Common Legalist Arguments - Part VIII

A critical look at using the claim, "If Jesus and the Apostles did it then we must do it too," as a justification for requiring Christians to attend church on Saturday.

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In my last post in this series, "Common Legalist Arguments Part VII", we saw many "back doors" legalists use to break into the abrogated Old Covenant. We explored the idea that the law applied to Israel, and since we are Spiritual Israel the law applies to us. We saw two Israels are being confused and two Covenants are being combined. This cannot be!

This time, I would like to explore a very common argument that people resort to when all else fails -- just claim we all need to be Jewish.

ARGUMENT #8
"If Jesus and the Apostles did it then we must do it too."

At first, this sounds like a fantastic idea. What could possibly be wrong about doing what Jesus and the Apostles did? Isn't that the definition of discipleship? Let's get some context. Let's see how this argument is being used.

An associate at In Him Ministries recently posted onto social media an excellent article about the Sabbath in the New Covenant. The main idea was the Old Covenant with its terms (laws) is gone, and the New Covenant with its terms has come. Short, simple, and agrees with what we write here.
I took a few moments to read the comments, as is my tradition. One person asked if the readers could find any direct command in the Bible to go to church on Saturday. No one could, because there is no such command in the Bible. The fourth Commandment says nothing about going to church. Since their entire identity depends on this one thing, the Sabbatarians all headed in the same direction: they ignored their usual requirement that everything must be commanded in law and instead appealed to the tradition of Jesus and the Apostles. One person said, simply, "Jesus and apostolic precedent!"

You might be thinking, "I still don't see the problem."
Let's get something perfectly clear - this isn't about true discipleship and following Jesus' examples of faith, love, self sacrifice, mercy, justice, etc etc, it's about justifying Sabbatarianism, for which there is no law. This is not about the spirit of the law or even the letter of the law, it's about workarounds.

Allow me to put this argument into other words so we can more clearly see what's really going on:
"There was no law about going to church. But since Jesus and the Apostles lived like Pharisaical Jews, we all must live like Pharisaical Jews, too. Everybody Shabbat!"

Pharisaical Jews?? Yes. Come along and see.

OLD COVENANT JEWS

We must ask ourselves, why did Jesus and the Apostles do what they did? Answer: because they were literally Old Covenant Jews.

We cannot simply ignore this fact. They were working-class Jews in Israel, born under the Old Covenant, during the Second Temple Period, while the Temple yet stood. This was their lifestyle. This was their culture. This is why they did what they did. Are we all to be first century Jews now? (Be careful here! Say 'no' and this argument falls apart, but say 'yes' and your church falls apart.)

Most common legalist arguments are attempts to get back to the Old Covenant law, but that would be pointless here since today's common legalist argument only exists in the first place because there was no "go to church on Saturday" law to get back to.
This common argument is a disguised demand that we must all become ancient Jews.

But if this were really so important, wouldn't you suppose it would be applied across the board? The "we must do what Jesus did" claim is being applied in a completely inconsistent way.

How is it inconsistent? Consider, except for the 40 days between Jesus' death and resurrection, His entire ministry on earth was during the Old Covenant period. That Covenant ended when He died and not before. People tend to forget the Old Covenant is in the New Testament. That means when we read the Gospels we are seeing Jesus and the Apostles living under all 613 Old Covenant laws. All of them, not just the Sabbath.
This "Jesus and apostolic precedent" argument is only intended to get the Sabbath, but as it turns out it applies to everything else. We can't appeal only until we get what we want then back out. That is the inconsistency: it attempts to pick and choose what it wants then leaves the rest behind.

So, out of one side of the mouth there is an appeal, and out of the other a dismissal. It's a highly advanced stealth appeal! It flies undetected into the ancient land of Israel, grabs the Sabbath, and heads back out before the other 612 laws even know it was there.

This goes beyond laws. If following Jesus' and the Apostles' routine is so important (as opposed to, say, following His example of faith, love, mercy, justice...) then why don't people do what they actually did? Jesus and the Apostles:

• Went to synagogue and listened to a Rabbi.
• Argued with Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and lawyers.
• Went to Temple.
• Paid the Temple Tax.
• Went to Jerusalem for the three pilgrimage holy days each year.
  
• Observed "Jewish" traditions and holidays, like Hanukkah.
• Preached daily, not just weekly.
• Lived in what we would consider mud brick huts, wore sandals and likely a turban, and walked about Judea.
• Faced persecution and death.

I could go on and on like this. Do Sabbatarians do any of these things? No.
The advanced stealth appeal flies undetected into ancient Israel, grabs a tradition or two, then heads back out before the rest of the culture even knows it was there.

Why must we go to church on Saturday when there is no such command? Forget the New Covenant because we've got Jesus and apostolic precedent!
Why don't we wear tassels on our garments? Forget Jesus and apostolic precedent because we've got the New Covenant!

