Sabbath And The Spirit Of The Law

As anyone familiar with the New Testament knows, Jesus frequently spoke in parables, and his statements often had a mysterious air to them. In this paper, I want to examine one such comment. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27).

I will begin by explaining the Sabbath’s meaning and history. I will then seek to place the Sabbath within the greater context by contrasting the letter of the law with the spirit of the law. Finally, how should Catholics understand the Sabbath in light of the spirit of the law?

What Is The Sabbath?

The English word Sabbath is derived from the Middle English word Sabat, which is a translation of the Hebrew shabbāth. It is generally translated as the “seventh day of the week” (in the Jewish calendar). Of course, the Sabbath has great biblical significance, appearing in the Bible some one hundred and fifty times.

The concept of the Sabbath emanates from the creation narratives in the Book of Genesis. In the second chapter of Genesis, we read, “On the seventh day, God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.” (See Genesis 2:1-3).

A thing may be considered holy when it is set apart from others of its kind. The seventh day, then, is to be set apart from the other days.

Keeping the Sabbath day holy takes on even greater significance as a commandment from God. The third commandment states, “Remember the Sabbath day – keep it holy. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (See Exodus 20:8-11).

How the Sabbath day was to be kept holy and the practices surrounding the Sabbath day was to become the purview of religion, however.

Legalism And The Letter

The New Testament depicts several examples of how Jesus came into conflict with the religious authorities of the time. One frequent source of these disagreements involved legalism.

Legalism can have various meanings even within theology. In this essay, I will define legalism as an effort to abstract the law of God from its original context. Because legalism places great emphasis on rules, it can often overlook the source and context of those rules. In this sense, the law (for example, the Torah) becomes an end unto itself.

Legalism – the letter of the law – is not without merit. It provides the foundation for understanding the spirit of the law. Unfortunately, because it is easier to limit ourselves to what the letter of the law says (“by the book”), we frequently fail to rise to the level of the spirit of the law.

Spirit Of The Law

Legalism must be differentiated from the spirit of the law. The spirit of the law concerns the more profound meaning or reason for the law, whereas the letter of the law refers to exact wording, literally applied, without regard for any deeper meaning.

Christ Himself seems to emphasize the spirit over and above the letter of the law. I want to offer two such examples. The first comes from Matthew’s Gospel. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (See Matthew 5:43-45).

Jesus here refers to the letter of the law (love your neighbor) and contrasts it with the spirit of the law (we are to love everyone, even our enemies).

The second example, and the one more relevant to the topic at hand, comes from Mark’s Gospel.  “As he was passing through a field of grain on the Sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this, the Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’ He said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?”

Christ is critical of those who adhere to the letter of the law for the sake of appearances. However, Christ does not dismiss the letter of the law either. We are told that the evidence that one loves God is that the person keeps God’s commandments. (See John 14:15).

In light of the tension between the letter and the spirit of the law, how can Catholics understand that the Sabbath was made for human beings and not human beings for the Sabbath?

Discernment And Teleology

One way to address the problem is to recognize that God has no need for anything. This may sound strange, but when we understand that God does not need anything, we can recognize that the law – God’s commandments – is solely for our benefit.

Returning to the Sabbath example, we can discern that it is designed to allow us to focus on our greatest good, God Himself. If we are indeed made for God, as Saint Augustine famously suggested, then keeping the Sabbath day and keeping God’s commandments can only be for our good.