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March-May 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
Book Review . . .
The Sabbath Under Crossfire
This book is sorely needed by every Sabbath-keeper!
by Richard C. Nickels
It's out, it's awesome,
and you need it! Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi's newest book,
The Sabbath Under Crossfire: A Biblical Analysis of
Recent Sabbath/Sunday Developments, addresses critical
issues especially important to current and former Sabbatarians.
If there is any book that you read this year, don't put it off,
read this one.
In July, 1998, Pope John Paul II issued a lengthy Pastoral
Letter, Dies Domini, which appeals to Christians to
observe Sunday as the fulfillment of the Sabbath, and calls for
civil legislation to facilitate Sunday observance. In a break
with traditional Catholic teaching, which until now, has
admitted that Sunday-keeping came from Church tradition rather
than Scriptural mandate, the Pope attempts to provide Biblical
support for Sunday-keeping. The need to respond to the Pope's
"new" theology was one reason why Bacchiocchi decided to write
his new book.
Earlier in 1998, former SDA Dale Ratzlaff, author of the book,
Sabbath in Crisis (1990), appeared on radio station
KJSL in St. Louis, Missouri. He savagely attacked the Sabbath.
His book had earlier been used by Joseph Tkach of the Worldwide
Church of God to overthrow the validity of Sabbath-keeping. My
friend, Neil Gardner of Florissant, Missouri, responded to the
radio station with letters answering Ratzlaff's points, asking
for equal time to present an affirmation for the seventh-day
Sabbath. Gardner asked me to join with him in defense of the
Sabbath. It became apparent to me that someone like myself
would be no match for the polished rhetoric of Ratzlaff. I
suggested that we try to get Dr. Bacchiocchi to debate Ratzlaff,
which he graciously agreed to do. The one-hour debate was held
on June 15, 1998, and continued for many weeks over the
Internet. Eventually, Ratzlaff backed off from further
discussion. Ratzlaff's anti-Sabbath attacks were a second
motivation for Bacchiocchi's new book.
Dr. Sam had promised his wife Anna that he would take a year off
from writing books to spend more time with her and attend to
household chores. Because of the urgency of the Pope's Letter
and Ratzlaff's frontal assault on the Sabbath, Dr. B. felt he
had to break his promise. I am sorry, Sam, for helping you to
break your promise, but I trust the result will benefit many, as
indeed it has and will. Incidentally, when I met her in 1995,
in San Antonio, I asked Anna Bacchiocchi if she has trouble
getting in a word edgewise with her constantly talking husband
Sam. She assured me that in their private lives, she
does get to say her piece!
The Pope challenges Christians to respect Sunday, not merely as
a Church institution, but as a divine command, the "full
expression" of the Sabbath. This is in stark contrast to the
so-called "New Covenant," and related "Dispensational" teaching
(adopted by Ratzlaff and Tkach) which emphasizes the radical
discontinuity between Sabbath and Sunday. Dispensationalists
hold that the Sabbath is a Mosaic, Old Covenant, institution
that terminated at the cross. Bacchiocchi shows that Sunday is
not the Sabbath, as the Pope now maintains, because the two days
differ in authority, meaning, and experience. Sunday is so
lacking in authority that it needs the Pope to call for civil
legislation to foster its observance. In most European
countries, Sunday Laws have been in effect for many years, yet
Sunday Church attendance is less than 10% of the Christian
population. In Italy, 95% of Catholics go to church only
three times in their lives, when they are "hatched,
matched, and dispatched." Sunday laws fail to encourage the
practice of Sunday-keeping.
In Chapter 2 of his book, Sabbath Under Crossfire,
Bacchiocchi explores in depth the question: "Is the Sabbath
creational or ceremonial?" In spite of Genesis
2 and Mark 2:27-28, many professing
Christians, including Ratzlaff and Tkach, believe that the
Sabbath is not a creation ordinance given to mankind, but a
Mosaic ordinance given to the Israelites together with the Ten
Commandments.
Bacchiocchi carefully reviews the Biblical evidence, and uses
non-Sabbatarian commentators in this (and other portions of his
book), to lend authoritative support that the Sabbath is a
creation ordinance for all mankind.
