numerous scholars. See, among others, Charles E. Erdman, The Gospel of Mark, 1945, p. 56; H. B. Swete, The Gospel According to St. Mark, 1902, p. 49; J. A. Schep, “Lord’s Day Keeping from the Practical and Pastoral Point of View,” in The Sabbath-Sunday Problem, 1968, pp. 142-143; Roger T. Beckwith and W. Stott, This is the Day, 1978, p. 11; Francis Nigel Lee, The Covenantal Sabbath, 1966, p. 29.
92. D. A. Carson argues that the verb ginomai should not be taken as “a technical expression for ‘created,’ since its meaning varies according to the context” (“Jesus and the Sabbath in the Four Gospels,” in From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation, to be published in 1980, p. 123 manuscript). The observation is correct, but the context does suggest that the verb refers to the original “making” of the Sabbath, for at least two reasons. First, because the statement (2:27) concludes Christ’s argument on the humanitarian function of the Sabbath (2:23-26) by pointing to its original and thus ultimate purpose. Second, because Christ’s claim of Lordship over the Sabbath (2:28) depends upon the fact that He made the day for man’s benefit (2:27). For further discussion, see S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 59-61.
93. D. A. Carson objects to drawing a parallel between Matt. 19:8 and Mark 2:27, because in the latter the phrase “from the beginning” is absent. Thus, Carson argues, Jesus is appealing “not to a determinate time, but to a determinate purpose” (n. 92, p. 125). But, can time and purpose be really separated? Did not Christ establish the purpose of marriage by referring back to the time of its origin? Similarly, is not the human purpose of the Sabbath established with reference to the time the day was made?
94. See S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 38-48; idem, “John 5:17: Negation or Clarification of the Sabbath,” Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 11, 1978; cf. below pp. 155-158.
95. The passage is examined at length below in chapter V.
96. The author suggests at least three different levels of meaning. See below, p. 136.
97. The statement is reported by Eusebius in Praeparatio evangelica 13, 12.
98. Philo, De Opificio Mundi 89; De Vita Mosis 1, 207; De Specialibus Legibus 2, 59.
99. Philo, De Decalogo 97.
100. Philo, De Opificio Mundi 89.
101. Syriac Didascalia 26, ed. Connolly, p. 233.
102. Athanasius, De sabbatis et circumcisione 4, PG 28, 138 BC. For additional examples and discussion, see S. Bacchiocchi (n. 11), pp. 273-278.
103. Constitution of the Holy Apostles VII, 23, Ante-Nicene Fathers VII, 469.
104. Ibid., VII, 36, p. 474; cf. II, 36.
105. Jean Danielou, The Bible and Liturgy, 1966, p. 276.
106. Augustine, The City of God, XXII, 30, trans. Henry Bettenson, 1972, p. 1090.
107. The fact that in the creation story there is no mention of “eve, morning” for the seventh day is interpreted by Augustine as signifying the eternal nature of the Sabbath rest both in mystical and in eschatological sense.
108. Augustine, Confessions XIII, 35-36. Cf. Sermon 38, PL 270, 1242; De Genesis ad litteram 4, 13, PL 34, 305. The “already” and the “not yet” dimensions of the Sabbath rest are concisely presented by Augustine in his Commentary on Psalm 91, 2: “One whose conscience is good, is tranquil, and this peace is the Sabbath of the heart. For indeed it is directed toward the hope of Him Who promises, and although one suffers at the present time, he looks forward toward the hope of Him Who is to come, and then all the clouds of sorrow will be dispersed. This present joy, in the peace of our hope, is our Sabbath” (PL 27, 1172).
109. In his Epistula 55 ad lanuarium 22, Augustine explains: “Therefore of the ten commandments the only one we are to observe spiritually is that of the sabbath, because we recognize it to be symbolic and not to be celebrated through physical inactivity” (CSEL 34, 194). Ope wonders, How is it possible to retain the Sabbath as the symbol of mystical and eschatological rest in God, while denying the basis of such a symbol, namely, its literal Sabbath rest experience? For a discussion of this contradiction, see below pp. 55-56 and 167-168.
110. Eugippius (about 455-535), for example, quotes verbatim from Augustine, Adversus Faustum 16, 29 (Thesaurus 66, PL 62, 685). Cf. Bede(about 673-735), In Genesim 2, 3, CCL 118A, 35; Rabanus Matirus (about 784-856), Commentaria in Genesim 1, 9, PL 107, 465; Peter Lombard (about 1100-1160), Sententiarum libri quatuor 3, 37, 2, PL 192, 831.
