Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site burdvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!harpo!whuxlm!akgua!psuvax1!burdvax!bnapl From: bnapl@burdvax.UUCP (Tom Albrecht) Newsgroups: net.religion.christian Subject: Re: the Lord's Day vs. the Sabbath in the Reformed tradition Message-ID: <1895@burdvax.UUCP> Date: Mon, 14-Jan-85 23:02:37 EST Article-I.D.: burdvax.1895 Posted: Mon Jan 14 23:02:37 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 17-Jan-85 04:24:22 EST References:Reply-To: bnapl@burdvax.UUCP (Tom Albrecht) Distribution: net Organization: Burroughs Corp. - SDG/Devon Lines: 43 Summary: In article hedrick@topaz.ARPA (Chuck Hedrick) writes: >... >In case anyone else out there is a Presbyterian, you might like to know >that the current Book of Order takes a position somewhere between Calvin's >and that of the Westminster Confession. It carefully uses the term >"Lord's Day", rather than Sabbath. But it does say that God has appointed >one day in seven to be holy to the Lord. This clearly connects the >Lord's Day to the Commandment, and to the understanding of Sunday as >the Sabbath. This flavor of Presbyterian (PCA) has a Book of Church Order which says "God commanded his Old Testament people to keep holy the last day of the week, but he sanctified the first day as the Sabbath by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead." 48-3. Since Presbyterians come in all shapes and sizes it may be well for us to identify ourselves with the particular denomination with which we are associated. Calvin's error seems to be in his understanding of the Sabbath as simply a part of the ceremonial law. As I pointed out in an earlier posting, the Sabbath was given to us as part of the moral law and was clearly a creation ordinance, binding on all men (Gen. 2:2,3). Calvin steers an interesting course in his discussion of the Sabbath. On the one hand he says that the Sabbath has been abrogated; on the other he says that just as the Jew was obliged to worship on a particular day and to give to their employees a day of rest from worldly cares so too is the Christian under the same obligation (Institutes VIII 32). Those of us who hold to a covenant view of scripture see a close relationship between Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament. God has made one covenant with men for the redemption of the world through Jesus Christ and has revealed this covenant in several different ways in scripture. Covenant theology teaches that the church of the OT and the church of the NT are one and the same through the shed blood of Jesus. We admit that the types in the OT pointing to Christ have been fulfilled, however the Sabbath rest for God's people is a present reality and a future promise. -- Tom Albrecht Burroughs Corp. ...{presby|psuvax1|sdcrdcf}!burdvax!bnapl