Posted on 06/10/2008 10:10:18 AM PDT by dangus
One controversial translation issue is the phrase, “mia ton sabbaton.” This has traditionally been translated as “the first of the week.” Under pressure from 7th-day Adventists, however, some translations of the bible have taken to translate this “on one of the Sabbaths.” But the Adventists’ translation is based on a faulty transliteration. In the Greek, “sabbaton” is spelled with either an omicron (“small ‘o’”) or an omega (“big ‘o’”). When spelled with an omega, “sabbaton” is the genitive plural. In other words, it means “Sabbaths’.” The Adventists’ position is that “primus” means “first;” “mia” means closer to the number, one. This is ordinarily true, but “primus” means “first” not only in time, but priority. Hence, to call Sunday the “primus” day of the week would be to denigrate the Sabbath. Hence, a strange idiom meaning, roughly, “Sabbaths’s one” is used for the first day of the week. The Adventists’ position would mean that for no reason, the bible uses a grammar which makes no sense: If the bible had meant “on one of the Sabbaths,” there’s no reason it would state, instead, “on one of the Sabbaths’.” An English speaker, fluent in Greek would ask, “on the Sabbaths’ one what?” Other bible passages make clear that the Resurrection took place on a Sunday, which would mean the Adventists’ translation contradicts other scripture… or makes one have to create more strange translation. A traditional reading of Luke 23:56-24:1 suggests Christ’s followers worked with all due diligence. Immediately after burying Christ, they prepared his burial ointments, then “On the Sabbath day, they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week…” The Adventists reading would have them resting on the Sabbath, according to the commandment, “but on one of the Sabbaths.” The Adventists’ position is that the Sabbath they rested on wasn’t a Saturday, but was a different kind of Sabbath, so that one Sabbath can immediately follow another. (Leviticus does call two other holy days Sabbaths.) While that might explain how “one of the Sabbaths” (if that were actually a valid translation) might make sense in general, it certainly doesn’t suggest that the author refers to a Sabbath on the very next day. Rather, one gets the sense that such events happened some undetermined number of weeks later. One reason that Adventists gain some cache with such odd claims, however, is that the timeline of events in the gospels is somewhat difficult to understand. According to traditional interpretations of the bible, Jesus celebrates Passover with his disciples, is condemned, killed, and then buried… all before the Jews celebrate Passover. The Adventists correctly assert that the evening after the crucifixion is not actually Passover! But they get the meaning of that wrong. The Essenes, who formed the core of Jesus’ disciples (Peter, John, Andrew, and others) celebrated Passover according to a different calculation than the Sanhedrin. That Jesus’ apostles are depicted as doing what the Sanhedrin would have regarded as women’s work in preparation for the Passover confirms that Jesus was celebrating the Passover according to the Essene tradition. The Essenes celebrated Passover from what would have been Thursday evening through Friday afternoon. Hence, Jesus offered himself as the sacrifice of the seder, and was killed the next day, all within the Passover. Then, the Sanherin began their Passover. Many Adventists suppose that the “day of Preparation” is only preparation for the Sabbath. Luke 23:55-24:1 confirms the traditional timeline: They buried him on one day, rested for the Sabbath, then went back on the morning of the third day to anoint the body with spices, as Jewish custom dictated must be done in all appropriate haste. If we were dead for three days, as we count days, then the bible omits mention of one day, leaving the reader to wonder why they neglected his body that day. Even though he was dead for only about 40 hours, he was dead for three days by the way days were counted then: he was dead on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If three days meant he had to be dead for the largest part of each day, he would not have risen until the fourth day. The observance of Sunday is a remembrance of the Resurrection. It is in honor of his resurrection, not as a substitute for a Saturday Sabbath, that Christians choose Sunday as a day of prayer. Some people suppose that when Christ healed on the Sabbath, he was excused because the work was so critical, yet Jesus and his disciples did such mundane work as harvesting food for their immediate consumption (Mt 12:1). Given Jesus’ fasts, certainly satisfying hunger was no such critical labor. It is senseless to suppose that one is going to Hell because one fails to keep the Sabbath properly. As Paul preached, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day (Col 2:16).” The Sabbath was a day to renew our bodies and spirits. As Jesus stated, “The Sabbath was made for Man, not Man for the Sabbath (Mk 2:27)” Today, this purpose is fulfilled by keeping holy the day on which Christ rose from the dead.
Formatting is our friend. But it doesn’t always occur automatically:
One controversial translation issue is the phrase, “mia ton sabbaton.” This has traditionally been translated as “the first of the week.” Under pressure from 7th-day Adventists, however, some translations of the bible have taken to translate this “on one of the Sabbaths.”
But the Adventists’ translation is based on a faulty transliteration. In the Greek, “sabbaton” is spelled with either an omicron (“small ‘o’”) or an omega (“big ‘o’”). When spelled with an omega, “sabbaton” is the genitive plural. In other words, it means “Sabbaths’.”
