If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death— whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master— how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, having come, raised them from the dead.
Ει ουν οι εν παλαιοις πραγμασιν αναστραφεντες εις καινοτητα ελπιδος ηλθον, μηκετι σαββατιζοντες αλλα κατα κυριακην ζωντες, εν η και η ζωη ημων ανετειλεν δι αυτου και του θανατου αυτου, {ον} τινες αρνουνται, δι ου μυστηριου ελαβομεν το πιστευειν, και δια τουτο υπομενομεν, ινα ευρεθωμεν μαθηται Ιησου Χριστου του μονου διδασκαλου ημων· πως ημεις δυνησομεθα ζησαι χωρις αυτου, ου και οι προφηται μαθηται οντες τω πνευματι ως διδασκαλον αυτον προσεδοκων; και δια τουτο, ον δικαιως ανεμενον, παρων εγειρεν αυτους εκ νεκρων.
See http://www.textexcavation.com/greekignatiusmagnesians.html
Sporadic theological and historical musings by Edgar Foster (Ph.D. in Theology and Religious Studies and one of Jehovah's Witnesses).
https://www.gci.org/law/sabbath/history2
ReplyDeleteIn response the to gci link:
ReplyDeleteIt seems pretty clear that Christianity generally rejected Sabbath observance. I was going to mention the Epistle of Barnabas as a further line of evidence, but the article brings it up too. One problem I have with the article, however, is its reading of Ignatius' words to the Magnesians. Why limit his sabbath remarks to the Magnesians when there's evidence that other professed followers of Christ also no longer observed sabbath? Most importantly, the sabbath was never given to Gentiles anyway.
A very selective reading of Barnabas as well. In Epistle of Barnabas 2.6:
"These things therefore He annulled, that the new law of our Lord
Jesus Christ, being free from the yoke of constraint, might have its
oblation not made by human hands."
Justin Martyr's documents also indicate that Christians are not obligated to keep the sabbath day.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13287b.htm
not made by human hands?
ReplyDeletehttp://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/13447/is-it-a-discouraged-or-an-unacceptable-practice-for-a-gentile-to-keep-the-sabbat
ReplyDeleteThat utterance appears in the bible. A way of saying not by human means, but from God. Here, the saying applies to the new law of Christ.
ReplyDeleteEph 2:11 & col 2:11 ?
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe Eph. 2:11 and Col. 2:11 are good examples of the idiom. There's also Daniel 2:34, 45; 8:25 and 2 Cor. 5:1.
ReplyDelete"Theophrastus, in his ‘Moral Sketches,’ defines the close-handed man as one who, at his daughter’s wedding feast, sells all the victims offered except the sacred parts; and the shameless person as one who, after offering a sacrifice, salts the victim for future use, and goes out to dine with some one else. The market was therefore stocked with meat which had been connected with idol-sacrifices. The Christian could never be sure about any meat which he bought if he held it wrong to partake of these offerings. Further than this, he would—especially if he were poor—feel it a great privation to be entirely out off from the public feasts (sussitia), which perhaps were often his only chance of eating meat at all; and also to be forbidden to take a social meal with any of his Gentile neighbours or relatives. The question was therefore a “burning” one. It involved much of the comfort and brightness of ancient social life (Thueydides, ii. 38; Aristotle, ‘Eth.,’ vii. 9, § 5; Cicero, ‘Off.,’ ii. 16; Livy, viii. 32, etc.)."
ReplyDelete>> he would—especially if he were poor—feel it a great privation to be entirely out off from the public feasts (sussitia), which perhaps were often his only chance of eating meat at all; <<
This is culture but was it deprivation?
The other side:-
"Rabbi Ishmael, in ‘Avoda Zara,’ said that a Jew might not even go to a Gentile funeral, even if he took with him his own meat and his own servants. The law of the drink offering forbids a Jew to drink of a cask if any one has even touched a goblet drawn from it with the presumed intention of offering a little to the gods."