111. Chrysostom, Homilia 10, 7 In Genesim, PG 53, 89. Ephraem Syrus (about 306-373) appeals to the Sabbath “law” to urge that “rest be granted to servants and animals” (S. Ephraem Syri hymni et sermones, ed. T. J. Lamy, I, 1882, p. 542). For a brief survey of the application of the Sabbath law to Sunday observance, see L. L. McReavy, “‘Servile Work’: The Evolution of the Present Sunday Law,” Clergy Review 9 (1935): 273-276. For a sampling of texts, see Willy Rordorf, Sabbat et dimanche dans l’Eglise ancienne, 1972, nos. 140, 143. H. Huber describes the development until the late Middle Ages (Geist und Buchstabe der Sonntagsruhe, 1958, pp. 117ff).
112. Peter Comestor, Historia scholastica: liber Genesis 10, PL 198, 1065. On the development of the principle of “one day in seven,” see discussion in Wilhelm Thomas, “Sabbatarianism,” Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 1965, III, p. 2090.
113. The distinction was explicitly made, for example, by Albertus Magnus (about 1200-1280). See Wilhelm Thomas (n. 112), p. 2278.
114 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part I-lI, 0. 100, 3, 1947, p. 1039. The distinction between the moral and ceremonial aspects of the Sabath is clearly stated also in Pt. Il-Il, 0. 122, 4: “It is a moral precept in the point of commanding man to set aside a certain time to be given to Divine things. For there is in man a natural inclination to set aside a certain time for each necessary thing∙∙∙ Hence according to the dictate of reason, man sets aside a certain time for spiritual refreshment, by which man’s mind is refreshed in God. And thus to have a certain time set aside for occupying oneself with Divine things is the matter of a moral precept. But, in so far as this precept specializes the time as a sign representing the Creation of the world, it is a ceremonial precept. Again, it is a ceremonial precept in its allegorical signification, as representative of Christ’s rest in the tomb on the seventh day: as also in its moral signification, as representing cessation from all sinful acts, and the mind’s rest in God, in which sense, too, it is a general precept. Again, it is a ceremonial precept in its analogical signification, as foreshadowing the enjoyment of God in heaven” (n. 114, p. 1701).
115. Aquinas subdivided the Mosaic law into moral, ceremonial and judicial precepts. The moral precepts of the decalogue are viewed as precepts also of the Natural Law, that is to say, they are precepts binding upon all men because they are discoverable by all through human reason without the aid of special revelation. Cf. Aquinas (n. 114), Part I-Il, 0. 100, 1 and 0. 100, 3, pp.1037, 1039.
116. Thomas Aquinas (n. 114), Part I-Il, Q. 100, 5, p. 1042. See also above n. 114.
117. See n. 116. Note also that Aquinas attributes a similar symbolic function to Sunday: “As to the sabbath, which was a sign recalling the first creation, its place is taken by the Lord’s Day, which recalls the beginning of the new creature in the Resurrection of Christ” (n. 114, Part I-Il, 0. 103, 3, p. 1085).
118. Thomas Aquinas (n. 114), Part I-Il, 0. 107, 3, p. 1111.
119. See L. L. McReavy (n. 111), pp. 279f. A brief survey of the development of Sunday laws and casuistry is provided by Paul K. Jewett, The Lord’s Day, 1972, pp. 128-169. A good example of the adoption of Aquinas’ moral-ceremonial distinction can be found in the Catechism of the Council of Trent. See below n. 142.
120. Karlstadt’s concept of the Sabbath rest contains a strange combination of mystical and legalistic elements. Basically he viewed the day as a time to abstain from work in order to be contrite over one’s sins. For a clear analysis of his views, see Gordon Rupp, Patterns of Reformation, 1969, pp. 123-130; idem, “Andrew Karlstadt and Reformation Puritanism,” Journal of Theological Studies 10 (1959): 308-326; cf. Daniel Augsburger, “Calvin and the Mosaic Law,” Doctoral dissertation, Strasbourg University, 1976, pp. 248-249; J. N. Andrews and L. R. Conradi, History of the Subbath and First Day of the Week, 1912, pp. 652-655.
