Chapter 8

¹ If, then, those who were brought up in the ancient writings came to newness of hope, awaiting Christ, as the Lord teaches, saying:

² If you believed Moses, you would believe me.

³ For he wrote about me. And Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. For before Abraham was, I am. How then can we live without him, when even the prophets, being servants in the Spirit, foresaw him and waited for him as their teacher and expected him as Lord and Saviour, saying:

⁴ He will come and save us? So let us no longer keep the Sabbath in the Jewish way, delighting in idleness.

⁵ For the one who does not work, let him not eat. And again:

⁶ For by the sweat of your face you will eat your bread, say the Scriptures.

⁷ But let each of you keep the Sabbath spiritually, rejoicing in the study of the law, not in bodily rest; marvelling at God’s creation, not eating stale food and drinking lukewarm drinks and walking measured steps and delighting in dancing and clapping that have no sense.

⁸ And after keeping the Sabbath, let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lord’s Day, the day of resurrection, the queen, the chief of all days, which the prophet awaited when he said:

⁹ For the end, concerning the eighth; on which our life also dawned, and the victory over death came to be in Christ,

¹⁰ whom the children of destruction deny, the enemies of the cross, whose god is their belly, who set their minds on earthly things, who are lovers of pleasure and not God-loving, who have a form of godliness but have denied its power, who are peddlers of Christ, hawking the word and selling Jesus, who are corrupters of women and desirers of what belongs to others, who are greedy for money—from whom may you be delivered by the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.