In the end, it doesn't seem to matter what Jesus and the Apostles actually did. This lays bare the inadequacies of today's common argument. This claim is not really about following examples. It's about supporting a predetermined conclusion; coming up with a decent sounding alibi for basing an entire movement on going to church on Saturday without any law or truly compelling reason to do so. But that reduces this common argument to a preference rather than some binding imperative.

You want to go to church on Saturday? Go for it! But don't tell me how I'm a sinner because of your highly selective personal preference.

Now that we've shown what the argument is at heart, let's focus on the Sabbatarianism. We need to understand something about what Jesus was doing.

SYNAGOGUE  ≠ CHURCH

(For those who do not know, that ≠ symbol means 'does not equal'.)

Ask any Sabbatarian how to do what Jesus did and most of the conversation will gravitate around going to church on Saturday, "Not like those sinful pagans who replaced the Sabbath with Sunday." But therein lies the rub. Jesus did not go to church; He went to synagogue,

Synagogue is not church. So, nobody follows Jesus' precedent by going to church. How much less, then, did Jesus go to a middle school auditorium to set up folding chairs and listen to a "Minister" drone on and on about his own importance in prophecy.

If this argument was really intended to do what it says on the surface, Sabbatarians would do what Jesus actually did and go to synagogue, listen to a Pharisee Rabbi, then get up and teach from Torah with no reference to the New Testament. The claim is, "We must do what Jesus and the Apostles did," right, not, "We must do something roughly analogous but not really what they did," right?

Again, the appeal is to nothing more than Jews being Jewish.
Four times, Acts uses the phrase "synagogue of the Jews" to distinguish. There is no "synagogue of the Christians". There is no New Covenant example of Gentile converts to Christianity taking up synagogue. If Gentiles were in synagogue then they were already there, for Judaism, but not for Christ. All of the accounts of going to synagogue after Jesus' death are in the book of Acts alone, and most involve Paul going there to preach Jesus to Jews, proselytes, and devout people already participating in Jewish synagogue traditions. Then, he would get kicked out (much like Jesus had been kicked out) and go elsewhere to preach to Gentiles who were not associated with Judaism.
So, must we do what Jesus and Paul did and go get kicked out of a synagogue? I don't recommend that.

In many ways, synagogue and church are similar. They are both houses of learning and worship. Early churches and liturgies were patterned after elements from synagogue. So, similar? Yes. Identical and interchangeable? Most certainly not. Early Christians exchanged synagogue for church for a reason, and modern Sabbatarians follow that for the same reason: we aren't Jews.

So, this argument appeals to Jews being Jewish, but only long enough to get Jewish Sabbath traditions. After that it rejects what it just appealed to, because we aren't Jews.

But think about this.
If we can exchange synagogue for church, then why not exchange Saturday for Sunday? That is the very heart of this common legalist argument, is it not? If there is no law to go to church on Saturday, and Jesus did not "go to church", and you're not going to do what Jesus actually did by going to synagogue because you go to church, then why not go to church on Sunday?
It's a valid question.

Trying to force a Jewish-specific practice into a universal Christian mandate is like trying to fit a square tradition into a round command. Historically and theologically, it just doesn’t work.

WHAT CHURCHES?

This introduces another contradiction. Most Sabbatarians will claim there were no churches in the first century. Whether strictly accurate or not, what an interesting thing to ponder!

When I was an Armstrongist, I sat through many a sermon claiming, "'Church' is translated from 'ekklesia' which just means 'the body of believers'. Jesus founded a church, not a building." And this is true! We have no evidence the very earliest Christians built basilicas or any such thing. As best we can tell, they gathered together where they could, read, prayed, sang, and had a meal. So, they did gather together regularly, but they didn't go to a church until some years later when they could no longer fit into houses.

Am I the only one who finds it odd to minimize church when attacking Sunday services, only to turn right around and emphasize church to support Saturday services?

Let's take this one step further.

DAYS OF THE WEEK

Some of the more clever type will recognize the issue here and exchange "go to church" for "worship". Jesus worshipped on Sabbath. This removes any confusion over "church". But!

Jesus prayed and taught daily - which means others were learning and worshipping daily (MAR. 14: 49). The Apostles met in the Temple and in Christian houses daily (ACT. 2: 46; 5: 42). There is no wrong day to preach and worship.

So, now we must specify that 'worship' refers to corporate worship. Jesus went to corporate worship on Sabbath. And He did. But!

Did you know Jews of Jesus’ time primarily gathered in synagogues on the Sabbath, but they also met on Mondays and Thursdays? It's true!

“The people assemble on Mondays and Thursdays to read the Torah and study, as is the custom.”
-Mishnah Megillah 4:1

The Mishnah was written after Jesus' time, but it was not inventing, it was preserving.

When we read about Jesus and the Apostles going to synagogue, many verses state it was on Sabbath. Other verses do not state when it was. Those instances could be on any of the three assembly days.

Why aren't we morally obligated to do the same? Now where are the demands that we have to do this because it's what Jesus and the Apostles did? Why isn't anyone out there saying, "We are not saved by going to church on Monday and Thursday, but we cannot be saved without it?" Why are there no Mondatarians or Thursdatarians?

