Book Reviewby Desmond Ford

SABBATH IN CRISIS

by Dale Ratzlaff[1990: Life Assurances Ministries,

19109 N. 71st Drive, Glendale, AZ 85308]

Dale Ratzlaff's book opposes the Sabbathusing arguments based on the Biblecovenants. The reviewer suggests thatthere is much biblical evidence to supportthe Sabbath: the distinction between moraland ceremonial laws; worship and moralprinciple; a more contextual understand-ing of Colossians 2:16-23; Jesus and hisSabbath miracles; the eternal covenant-and the necessity of not basing conclusionson isolated texts.

ale Ratzlaff is an outstanding Christian, and I wish to go onrecord as saying that a sweet gospel spirit permeates hisbook. Christ and his grace are given their right place, and

1,personally, am in accord with much that is said in this volume,though not with its chief conclusion that the fourthcommandment is no longer for Christians.

Here are specimen statements from Sabbath in Crisis with which Iwholeheartedly agree:

It is vitally important to realize that when we speak of theold covenant, including the Ten Commandments, beingsuperseded by the new covenant, we are speaking of theold covenant in totality, yet at the same time we are notdoing away with any of the moral principles containedwithin the old covenant. We must also understand that forsociety to function without anarchy, it must continue tohave specific moral laws to restrain the evil of theunregenerate heart.(p. 212)

... it is imperative that Christians have a regular time forworship. It is imperative that they assemble together inorder to strengthen their faith, to meet in Christ'spresence for personal Christian growth, for the extensionof the kingdom, and for corporate worship. (p. 322)

It is not a good principle of interpretation to accept and applypart of a verse of Scripture and ignore the rest. (p.276)

These statements by Dale are a good jumping-off place for aconsideration of his book.

Dale says he is not doing away with any of the moral principlescontained within the old covenant. Good! But where are thesesummarized if not in the Decalogue?

The blood of the covenant was not sprinkled over theceremonial laws given to Israel. (See Exodus 24:6-8.) It is thefollowing book of Leviticus that begins the list of ceremonialenactments, whereas the blood was applied to the record of theTen Commandments and their enlargements (called 'Judgments")for Israel.

Let us clearly mark the distinction God made between the moral4

and ceremonial aspects of his law. The latter was given at adifferent time and from a different place to the former.

Not from Mt. Sinai, but from the tabernacle was the ceremonialcode delivered. (See Leviticus 1:1.)

And they were cared for by different hands. God cared for theDecalogue under the Shekinah, and the priest cared for the otherfrom day to day in his ritual services.

God did not write his moral code on parchment but onenduring stone.

Furthermore, the purpose of the ceremonial laws was to makeatonement for the violation of the moral code. Christ knew wellwhat he was talking about when he referred to "the weightiermatters of the law: justice and mercy and faith." (Matthew 23:23NRSY;compare 1 Corinthians 7:19 which also distinguishes themoral from the ceremonial.) The whole New Testament (orcovenant) is concerned with these weightier matters.

Is not the command to worship the fountain of all morality?Karl Barth and many others have referred to the Fourth

Commandment as the most important of all the Ten for that veryreason.

Had it always been observed, there would never have beenatheists, heathen, idolaters, or warmongers. What a world thiswould have been!

Does not the New Testament affirm repeatedly that the moralprinciples of the Decalogue abide for all Christians' (See Matthew5:17-48; 15:3-9; 19:17-19; 22:36-40; Romans 331; 7:12,14; 8:4;13:8-11; 1 Corinthians 7:19; 1556; Ephesians 61-3; 1 Timothy1:8-11; Revelation 11:19; 12:17; 15:5.)

Here are the principles of the Ten Commandments: loyalty,worship, reverence, holiness, respect for authority, love, purity,honesty, truthfulness, contentment.

Who would wish to get rid of anyone of these' Are they justJewish' Did they only become important millenniums after theworld was made'

The Jews had a saying that the Decalogue was given in thewilderness and not in Canaan, to show that it was for all peopleand for all time. Similarly, the chief name given to the author ofthese moral principles is Elohim ("God"), not Yahweh ("Lord")That's because the former means God as the Creator of all (seeGenesis 1), and the second, God as Redeemer of his people.

All admit nine of the Ten Commandments are for all peoplefor all time; therefore, "what God has put together let not manput asunder."

Colossians1.:16-23Yes, there is undeniable good Christian sense in the first twoquotations we have given from our friend, Dale, but also in thethird. To accept and apply part of a verse of Scripture and ignorethe rest does indeed invite error.

