Re-Inventing the Adventist Wheel has a post containing an article entitled Keeping Sabbath: Reviving a Christian Practice, which is an article by a non-Adventist Christian.  (The blog is an Adventist blog.)

The blog looks good ... one of the more progressive Adventist blogs ... which we need more of.

The post before that discusses my website ... hmmm ... of relevance to the issues raised there happens to be what I posted this morning.

Also in the broader context of the Keeping Sabbath post is what's going on over at the Progressive Adventist blog, where sacramentalism is being discussed in a positive light.

Adventists tell us that the Bible commands Sabbath keeping for Christians.

All the verses mentioning the Sabbath in the New Testament (apart from the Gospels) are discussed here.

Not one commands Sabbath observance, and not one gives an example of Christians keeping the Sabbath.

I often get told that Jesus set the example we are to follow.  But if we do all the things Jesus did under the Old Covenant, we need to do the following:

• Keep the Passover (lamb and all) - Luke 2:41-42, Luke 22:8, Matt 26:17-19
• Keep the Feast of Tabernacles - John 7
• Keep Hannukah - John 10:22
• Be circumcised - Luke 2:21
• Sacrifice birds - Matt 8:4 - here Jesus commanded a man to go and offer the sacrifice that Moses commanded - see Leviticus 14, where God tells Moses how do offer such a sacrifice.
  

Clearly Jesus lived under the Old Covenant, and NOT everything he did is applicable to us.

These are the verses from the four Gospels.  (For saving space, the verses are cited but not quoted in full.)

• Matt 12:1 - picking corn in a neighbour's field was okay (Deut 23:25) but what about on the Sabbath?  Even collecting manna on the Sabbath was prevented.  Jesus cites David eating the shewbread (verse 4) which was not on the Sabbath, and the priests working on the Sabbath.  But it's a clear change of what may or may not be done - going from not collecting manna to permitting picking of grain.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• Matt 12:2 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• Matt 12:5 - see above.  None of these three verses has a command to keep the day.
• Matt 12:8 - Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath - see my discussion of this verse here.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• Matt 12:10 - healing on the Sabbath.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• Matt 12:11 - rescuing sheep on the Sabbath.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• Matt 12:12 - doing good on the Sabbath.  No command to keep it after his resurrection.  He is giving a lesson on the relationship of the law to man, not commanding the Sabbath.
• Matt 24:20 - discussed in full here.  No command at all to keep the Sabbath.  Some Adventists interpret fleeing for one's life as profaning the Sabbath, with Jesus telling them to pray not to have to.
• Matt 28:1 - mention of the day in the context of the events of Jesus' crucifixion.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• Mark 1:21 - Jesus taught in the synagogue, which would not have been filled on other days. Just because he kept the Sabbath under the Old Covenant, doesn't mean we should under the New.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Mark 2:23 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Mark 2:24 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Mark 2:27 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Mark 2:28 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Mark 3:2 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Mark 3:4 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Mark 6:2 - similar passage to Mark 1:21.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Mark 15:42 - mention of the day in the context of the events of Jesus' crucifixion.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• Mark 16:1 - mention of the day in the context of the events of Jesus' crucifixion.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• Luke 4:16 - Note the important use of the word CUSTOM, discussed here.  Jesus taught in the synagogue, which would not have been filled on other days. Just because he kept the Sabbath under the Old Covenant, doesn't mean we should under the New.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Luke 4:31 - Jesus taught in the synagogue, which would not have been filled on other days. Just because he kept the Sabbath under the Old Covenant, doesn't mean we should under the New.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Luke 6:1 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Luke 6:2 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Luke 6:5 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Luke 6:6 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Luke 6:7 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Luke 6:9 - parallel passage to Matt 12 - see above.  No command to keep the Sabbath anywhere here.
• Luke 13:10 - Jesus taught in the synagogue, which would not have been filled on other days. Just because he kept the Sabbath under the Old Covenant, doesn't mean we should under the New.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Luke 13:14 - healing on the Sabbath.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Luke 13:15 - rescuing ox/ass on the Sabbath.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Luke 13:16 - healing on the Sabbath.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Luke 14:1 - healing on the Sabbath.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Luke 14:3 - healing on the Sabbath.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Luke 14:5 - rescuing ox/ass on the Sabbath.  No command here for Sabbath keeping.
• Luke 23:54 - mention of the day in the context of the events of Jesus' crucifixion.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• Luke 23:56 - resting on the Sabbath under the Old Covenant.  Sabbatarians forget that Jesus had not yet risen from the dead when they were keeping that Sabbath - man was still living under the Mosaic Law, and since Jesus had not risen from the dead, there could obviously not be any other day they could think of to keep.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• John 5:9 - healing on the Sabbath.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• John 5:10 - carrying a bed on the Sabbath.  Jer 17:22 - God separates carrying burdens from actual work-related burdens; both are prohibited.  Obviously a lesson in Sabbath keeping.  But it's a clear change of what may or may not be done.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• John 5:16 - Jesus persecuted for his views on the Sabbath.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• John 5:18 - John here reports what Jesus had done - broken the Sabbath and claimed equality with God.  He's not reporting the views of the Jews; he's stating what Jesus had done to anger them.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• John 7:22 - circumcision on the Sabbath.  The claim that Jesus would have said that the Sabbath would no longer be kept by Christians if that were to be the case fails because here he could have said the same about circumcision, and we KNOW it was the case with circumcision.  Why did Jesus remain silent?  Because his lesson was in the context of the Old Covenant.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• John 7:23 - healing and circumcision on the Sabbath.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• John 9:14 - healing on the Sabbath.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• John 9:16 - miracles on the Sabbath.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
• John 19:31 - mention of the day in the context of the events of Jesus' crucifixion.  No command to keep the Sabbath.
  

So, where in the New Testament do we find a command to keep the Sabbath?  Nowhere.

Did Jesus command us to keep the Sabbath?  No.

Did the Apostles command us to keep the Sabbath?  No.

Did Jesus keep the Sabbath?  Yes, under the Old Covenant.  He was also circumcised, kept Passover, Hannukah, and commanded a sacrifice to be made.  If we recognise the context, we realise that his Sabbath keeping was part of the law he lived under.

Just a note to say that the link mentioned in the previous post has generated a lot of comments on Adventism and sacramentalism.