So, if your standard is doing what they did, then stick to it. Except you don't!

Here's another fact for you - did you know most Christian churches have services on Saturday? Even a great number of Catholic churches have a Mass on Saturday. It's true! But that doesn't count, does it? One wonders why not? It's on Saturday.

Mainstream churches offer services on Saturday, but that doesn’t count. Jews went to synagogue on Monday and Thursday, but that doesn't count. Jesus and the Apostles worshipped and taught daily, but that doesn't count. Verses like ACT 20: 7 and I COR 16: 2 strongly suggest Christians gathering on Sunday, but that doesn't count. Extra-biblical literature like the Didache, Justin Martyr, Ignatius, and Barnabas all tell us the main day for corporate worship was on Sunday, but that doesn't count. Early literature like Eusebius, Sozomen, and Socrates Scholasticus tell us many Jewish converts who kept a Sabbath also went to church on Sunday, but that doesn't count. In fact, there is no extant Christian source from the first three centuries that clearly describes Saturday-only corporate worship, but that doesn't count. To put it even more bluntly - nowhere in or out of the Bible is Saturday commanded or demonstrated as the exclusive day of Christian corporate worship.

So, what does count?

The pattern is clear. Today's common legalist argument is not built from the law or from what Jesus, the Apostles, and the early Christians were doing, but from selectively editing that out.

When you look at it this way, it makes this common legalist argument seem rather opportunistic.

But somehow it manages to get even more contradictory.

TRADITIONS OF MEN

At the opening of this post, I said, "But since Jesus and the Apostles lived like Pharisaical Jews, we all must live like Pharisaical Jews, too". I bet that "Pharisaical" part turned some people off. Then, why did I say it? Because there is a deeper layer to this appeal than just Jews being Jewish.

Did you notice there is no command or example anywhere in the Bible to go to Temple only on Sabbath? Did you notice there is no command in the Bible to go to synagogue at all? Did you notice synagogues are not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament, not even once? That's because they are a more recent addition. Whose addition? The Jews!

Do a study on the history of synagogues. They appear to have started during the Babylonian captivity, but no one knows exactly when or where or by whom. The Temple was destroyed, the Levitical Priesthood was crushed, and the people were dispersed in a foreign land far away from Jerusalem. So, they did what they thought was necessary to keep their culture alive - they created little local places of worship and Torah study. Much later, when the Israelites were allowed to return to Judaea and the Temple was rebuilt, the Temple priesthood became the domain of the Sadducees and the tradition of local synagogues became the domain of the Pharisees. That's why synagogues were Pharisaical and led by a Rabbi rather than a Priest, and that is why Jews do the same today. Modern Judaism is largely descended from the Pharisaical tradition.

So, when the common argument says, "Jesus and apostolic precedent," what it's really appealing to is Pharisaical precedent. Traditions of men!

This Sabbath vs Sunday debate is not rooted in His divine command but in Pharisaical practice. Sabbatarians, who insist that they reject the oral law, are now appealing to the very thing they reject. Sabbatarians who fervently insist God hates manmade traditions are basing their entire identity on Jesus keeping a manmade tradition. They say Jesus opposed the Pharisees' traditions and would never do such a thing, but here He is doing it and all they have depends on it. Odd, no? When did Pharisaical tradition become so important that we cannot be saved without it? If Jesus hated traditions of men, as Sabbatarians frequently and vehemently claim (especially around the holidays), then does Jesus hate going to church on Sabbath, too? It would be very difficult to get more contradictory than, "We cannot be saved unless we do what Jesus hated."

In Esther, the Jews create Purim for themselves. God is fine with this and records it in the Bible for all to see. Legalists reject it.
In Maccabees, the Jews create Hanukkah for themselves. God is fine with this and John records Jesus in the temple at Hanukkah, using the imagery of Hanukkah in reference to Himself as Messiah - He is the light and He is the sanctification in the very Temple which the leadership was defiling. Legalists reject it.
But Jesus keeps a Pharisaical synagogue tradition, as any Jew form His background would, and Legalists set that up as a condition of salvation.

Do you see? Not only is this entire common legalist argument nothing but layers and layers of contradictory rationalizations and cherry picking, but -- it is itself a tradition of men. Sabbatarians have taken the synagogue tradition of the Pharisees and turned it into a church tradition for themselves. All traditions of men.

In the end, we see a command is neither here nor there, laws are neither here nor there, traditions are neither here nor there, and history is neither here nor there. Seems this whole appeal to commandments and traditions is really nothing but situational ethics and convenience; an attempt to have it both ways.

CONCLUSION

Today, we looked at the claim "If Jesus and the Apostles did it, that means we must do it, too." It sounded great at first, but like all the rest, it comes apart when you dig in. We peeled back layers of conflicts and inconsistencies until we saw how this argument is really based on Jews being Jewish, who went to synagogue not church, because of a tradition of the Pharisees. We saw how there is no direct command or early example of exclusive Sabbath-only worship. The argument is not really about what Jesus and the Apostles did, but it uses them to rationalize a means to create a law where there is no law.

