Is The Sabbath The Third Or Fourth Commandment?

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Remembering the Sabbath day is indeed the Third Commandment, according to the Roman Catholic and Lutheran enumeration. But according to the original enumeration in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, it is the Fourth.

The Catholic and Lutheran numbering comes from virtually dropping the Second Commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image… thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them…” (Exodus 20:4-6, Authorized Version).

By omitting the Second Commandment from the Ten, the succeeding commandments become renumbered so that the Third becomes the Second and the Fourth becomes the Third, and so on. The Tenth Commandment is then divided into two separate commandments — coveting your neighbor’s wife and coveting your neighbor’s goods — to fill in the gap (My Catholic Faith, by Louis LaRavoire Morrow, page 194).

The Bible, however, gives no precedent for dividing this one commandment into two. Jesus referred to just one commandment against coveting in Luke 12:15, and the apostle Paul wrote: “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’ ” (Romans 7:7).

It is not logical to divide the first two points of the Tenth Commandment (coveting one’s neighbor’s house and coveting his wife) into two separate commandments while ignoring the four other items mentioned (manservant, maidservant, and donkey and ox). The overall principle of not coveting anything of one’s neighbor’s (the last point stated in the Tenth Commandment) adequately covers all potential situations (Exodus 20:17).

Source: The Good News, August 1985

How Did Adam And Eve Learn Right From Wrong?

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Adam was not born, he was suddenly created as a full grown adult man. The same applies to Eve. Many would suppose that both were created with a storehouse full of knowledge automatically implanted in their minds. But this assertion is wrong.

Consider: How do adults of today come into possession of the knowledge that they have? They are not born with it. A newborn babe knows nothing at birth, but absorbs knowledge slowly, cumulatively additive. It must learn, must be taught.

Now let’s examine the difference between Adam at the instant of his creation and  a baby at the instant of birth. within a portion of a single day, an adult man was created out of the dust of the ground with a mind, as yet unfilled with knowledge, but capable of receiving knowledge, reasoning and acting upon it. The difference between Adam and a baby is that Adam started off as an adult, with an adult capable mind, but as much without knowledge, and therefore as helpless, as a newborn baby. So he had adult capacity, but no adult knowledge.

Therefore his very first need was to be given essential knowledge. And herein lies a truth even religion has forgotten – that god – besides being a creator, is also an Educator.  God instructed both Adam and Eve in the basic foundation of all knowledge – the same as is available in the bible today. And yes, this includes the Ten Commandments. We know that Adam and Eve sinned and sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4). Only by the law of God is the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20), or else Eve would not have known to say that she and her husband could die if they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:3).

“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (Jam. 4:17).

Our first parents rejected God’s revelation of knowledge through rebellion. And their children have been rejecting and rebelling against the supreme Educator of all mankind ever since. They reject Him as both Ruler and Educator, and most reject him as Creator.

God the Educator

The very last act of God’s creation by work was the creation of man. It was on the sixth day of that first week and it was the final act of the work of creation. That day, by God’s order, ended at sunset (Gen. 2:2).

Now here is a point of distinction which must be made. God did not end creating at this point, only His work – those things made by work. Now he created the sabbath by rest, not by work, blessing and sanctifying it (setting it apart as Holy from other days). He established the sabbath as the day for assembly and spiritual instruction.

Now this was a good thing, because here was Adam and Eve needing instruction. Did the creator walk off or vanish out of sight, leaving the man and woman helpless and without knowledge? No, the record shows that the Eternal God began speaking to the man – communicating knowledge – giving instruction.  He taught the Gospel to the very first man, giving that man, so far sinless, His fellowship on His Sabbath day.

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying…..(Gen. 2:15-16).

The eternal God immediately began speaking to, teaching and instructing, the man. We can know certain things with of what was said, but the inspired record in the first few chapters of Genesis reveals to us only the briefest summary – hits only the high spots. But even though the record omits many of the details, it spans the fields covered. Much of the detailed instruction may be accurately filled in from other parts of the Bible.

The fields covered then were:

1. the true Gospel (spiritual truth).
2. the Ten Commandments (God’s way of life).
3. man’s transcendent potential (gift of eternal life).
4. necessary physical knowledge to live in a healthy way.
5. knowledge of the marriage institution and of sex.

