Pine Knoll Sabbath School Study Notes First Quarter 2012: Glimpses of our God Lesson 7 “Lord of the Sabbath” Read for this week’s study Gen. 2:1–3; Exod. 20:8–12; Deut. 5:12–15; Matt. 12:1–13; John 9, 19:30. Additional Texts to Consider: Isa. 56:1‐8; John 1:1‐18; Gal. 3:16‐20 Memory Text “‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath’ ” (Mark 2:27, 28, NKJV). Lesson Outline from Adult Sabbath School Study Guide I. Introduction II. The Sabbath in Genesis III. The Sabbath in Exodus IV. The Sabbath in Deuteronomy V. Jesus and His Sabbath: Part 1 VI. Jesus and His Sabbath: Part 2 VII. Further Study Questions for Consideration Moderator: Sigve Tonstad Summary of Some Questions for Discussion 1. Where would you like to anchor a defense for the Sabbath? 2. Where has the Seventh‐day Adventist Sabbath apology traditionally been anchored? 3. What is/are the most important meaning(s) of the Sabbath? 4. Is traditional Sabbath theology a case of lost meanings? Exploring Those Questions in More Detail 1. Where would you like to anchor a defense for the Sabbath? • Do any of the texts below tower above the rest in your mind? Gen. 2:1–3, Exod. 20:8–12, Deut. 5:12–15, Matt. 12:1–13, John 5:16‐18 • How does the Gospel of John construe the identity of Jesus? John 1:1‐3; 5:16‐18 Study Collection Prepared September 2011 ©Pine Knoll Publications Page 1 Craig S. Keener: “Playing on the link between Torah and Wisdom, the Fourth Gospel presents the Logos of its prologue as Torah.”1 “In the Hebrew Bible, Torah was God’s Word; Torah and Wisdom naturally coalesced in popular wisdom thought, including that of the sort of sages who carried the identification into the emerging rabbinic movement for whose views we have ample extant data. John’s praise of the Word is ultimately a contrast with the limitations of the Mosaic law (John 1:17): Jesus is the embodiment of all God’s character revealed in the Mosaic law, but is more accessible to humanity (see comment 1:14‐18). Such a rhetorical and theological move is extraordinary: ‘This personification of Torah in Christ goes beyond anything we have found in Jewish sources; there is no premonition of a Messiah becoming in himself the Torah.’”2 Sigve Tonstad, Adventist Review, July 25, 2011: He [Jesus] has claimed intimacy with God far beyond what they will accept, “calling God his own Father.” He has laid claim to the divine identity, “making himself equal to God.” Lastly, he has grounded his own actions in the rationale of imitation, saying, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (5:19).” 2. Where has the Seventh‐day Adventist Sabbath apology traditionally been anchored? • I am not presenting evidence for one view or another, leaving it to each one to consider the question. • Consider the following thoughts on the character of the Ten Commandments: Patrick D. Miller: One of the primary features of Israelite law, one that appears first in the Ten Commandments, is the presence of motivation clauses that serve as a mode of divine persuasion, on the one hand, and the rationality of the commandments, on the other.3 Miller: The presence of divine persuasion indicates that the commandments cannot be reduced to blind obedience. They are not arbitrary or capricious. Nor does God simply set them out to be obeyed. The one who commands also 1 Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary, 2 vols. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2003), I:360; also quoting W. D. Davies, Torah in the Messianic Age and/or the Age to Come (SBLMS 7; PHiladelpHia: Society of Biblical Literature, 1952), 93. 2 Keener, The Gospel of John, I:361. 3 Patrick D. Miller, “Divine Command and Beyond: THe EtHics of tHe Commandments,” in The Ten Commandments: The Reciprocity of Faithfulness, ed. William P. Brown (Louisville: Westminster JoHn Knox Press, 2004), 25. Study Collection Prepared September 2011 ©Pine Knoll Publications Page 2 encourages obedience and seeks to draw forth a positive response from those before whom the commands are set. From the side of God, that is, on God’s part, it is not assumed that the rightness of the command is self‐evident or to be imposed from above. The consent of the commanded people is a true consent of the mind and heart.4 Miller: “Narrative carries the commandments.”5 Miller: “The specifics of keeping covenant on the part of the Lord are less clear than are the specifics of the people’s responsibility. But the assumption is clear that the people can count on the Lord’s preserving the covenantal relationship with the people; that the