Sabbatarianism is not supported by the full historical and biblical witness, but by cherry-picking and excluding whatever does not fit. It is not a clear mandate, but an opinion.

I mean no offense to Jews in this post. Jews are supposed to be Jewish. I am simply pointing out the absurdity of Gentile Christians pretending to be Jewish while denying it.

You might come away from this post thinking I reject the very essence of discipleship and don't believe we should be like Jesus our Teacher. Ah, but I do believe we should be like Him! Only, I do not think He came to teach a class on first century Jewish culture. I don't think Sabbatarians believe He did either, or they would be more consistent about it.

One thing As Bereans Did has emphasized through the years is: Gentiles do not need to become Jews to be Christians, and Jews do not need to become Gentiles to be Christians. Instead, we encourage everyone to worship God constantly, pray ceaselessly, and live every moment as a reflection of Christ's spiritual message.

I argue for freedom in Christ. I believe the Bible argues for this as well. I know people who go to church on Saturday and Sunday. It's not the day but the faith that counts (and God knows the heart). What I am arguing against here is reformatting tradition into a command, stripping that freedom into an obligation, elevating it to a salvation-level issue, turning it into a tool to beat others with, and doing it for no better reason than off-the-cuff self justification.

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If you are interested in more information about the history of synagogues, I recommend these three sources:

• James C. VanderKam, "An Introduction to Early Judaism".
• E.P. Sanders, "Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE–66 CE".
• Lee I. Levine, "The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years".

[Also see Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, & Part VII]

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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )

Acts 17:11

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It Literally Says Friday

When you encounter someone claiming that Jesus died on a Wednesday or Thursday, pay close attention to how Greek terms are being improperly redefined.

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"There is not a verse, or a line, or a word anywhere in the New Testament that so much as intimates that Christ was crucified on Friday."
-H. A. Griesemer, "Crucifixion Day", The Religious Herald, April 13, 1922

I spent most of my life believing and preaching that the Friday crucifixion is a lie. I was convinced by what seemed like irrefutable evidence. No one from the Friday-Sunday camp seemed willing to explain their side to me. I concluded they didn't because they couldn't.
But are these claims, like the ones in the quote above, true? Is there nothing that so much as intimates that Christ was crucified on Friday? Did the people who were taught by the Apostles fumble the ball? Is Good Friday completely baseless?

Today, we are going to dig into the Bible and see for ourselves. Words have set meanings. That's why dictionaries were invented. We will see that the Greek tells us plainly what the English obscures.

WORD GAMES

We are going to look at the Greek words sabbaton and prosabbaton to see their proper definitions. It will become clear how they have been significantly altered to make way for a Wednesday or even Thursday crucifixion. I promise to do my best to make this complex information as simple as possible so everyone can understand it.

Sabbatōn σαββάτων "week" (MAT. 28:1)

This is the first of two different forms of sabbaton that we will look at. This one is plural, the other is singular. Same word, different form.

Let's look at the standard scholarly definition of sabbaton in the leading Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament (BDAG):

1. the seventh day of the week in Israel’s calendar, i.e., the Sabbath (often used in both singular and plural forms).
2. by extension, a week (the period between two Sabbaths), again appearing in both singular and plural.

Proponents of a Wednesday crucifixion look at Matthew 28:1 and see that sabbaton is plural, then conclude there must have been two different kinds of sabbaths on two different days that week. Look through the definitions again and notice this possibility is not there. So, "there were two Sabbaths that week," is not a possible interpretation of Matthew 28: 1.
It's an interesting theory, it just cannot work, because it's based on defining the word sabbaton in an improper way.

Words are like containers, they contain thoughts and meanings. This word does not contain that meaning. The idea of two different kinds of sabbaths isn't coming from that container, it's being crammed into a container that cannot hold it. Should anyone translate it that way, then? No. But they do anyway.

So, how should it be translated? "Week".

This corresponds to definition #2 above, "the period between two Sabbaths." The plural sabbaton here is an idiom. It means "week" by referring to the time between two Sabbaths. That's weekly Sabbaths, specifically. A week is not defined as the time between two annual sabbaths or a combination of weekly and annual sabbaths.
In fact, every time you see the word "week" in the New Testament, it is translated from this form of sabbaton. Plural sabbaton was their main word for week.
It was also how the Greek-speaking Jews said weekday names. Sunday was "one of the Sabbaths" (first of the week), Monday "two of the Sabbaths" (second of the week), Tuesday "three of the Sabbaths" (third of the week), etc.

Also, know this - the plural sabbaton appears twice in Matthew 28:1. If the Wednesday camp is going to redefine the first sabbaton, then consistency demands they must treat the second in the same way, which would leave us with four sabbaths, not two.
"After the two Sabbaths were over, toward dawn on the first of the two Sabbaths."
Does that make any sense? No. Was Sunday a sabbath? No.