For this reason, we believe Dale quite misinterprets Colossians2:16-23. He has much to say about the first lines of these lastparagraphs of the chapter, and very little about the rest-thoughthe latter is the key to the former.

There we read about visions of angels gained through asceticpractices "based on human commands and teachings"(Colossians 2:22 NIV). The last line is a quotation from Isaiah29:13, which is discussing false worship.

If Colossians 2:16 wipes out all Sabbath-keeping, it also wipesout all eating and drinking. (Fasting, not distinctions betweenfoods and drinks, is the issue here-see all modern versions.)Clearly both are set in a particular context, and that context is setforth in the following lines-which warn Christians againstpracticing asceticism in order to have angelic visions. (God hasgiven no such instructions to believers.)

More none itne s qu reThere are approximately 150 references to the Sabbath-byname-in Scripture. The only one apparently against the Sabbath isColossians 2:16. We can either interpret the 149 texts by the one,or the one by the 149.

Seven times Scripture advises us that only "in the mouth of twoor three witnesses shall every word be established." (For example,see Numbers 35:30; 2 Corinthians 13:1; Hebrews 10:28.) "Amatter must be established by the testimony of two or threewitnesses," says Deuteronomy 19:15 NIV

Neither Galatians 4:10 nor Romans 14:5,6 name the Sabbath.Galatians 4: 10 refers to days (plural), not the seventh day(singular), and Romans is referring to fast days as the contextshows.

Therefore, in the whole of Scripture, only the lonely Colossians2:16 can be invoked against the thunders and lightnings, thedivine voice and finger of Sinai.

Cha satThink what chaos we would be in if we did the same with otherisolated texts!

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:1: "It is good for a man not totouch a woman" (NKJV). If the church had read this the way someread Colossians 2:16, none of us would be here'

Then take Christ's words in Mark 10:21: "Sell whatever youhave and give to the poor." How many are content with the plainmeaning of those words?

Or "if anyone be ignorant, let him be ignorant," or "all thingsare yours," or "all things are lawful," or "if ye be circumcised,Christ shall profit you nothing." (If you are ignorant of thereferences, don't take the first admonition seriously. The referencesare: 1 Corinthians 14:38; 3:21; 6:12 and 10:23; Galatians 5:2, allKJV)Have you heard of the missionary who read Matthew 2:13 "fleeinto Egypt" and left his field of labor for the Nile region)

Ed bThe Anchor Bible Dictionary (the most recent comprehensive

work of its kind) says on Colossians 2:16: "... 'sabbath' seems torefer to something other than wholesome weekly Sabbath-keepingas the majority opinion holds." (v. 5:855).

It is true that the seventh-day Sabbath of Judaism with itsshadowy ceremonies, sacrifices, and multitudinous laws has gone,but not that Edenic day of which Christ affirmed: "The sabbathwas made for man" (Mark 2:27 NIV); and of which he was and isLord. "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28;Luke 6:5).

The Edenic Sabbath remains fifty-two spring days in the year,"holy," "blessed," "honorable."

t f 0 tDale gives his opinion that "work did not enter until after they(Adam and Eve) sinned" (p. 22).

But Genesis 2:15 affirms that before our parents were warnedagainst eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, theywere given the happy assignment of gardening in the mostbeautiful garden ever known. They were "to work it and take careof it" (NIV).

The mate of work is rest, and therefore we believe Sabbath inCrisis is wrong in teaching that man did not know the seventh-day-created rest until millenniums later. (See p. 25.)

saThe expression "and sanctified it" in Genesis 2:3 KJV"hallowed"NRSV;"made it holy" NIY,has no meaning unless there werepeople intended at that time to hallow the day. (The word"sanctify" often means public announcement-see Exodus 19:22.)

Exodus 20:8-11 says clearly that the seventh day was theSabbath day at the time of its sanctification, and the fact that theword is not found in Genesis is no more significant than the factthat laws about sacrifice, tithing, murder, theft, lying, etc. are notmentioned in Genesis, either, though always taken for granted asexisting.

EVERYBIBLEMEMORIALBEGINSWITH THE EVENTMEMORIALIZED,not millenniums later. (For example, seeExodus 12 and Joshua 4:20-21.)

earSabbath in Crisis devotes many pages to the topic of Jesus and theSabbath, but a close study of this subject confirms Christ's ownverdict concerning the Sabbath-keeping of himself and hisfollowers they were "innocent," "guiltless" of all violations. (SeeMatthew 127.)

