Armerys (@Armerys)

__The "9 out of 10" Fallacy: _If 9 commandments are moral and binding, the 10th must be too. This assumes all 10 commandments are of the exact same type.__ However, the Sabbath commandment contains unique ceremonial elements --specific day, death penalty for gathering sticks, double portion of manna--- not found in "You shall not murder." The Sabbath is unique among the 10 commandments as it is both moral --principle of rest, worship, and ceremonial/judicial --specific day, sign for Israel (Colossians 2:16-17). Furthermore, the penalty and ritual application, which includes the specific day, were fulfilled in Christ. ...a Sabbath day— things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. -Colossians 2:16-17 The fact that "sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4) does not negate that it can coexist with the belief that the specific day of the Sabbath was a shadow fulfilled in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17), while the moral principle of rest/worship remains.** Therefore, one can uphold 9 moral commands while recognizing the 10th has been transformed from a specific day to a person --Christ-- and a posture of heart --rest in Him. This aligns with Hebrews 4, which explains that the true "Sabbath rest" remains for the people of God—a spiritual rest entered by faith, not a specific day kept by law. In 3 John, the focus is entirely on moral behavior and hospitality, with no mention of holy days. Before 1 John 3: 4, in 3 John 1:11, John talks about doing good means love in action, not observing a specific day, following Jesus example of healing on the sabbath. Jesus redefined Sabbath "lawfulness" not as inactivity, but as active love. By healing, He showed that the test of being "from God" is performing acts of mercy (good), even if it technically violates a human tradition of rest. Later, in 2 John 1:5-6, John explains that walking "according to his commandments... is the commandment", and the commandment is love. 1. The "commandment" is explicitly defined as believing in Jesus and loving one another. 1 John 3:23: "And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us." 2. John argues that victory and obedience come through faith in Jesus, not adherence to ritual laws. 1 John 5:3-4: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." The "burdensome" nature of the old ceremonial law and the strict legalism associated with Sabbath enforcement and regulations (Colossians 2:16) is contrasted with the freedom of the New Covenant. The victory is attributed to faith, not day-keeping. 3. The law is fulfilled in walking in love, which is the "law of Christ." 2 John 1:5-6: "And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it." John 7:23: "If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?" If a ritual act --circumcision-- overrides the Sabbath rest, how much more does an act of redemptive love (healing a whole person)? 4. The test of being "from God" is doing good --moral action, love-- not observing a specific day. 3 John 1:11: "Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God." This "doing good" ethic led the early church to view every day as holy (Romans 14:5, 6) and by the mid-2nd century (Didache, Justin Martyr), viewing the 7th-day Sabbath as a Jewish shadow fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection, took the church to gather on the "8th day" (Sunday) as the day of New Creation/Resurrection, distinct from the Jewish Sabbath (Old Creation). Jesus’ Sabbath healings are the practical application of John’s theology: 3 John 1:11: Healing = Doing Good = From God. 2 John 1:6: Healing = Walking in Love = Fulfilling the Commandment. 1 John 3:23: Healing = Evidence of Faith in the Son who gives life. 1 John 5:3: Healing = Commandments that are not burdensome (unlike the Pharisees' rules). Therefore: ✓Sin is defined by a lack of faith and love (1 John 3:23), not by breaking a ceremonial day. ✓The Sabbath was a shadow of Christ; keeping the shadow after the Substance has come is logically inconsistent with the New Covenant. ✓History confirms the early church understood this distinction, worshipping on the "8th Day" as the fulfillment of the Sabbath principle So, please, I lovingly ask, don't speak to me of shadows when I have the light. #Sabbath #SDA