ACC ~ John 7 v22 - 23

CIRCUMCISION ON THE SABBATH ALSO VIOLATES THE LAW

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Jesus then employs a very convincing argument: Moses, he says, established circumcision and the sabbath and ordered that men were to be circumcised on the sabbath. But Moses established the sabbath out of convenience. Indeed, at that time nobody observed it…. He also established circumcision needlessly because it had been already established by the patriarchs. But he established this rule [about circumcision] too, in order to teach that this observance [of the sabbath] does not exist when there are cases of necessity and that sometimes it must be broken. If the sabbath can be broken for circumcision, because Moses ordered it so—and this is not considered to be a violation of the law—why then do you think the fact that a man was healed on the sabbath is a violation of the law? And, he added, making them ashamed: “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” If a transgressor of the law is one who performs something on the sabbath, the first one to be blamed should be Moses. But if Moses is not considered to be a transgressor of the law, my action is the more excellent and I am even more above reproach. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 3.7.21-24. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:158.

NO LONGER SLAVES TO THE SABBATH

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Many sources in Scripture tell us that we should do no work on the sabbath. We are to rest as it were and quit doing all those tasks that invite sweat and labor. For he says in Exodus, “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in the fruit, but in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie still.” [1] … Now, it is not the land—which does not even know what work is—that he releases; nor is it to the land that he gives this law. It was given to those who possessed the land. He gave rest to the land so that they would not work on it. In this and many other ways he pointed toward our feast with Christ, a feast in which those who have lived in divine fear will hurry toward that perfect and complete liberty that is in holiness and will run to that most wealthy grace of the Spirit. This is clear in the commands themselves of Moses. It is written, “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.” [2] We, who were originally slaves to sin, had, after a fashion, sold ourselves to the devil by taking pleasure in evil. But now, being justified in Christ through faith, we shall mount up to the true and holy keeping of the sabbath, clothed with the liberty that comes through grace and glorified with the good things of God. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 4.6. [3]

[1] Ex 23:10-11. See also Lev 25:2-4.

[2] Deut 15:12.

[3] LF 43:496-97**.

CIRCUMCISION ON THE SABBATH IS NO SIN

JUSTIN MARTYR: Tell me, did God want the priests to sin when they offer the sacrifices on the sabbath? Or did he want those to sin who are circumcised and do circumcise on the sabbaths, since he commands that on the eighth day—even though it happens to be a sabbath—those who are born shall always be circumcised? Or could not the infants be operated upon one day previous or one day subsequent to the sabbath, if he knew that it is a sinful act on the sabbaths? Or why did he not teach those who are called righteous and pleasing to him, who lived before Moses and Abraham, who were not circumcised in their foreskin and observed no sabbaths—why did he not teach them to keep these institutions? DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO 27. [1]

[1] ANF 1:208*.

CHRIST FULFILLED THE SABBATH LAW BY HEALING

IRENAEUS: The Lord reproved those who unjustly blamed him for having healed on the sabbath days. For he did not make void but fulfilled the law by performing the offices of the high priest, propitiating God for people, and cleansing the lepers, healing the sick and himself suffering death, that exiled people might go forth from condemnation and might return without fear to their own inheritance. AGAINST HERESIES 4.8.2. [1]

[1] ANF 1:471.