So, how should this second plural sabbaton be translated? "Week". They should both be week. But!
Matthew qualifies "week" with the words "one of" (first of). That addition turns this into a phrase meaning "Sunday" or "first day of the week". As I said earlier, Sunday was "one of the Sabbaths" (first of the week). This is exactly what Matthew wrote here for the second sabbaton.
So, transliterating this as "Sunday" or "first day of the week" is actually more accurate to the idea Matthew was trying to get across.

As you can see, the plural sabbaton is being stretched far beyond its proper usage in order to support a timeline it cannot naturally support. This causes more harm than it's solves.

Sabbatō σαββάτῳ "weekly Sabbath" (John 19: 31)

This is the second of two different forms of sabbaton that we will look at. It is the same word as Matthew 28, but singular. Same word, different form, still refers to the weekly Sabbath.

The Wednesday camp will protest that sabbaton here in John is an annual holy day. Yes, we do have a holy day here. No one denies that. But there's something we need to pay close attention to. Let's take a look at the relevant section from John:

τῷ (the) σαββάτῳ (weekly Sabbath) ἦν (was) γὰρ (for) μεγάλη (a high) ἡ ἡμέρα (day)

Sabbaton still refers to the weekly Sabbath as sabbaton naturally does, but it is qualified after the fact by additional words that indicate it was also a high day.

It was not a standalone high day separate from the weekly Sabbath. We saw in the previous section how "there were two Sabbaths that week," is not possible. If this were not the weekly Sabbath but a high day only, then the Greek word heortē (holy day) would have been used, and none of those extra words would have been there because they wouldn't be necessary. It would make little sense to say, "The annual sabbath was for a high day." And so it doesn't say that. It says, "The weekly Sabbath was for a high day."

The Wednesday timeline proponents treat sabbaton as if it is a kind of catch-all term that could be any kind of sabbath, and John had to clarify for the reader what sort of Sabbath this was out of the many options available. Look through the definitions of sabbaton again - “annual Sabbath” is not among them. That is not how the word is used.
John is doing the opposite of what is being claimed. He isn't paring down, he's adding on.

With that in mind, let's look at John 19: 31 again:
"Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day)..."

Here, the "preparation day" is the Greek word paraskeuē. Paraskeuē can refer to preparation for any kind of Sabbath. Paraskeuē is ambiguous. But the kind of sabbath John tells us we are dealing with is sabbaton (not heortē). This preparation day was for a weekly Sabbath.
Wednesday timeline proponents play fast and loose with paraskeuē by, once again, improperly redefining sabbaton.

Do you realize what this means? John's use of weekly Sabbath to qualify preparation day points directly to the sixth day.
         It literally says Friday!

OK. Maybe not literally but it's the next best thing.

Now, think back to the quote at the start of this post, "There is not a verse, or a line, or a word anywhere in the New Testament that so much as intimates that Christ was crucified on Friday." Are we sure about that? When we use proper definitions of words, John 19: 31 goes well beyond intimating.

As you can see, much like the plural sabbaton, the singular sabbaton is being redefined improperly in order to support a timeline it cannot naturally support.

The final term we need to see is prosabbaton. I've saved the best for last.

"Prosabbaton" προσάββατον "day before weekly Sabbath" (MAR. 15: 42)

It's not just sabbaton that must be redefined, but prosabbaton as well.

In Israel, all weekdays were numbered. Only one day had a formal name - the seventh. Its formal name was "Sabbath". That's its name. The Greek word for weekly Sabbath is "sabbaton". But in the second temple period, the sixth day gained an informal name as well: "prosabbaton". The standard Greek lexicon (BDAG) defines prosabbaton as 'the day before the Sabbath'. Not the day before any sabbath, but the day before the Sabbath, sabbaton, the weekly Sabbath. Prosabbaton wasn't a formal name like Friday is a formal name, but prosabbaton was nonetheless the term they used for the sixth day of the week.

Supporters of the Wednesday timeline would have you believe that both paraskeuē and prosabbaton mean the same thing, are totally interchangeable, and should be read as "preparation day". Not so! Is the sixth day always a preparation day? Yes. Always. Paraskeuē is the word for preparation day. But prosabbaton is not. Prosabbaton refers specifically to the sixth day of the week, apart from any preparations. It is a very focused term.

Mark uses both prosabbaton (day before the weekly Sabbath) and paraskeuē (preparation day) in chapter 15 verse 42. Why would he use both if they mean the same thing and one would do just as well?

Do you realize what this means? Mark's use of prosabbaton points directly to the sixth day.
         It literally says Friday!

This time it really is literally.

By using both prosabbaton and paraskeuē, Mark is going out of his way to let us know this was Friday. I cannot imagine what else Mark could have done to make it more plain. Yet H. A. Griesemer denies it exists: "There is not a verse, or a line, or a word anywhere in the New Testament that so much as intimates that Christ was crucified on Friday," he said. Yes, there is! It's right here: prosabbaton! The Wednesday timeline requires it not to exist. Yet, there it is.

This takes 'words being stretched far beyond their proper usage' to an entirely new level. If you don't like what the Bible says, change it.

