Information Related to "The Sabbath in Acts: Luke's Record of Paul's Understanding"

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One day while cleaning out old boxes in a closet, I came across a tan-brown book with pictures of seashells on it. Immediately I thought: What is this? It looks familiar. Probably something else I can throw away.

While thumbing through pages and pages of empty horizontal lines, I remembered that this was my one-time attempt to maintain a weekly journal. This noble effort had lasted only a few days.

Perhaps you don't realize it, but you may have in your possession a copy of someone else's journal written some 2,000 years ago. The author sustained this journal project for many years in a book that spans some three decades. Later his work came to be known as the Acts of the Apostles, an official Church history included in the Bible.

Many think that Paul's writings reject Sabbath observance as a Christian practice. Did Paul uphold the Sabbath throughout the book of Acts but reject it in the books he wrote? Reading
the epistles of Paul through the lens of the historical record of Acts can open new horizons of understanding.

This particular book of journal entries begins shortly after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and ends with the apostle Paul's first imprisonment in Rome. This biblical journal is called Acts because it is a record of the acts of the apostles as they carried out Jesus' command to preach the gospel to all nations.

The record-keeper was a physician named Luke who accompanied the apostle Paul on his journeys. Line by line, Luke compiled much of Acts while Paul was experiencing the triumphs and trials of preaching the gospel, the good news, of the Kingdom of God.

Sprinkled throughout Luke's journal are examples of Jewish and gentile Christians participating in a form of worship that many no longer associate with traditional Christianity. This often-overlooked Christian practice is called Sabbath-keeping. Keep in mind as we review Luke's writing that he was a gentile (Colossians 4:10-11,14), and Paul, though a Jew, was the apostle to the gentiles (Romans 11:13).

Ironically, many think that Paul's writings reject Sabbath observance as a Christian practice. Did Paul uphold the Sabbath throughout the book of Acts but reject it in the books he wrote? Reading the epistles of Paul through the lens of the historical record of Acts can open new horizons of understanding. Let's consider certain passages in Galatians, Romans and Colossians in the light of Luke's perspective.

Days, months, seasons and years

Let's begin our examination of this aspect of the history of the early Church in the book of Galatians, usually recognized as Paul's first epistle. Here many people assume that Paul is chastising the Galatians for Sabbath-keeping: ". . . How is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years" (Galatians 4:9-10, emphasis added throughout).

But is Paul criticizing Sabbath observance here?

Actually, Paul visited several cities within the region of Galatia (in what is today central Turkey) during his first journey. He wrote this epistle as a follow-up to that journey. Notice what Luke records in Acts 13 concerning this visit:

• Paul participates in Sabbath services at the local synagogue (verse 14).
• He notes the practice of reading the Scriptures "every Sabbath" (verse 27).
• Many gentiles beg Paul to preach to them "the next Sabbath" (verse 42).
• "On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God" from Paul and Barnabas (verse 44).

If one assumes that Galatians 4:9-10 condemns Sabbath-keeping, we must ask why Paul would respect Sabbath-keeping while visiting the Galatian churches, yet, after departing, write a letter reprimanding them for observing these same days? Was Paul hypocritical? Did he change his mind? Was he confused?

The situation in Galatia

A closer look at the context, especially the verses preceding Galatians 4:9-10, will show that Paul was not addressing Sabbath- keeping at all. Many members of these churches had previously been engaged in religions that involved the worship of many false gods. Paul reminded them, ". . . When you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods" (verse 8). They were instructed not to "turn again" to their idolatrous practices of the past (verse 9).

Therefore, since Sabbath observance was not part of these idolatrous practices, Paul could not have been referring to Sabbath observance here. After all, one cannot turn again to that which he has never observed.

Galatia was part of the Roman Empire, in which observances and practices honoring pagan gods were attached to virtually every day, season, month and year. For instance, the first day of the week was devoted to the sun god. The first month of the year was devoted to Janus, the god of beginnings, from which January is named.

The spring season was devoted to the goddess Cybele and her male partner, Attis, in honor of whom a joyous spring resurrection festival was celebrated. The "days and seasons and months and years" pinpoint idolatrous practices the Galatians had observed when they "did not know God." Paul is not criticizing them for Sabbath-keeping or observing biblical festivals.

On the contrary, we learn from Acts 13 that the Sabbath was a powerful tool used by God to bring gentiles into the truth of the Bible. Verse 43 notes that Paul was followed by Jews and "God-fearing proselytes" (New American Standard Bible).

These devout "God-fearers" were gentiles who had not fully converted to Judaism. Paul preached the gospel "among those Gentiles who, sabbath by sabbath, went out to the Jewish synagogue . . . They did not accept circumcision and the obligation to keep the whole Jewish law . . . Some of them kept the Sabbath as a day of rest and observed the Jewish food laws. They were known as 'God-fearers'" (F.F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1953, pp. 93-94, emphasis added). Sabbath-keeping was common among the "God-fearers," many of whom became the nucleus of the gentile churches.

Can you create your own Sabbath?

The book of Romans is often mentioned in discussing the role of the Sabbath in the early Church. Romans 14:5-6 states: "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it . . ."

At first glance this passage appears to say that observing the Sabbath, or any day of the week, simply doesn't matter.

Most scholars agree that Paul wrote the book of Romans while visiting the Greek city of Corinth. Does Acts shed any light on Paul's thinking while he was in Corinth?

Luke's journal shows us that Paul, while in Corinth, "reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 18:1,4). It is within the context of these actions that Paul wrote the book of Romans. As the book of Acts shows, regardless of what city Paul was in, Sabbath-keeping was his manner, habit or "custom" according to God's commandments (Acts 17:2).