121. Luther, Against the Heavenly Prophets, Luther’s Works, 1958, 40:93. A valuable study of Luther’s views regarding the Sabbath is to be found in Richard Muller, Adventisten-Sabbat-Reformation, Studia Theologica Lundensia, 1979, pp. 32-60.
122. Concordia or Book of Concord, The Symbols of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1957, pp. 174.
123. Augsburg Confession (n. 122), p. 25; cf. Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, 1919, III, p. 69.
124. The Large Catechism (n. 122), p. 175.
125. Erlanger ed., 33:67, cited in Andrews and Conradi (n. 120), p. 627.
126. Melanchthon, On Christian Doctrine, Loci Communes 1555, Clyde L. Manschreck, ed. and trans., 1965, p. 96.
127. Melanchthon (n. 126), p. 98. In his first edition of the Loci Communes (1521) Melanchthon acknowledges his indebtedness to Luther’s Treatise on Good Works (1520) for his understanding of the Fourth Commandment.
128. The concept of the Sabbath as “renouncement and renewal” is discussed below, pp. 120-123. I do not share, however, Melanchthon’s understanding of Sabbathkeeping as self-mortification, since the Sabbath is not a day of gloom but of gladness. Cf. Loci Communes Theologici (1521), in Melanchthon and Bucer, L. J. Satre and W. Pauck, trans., 1969, p. 55.
129. See note 127. This aspect of the Sabbath is considered in several places below; see chapters III, IV, VI and VII.
130. Luther (n. 121), p. 93; cf. p. 97.
131. Melanchthon (n. 126), pp. 96-97.
132. Melanchthon (n. 126), p. 97.
133. It should be noted, however, that the theological orientation of the Sabbath rest “to the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:11; 31:17; Deut. 5:14) could imply a call to cease from all work in order to worship God in a public assembly. This is suggested by the fact that in the annual feasts, the prohibition of work and the list of persons who were to rest (strikingly similar to that of the Sabbath commandment) are given to ensure the participation of all inthe “holy assembly” (Num. 28 :18; 25, 26; 29:1, 7, 12, 35; Lev. 23:7, 21, 23-25, 28-32, 35; Deut. 16:8, 11). While acknowledging this possibility, the fact remains that the emphasis of the Fourth Commandment is not on “the office of preaching” but on rest from work. The act of making oneself available for God on the Sabbath does represent a meaningful worship response to God. See below, pp. 174-180.
134. An incisive criticism of the Natural Law theory is offered by D. J. O’Connor, Aquinas and Natural Law, 1967.
135. Melanchthon (n. 126), p. 96, labels this antinomian position as “childish contention.” He them refutes it by appealing to the distinction between the specific and the general aspects of the Sabbath. Calvin also in 1562 wrote a pamphlet to refute a book written by a Dutchman who advocated that Christ abolished all ceremonies, including the observance of a day of rest (Response d un Holandoi’s, Corpus Reformatorum 1863, 9:583-628). In a letter against antinomians (“Wider die Antinomer,” 1539), Luther wrote: “I wonder exceedingly how it came to be imputed to me that I should reject the law of ten commandments∙∙∙ Can it be imaginable that there should be any sin where there is no law? Whoever abrogates the law, must of necessity abrogate sin also” (Erlanger ed. 32:4, cited in Andrews and Conradi [n.120], p. 626).
136. Augsburg Confession (n. 122), p. 25. The Confession arraigns especially the Catholic Church for requiring the observance of holy days as a condition to salvation: “For those who judge that by the authority of the Church the observance of the Lord’s Day instead of the Sabbathday was ordained as a thing necessary, do greatly err” (bc. cit.). Luther recognized that his harsh statements against the Decalogue were necessitated by prevailing perversions. In response to an antinomian, Luther wrote in 1541: “If heretofore I in my discourses spoke and wrote so harshly against the law, it was because the Christian church was overwhelmed with superstitions under which Christ was altogether hidden and buried;∙∙∙ but as to the law itself, I never rejected it” (cited in Robert Cox, The Literature of the Sabbath Question, 1865, I, p. 388).