In Chapter 3, Bacchiocchi looks at the "Old and New Covenants,"
referring to Joseph Tkach's view of the distinction between the
two covenants as the model for his discussion. Dr. Sam shows
that salvation by grace through faith is the central theme of
both the old and new covenants. Saving faith is never alone,
because it is always accompanied by loving obedience,
Galatians 5:6. The Decalogue is not merely a
list of ten laws, but primarily ten principles of love. There
is no dichotomy between law and love, because one cannot exist
without the other. Bacchiocchi shows that Paul's use of
sabbatismos in Hebrews 4:9, supports
literal Sabbath-keeping, answering Ratzlaff's five reasons
against literal Sabbath-keeping. Rather than the Levitical
priesthood and animal sacrifices which were "abolished"
(Hebrews 10:9), "obsolete" and "ready to vanish
away" (Hebrews 8:13), Paul explicitly teaches
that "Sabbath-keeping has been left behind for the people of
God" (literal rendering of Hebrews 4:9).
Lutherans, as well as Ratzlaff and Tkach, believe that Christ
fulfilled the Sabbath commandment by terminating its observance
altogether, and replacing it with an existential experience of
salvation-rest available to believers every day. For others,
such as Catholics and Calvinists, Christ fulfilled and
terminated only the ceremonial aspect of the Sabbath
commandment, the observance of the seventh day, but the
moral aspect of the Sabbath commandment. They believe
that the principle of observing one day in seven was
not abrogated by Christ, but transferred to the observance of
the first day of the week, Sunday. In exploring the topic of
"the Savior and the Sabbath," Dr. B. demonstrates the fallacy of
both of these views. The healing miracles of Jesus on the
Sabbath show the expansion, not the termination, of the Sabbath,
and reveal the redemptive nature of true
Sabbath-keeping. Just as God "is working until now"
(John 5:17, literal translation), we too must
work to extend the Sabbath rest and peace to others,
John 9:4. "This means that for believers
today," Bacchiocchi states, "the Sabbath is the day to celebrate
not only God's creation by resting, but also Christ's redemption
by acting mercifully toward others," page 173.
Next, Bacchiocchi presents a thorough discussion of "Paul and
the Law," and "Paul and the Sabbath." How can one reconcile the
seemingly contradictory statements of the Apostle Paul about the
Law? Five major passages are examined, which are frequently
quoted to support the idea that Christ has done away with the
Law, and consequently the Law is no longer the norm of Christian
conduct: Romans 6:14, "not under the law";
II Corinthians 3:1-18, the letter and the
spirit; Galatians 3:15-25, faith and law;
Colossians 2:14, what was nailed to the cross?
and Romans 10:4, "Christ is the end of the
law." Bacchiocchi's conclusion is that when Paul speaks of the
Law in the context of salvation (justification, right
standing before God), he affirms that Law-keeping is of no avail
(Romans 3:20). On the other hand, when Paul
speaks of the Law in the context of Christian conduct
(sanctification, right living before God), he upholds
the value and validity of God's Law (Romans 7:12,
13:8-10; I Corinthians 7:19). This is the most
valuable portion of Sabbath Under Crossfire.
In my opinion, the teaching of the Worldwide Church of God
throughout its history has been rather weak regarding God's Law
and the New Covenant. This shortcoming opened the door for
Dr. Ernest L. Martin, former Chairman of the Department of
Theology of Ambassador College, to lead over 10,000 members out
of the Church in 1974, most of whom abandoned the Sabbath
entirely. Martin paved the way for the Systematic Theology
Project in the late 1970s, which was the theological
underpinning for Joseph Tkach, Senior, and Junior. In a letter
dated April, 1995, Dr. Ernest Martin (rightfully in my opinion)
claims credit for many of the doctrines the Worldwide now says
are "new truths." Martin claims, he has been proclaiming many
of these "new truths" for over twenty years! Martin's so-called
"New Covenant" and anti-Sabbath teachings are well in line with
those of Ratzlaff and Tkach. Many of the senior ministers today
were taught by Martin when they went to Ambassador. Is it any
wonder why so many have rolled over and played dead, when it
comes to a Biblical understanding of God's Law and the New
Covenant? Tkach's current teachings are merely Martinism,
Act II.
In Sabbath Under Crossfire, Bacchiocchi states,
"Contrary to what many people believe, the Old Testament does
not view the Law as a means of gaining acceptance with God
through obedience, but as a way of responding to God's gracious
redemption and of binding Israel to God. . . . salvation has
always been a divine gift of grace and not a human achievement,"
pages 186-187. There is no such thing as Old Testament
legalism; this aberrant concept was developed between the
Testaments by the Pharisees. "Paul rejects the Pharisaic
understanding of the Law as a means of salvation and
affirms the Old Testament view of the Law as a revelation of
God's will for human conduct," p. 189. Ernest Martin, and some
ex-WCG ministers today, make Paul into a law-breaking
antinomian. But the Truth is that our new life in Christ
enables us to keep the Law, not as an external code (in the
letter), but as a loving response to God (in the spirit).