The Adventists’ position is that “primus” means “first;” “mia” means closer to the number, one. This is ordinarily true, but “primus” means “first” not only in time, but priority. Hence, to call Sunday the “primus” day of the week would be to denigrate the Sabbath. Hence, a strange idiom meaning, roughly, “Sabbaths’s one” is used for the first day of the week.
The Adventists’ position would mean that for no reason, the bible uses a grammar which makes no sense: If the bible had meant “on one of the Sabbaths,” there’s no reason it would state, instead, “on one of the Sabbaths’.” An English speaker, fluent in Greek would ask, “on the Sabbaths’ one what?”
Other bible passages make clear that the Resurrection took place on a Sunday, which would mean the Adventists’ translation contradicts other scripture… or makes one have to create more strange translation.
A traditional reading of Luke 23:56-24:1 suggests Christ’s followers worked with all due diligence. Immediately after burying Christ, they prepared his burial ointments, then “On the Sabbath day, they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week…”
The Adventists reading would have them resting on the Sabbath, according to the commandment, “but on one of the Sabbaths.” The Adventists’ position is that the Sabbath they rested on wasn’t a Saturday, but was a different kind of Sabbath, so that one Sabbath can immediately follow another. (Leviticus does call two other holy days Sabbaths.) While that might explain how “one of the Sabbaths” (if that were actually a valid translation) might make sense in general, it certainly doesn’t suggest that the author refers to a Sabbath on the very next day. Rather, one gets the sense that such events happened some undetermined number of weeks later.
One reason that Adventists gain some cache with such odd claims, however, is that the timeline of events in the gospels is somewhat difficult to understand. According to traditional interpretations of the bible, Jesus celebrates Passover with his disciples, is condemned, killed, and then buried… all before the Jews celebrate Passover. The Adventists correctly assert that the evening after the crucifixion is not actually Passover! But they get the meaning of that wrong.
The Essenes, who formed the core of Jesus’ disciples (Peter, John, Andrew, and others) celebrated Passover according to a different calculation than the Sanhedrin. That Jesus’ apostles are depicted as doing what the Sanhedrin would have regarded as women’s work in preparation for the Passover confirms that Jesus was celebrating the Passover according to the Essene tradition. The Essenes celebrated Passover from what would have been Thursday evening through Friday afternoon. Hence, Jesus offered himself as the sacrifice of the seder, and was killed the next day, all within the Passover. Then, the Sanherin began their Passover. Many Adventists suppose that the “day of Preparation” is only preparation for the Sabbath.
Luke 23:55-24:1 confirms the traditional timeline: They buried him on one day, rested for the Sabbath, then went back on the morning of the third day to anoint the body with spices, as Jewish custom dictated must be done in all appropriate haste. If we were dead for three days, as we count days, then the bible omits mention of one day, leaving the reader to wonder why they neglected his body that day. Even though he was dead for only about 40 hours, he was dead for three days by the way days were counted then: he was dead on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If three days meant he had to be dead for the largest part of each day, he would not have risen until the fourth day.
The observance of Sunday is a remembrance of the Resurrection. It is in honor of his resurrection, not as a substitute for a Saturday Sabbath, that Christians choose Sunday as a day of prayer. Some people suppose that when Christ healed on the Sabbath, he was excused because the work was so critical, yet Jesus and his disciples did such mundane work as harvesting food for their immediate consumption (Mt 12:1). Given Jesus’ fasts, certainly satisfying hunger was no such critical labor.
It is senseless to suppose that one is going to Hell because one fails to keep the Sabbath properly. As Paul preached, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day (Col 2:16).” The Sabbath was a day to renew our bodies and spirits. As Jesus stated, “The Sabbath was made for Man, not Man for the Sabbath (Mk 2:27)” Today, this purpose is fulfilled by keeping holy the day on which Christ rose from the dead.
Most excellent!
Since today is the first day of the rest of our lives, the first day of the week is...today.
And to prove it...
One week form today will be the end of a one week span of time, therefore today is indeed the first day of the week.
Further evidence is found in 1 COR
“One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind....
...You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat...
...therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way....
...Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men....
...Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification....
...So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. but the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin....”
And Paul begins his letter with “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Grace always comes before peace. It is grace that bring peace.
Legalism, on the other hand brings division and strife, pride and sin.
...just my thoughts.
Grace to you!
baaa
How is that a thread killer, oh, woolly one?
You’re always welcome around my threads. We like sheep. It says so in the bible:
“We like sheep” — Isaiah 53:6
:^D
mmmm...sheeeep...
..with mint jelly!
The sheep shall inherit the mirth!
(might be my new tag line)
For anyone who doesn’t get the reference, citing Isaiah 53:6 for “we like sheep” is a joke. The passage, is “We, like sheep, have been led astray.”
I recall a study by Chuck Swindol on the Ressurection.
A key fact discussed was the 3-days & 3-nights issue. The Sunday AM resurrection cannot include three days and three nights ont he Jewish reconing of time, with a Friday crucifiction. However it has been taught that the crucificxion was Friday because we’re told that the next day was the sabbath.