137. Augsburg Confession (n. 122), p. 25.
138. See below, pp. 120-122, 169.
139. Luther, Treatise on Good Works (1520), Selected Writings of Martin Luther, 1967, 1:154b.
140. Luther (n. 122), p. 174.
141. Winton V. Solberg, Redeem the Time, 1977, pp. 15-19; A. G. Dickens, The English Reformation, 1964, p. 34; George H. Williams, The Radical Reformation, 1962, pp. 38-58, 81-84, 815-865.
142. Catechism of the Council of Trent, J. Donovan, trans., 1908, p. 342.
143. Ibid., p. 343.
144. The Catholic deletion of the second commandment is compensated by advancing the position of the remaining eight and by treating as two distinct precepts the tenth commandment. This arbitrary re-arrangement shows its inconsistency, for example, in the Catechism of the Council of Trent where all the ten commandments are examined individually with the exception of the ninth and tenth which are treated as one (see n. 142, p. 401).
145. For example, the Catechism of the Council of Trent, part III, chapter 4, questions 18 and 19 (n. 142), p. 347. In his address before the Council of Trent, Caspar della Fossa stated: “The Sabbath, the most glorious day in the law, has been changed into the Lord’s day∙∙∙ This and similar matters have not ceased by virtue of Christ’s teaching (for he says he came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it), but they have been changed by virtue of the authority of the church. Should this authority cease (which would surely please the heretics), who would then witness for truth and confound the obstinacy of the heretics?” (Mansi 33:533, cited in Andrews and Conradi [n.120], p. 589). On the use of this argument by Catholic authorities in French Switzerland, see Daniel Augsburger, “Sunday in the Pre-Reformation Disputations in French Switzerland,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 14 (1976): 265-277.
146. Johann Eck, Enchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherum et alias hostes ecclesiae, 1533, p. 79.
147. Ibid.
148. Catechism of the Council of Trent (n. 142), pp. 344-345.
149. Ibid., p. 346.
150. Ibid., p. 347.
151. See below ns.154, 155.
152. A valuable survey of the ideas and influence of these Sabbatarians is provided by G. F. Hasel, “Sabbatarian Anabaptists,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 5 (1967): 101-121; 6 (1968): 19-28. On the existence of Sabbathkeepers in various countries, see Andrews and Conradi(n. 120), pp. 633-716. Cf. Richard Muller (n. 121), pp. 110-129.
153. In a list of eleven sects by Stredovsky of Bohemia, “Sabbatarians” are listed in the third place after Lutherans and Calvinists. The list is reprinted by Josef Beck, ed.. Die Geschichts-Bücher der Widertäufhr in Österreich-Ungarn (“Fontes Rerum Austriacarum,” Wien, 1883), 43:74. For an analysis of this and three other lists, see Hasel (n. 152), pp. 101-106, who concludes: “These early enumerations seem to indicate that Sabbatarian Anabaptists were considered to be an important and strong group” (p. 106). Cf. Henry A. DeWind, “A Sixteenth Century Description of Religious Sects in Austerlitz, Moravia,” Mennonite Quarterly Review (1955): 51; George H. Williams (n. 141), p. 676, 726, 732, 848, 408-410, 229, 257, 512.
154. Desiderius Erasmus, “Amabili ecclesiae concordia,” Opera Omnia V: 505-506; translation by Hasel (n. 152), p. 107.
155. Luther reports: “In our time there is a foolish group of people who call themselves Sabbatarians [Sabbather] and say one should keep the Sabbath according to Jewish manner and custom” (D. Martin Luthers Werke, Weimer ed. 42:520). In his Lectures on Genesis (4:46) Luther furnishes similar information: “I hear that even now in Austria and Moravia certain Judaizers urge both the Sabbath and circumcision; if they should boldly go on, not being admonished by the work of God, they certainly might do much harm” (cited in Andrews and Conradi [n. 120], p. 640.
156. J. G. Walch, ed.. Dr. Martin Luthers sämmtliche Schrften, 1910,20: 1828ff. Cf. D. Zscharnack, “Sabbatharier,” Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 1931, 5: 8.
157. On Oswald Glait, see the recent study of Richard Muller (n. 121), pp. 117-125. Cf. Hasel (n. 152), pp. 107-121.
158. On Andreas Fisher see the treatment by Richard Muller (n. 121), pp. 125-130; Petr Ratkos, “Die Anfange des Wiedertknfertums in der Sbwakei,” Aus 500 Jahren deutsch-tschechoslowakischer Geschichte, Karl Obermann, ed., 1958, pp. 41-59.
