The 10 Commandments

Firstly, here are the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:1 – 17):

“And God spoke all these words:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

(1) “You shall have no other gods before Me.

(2) “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep My commandments.

(3) “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.

(4) “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

(5) “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

(6) “You shall not murder.

(7) “You shall not commit adultery.

(8) “You shall not steal.

(9) “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

(10) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Here’s a hindsight (with emphasis on the “Sabbath Day”).

Apart from the “Sabbath Day”, all these commands are to be observed under the New Testament times too.

The reason the “Sabbath Day” is “not” to be observed is due to the fact that it’s the “only ritualistic” command among the 10 commandments and hence it’s nullified together with the “other ritualistic” commands in the full law (e.g. slaughtering sheep and goats).

Do take note that all remaining 9 commandments still hold due to it being “non-ritualistic” in nature and are with respect to “God’s Holiness” (which doesn’t change).

Here is a chief verse which proves that you “cannot” be judged for “not” keeping “any Sabbath Days” under the New Testament.

“Therefore, let no one judge you in matters of food and drink or with respect to a festival, a New Moon, or Sabbath days.” (Colossians 2:16)

Is this a “contradiction”? No.

A deeper hindsight:

The Sabbath Day has been “wrongly” used to be equivalent to “church attendance”.

Truth is, to honour the Sabbath Day, the Bible teaches to:

(i) Keep this day Holy.
(ii) No working on this day. Have rest.
(iii) Nothing else (read (i) and (ii) above carefully again for this is ‘how’ to honour the Sabbath Day) when it was “first” Commanded by God Himself (Exodus 20:8).

Thus in order to keep the Sabbath Day today, one just needs to observe (i) and (ii) only since the latter “ritualistic additions” to it (such as attending the Temple-service to hear sermons etc.) were “not” part of the Command of God Himself when He first spoke it.

Read it for yourself (check your Bible). Here is that verse when first spoken by Him:

““Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8)

P/S:

Thus we may be keeping the Sabbath after all by observing points (i) and (ii) above (“not ritualistically”) but “in Principle” since “if you had to break the Sabbath” (point (ii) only), it is allowed for a “good deed/reason” (by principle) too as these verses prove the “correct” interpretation of “keeping the Sabbath” as the Lord Himself both “demonstrated” and “explained” by His own Mouth:

1) The disciples break the ‘ritualistic- addition – laws’ for the Sabbath and Christ defends them instead of condemning them for it:

“One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as His disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

Then He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:23 – 28)

2) Sabbath rule (ii) can be “broken” to do “any good” which is approved in God’s sight.

“Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal Him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” (Mark 3:1 – 6)

3) Re-emphasized: Here is the “doing good” principle which allows rule (ii) to be broken by Christ’s own Words again:

“He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:11 – 12)

P/S:

Thus, we see that the “Sabbath Day” rule is observed under the New Testament too (all 10 commandments) but “in principle” and “not” in its “Jewish ritualistic details” which were “only needed” during the “now abolished” Old Testament Covenant.

Remember,

“By calling this covenant “New (Testament),” He (God) has made the first one (Old Testament) obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” (Hebrews 8:13)

A reminder, it does “not” read like this in Exodus 20:8

“Keep the Sabbath by attending church religiously during this day” (a man-made not-found in the Bible doctrine – “no” verse says that even in principle).

Sorry but “attending church” was “never” meant as part of the “Sabbath rule” when it was “First-mentioned” by God Himself.

So church-goers, in principle, are you “really keeping the Sabbath”?