However, Chuck had found in the Greek the implication that it was called the “Week of Sabbaths”, as there were actually two sabbaths that week...Friday and Saturday. THis apparently makes the Thrusday Crucifixion make the 3day/3night scenario work perfectly too.
I have to do lots of searching in my notes to find the specific scripture references and am not prepared to present them while at work right now, but will look this evening.
So hold the flames until tomorrow please!
nobody like their sheep burnt!
Medium rare is best!
got it right away!
The problem with that resolution of three days and three nights is that Christ dying on Thursday and rising on Sunday would mean he rose on the fourth day.
HOWEVER:
Scripture doesn’t actually say Christ would be dead three days and three nights. If he offered his body and bread to the apostles on Thursday, was imprisoned briefly afterwards, and rose on Sunday it would meet what scripture says, which is that he would spend three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth.
Incidentally, an ancient tradition of the Catholic faith is that after Holy Thursday mass (a commemmoration of the Lord’s Supper), the Eucharist (the body of Christ) is removed from adoration until the Easter vigil.
This is actually something I was motvated to write along time ago, but never posted. So this is a ping to people who have been active on past threads about Sabbath/Sunday.
Excellent! That was much more concisely stated than I would have put things! One question, though. Why do you assert that Peter, John, Andrew and other Apostles were Essenes? They were simple fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, with no direct line of communication to the overwhelming preponderance of Essenes on the shore of the Dead Sea, over one hundred miles away. Not trying to crank you, I’m just curious to see what you have here.
Every day is the sabbath..
Peter, John, and Andrew were disciples of John the Baptist (John 1:35-37). John the Baptist was an Essene, from his description, and the pre-Christian writings his follower, John picked up. (John 1:1-18 is an Essene prophecy, with interpretations interspersed within it.)
To be somewhat more precise: John the Baptist and his followers were heavily influenced by Essenes.
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
And a Thursday Crucifixion and burial before sunset with an early Sunday AM resurrection is three days and three nights, by reckoning in the Jewish timing of days, which went from sunset to sunset.
Thursday afternoon 1st day
Thursday after sunset 1st night
Friday sunrise 2nd day
Friday after sunset 2nd night
Saturday after sunrise 3rd day
Saturday after sunset 3rd night.
Risen Sunday morning before dawn.
3 days/ 3 nights.
Matt 28:1 states that Mary went to the tomb at dawn but He was already risen...before dawn.p>
3days/3nights, as He prophesied.
So I guess we agree?
BTW, not being Catholic, I'm not very familiar with the Catholic liturgy, but the comment is interesting.
I did a little more fact-checking to be able to say a little mre about the Johannine-Essene connection:
John was in line to be a priest, but went to the desert, rather than the Temple. In doing so, he followed the Essenes’ founder. (It’s even been supposed that he may have been taken in by the Essenes after the death of his parents. Don’t forget that Elizabeth and Zecharais were both exceptionally old.) From his mastery of Greek, he studied Greek literature intensely, as well as certain apocryphal works associated with Greek, as the Essenes did.
The Essenes practiced baptism in the Jordan as a means of ritual purification and a symbol of new birth and repentance. They believed the Messiah’s return was imminent. They wrote much of John 1:1-18, which John appears to be interpreting for people familiar with the work. They have apocalyptic literature similar to the Book of Revelation, which may even have been partly authored by John the Baptist. Both dressed as Old Testament prophets, in clothes of camel hair, fastened with leather belts. Both ate locusts and honey. And, as I mentionned in the main piece, Jesus, John and his followers apparently followed the Essene Passover customs.
However, John wasn’t part of a movement, but was his own one-man movement, and he did seem to be proclaiming that Joe Everybody could be a priest, by baptising all comers... So when I say that they were Essenes, I mean in the sense of apparently subscribing to man Essene practices and Essene theology; It’s doubtful that they lived as part of an Essene community.
>> 3days/3nights, as He prophesied. So I guess we agree? <<
Well, not really, because that would make Sunday morning the fourth day. By the way you count, he’d’ve had to be risen by Saturday afternoon. I’m supposing ... and I didn’t put this in the main article because I’m on less certain ground ... that the three nights were Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and the three days were Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
One dubious explanation is that Christ wasn’t fully material by Sunday morning, hence, he told Mary not to cling to him (in contrast to Thomas, whom he would instruct to probe his wounds).
What seems more likely to me is that the sun was up, it counted as a day.
I'd rather say that, through John the Baptist (who was at least heavily influenced by the Essenes), Peter John and Andrew may have, in turn, been somewhat influenced by the Essene movement. But I personally wouldn't go so far as to say that they were Essenes themselves, or even stake much of a claim on their Essene-like characteristics. They probably weren't with John the Baptist all that long, anyway. But I don't want to inadvertently hijack this thread with a sidebar discussion, so I just want to thank you for your clarification.
Amen, now that Christ is risen
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