159. Caspar Schewenckfeld’s refutation of Glait’s book is found in S. D. Hartranft and E. E. Johnson, eds., Corpus Schwenckfeldianorum, 1907, 4: 451ff.
160. Ibid., p. 458. The translation is by Hasel (n. 152), p. 119.
161. Ibid., p. 491.
162. Ibid., pp. 457458.
163. An Anabaptist (Hutterian) Chronicle provides this moving account of Glait’s final days: “In 1545 Brother Oswald Glait lay in prison in Vienna for the sake of his faith∙∙∙ Two brethren also came to him, Antoni Keim and Hans Standach, who comforted him. To them he commended his wife and child in Jamnitz. After he had been in prison a year and six weeks, they took him out of the city at midnight, that the people might not see or hear him, and drowned him in the Danube” (A. J. F. Zieglschmid, ed., Die lilteste Chronik der Hutterischen Brilder, 1943, pp. 259, 260, 266, trans. by Hasel [n. 152], pp. 114-115).
164. A brief historical survey of seventh-day Sabbathkeepers from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century is found in Andrews and Conradi (n. 120), pp. 632-759. A more comprehensive and critical study of Sabbathkeeping through the ages is scheduled for early publication (1980?) by the Review and Herald under the title The Sabbath in the Scriptures and History. About 20 scholars have contributed chapters to this new study.
165. R. J. Bauckham, “Sabbath and Sunday in the Protestant Tradition,” (n. 62), p. 526 manuscript. In 1618, for example, John Traske began preaching that Christians are bound by the Fourth Commandment to keep Saturday scrupulously. Under pressure, however, he later recanted in A Treatise of Liberty from Judaism (1620). Theophilus Brabourne, also an Anglican minister, published in 1628 A Discourse upon the Sabbath Day where he defended the observance of Saturday instead of Sunday. The High Commission induced him to renounce his views and to conform to the established church. Cf. Robert Cox, The Literature of the Sabbath Question, 1865, 1:157-158.
166. Cf. W. Y. Whitley, A History of British Baptists, 1932, pp. 83-86; A. C. Underwood, A History of the English Baptists, 1947, chaps. 2-5.
167. Seventh Day Baptist General Conference, Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America, 1910, I, pp. 127, 133, 153. Cf. Winton U. Solberg (n.141), p. 278.
168. Raymond F. Cottrell notes: “The extent to which pioneer Seventh-day Adventists were indebted to Seventh Day Baptists for their understanding of the Sabbath is reflected in the fact that throughout the first volume [of Advent Review and Sabbath Herald] over half of the material was reprinted from Seventh Day Baptist publications” (Seventh Day Baptists and Adventists: A Common Heritage, Spectrum 9 [1977]: 4).
169. The Church of God Seventh Day traces their origin back to the Millerite movement. Mr. Gilbert Cranmer, a follower of Miller’s views, who for a time associated himself with the Seventh Day Adventists, in 1860 was elected as the first president of a group known first as Church of Christ and later Church of God Seventh Day. Their 1977 report gives an estimated membership of 25,000 persons (“Synopsis of the History of the Church of God Seventh Day,” compiled in manuscript form by their headquarters in Denver, Colorado).
170. The 1974 Directory of Sabbath-Observing Groups, published by The Bible Sabbath Association, lists over 120 different denominations or groups observing the seventh-day Sabbath.
171 A comprehensive study of Calvin’s understanding of the Fourth Commandment is provided by Daniel Augsburger (n. 120), pp. 248, 284.
172. John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis, trans. John King, 1948, p. 106. The same view is repeated a few lines below: “Inasmuch as it was commanded to men from the beginning that they might employ themselves in the worship of God, it is right that it should continue to the end of the world” (p. 107).
173. John Calvin, Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony, trans. Charles William Bingham, 1950, p. 437.
174. Ibid., p. 439.
175. Ibid., p. 440. Zwingli also accepted the Sabbath as a creation institution, designed to serve as a type of the eternal Sabbath and to provide time to “consider God’s kind deeds with thankfulness, hear His law and Word, praise Him, serve Him and finally care for the neighbor” (H. Zwinglis Sdmtliche Werke. Corpus Reformatorum, 1905-1953, 13:16, 395). Cf. Edwin Kunzli, “Zwingli als Ausleger von Genesis und Exodus,” Th.D. dissertation, Zurich, 1951, p. 123.
176. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge, 1972, I, p. 341.
177. John Calvin (n. 172), p. 106.
178. Ibid.
179. John Calvin (n. 176), p. 343.
180. Ibid. Calvin summarizes the distinction between the ceremonial and moral aspects of the Sabbath, saying: “The whole may be thus summed up: As the truth was delivered typically to the Jews, so it is imparted to us without figure; first, that during our whole lives we may aim at a constant rest from our own works, in order that the Lord may work in us by his Spirit; secondly, that every individual, as he has opportunity, may diligently exercise himself in private, in pious meditation on the works of God, and at the same time, that all may observe the legitimate order appointed by the Church, for the hearing of the word, the administration of the sacraments, and public prayer: and, thirdly, that we may avoid oppressing those who are subject to us” (ibid.).
181. John Calvin (n. 173), pp. 435436.
182. Zacharias Ursinus, The Summe of Christian Religion, Oxford, 1587, p. 955.
183. On the enormous influence of Nicolas Bownde’s book, The Doctrine of the Sabbath, see Winton U. Solberg (n. 141), pp. 55-58. The book was enlarged and revised in 1606. Bownde insists that the Sabbath originated in Eden and consequently the Fourth Commandment is a moral precept binding on both Jews and Christians. The latter are urged to observe Sunday as carefully as the Jews did their Sabbath.
184. In the 163rd session of the Synod of Dort (1619) a commission of Dutch theologians approved a six-point document where the traditional ceremonial/moral distinctions are made. The first four points read as follows:
“1. In the Fourth Commandment of the Law of God, there is something ceremonial and something moral.
2. The resting upon the seventh day after the creation, and the strict observance of it, which was particularly imposed upon the Jewish people, was the ceremonial part of that law.
3. But the moral part is, that a certain day be fixed and appropriated to the service of God, and as much rest as is necessary to that service and the holy meditation upon Him.
4. The Jewish Sabbath being abolished, Christians are obliged solemnly to keep holy the Lord’s Day” (Gerard Brandt, The History of the Reformation and Other Ecclesiastical Transactions in and about the Low Countries, London, 1722, 3: 320; cf. pp. 28-29, 289-290).
185. The Westminster Confession, chapter 21, article 7, reads: “As it is of the law of nature, that in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week” (Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, 1919, 3:648-649).
186. R. J. Bauckham, “Sabbath and Sunday in the Protestant Tradition,” (n. 62), p. 510 manuscript.
187. Willem Teellinck, De Rusttijdt: Of te Tractaet van d’onderhoudinge des Christelijken Rust Dachs (The Rest Time: Or a Treatise on the Observance of the Christian Sabbath), Rotterdam, 1622. William Ames, Medulla Theologica, Amsterdam, 1623, trans. John D. Eusden, The Marrow of Theology, 1968, pp. 287-300, provides a theoretical basis for Sunday observance. Antonius Walaeus, Dissertatio de Sabbatho, seu Vero Sensu atque Usu Quarti Praecepti (Dissertationon the Sabbath, Or the True Meaning and Use of the Fourth Commandment), Leiden, 1628. Walaeus’ work represents a major literary defence of the Edenic origin of the Sabbath and of its application to Sunday observance.
188. An earlier treatise against Sabbatarianism was produced by Jacobus Burs, Threnos, or Lamentation Showing the Causes of the Pitiful Condition of the Country and the Desecration of the Sabbath, Tholen, 1627. Andreas Rivetus refuted Gomarus’ contention that the Sabbath was a Mosaic ceremony abrogated by Christ in his Praelectiones (Lectures), 1632. Gomarus replied with a voluminous Defensio Investigationis Originis Sabbati (A Defense of the Investigation into the Origin of the Sabbath), Gronigen, 1632. To this Rivetus countered with Dissertatio de Origine Sabbathi (Dissertation on the Origin of the Sabbath), Leyden, 1633.
189. The controversy flared up again in Holland in the 1650’s. Gisbertus Voetius and Johannes Cocceius were the two opposing leaders in the new round. For a brief account see Winton U. Solberg (n. 141), p. 200. Solberg provides an excellent survey of the controversy over the Sabbath
in seventeen-century England (pp. 27-85) and especially in the early American colonies (pp. 85-282).
