Here’s a question for you. In our church circles, we cite the Abrahamaic covenant when baptizing children (in that form that no one seems to be able to let go of, or update, or change, dratted uberconservatives). If I’m correct, that would be The Covenant, the big one, that we all live under still. The only problem is that there is the Mosaic Covenant (instituted by the Law of Moses, yes?) which has as its foundation the Ten Words of the Covenant — so cutely named — otherwise known as the Ten Commandments or the Ten Commands.

So here’s the dilemma in my mind: Hebrews says we’re under a new and better covenant, one based on love, love for Christ and love for our neighbors. Romans 7 talks specifically about how we’re free from the law, and Paul goes on to name one of the Ten Commandments (”You must not covet”) as part of the law that took opportunity to create sin in his members. So if, and this is the if in my mind, the Mosaic covenant has passed, if it is over, why do we still read the Ten Commandments so religiously every Sunday in our morning services? Sure, they’re all — except for one — re-iterated in the New Testament, but have the Ten not passed with the rest of the law of Moses?

Even apart from that, our Christian tradition leads us to worship on Sunday instead of the Sabbath, a command not given in the New or Old Testaments, nor even implied in them. I mean, I’ve heard people say “well Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath,” but that doesn’t really mean anything if the Lord of the Sabbath never said to change it in the first place. In which case we don’t really follow the Ten Commandments, which specifically cite the Sabbath, the last day of the week, as the day on which to worship.

To be honest, I’ve wondered about these things for a long time: I hope there’s some flaw in my logic, or some theological consideration that I’m not taking into account; but then even our great Calvin, the man who is so often not wrong in our circles, was wrong on that point, considering that he was a utilitarian, a pragmatist, when it came to the issue. He said that worshipping on Sunday was fine, and that taking a rest on Sunday is a sensible thing to do, but he never actually went so far as to say we must have a Sabbath-like rest, or that there’s some sort of Christian Sabbath, or anything like that. Far be it from me, of course, to claim that Calvin was right all the time — he was a fallible human being, and made human errors like we all do — but this seems a rather fundimental point that he missed; and maybe he missed it because he considered it irrelevant using some of the same logic I’ve used above.

But there are other Sunday considerations as well: most among us dislike buying gas on Sunday, much less eating out or something like that. Some people are quite strict about these things, and I understand if you’re working on Sunday yourself and its violating your conscience, don’t do it. Especially if you believe that the laws about the Sabbath haven’t passed, and that we’re still bound to the regulations such as not working, resting, et cetera. But even then, how is it wrong to simply do a monitary transaction on Sunday? If the Ten Commandments are the basis of the Covenant, a covenant given to God’s chosen people, how am I adding to the condemnation of a heathen who isn’t bound by that covenant? Paul even goes as far as to say that people ignorant of the Law will be judged by the law inside them — their conscience — and not by the Law proper. Is there any precident for saying that a Sabbath observance is written on people’s consciences? Or even the Ten Commandments proper? It’s a biological necessity, yes, but is it written in their minds and on their hearts?

That’s some food for thought.

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