Jesus could say he had kept his Father's commandment andthus abode in his love. How else could he have been a perfectsinless sacrifice on the cross)

ic S aDale's book misses the true significance of the sevenmiracles Christ worked on the holy day and Christ's owndiscussions regarding them.

The miracles involved both sexes, the young, themiddle-aged, and the old, and transpired in the home, atchurch, and on the street.

In his arguments, Christ drew from Old Testament laws,from Jewish history, from the later prophets, from God'sown example, from human custom, and from humanreason and conscience.

NO OTHER TOPIC EXCEPT THE CROSS IN THE WHOLENEW TESTAMENT COVERS SUCH MAJESTIC SCOPE.

everlasting, covenan

of grace, thou

with

emphases according

to the needs

of the timePhblo: Richard Revel

As with the third, fifth, and seventh commandments, Christrebuked ceremonial perversions in order to restore the originalcommandment.

Never does Christ so treat any temporary institution. Dale'sattempt to make a parallel between Christ's treatment of theSabbath and his cleansing of the temple collapses, because Christrepeatedly foretold the end of the temple and its services. (SeeMatthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, and John 4:21 ff.) Christ made nosuch intimation of the end of the Fourth Commandment.

Indeed, Christ hallowed the Sabbath even in death, for it was theonly whole day he spent in the tomb. His followers likewisehonored the Sabbath (Luke 23:56). John's Gospel purposelymodels its account (see John 19:23-41) of the second Adamsdeath on the sleep of the first Adam at the close of the sixth day ofcreation.

Thus, there are references to the nakedness of the new head of

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the race, his opened side, in a garden and on a cross (elsewherecalled a tree (Acts 5:30; 10:39).

Cross and c eationLater, knowing that all was now completed, and so that theScripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar ofwine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put thesponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."Oohn 19:28-30 NIV)

Donot missthe forcefulnessofthewords"completed,""fulfilled,"and"finished."Theyechotheuse of"finished"in Genesis2:1-3on the eveofthefirstSabbath.

At theverymoment Christcried,"Itis finished!"synagoguesthroughoutthe landwereusingthat samewordas theyreadpubliclyGenesis2:1-3tousher in theholyrestday

New creation ex 'llpleNever forget that Christ's worthy redemption was a new creation.We are safe and only safe if we follow the example of Christ.(Remember that seven times the New Testament says Christcreated the world. He rested on the first Sabbath and the CalvarySabbath, and that fact can no more be changed than one's ownbirthday)

Shall any be condemned on Judgment Day because they havemodeled their faith and practice on the faith and practice of ourLord7

The law and the GospelsIt should be remembered that the Gospels were written after theepistles of Paul, and there the Holy Spirit gives a final word onsome topics still unclear to the readers of Paul.

For example, Matthew speaks beautifully of grace (see Matthew20:1-16, the parable sometimes entitled "The Reward of Grace").Yet everywhere throughout his Gospel, Matthew takes thesacredness of the Decalogue for granted.

There is neither casuistry about law nor antinomianism in anyof the Gospels.

Bible covenantsWe have in a recent copy of Good News Unlimited magazinediscussed the issue of the covenants-an issue pivotal for Dale'sbook.

At this point, we can only refer readers to Psalms 105:42-45,which makes clear that the Sinaitic covenant was but an extensionof the covenant of faith made with Abraham, and it therefore inno way clashed with the still later enlargement which we call thenew covenant. (See Galatians 3 and 4; Romans 4.)

All the Bible covenants were but forms of the one everlastingcovenant of grace, though with different emphases according tothe needs of the time. (See Hebrews 13:20)

Eternal commemorationFor other arguments found in Sabbath in Crisis, we refer studentsto my book, The Forgotten Day, (which may be reprinted shortly).

There is no great hurry, however, as we think the so-calledSabbath crisis has been greatly exaggerated. After all, the Sabbathhas stood for millenniums, observed by patriarchs, prophets,kings, Christ, the apostles, and the early church for centuries. Andin commemoration of creation past and the new creation to come,and the re-creation of redemption, it will yet stand throughouteternity (Isaiah 66:22,23).

PENDL CThe following quotations are taken from the last chapter of thebook From Sabbath to Lord's Day-the most scholarly book on thetopic this century (if we mean by "scholarly" that manyresearchers rather than just one have contributed).

The book is edited by D. A. Carson, a well-known NewTestament scholar, who wrote the foreword to Sabbath in Crisis.The full meaning of these quotations will only be found bystudying their context, but we submit them as "admissions" fromthose who are not Sabbath-keepers.

