On Keeping the Sabbath

Editor,

The following is a response to Don R. Hevener regarding "Keeping the Sabbath" (Letter on the Feb. 18 Opinion Page).

You are so right to put forward the example of Jesus keeping the Sabbath and other requirements of the Law. He did not come to abolish the Law -- but to fulfill it. He attended Synagogue services on the Sabbath and certainly never ate a bacon-and-tomato sandwich. There are a lot of things I don't understand about the dramatic changes in the relationship between YHWH and humanity when Jesus cried out "It is finished!" One thing is certain: He instituted something fresh and beautiful through the "New Covenant in My Blood." The debate over Gentiles keeping the Law dates to the first century. Paul dedicated the preponderance of Galatians to that controversy, and the early Church fathers issued a proclamation about it (recorded in Acts 15). The dispute continues but it does not edify except in so far as it drives us to study the Sacred Text and reaffirm that Jesus kept the Law for us perfectly. Our salvation is through faith in the Anointed Crucified Resurrected Redeemer King -- in Him alone.

Kent Kerr

Gravette

Editors' Note: On the matter of observing the Sabbath Day in the Old Testament sense, a reading of Galatians and Colossians, as well as Acts 15, make it clear that the requirements of the law have been fulfilled for believers in Christ Jesus and we are complete through faith in Him -- nothing more is needed. To add requirements, such as observing certain days or eating certain foods, overthrows salvation by God's grace toward us in Christ and endangers souls. Whether one eats certain foods or observes certain days over others must be left to our Christian liberty in Christ, and we use that liberty for the salvation of souls rather than for selfish ends. Read Romans 14:5-6.