One of the trees in the Garden of Eden was the tree of life, symbolized as God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. “But,” continued God, “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die”(Gen. 2:16-17). Here, in briefest condensation, we find the teaching of the Gospel – that “the wages is sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life” (Rom. 6:23).

The Bible says all have sinned – including Adam and Eve (Rom. 3:23, 5:12). God could not have allowed Adam to sin, without first having taught him what sin is.

Defining God's Law For The Disobedient!

Many today teach that God’s Law was nailed to the cross and is no longer in effect. They say we are now under the new covenant and the old covenant is gone. The Old Testament was for the Jews and the New Testament is for the Gentiles. They teach that we are at liberty from the law since we are now under grace. Scriptures such as Rom. 3:28 are used to show you “that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law,” and others such as Rom. 6:14 which states that “…ye are not under the law, but under grace.” So what about it? Is it true that the law was indeed nailed to the cross?

Why law?

In love God created man in His own image. God loves human beings and He wanted them to be happy—to have peace, and to enjoy life. In order to make such a happy state possible, God set in living motion the spiritual laws which form the very WAY to every physical, mental and spiritual well-being—to avoid sorrow, suffering, anguish, insecurity, boredom, emptiness, frustration, violence and death. These spiritual laws provide the way to happy, invigorating, vital, interesting and joyful living.

God’s proposition to ancient Israel was to make them the world’s most prosperous, most blessed and powerful nation—they were to have the supreme blessing of having the guidance, protection, help, of the all-wise, all-loving, all-powerful God, as their sole King and Ruler. Their government was to be a theocracy. God was the Lawmaker, not a congress, or parliament. He  would appoint leading men to execute His orders. And what was to come from the very voice of God for them to obey? A great law that already existed even as the laws of gravity and inertia—the laws of physics and chemistry—already existed. Only this was a spiritual law! God’s voice was to reveal that living, inexorable law in specific words, as a definite code.

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Eternal thy God …” and then the voice of God spoke to that mass of people the words of the Ten Commandments! (Exod. 19)

On that very first day of Pentecost (called festival of firstfruits, or festival of weeks, in the Old Testament), God gave His law—His way of life—to His people. This came at the founding, and setting up, of God’s nation on Earth.

Then, many centuries later, on the day of Pentecost, a.d. 31, God gave His Holy Spirit to His people—the love of God to fulfill that law. And that came at the founding, and setting up, of God’s Church on Earth!

And if you think this law was for “Jews only,” you couldn’t be more wrong! Have you not read, in Acts 7:38, that those Israelites “received the lively oracles to give unto us”—for us who, under the New Testament, are Christians?

Sin defined

By Bible definition, sin is the transgression of God’s law (I John 3:4) and without the law, there can be no sin (Rom. 4:15). Were the law really nailed to the cross, we would have no guidepost to tell us what sin actually is, and as we know, we can’t even enter into [eternal] life without keeping the commandments. This makes the “no law” arguement very difficult to defend.

John 5:3 says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” Did you get that? Commandment keeping is associated directly with the law of God! Love is the way of giving, serving, sharing. That is why John 14:15  says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Imagine that. We cannot even pretend to love Jesus Christ if we don’t love His spiritual laws. Can it get any more real than that?

The love of God is eternal and so is the law of God. Perhaps that is why Mat 5:18 says, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

Yet man seems to think nothing of casting it away, despite these plain words. Observe more closely, now, the Sabbath command.

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). God said remember this day! So men have insisted on forgetting—or trying to change it to a different day!

Christ said, in the sermon on the mount: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law,” so professing Christians think He did come to destroy it!

Christ said, in the same sermon on the mount: “Swear not,” so professing Christians universally hold up their right hands and swear.

Christ said: “Love your enemies,” so professing Christians—pretending to follow Him—hate their enemies and go to war to kill them.

Christ said: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” so professing Christians say, “It’s impossible to keep God’s law, let alone to be perfect. Christ kept it in our stead, and then abolished it.”

Christ commands “Do!”—and His professed followers don’t!

Christ commands “Don’t!” and His professed followers do!

Perhaps it is time to stop following the crowd and to keep God’s word the way it was intended – spiritually, not carnally.