Now, add to this the testimony of Cleopas on the road to Emmaus, when he says Sunday was the third day since the trial and crucifixion (LUK. 24: 21). Friday is the third day before Sunday when we count in the way the Bible itself counts. No redefinitions needed.

OLD TESTAMENT

Someone will no doubt protest that the Septuagint translates the Hebrew shabbat (שַׁבָּת) as the Greek sabbaton (σάββατον) in Leviticus 23: 32 when this verse is talking about the Day of Atonement. They will conclude therefore that sabbaton does not always refer to a weekly Sabbath but can refer to annual sabbaths as well. Then they will use this to redefine verses like John 19: 31.

I do not find this convincing. Here's why:

1. None of this applies in the New Testament. Sabbaton is consistently used to refer to the weekly Sabbath in the New Testament. If we could define sabbaton this way in the New Testament, then the definition in lexicons like BDAG would already reflect this.
2. LEV. 23:32 is an exception not the rule. In most other places in the Septuagint, sabbaton is distinct from holy days (I CHR 23:31; II CHR 2:4, 8:13; EZE 45:17; HOS 2:11; JUD. 8:6). These verses separate the weekly Sabbath (sabbaton) from new moons and holy days, using different words for each. They are not always interchangeable. It depends on context.
3. And we still have the definition of prosabbaton (Friday) to deal with. In the Bible, it consistently refers to Friday. Outside of the Bible, there is no known example of it referring to the day before an annual holy day. This is part of the crucifixion context. We can't just ignore it.

What sabbaton does in Leviticus is important to know but it does not directly affect how we interpret John, and it does not give us permission to redefine it however we want wherever we find it.

CONCLUSION

We began with a bold claim:
“There is not a verse, or a line, or a word anywhere in the New Testament that so much as intimates that Christ was crucified on Friday.”

We ended with a bold claim:
"It literally says Friday!"

We have looked at the Greek terms at the core of this crucifixion timeline debate. We have seen how sabbaton consistently refers to the weekly Sabbath in the New Testament. We have seen how sabbaton in Matthew 28:1 cannot mean a combination of two different types of sabbath in a week. We have seen how John 19:31 qualifies sabbaton with additional words to tell us the weekly Sabbath was also a high day. If it were only a high day, John would have used heortē instead of sabbaton. Lastly, we examined prosabbaton (day before the weekly Sabbath) and paraskeuē (preparation day) in Mark 15:42, where both terms appear together. The use of prosabbaton tells us in no uncertain terms that day was Friday.

The problem with the Friday-Sunday timeline isn't that there's no support or that it doesn't make sense. The problem is most people just assume it's true, so they never had to work through it, so they don't know how to explain it.

The New Testament does not avoid Friday, the alternate timelines do, by pulling the meanings out that should be there and inserting new ideas in that cannot go there. A Wednesday-Saturday timeline does not come out of the Bible, it is being forced into the Bible. Once those redefinitions are removed, the structure collapses. A Friday-Sunday timeline fits naturally.

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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )

Acts 17:11

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Was Jesus Entombed 72 Hours? - Part II

Is the phrase "three days and three nights" in Matthew 12 to be taken literally and understood as 72-hours? We look at sources inside and outside the Bible to get some clues.

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In the previous post, we looked at the phrase "three days" and other similar phrases. We learned that the Bible counts days differently than the modern Western mind, using inclusive reckoning. "Three days" means three consecutive days, whether they are complete or fractions of a day. The phrase "third day" could mean "day after tomorrow" or "day before yesterday". We saw how that fits into five different descriptions of the entombment of Jesus.

We needed that so we would be ready to look at description number six: “three days and three nights”. 

We have important questions to answer. Must this phrase be interpreted literally as 72-hours? Does adding "and nights" force the difference? Does the Bible offer help on how we should understand it? Is there any evidence outside of the Bible that might shed some light? Is "three days and three nights" the one phrase out of six that we must use to interpret the length of Jesus' entombment?

We are going to let the Bible interpret the Bible.

SAMUEL

Let's spend some time on Samuel 30, because this is going to be arguably the most important selection of all. There are only three places in the entire Bible where “three days and three nights” appears. One is in Jonah 1: 17. Another is in Matthew 12: 40. The last is in Samuel 30: 12.

Here, David's men were tracking some Amalekites when they happened upon a young Egyptian man in a field somewhere in the Levant. He fell ill while raiding for slaves with the Amalekites and was left behind to starve to death.

(I SAM. 30: 11-13) 11 Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water. 12 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So when he had eaten, his strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. 13 Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” And he said, “I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick.

There is that phrase - three days and three nights. Notice it's not the Egyptian who says this, but the narrator of the story. This selection is quite special. It is the only instance of "three days and three nights" in the Bible that has another time reference nearby to give us a clue about how to understand it. The Egyptian had not eaten for “three days and three nights”, yet he had only fallen sick “three days ago”. There is the clue.

Using what we learned in the last post about how counting days works in the Bible, we know "three days ago" means day before yesterday.

