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Sabbatarian Churches of God: What Are the Doctrinal
Distinctives of a Sabbatarian Church of God?
This is an article which has been written to help define what the basic Sabbatarian Church of God is. I was born-again and drawn to Jesus in one, and attended that same Sabbatarian Church of God for over 27 years. So I know a little bit about them. First I am going to explain a couple Messianic Jewish terms that defines these groups and how they differ from the rest of Gentile Christianity. All the Sabbatarian Church of God denominations fit into the first of these two categories, while one did come into the second category, but did not remain a non-Torah observant Sabbatarian Church of God for more than five to six years, before becoming a Sunday observing church. So here goes with those two Messianic terms or categories:
Definitions
Torah-observant: Torah-observant believers in Jesus believe the Ten Commandment Law of God including seventh day Sabbath, Holy Days of Leviticus 23 and dietary laws of Leviticus 11 are in full force for the believer. They often look at other (Sunday observing) believers as “false Christians” from strictly a doctrinal belief point of view, and not out of any hatred or dislike for Sunday observers. As such their doctrinal beliefs have separated them out from active joint participation within the rest of the body of Christ. They still perform an active and important role in witnessing to the carnal world, as the Lord directs them. Romans 14 warns, “who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand” (vs. 4). That “man” in “man’s servant” is Jesus Christ, in context with Paul’s epistle here. Having spent 27 years in one of these Sabbatarian Churches of God, and having fellowshipped with several others from time to time, I have witnessed the indwelling Holy Spirit in many if not most of their membership.
Non-Torah observant: Non-Torah observant believers in Jesus or Yeshua believe the New Testament “Law of Christ” (9 of the 10 Commandments) to be in full force for the believer. They believe “Days of Worship” have been made an optional choice under the legislation found in the New Testament (cf. Romans 14 and Acts 15). That means “days of worship” are an optional choice, left up to the believer and the denomination he or she attends. If one does not agree with the choice of his or her denomination, the individual is free to go to the one that matches his or her choice in days of worship. Gentile Christian believers for almost 1700 years have chosen Sunday/Christmas/Easter as their primary days of worship. Messianic Jewish believers who are non-Torah observant choose the Sabbath and Holy Days to worship on, and most also observe the dietary laws of Leviticus 11, mostly out of ethnic cultural choice. But rest assured, their Messianic Jewish observance almost matches the observance of the Torah observant Sabbatarian Churches of God, those days being previously ingrained in their cultural upbringing for millennia. Romans 14:1-23 defines these freedoms of choice over days of worship, while the actual legislation of them is recorded in Acts 15. I prefer these Messianic terms over others, as they are totally non-derogatory and lack the slanderous connotation of other terms that define these two groups of believers.
Part I, Torah-observant Sabbatarian Churches of God
As you will notice, it is the “Days of Worship” which define the Sabbatarian Churches of God. In their obedience to the biblical Christian standards Christ gave to the Church, they are in more or less harmony with the rest of Gentile Christianity. It is in days of worship where they differ. Their church life revolves around the Sabbath and Holy Days, especially in what these days symbolically represent in Scripture. We will see that what they believe in this area almost totally matches what the Messianic Jewish believers believe. And God has just restored the Jewish branch of the body of Christ within 37 short years, so taking a closer look at our Sabbatarian Church of God brothers wouldn’t be a bad idea. First they base their belief in the Old Testament Law of God still being in full force by a simple interpretation of Matthew 5:17-19, which states, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled…” Now here is an important point in their theology. Have heaven and earth passed? No they haven’t. Even though others argue that Christ fulfilled them, it can be pointed out that he expects us to follow his example, which was one of obedience to God’s law. Also, in Scripture we can see when heaven and earth do pass away, and that is in Revelation 20:14-15 and Revelation 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Also see 2 Peter 3:10-13 where Peter graphically describes this event. So “till heaven and earth pass” puts a time element for the law of God remaining intact, a time element which is often ignored by Gentile Christians who try to use only part of this verse to prove their point. Continuing in verse 19 of Matthew 5, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men to do so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Then Jesus goes on in Matthew 5 to define the spirit of the 10 Commandment Law of God. So this passage is the bedrock of the Sabbatarian Churches of God’s belief in the Old Testament 10 Commandment Law of God being for Christians. As I stated before, the major difference is in the days of worship they observe. But it is important to also see what they see in these days. So let’s take a look.