Prior to reading this section of Sabbath Under
Crossfire, I did not have a well-grounded understanding
of the place of Law in Christian life. The plain,
easy-to-understand terminology of Bacchiocchi, and his Biblical
exegesis, is extraordinary. Do you know someone who has left
the Church, maybe many years ago, and has given up the Sabbath
and most all the other distinctive teachings we hold dear?
Perhaps they would consider re-examining the issue of the
Sabbath, God's Law, and Pauline theology. Sabbath Under
Crossfire could be the best book on this subject ever
written, and would make an ideal gift to help someone regain
their spiritual footing. Don't forget yourself. Maybe you,
like me, did not really dig into the teaching of Law by Paul
like Bacchiocchi does in his excellent book.
Finally, in Chapter 7, Sam Bacchiocchi shows that many
Sunday-keepers are re-examining and rediscovering the validity
of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not an hour in worship services,
but twenty-four hours of holy time spent with God, a divine
vacation from the turmoil and stress of daily life. While some
Sunday-keepers are more zealously keeping Sunday, the fact
remains that Sunday is not the Sabbath. You cannot keep cold
water hot! As Ratzlaff and the Worldwide Church of God are
abandoning the Sabbath, the exciting news is that other
Christians are rediscovering the seventh day Sabbath,
observing the literal day, and learning more of its
spiritual meaning.
Bishop Steven Sanchez and the Wesley Synod of sixty-eight
Methodist congregations in North America have recently become
Sabbath-keepers, claiming that John Wesley originally kept the
Sabbath and dietary laws. They observe the Sabbath from Friday
sunset till sunset Saturday, have Saturday Church services, and
abstain from work on the Sabbath. What great news!
Most Messianic Jews, who accepted the Messiah through Protestant
efforts and were thus originally Sunday-keepers, have now become
seventh-day Sabbatarians. Sabbatarian Mennonites such as Daniel
Leichty, are renewing the Anabaptist heritage of Andreas Fischer
and Oswald Glait by returning to the Sabbath. The True Jesus
Church, founded in 1917 in China (which may have descended from
earlier Nineteenth Century Chinese Sabbatarians) today has a
million members in China and 79,000 in the free world. Their
basic tenet states, "The Sabbath day, the seventh day of the
week (Saturday), is a holy day, blessed and sanctified by God.
It is to be observed under the Lord's grace for the
commemoration of God's creation and redemption, and with the
hope of eternal rest."
What is it going to be for you? Are you going to throw
away the Sabbath like Martin, Ratzlaff, and Tkach? Are you
going to observe the Sabbath in a legalistic, hard-hearted way,
thinking that by so doing, you gain favor with God and earn
salvation? This concept turns the Sabbath into a burden
for your children so that they will likely reject it when they
become adults. Or instead, will you, even as a Sabbath-keeper
perhaps for many years, rediscover the joy of the Sabbath, "a
gift waiting to be unwrapped"? Will you allow God to enrich
your life with a larger measure of His divine presence, peace,
and rest that the Sabbath affords? And, most importantly, as
Bacchiocchi concludes, will you DO SOMETHING to spread the
Sabbath delight to others? Will you share your faith with
others? Dr. Sam implores us to rid ourselves of spiritual
lethargy: "Many more can receive the gift of the Sabbath if
those of us who experience weekly the blessings of this divine
gift will share with others the benefits this day brings to our
lives," page 283.
Dr. Sam, now that you have helped me and others to become more
thoroughly grounded in New Covenant Law, take some time off with
Anna and get those household chores done!
Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi's book, Sabbath Under
Crossfire, retails for $15 per copy. His other two classic
Sabbath books are: From Sabbath to Sunday and
Divine Rest for Human Restlessness. It is a pity that
perhaps Bacchiocchi's BEST book, Divine Rest for Human
Restlessness, has received so little publicity. A
theological study of the philosophy and meaning of the Sabbath,
Divine Rest helps us understand the spiritual meaning
of the Sabbath, and how to keep it holy.
You may order any one of these three excellent Sabbath books for
$12.50 postpaid from The Bible Sabbath Association, 3316
Alberta Drive, Gillette, WY 82718. Or, you may order
any two, or all three, for $11 each from the
same.
The Sabbath is a gift waiting to be unwrapped! Will you
share this gift with others?
TSS
March - May 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
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