We now have but three options:

1) The Egyptian had not eaten for upwards of a day before he fell ill. 

2) The Egyptian misspoke and fell ill four days ago.

3) “Three days and three nights” is a figure of speech not meant to be understood as 72 literal, exact hours, and means the same thing as "three days".

#2 is the least reasonable. If we try to press for #1 and its literal interpretation, we must ask how anyone knew it was exactly 72 hours (not 71.5 or 73) since the last time the Egyptian ate? In that time period, how did a slave on a raid in the Levant, so unimportant that he was left for dead, have the means to know exactly what hour it was?
What luck! They interrogated him exactly 72 hours to the minute after he last put food in his mouth.

Also, notice the time of day in this scene. David found the Egyptian while pursuing the Amalekites, and then continued his pursuit. This scene was clearly not at the beginning or ending of a day. If we insist on three complete days and three complete nights, how does that work in a scene that takes place in the middle of the day? This must also be explained.

I prefer #3. It simply makes more sense.

The text gives us nothing to support an exact 72-hour chronology. It does give us reasons to discount this, however, by also using "three days." The most reasonable explanation is that it was never meant to be taken literally.

JONAH

We have two more instances of this phrase to review. Matthew refers to Jonah. Many claim that Matthew 12 is definitely 72-hours because Jonah is definitely 72-hours. But is it?

I am not going to explore Jonah deeply because I want you to do that yourself. Go ahead. Should you go to verify that claim, you will come away from Jonah unable to prove anything about the exact timing. (I know because I tried for days.) All you will see is the phrase "three days and three nights" with no other time markers to help demonstrate whether it is literal or figurative. Isn't that odd now?

If Jonah does not give any way to prove 72-hours, then Matthew cannot rely on Jonah as proof of 72-hours. Matthew refers to Jonah, no doubt, but not for an exact timing.

MATTHEW AND LUKE

Matthew is one of the synoptic Gospels. It has a parallel in Luke.

(LUK. 11: 29-30) 29 And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation."

What is missing here? Timing. There is no mention of timing at all. How can it be that the entire point about the sign of Jonah is its chronological precision when Luke doesn't mention time?

Answer: it isn't. A literal 72-hours is not taken from the Gospels, it's read into the Gospels.

Add in that example from Samuel and we see none of the three mentions are meant to be taken literally.

One might say, "But Jesus referred to the example of Jonah, not David." So, what then, this reference of the exact same phrase from Samuel doesn't count? Are we to understand that this one phrase means two completely different things depending on where it is? Should we not expect it to always mean the same thing, if indeed it is so exact a phrase? If it doesn't mean the same thing in each place then the phrase is nigh useless. Who can say what it means?

With Matthew relying on Jonah, and Jonah saying nothing about timing, we must rely on Samuel, and Samuel is clearly not literal. Therefore there is no legitimacy to the claim that the phrase "three days and three nights" must be taken literally.

ESTHER

Esther does not say "three days and three nights" but it does say something quite similar.

(EST. 4: 15-16) 15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!”

(EST. 5: 1) Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house.

Here is another three days and three nights, only it’s worded “three days, night or day”. Esther told Mordecai to fast for three days and nights before she went in to see King Xerxes, but "on the third day" she went in. This means the conversation happened on day 1, therefore the first day was partial, and she went in on the third day, so the third day was also partial. There was no third night.

Once again, not to be understood as 72-hours.

How can the ancient Israelites get away with this? Because that's simply how they counted time. That's inclusive reckoning. Onah! They are using idiomatic expressions. They don't have to be literal. You might just as well obsess over how there can be an apple in your eye, skin on your teeth, or a heart in the earth.

A DISSENT

Now, let's consider those who disagree with my conclusions. Many sources inside and outside of Armstrongism assert, “Adding ‘nights’ makes the phrase strictly literal.”

Oh? Based on what evidence?

Outside the Bible, this phrase is surprisingly more difficult to find than I anticipated. I used AI to locate everything it could find:

• Inanna/Ishtar’s Descent to the Netherworld (Sumerian): After Inanna is killed and hung as a corpse in the underworld, "after three days and three nights had passed," her minister Ninshubur carries out the instructions Inanna had given her before descending into the netherworld.
• The Contendings of Horus and Set (Egyptian): Horus and Set fight, transform into two bears (or hippopotamuses in variants), and “pass three days and three nights” in that form.
• Setna Khamwas and Naneferkaptah (Demotic Egyptian): Setna and the priests of Isis “spend three days and three nights searching in all the tombs on the desert of Coptos,” turning over stelae in search of a hidden tomb.
• Setna Khamwas and Si-Osire (Demotic Egyptian): A Nubian magician threatens to cast sorcery so the people of Egypt “spend three days and three nights seeing no light, only darkness.”
• Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (Middle Kingdom Egyptian): A sailor is stranded on an island and lies helplessly for three days (some renderings add “and nights”) before encountering a divine serpent.
• Rare mentions in magical papyri: Rituals or preparations that take “three days and three nights.”