Biblical writings show that God has given history aSabbatical structure after which the weekly cycle hasbeen patterned.

Jesus cut through the complexities of the Pharisaic debatesof his time. He kept the Sabbath law but not the Halakicinterpretations of it; in the process he reminded men andwomen that the purpose of the Sabbath institution was fortheir benefit. (p. 345)

...various New Testament writers are able to see Jesus' wholemission in terms of its fulfillment of Sabbatical motifs andSabbath demands.If the hypothesis of the Sabbath as a creation ordinancecould be established, then, whatever the temporary natureof the Sabbath as part of the Mosaic covenant, the appealcould still be made to the permanence of the mandate forone day of rest as inherent to humanity made in the imageof God. As chapter 11 indicates, both Luther and Calvinheld to the notion of the Sabbath as a creation ordinance ....

..the difficulty of finding an express warrant for changingthis one day from the seventh to the first. ... (p. 346)

...it is the "seventh day" God blesses and hallows (Genesis2:3), not the first. (pp. 346-347)

...nowhere in the process of the institution of the first day ofthe week as significant for Christians does such a rationalefeature as grounds for choosing the first day rather than theseventh, and more importantly nowhere do the NewTestament writers or the writings of the first three centuriesof the church's life indicate that the first day was actuallytreated as a day of rest. (p. 347)

Physical rest is still applicable to all human beings as long asthey remain in the body. If it could be shown that one day'sphysical rest in seven was inherent to the way in whichhumans were meant to function, this would not be a factorthat would change with the inauguration of the newcreation. The New Testament writers, especially Paul, makeclear that the one aspect of the new creation that is stilloutstanding in relation to men and women is that whichaffects their physical bodies. This would then be a case inwhich the new creation would not annul but rather remainwithin the bounds of the original created order untilconsummation. (p. 348)

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...the seven-day pattern of Genesis 1 and 2 imposes aSabbatical structure on the history of creation, one thatprovides the basis for the concept of the world week thatfigures strongly both in Jewish apocalyptic literature and inthe writings of the second-century postapostolic church.The framework of Genesis 1 and 2 certainly indicates thatthere is a divine ordering of history, so that, as historymoves towards its consummation, it moves towards the goalof God's rest. (p. 349)

As a sign of the permanent relationship between God andhis people, the Sabbath is also a memorial of the great actsaccomplished by God for his people in both creation andredemption. (p. 353)

If the Mosaic law were designed to teach the principle ofone day's rest in seven instead of seventh-day rest, it mightbe expected that its legislation would have provided for adifferent day of rest for the priests (d. Numbers 28:9-10),but it does not.

There can be no doubt that within the Old Testament andparticularly within the Mosaic covenant the Decalogue doeshave a special status. The commandments it contains aresingled out as the "Ten words" .... (p. 355)

It is likely thatJewish enthusiasm for the Decalogue mayhave been dampened when Christians increasingly took itover in the second century and it was withdrawn from thesynagogue liturgy. (p. 357)

The narratives in Mark suggest that the provocation aboutthe Sabbath in fact builds up on the side ofJesus' enemies.Jesus' Sabbath ministry in Mark 1 is not accompanied byantagonism and conflict, but when opposition to Jesus'ministry as a whole begins to mount, then his Sabbathpractices provide a convenient point for attack in terms ofthe Halakic interpretation of the law, and in Mark twoconflicts over this (2:23-28 and 3:1-5) lead to a decisivepoint in the narrative, the decision of the Pharisees in 3:6 toconfer with the Herodians in order to destroy Jesus.(p. 360)

.. .in his zeal to accomplish God's will he cannot beaccused of provoking the conflicts over the Sabbath. Noris there any suggestion in the accounts that he was lessthan careful to observe the actual requirements of theTorah in respect to the Sabbath. As has been noted, theMosaic Sabbath with its requirement of cessation fromwork was not designed to achieve total inactivity somuch as total abstention from one's regular daily work.When this is remembered it is hard to see how, forinstance, the disciples' plucking of the ears of corn andeating them (Mark 2:23-28 and parallels) can beconsidered as a profanation of the Mosaic Sabbath. Ifthey had been farm workers or even women making upfor lack of preparation for a meal, it would have been adifferent matter; their casual plucking of corn on a walkscarcely falls into any such categories. Similarly thehealings Jesus performs on the Sabbath are scarcelycandidates for the description of profanations of the