people’s obedience, that is, their faithfulness, is reciprocated in God’s faithfulness. The keeping of the commandments is not an activity that stands by itself. It is part of a relational dynamic, a reciprocity of faithfulness on the part of the partners in the covenant.”6 3. What is/are the most important meaning(s) of the Sabbath? Old Testament Perspectives Gospel of John Genesis • on the seventh day God finished the work ‘my father is working’ (5:17) • he rested on the seventh day • God ... rested from all the work (2:2‐3) Exodus • you shall not do any work ‘I am working’ (5:17) • the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day (20:8‐11) Deuteronomy • you shall not do any work‐‐ you, or your son ‘we must work the works’ (9:4) or your daughter, or your male or female slave…. • so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you (5:14) ‘night is coming when no one can work’ (9:4) 4 Miller, “Divine Command,” 25–26. 5 Miller, “Divine Command,” 23. 6 Miller, “Divine Command,” 18. Study Collection Prepared September 2011 ©Pine Knoll Publications Page 3 Can we find common ground between the Sabbath perspectives in the Old Testament texts and the Gospel of John? 4. Is traditional Sabbath theology a case of lost meanings? Eusebius of Caesarea (339 CE): “All that was prescribed for the Sabbath, we have transferred to the Lord’s Day, inasmuch as it is the most important, the one which dominates, the first and the one which has more value than the Sabbath of the Jews.”7 Catechism of the Council of Trent: “The point of difference is evident: the other commandments of the Decalogue are precepts of the natural law, obligatory at all times and unalterable, and hence, after the abrogation of the Law of Moses, all the commandments contained in the two tables are observed by Christians, not however because their observance is commanded by Moses, but because they accord with the law of nature and are enforced by its dictate: whereas this commandment, if considered as to the time of its fulfillment, is not fixed and unalterable, but is susceptible to change, and belongs not to the moral but ceremonial Law. Neither is it a principle of the natural law: we are not instructed by the natural law to worship God on the Sabbath rather than on any other day.”8 Matitiahu Tsevat: “That content, displacing the various ideas and phenomena associated with natural time, is the idea of the absolute sovereignty of God, a sovereignty unqualified even by an indirect cognizance of the rule of other powers. As man takes heed of the Sabbath day and keeps it holy, he not only relinquishes the opportunity of using part of his time as he pleases but he also foregoes the option of tying it to the secure and beneficial order of nature. The celebration of the Sabbath is an act completely different from anything comparable in the life of ancient Israel. The Sabbath is an isolated and strange phenomenon, not only in the world but also in Israel itself.”9 7 Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentaria in Psalmos 91, PG 23, 1172. THe reference to tHe SabbatH as “tHe SabbatH of tHe Jews” is notewortHy. THe idea of “transfer” is maintained in more recent expressions on tHe subject witHin tHe Roman CatHolic CHurcH. According to Dies Domini IV.63 (1998), tHe CHristians, as proclaimers of liberation, “felt tHat tHey Had tHe autHority to transfer tHe meaning of tHe SabbatH to tHe day of tHe Resurrection.” 8 The Catechism of the Council of Trent, trans. by tHe Rev. J. Donovan (New York: CatHolic ScHool Book, 1929), 264. 9 MatitiaHu Tsevat, “THe Basic Meaning of tHe Biblical SabbatH,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 84 (1972), 458. Study Collection Prepared September 2011 ©Pine Knoll Publications Page 4 Raol Dederen: “In an arbitrary manner God appointed that on the seventh day we should come to rest with His creation in a particular way. He filled this day with a content that is “uncontaminated” by anything related to the cyclical changes of nature or the movements of the heavenly bodies. That content is the idea of the absolute sovereignty of God, a sovereignty unqualified even by an indirect cognizance of the natural movements of time and rhythms of life. As the Christian takes heed of the Sabbath day and keeps it holy, he does so purely in answer to God’s command and simply because God is his Creator.”10 • Do you agree that ‘divine sovereignty’ best captures the meaning of the Sabbath? Thoughts from Graham Maxwell All through the Bible the meaning of the Sabbath is repeated and enlarged.