190. Willy Rordorf’s book (n. 43) was first published in 1962 in German. Since then it has been translated into French, English and Spanish. Its influence is evidenced by the many and different responses it has generated.
191. Roger T. Beckwith and Wilfrid Stott, This is the Day. The Biblical Doctrine of the Christian Sunday, London, 1978.
192. Rordorf’s denial of any connection between Sunday and the Fourth Commandment can be traced historically in the writing of numerous anti-Sabbatarian theologians, such as Luther (n. 122, 123); William Tyndale, An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue (1531), ed. Henry Walter Cambridge, 1850, pp. 97-98; the formulary of faith of the Church of England known as The Institution of a Christian Man (1537); Franciscus Gomarus (n. 188); Francis White, A Treatise of the Sabbath-Day: Concerning a Defence of the Orthodox Doctrine of the Church of England against Sabbatarian Novelty (London, 1635); Peter Heylyn, The History of the Sabbath (London, 1636); James A. Hessey, Sunday: Its Origin, History, and Present Obligation (London 1866); Wilhelm Thomas, Der Sonntag im fri.ihen Mittelalter (Gbttingen, 1929); C. S. Mosna, Storia della Domenica dalle Origini fino agli Inizi del V Secolo (Rome, 1969); D. A. Carson, ed., From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical and Theological Investigation (to be published in 1980).
193. This concern is expressed, for example, by P. Falsioni, in Rivista Pastorale Liturgica (1967): 311, 229, 97, 98; (1966): 549-551. Similarly Beck-with and Stott point out: “Whether the Christian Sunday could have survived to the present day if this sort of attitude [Rordorf’s view] had prevailed among Christians in the past is extremely doubtful, and whether it will survive for future generations if this sort of attitude now becomes prevalent is equally uncertain” (n. 191, p. ix).
194. Beckwith points out, for example, that “if Jesus regarded the sabbath as purely ceremonial and purely temporary, it is remarkable that he gives so much attention to it in his teaching, and also that in all he teaches about it he never mentions its temporary character. This is even more remarkable when one remembers that he emphasizes the temporary character of other parts of the Old Testament ceremonial—the laws of purity in Mark 7:14-23 and Luke 11:39-41, and the temple (with its sacrifices) in Mark 13:2 and John 4:21. By contrast, we have already seen, he seems in Mark 2:27 to speak of the Sabbath as one of the unchanging ordinances for all mankind” (n. 191), p. 26; cf. pp. 2-12.
195. Beckwith (n. 191), pp. 45-46. Beckwith and Stott’s view of the Sabbath as an unchanging creation ordinance upon which the observance of Sunday rests, can be traced historically in the writings of theologians such as Aquinas (partly—n. 114, 115, 116); Calvin (partly—n. 172-180); Richard Hooker, Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1597), V: 70, 3; Nicholas Bownde (n. 183); William Teellinck, William Ames and Antonius Walaeus (n. 187); formularies of faith such as the Westminster Confession (n. 185) and the Synod of Dort (n. 184); E. W. Hengstenberg, Uber den Tag des Herrn (1852); recently by J. Francke, Van Sabbat naar Zondag (Amsterdam, 1973); Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 1956, III, pp. 47-72; Paul K. Jewett (partly), The Lord’s Day: A Theological Guide to the Day of Worship (1971); Francis Nigel Lee, The Covenantal Sabbath (1966). Lee’s study, though sponsored by the British Lord’s Day Observance Society, can hardly be taken seriously on account of its eccentric nature. He speculates, for example on “The Sabbath and the time of the fall” (pp. 79-81).
196. Beckwith and Stott (n. 191), pp. 141, 143.
197. See especially the first four chapters of my book From Sabbath to Sunday, where the alleged Biblical evidences for an apostolic origin of Sunday are examined.
198. Nahum M. Sarna (n. 76), p. 21, points out that “The seventh day is what it is because God chose to ‘bless it and declare it holy.’ Its blessed and sacred character is part of the divinely ordained cosmic order. It cannot, therefore, be abrogated by man and its sanctity is a reality irrespective of human activity.”
199. Elizabeth E. Platt, “The Lord Rested, The Lord Blessed the Sabbath Day,” Sunday 66 (1979): 4.
200. This aspect of the message of the Sabbath is examined in the following chapter and in chapter VI, part 4, under the heading of “The Sabbath and the Ecological Crisis.”