That's all it found. That is a very short list. None of these are meant to be chronologically precise.
In each case, “three days and three nights” is a figure of speech indicating a significant but inexact period of time. This means that in every instance outside the Bible, the phrase is not meant to be taken as a literal 72 hours.

Inside the Bible, the phrase “three days and three nights” appears in three verses. Only Samuel includes any additional clue nearby. Esther's phrase, although not exactly the same, has an additional time clue. Neither Samuel nor Esther are 72-hours. That leaves two verses, but they have no additional time indicator close by. They are ambiguous.

But if you think about it, Matthew does have supporting evidence, we just have to hunt for it.

As we saw in the last post, there are twenty one verses which describe the length of Jesus' entombment. Six different phrases are used. All describe one event that happened in one way. The parallel in Luke does not mention time at all. Now, add the evidence of Cleopas' words on the road to Emmaus, where he said Sunday was three days since the trial and crucifixion. Counting inclusively as the Bible does - Friday was three days before Sunday. There is not enough time between Friday and Sunday for "three days and three nights" to be literal. And if an exact 72-hours was the sign Jesus gave, why was there nobody to witness it? What kind of critical sign has no witnesses? By using these other clues, we can be confident "three days and three nights" in Matthew is not a literally 72 hours.

Matthew and Samuel and Esther are not literal. That leaves us with Jonah, which has no additional time indicator close by. 

But if you think about it, Matthew ties to Jonah, which means Jonah ties to Matthew. What we see in Matthew should also apply to Jonah. Either it does, and the time is not meant to be taken literally, or it doesn't, and Jonah is completely ambiguous. Take your pick. In neither case does it support a literal interpretation.

This means every instance in the Bible comes with contextual clues, and in every case the phrase is not meant to be taken as a literal 72 hours.

Someone will say, "But it's the natural reading of the phrase." To our modern minds, perhaps it is. But that is entirely irrelevant. What matters is what it meant to the ancient mind. Proper Bible study is not getting the Bible to think like us, but getting us to think like it.
Someone else may say, "But being idiomatic doesn't mean it cannot be literal in some cases." True! I agree. But possibility is not proof. We must rely on the evidence. We can't just say it might be literal, we have to prove it is literal. And that, the evidence will not allow.

Not a single biblical example gives us a reason to treat the phrase as exactly 72 hours.

Not a single extra-biblical example gives us a reason to treat the phrase as exactly 72 hours.

So, the claim that adding “nights” makes the phrase strictly literal is based on what, exactly? Opinions and guesses. My disagreement is based on what, exactly? All the evidence I could find.

ONE TRUE PHRASE

As I've said multiple times, there are five other phrases used to describe the length of Jesus' entombment. Why is it that we must choose "three days and three nights" over the others?
I'll tell you why: personal preference. 

The entire Wednesday crucifixion scenario hinges on literality of "three days and three nights." It needs it. All the beautiful charts like the one below absolutely require it.

But if that phrase is not literal, then what we have left is "third day" and inclusive reckoning. And as we've seen, that only works in a Friday scenario. Wednesday is cleanly eliminated.

Is the phrase literal? As we saw, no. It is not. This insistence is based on a misunderstanding of Hebrew.
Ergo, we have no reason in or out of the Bible to demand "three days and three nights" is the one true phrase that a proper understanding of Jesus' entombment hinges upon. We have no reason to insist inclusive reckoning is a creation of the Pharisees. We have no reason to believe the Catholics swapped the proper timeline with another. We have no reason to dismiss five other phrases from twenty other verses, because they all mean the same thing. And we have no support for the Wednesday crucifixion timeline.

I cannot agree that, "It has to be literal against all odds because I really want it to be," is a convincing argument.

Whether you hear it from a Minister, a publication, a video, social media, a meme, or otherwise - whether you hear it one time or a thousand times - if you have 700 people on social media all saying "Yeah yeah, that chart makes sense to me," - the claim has no independent support, therefore it must be rejected.

CONCLUSION

Today, we had important questions to answer.

• Is a plain reading the best way to understand this phrase? If plain means literal, then no.
• Does any source treat "three days and three nights" literally? No.
• Does adding "nights" force it to be literal? No.
• Do we, then, have compelling reason to continue insisting the phrase is literal? No.
• Can we find evidence in the Bible for how best to understand "three days and three nights"? Yes.

All four passages that we explored today point in the same direction: none of them were meant to be taken as a literal 72 hours. Extra-biblical references only confirm it.

"Three days and three nights" is an idiomatic expression, not a precise chronological statement. It is paired with "three days", which we learned in the last post has clear meaning. These phrases describe one thing, so they must be speaking the same thing. Six phrases to describe Jesus' entombment and they all tell the same story. What story? Not a Wednesday crucifixion.

Trying to force "three days and three nights" to be a literal 72 hours just to support a Wednesday crucifixion scenario only ignores what the overwhelming weight of evidence is telling us.

The Wednesday crucifixion timeline does not work.

For more, read our post "Three Days and Three Nights" and "Two Sabbaths of Matthew 28".

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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )

Acts 17:11

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