Sabbath. As Carson points out, the Torah says nothingabout healing on the Sabbath and Jesus' healings are notpart of the routine daily work of either a medicalpractitioner or a nursing relative. It is certainly inkeeping with this picture that early Christian writers alsonever consider Jesus and his ministry to provide themwith any precedent for breaking the Sabbath but rathersee his healings as part of his fulfillment of the law.(p.361)

"The Son of man is lord even of the sabbath" (Mark 2:28;d. Matthew 12:8; Luke 6:5). This is a momentous claimindeed when understood against the background of theMosaic Sabbath and its terminology. In the OldTestament the Sabbath was said to be "a sabbath to theLord your God" (Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:14; d.Exodus 31:15; 35:2; Leviticus 23:3). It belonged toYahweh, the covenant Lord. Now here is Jesus as the Sonof man claiming to be the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus'claim to authority over the day is not only a claim toequal authority with the law given by God in which theSabbath demand was embedded but can be understoodas a claim to the same authority over the day as thecovenant Lord himself, a claim to equality with God ....(p.363)

...no definite break with the Mosaic Sabbath is clearly setout in his teaching or actions .... (p. 364)

By its silence in regard to any Sabbath controversies, Actssuggests that Jewish Christians must have continued tokeep the Sabbath. The Sabbath was an institution toocentral to Judaism for it to have been tampered withwithout provoking hostile reaction and persecution, butthere is no record of persecution on this account.(p.365)

In Colossians 2:16-17, this transition from the oldeconomy to the new, which has taken place in Christ, isthe basis for Paul's attack on yet another variety of first-century Sabbath observance. The Colossian Christianswere no doubt predominantly Gentile. The syncretisticpractices of the group included ascetic regulations drawnfrom Judaism, however. The questions of food and drinkmentioned in 2:16 are likely to be a reference toregulations for fasting as preparation for a visionaryexperience (d. 2:18) and evidently the observance ofJewish festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths had becomepart of the cuI tic celebrations being advocated inColossae in order to appease the "elemental spirits of theuniverse" (2:8,20). Paul is against this variety of Sabbathobservance because it is part of a 'philosophy' thatattempted to go beyond Christ to obtain the fullness ofsalvation. (p. 367)

When the four commandments from the Decalogue arequoted in Romans 13:9, they have clearly been placedwithin the new framework of Romans 13:8,10, whichstress that love is the fulfilling of the law. Thecommandments now provide concrete illustrations of thenew law oflove. Similarly in Ephesians 6:1-2, when theapostle exhorts children to obey their parents, the

primary motivation is the relationship "in the Lord" (d.also Colossians 3:20), and the primary reason is that"this is right," but then the fifth commandment can bebrought in as additional support. It may well be that inoutlining vices to be avoided, Paul also makes use of theDecalogue; and that Colossians 3:5 and Ephesians 5:3combine the seventh and tenth commandments,identifying covetousness and lust in a traditional manner,while Ephesians 4:25ff. paraphrases the seventh to thetenth commandments. (p. 370)

Matthew's high regard for the law is further reflected inthe fact that it is he who, more than any other NewTestament writer, characterizes unbelief as anomia("lawlessness") (d. 7:23; 13:41; 23:28; 24:12). Jesus'view of the Torah as the revealed will of God obviouslyapplies also in Matthew to the Decalogue as part of thelaw (d. Matthew 15:3-6 where the fifth commandment iscalled the commandment not just of Moses but of God).In Matthew 19:16ff.,Jesus brings the demands of anumber of the commandments in the Decalogue to bearon the rich young man .... (p. 372)

In any case all the probabilities are against such achange, for the Jewish Sabbath was so distinctive andcentral to Judaism that any attempts in the early churchto tamper with the day on which it was observed wouldhave led to great controversy, and it would be strangeindeed that none of the literature of the first and secondcenturies reflects any such controversy. Further, such achange of day would have caused not only religious butalso social and economical turmoil ifJewish Christianshad taken their day of rest on a different day and Gentilebelievers had started to take a day of rest on the first dayof every week. Again, of such turmoil there is not a hint.(p.393)

Gentile, however, would not necessarily have found theSabbatical division of time either natural or convenientand need not have adopted it, and yet they did. Part ofthe Christian church's inheritance from Judaism was theconcept that in the weekly cycle God had stamped aseven day pattern on history. Acts 20:7re"the first day ofthe week"reand 1 Corinthians 16:2re"the first day of theweek"rereflect the terminology of Gentile Christianchurches for Sunday as the first day in the sequencedetermined by the Sabbath. (The Greek for "the first dayof the week" is literally "the first to the Sabbath.")(p.398)