Did Jesus commit any sin pertaining to the Sabbath?

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Accepted answer

I will not justify an answer based on doctrine. ("Christianity holds that Jesus Christ was wholly without sin at every moment of his life." Did Jesus sin? No, that is not possible. Why? Because we believe it is impossible.) This reasoning is faulty.

Did Jesus commit any sin pertaining to the Sabbath?

Shockingly, I believe the answer is, maybe. It depends on who you choose to believe is qualified to interpret the Law, the Scribes and Pharisees, or Christ.

We know that Jesus held a view of sin different than that of the Pharisees. The sin of the Pharisees is that, in their pride and deceit, they added to the Law, and increased greatly the burden on the people to keep the Law.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Here is an example of a contested area. David sinned by eating the showbread. Where does Scripture say David sinned?

Ex.25:30 states that the bread of the Presence was to be placed on the alter, to remain in God's presence at all times, from Sabbath to Sabbath. Lev. 24:9 states it was to be eaten only by the Levites in the holy place (the temple).

Yet better authority supports me. Jesus himself tells us it was a 'sin':

"23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" 25 And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, WHICH IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR ANY BUT THE PRIESTS TO EAT, and also gave it to those who were with him?" 27 And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2)

Jesus said two things here; there are two things that are greater than the law.

  • 1) The SPIRIT of the law. His disciples were not sinning by picking wheat on the Sabbath because that was not the spirit of the Sabbath; David did not sin as he ate the bread because the Spirit of the law was not violated.

  • 2) He, Jesus, was greater than the temple (the law) That is why He did not sin by healing on the Sabbath. When is a 'sin' not a sin? When it is in keeping with the Spirit, not the letter, of the law.

The Haggai 2 principle was not reversed for Jesus. It was replaced:

The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” (Haggai 2:9)

The glory of Jesus replaces the glory of the law, and in this way, God grants us peace from the burden of the law. His yoke is light. Even Jesus states that he did not come to abolish the law but to accomplish their purpose. To Jesus, the Spirit of the law (eat the bread, David/touch the leper, Jesus/heal the sick) was more important than the letter of the law (don't eat the bread, David/don't touch the leper, Jesus/don't heal the sick). The Spirit of the Law was the purpose of the Law. (In addition, He removed the letter of the law for us.)

Healing the sick on the Sabbath, walking farther than He should on the Sabbath, not performing ritual cleansing after the touch of the leper or the woman who was hemorrhaging, all are exactly like David eating the Bread of the Presence; it broke the law, but it was not a sin! (NB: it does not absolve David on the basis of his fitting some godly description.)

Whosoever believes that Christ's 'work' on the Sabbath was a sin would sacrifice the Spirit of the law for the letter of the law. That is one of the things that Jesus accused the Pharisees of doing.

That which was in keeping with the Greatest commandment (which contained the whole of the Law) was not a sin.

Upvote:0

I agree with @Jas3.1, The Pharisees/Leaders had their own laws to protect or guard the Jews from sinning. Which were regarded as an unofficial addition to the bible. In turn Jesus simply omitted them - or dare we say mocked them - to point out to obey the bible only.

It is easier to understand the Sabbath as:
Having a day 'OFF WORK'
Not having to punch-in at your job/work
Not being at your company/work
Not opening your shop for business
Or simply not producing wealth/money/income/greed

God worked for 6 days and rested on the 7th day. One should be PRODUCING Sunday thru Friday and having Saturday off. Might be a better idea to have Saturday Service instead. Of course, it's a denomination opinion.

thanks for reading

Upvote:5

Christianity holds that Jesus Christ was wholly without sin at every moment of his life. This is amply demonstrated in the Bible (e.g. Hebrews 4.15) and in the Christian tradition. Therefore, Christianity would say that Jesus did not sin when he healed on the Sabbath, for instance.

So we can say that anything he did which appeared to be sinful was not actually a sin.

Now, we can also say that Jesus did not remove the Mosaic law:

‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5.17f., NRSV)

So we can further say that anything that Jesus did that appeared to be sinful according to the Mosaic law was not actually a sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this well:

The Gospel reports many incidents when Jesus was accused of violating the sabbath law. But Jesus never fails to respect the holiness of this day. He gives this law its authentic and authoritative interpretation: "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath." (§2173)

So no, Jesus did not break the law. He knew and practised its true meaning, whereas the Pharisees perverted its true meaning by a slavish adherence to the letter of the law.

Upvote:18

Part of the confusion as modern readers is that we miss what the Pharisees meant when they referenced "the Law." For the Pharisees, "the Law" had two parts. There was the "Written Law" (תורה שבכתב), and there was the "Oral Law" (תורה שבעל פה), which they claimed was also given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. You can read more about this in the Mishnah.

The Old Testament certainly does not prohibit anything that Jesus did; His whole life was lived in fulfillment of the (OT) Law. However, the oral tradition that the Pharisees also considered part of the Law did forbid many things that Jesus and His disciples did.

Regarding the Sabbath, the Mishnah contains a list of 39 classes of work that were not permitted on the Sabbath, per the "Oral Law." Many of these prohibitions were quite nit-picky. (For example, they could only walk a certain distance on the Sabbath.)

Jesus, for His part, showed very little concern (or respect) for the so-called "Oral Law," and constantly refuted it using the Old Testament. This was, of course, outrageous to the Pharisees, and this led to many conflicts between them.

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