The Holy Days of Leviticus
To learn the biblical historic and prophetic significance of God’s Holy Days, believed by both the Sabbatarian Churches of God and all Messianic Jewish believers in Yeshua, log onto the following link and read the whole file: http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm . The Holy Days and what they represent, when properly understood, appear to have far more significance in explaining the whole of God’s redemptive plan of salvation for mankind than the Gentile Christian days. Few understand this important point, because few look beyond the actual days and into what they represent. So be very sure to log onto that link above and read that file before continuing. There is tremendous meaning in the historic and prophetic symbolism of the Holy Days of Leviticus 23 which most Sunday observing Christianity is almost totally ignorant of. The Sabbath: A careful reading of Leviticus 23 will show the seventh day Sabbath is also listed as a Holy Day (Leviticus 23:1-3). Hebrews shows the actual physical Sabbath represents the spiritual rest we have in Christ by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within believers. This rest is experienced in reality 24/7. But just because we are living the reality does not make it wrong to observe the shadow of that reality. Read Hebrews 4:1-11. Verse 10 is a direct reference to God taking rest in Genesis right after the creation, which created the Sabbath by the very fact that God rested. The Jews, Messianic believers and Sabbatarian Churches of God feel this is significant in that the Sabbath wasn’t created at the time of Moses, but predates the Law being given to Moses right back in Genesis at the creation of man. Each group, Sunday and Sabbath observing see the argument for their practice within this chapter. But the proofs lie elsewhere and are not the subject of this article. It is just important to see the significance of what they see in the Sabbath. Another symbolic meaning which some say can be seen in the Bible is that mankind has been allocated 6,000 years for his governments, and that after the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, God rules over mankind for one thousand years of peaceful existence—and that the Sabbath typifies or symbolizes the last 1,000 years of God’s redemptive plan for mankind in Revelation 20, 1 Corinthians 15 and Ezekiel 37:1-14. This is a viable argument which does have Scriptural backing, even though Jesus’ exact return has gone beyond the actual 6,000 year allotment of time (but didn’t Jesus say people would be saying “He delayeth his coming”?). Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp recorded in his works that this was a held doctrine of the early apostolic Church. He lived around 178AD.
Typical sermons given by a viable
Sabbatarian Church of God during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
First, most Sabbatarian Churches of God keep an ancient Christian Passover that Polycarp and Policrates (disciples of John) kept in Asia Minor (100’s AD through 250AD). Passover service: This following link goes to an article showing how this Christian Passover service is currently being observed (and is the way we believe John, Polycarp and Policrates observed it). Log onto: http://www.cbcg.org/passover_ceremony1.htm and http://www.cbcg.org/passover_ceremony2.htm . I have an article on this website which shows the last six days in the life of Jesus Christ before and going through his crucifixion at this link. It was taken from the Sabbatarian Church of God I spent 27 years in, and many of you have been logging onto it and reading it every year in the spring. It’s at: http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/lastsix.htm .
Typical sermon for the First and Last Days of Unleavened Bread
Log onto the link below and see the significance of how these churches use these days of worship to teach powerful biblically redemptive themes about Christian growth and sanctification, using each Holy Day to teach both New and Old Testament lessons of redemption in Christ (and our part in the process). See http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Leaven.htm. The Christian Biblical Church of God is a Torah-observant Sabbatarian Church of God, as all Sabbatarian Churches of God are. I used them here, because they are the most grace oriented of all the Sabbatarian Churches of God, with members who are for the most part filled with the indwelling Holy Spirit. If you desire to know more about this group of Sabbatarian Churches of God, be sure to look them up and read further at http://www.cbcg.org and http://www.biblicaltruthministries.org . I use these folks as an example, not because they are the best organized or biggest and shiniest of the Sabbatarian Churches of God, but in my personal estimation, they are the most grace-oriented and spiritual of the groups, and as such deserve mention. The best mention I could give them is to use them as a central example of a Sabbatarian Church of God. Another fairly large Torah observant Sabbatarian Church of God is the United Church of God, which is a modern-day version of the Torah observant Churches of God as they marched through church history. Their link is at: http://www.ucg.org. [The United Church of God’s Good News Magazine, although its slant on obedience to God’s Laws is Torah-observant, is an excellent source for articles dealing with prophecy, current events and the prophetic meaning of God’s Holy Days. Back issues can be found at http://www.gnmagazine.org. Their series on Biblical archeology and the Bible is amazing, and well worth the read.] Some might be led to think the Torah observant variety of Sabbatarian Churches of God are sort of dying out after the massive split in the Worldwide Church of God during the 1990s. Not so. There are now over 374 separate “denominations” of Torah observant Sabbatarian Churches of God in existence right now. Also, many of you may be wondering at this point, especially since most Messianic Jewish believers are non-Torah observant, are there any non-Torah observant Sabbatarian Churches of God? To answer that, read through the next part of this article.
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