The Theological Significance of the Eighth Day
In recent decades, the “eighth day” has been taken up by American pop-culture as something of a rhetorical literary device. When I was in high school there was a somewhat annoyingly catchy song about God making sweat tea on the eighth day. Then there was the Superbowl commercial about how God supposedly made farmers on the eighth day. While these attempts to employ the idea of the eighth day as an apparatus to show appreciation for the goodness of beloved objects, there is a divinely invested theological significance to the eighth day in Scripture–both with regard to the day on which the Israelite boys were to be circumcised (Genesis 17:12), as well as to the ceremonial Sabbaths in the Old Testament ceremonial law (e.g. the Feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus 23:36-39 and Numbers 29:35). The “eighth day” (in a seven-day week cycle) denotes new creation–one and eight representing creation and new creation.
In his disputation with Faustus, Augustine explained the change of signs from circumcision to baptism, and the change of the Sabbath day from the seventh to the eight, by suggesting that the “eighth day” in the Old Testament carried with it the idea of new creation and resurrection. He wrote:
[Christ] suffered voluntarily, and so could choose His own time for suffering and for resurrection, He brought it about that His body rested from all its works on Sabbath in the tomb, and that His resurrection on the third day, which we call the Lord’s day, the day after the Sabbath, and therefore the eighth, proved the circumcision of the eighth day to be also prophetical of Him. For what does circumcision mean, but the eradication of the mortality which comes from our carnal generation? So the apostle says: “Putting off from Himself His flesh, He made a show of principalities and powers, triumphing over them in Himself.” The flesh here said to be put off is that mortality of flesh on account of which the body is properly called flesh. The flesh is the mortality, for in the immortality of the resurrection there will be no flesh; as it is written, “Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God.1
Notwithstanding his overly cautious caveat, John Calvin also indicated that he was attracted to this redemptive-historical idea regarding the “eighth day” for circumcision in the Old Covenant in his comments on Genesis 17:12:
Augustine also thinks that it had reference to the resurrection of Christ; whereby external circumcision was abolished and the truth of the figure was set forth. It is probable and consonant with reason, that the number seven designated the course of the present life. Therefore the eighth day might seem to be fixed upon by the Lord, to prefigure the beginning of a new life. But because such a reason is never given in Scripture, I dare affirm nothing. Wherefore, let it suffice to maintain what is certain and solid; namely, that God, in this symbol, has so represented the destruction of the old man, as yet to show that he restores men to life.2
This also fits in well with the idea of the eighth day Sabbaths at the appointed feasts and festivals in the ceremonial law. On a seven day week, the first and the eighth are essentially the same day, with this one difference–the eighth day represents the re-creation or new creation. If you were an Old Covenant Israelite, reading the divine prescriptions concerning the observance of the Old Covenant ceremonies, you would be compelled to ask the question, “Why, if the Sabbath Day, from creation to the giving of the Law on Sinai, was the seventh day of the week, is there explicit reference to eighth day Sabbaths attached to the festivals?” For instance, in Leviticus 23:36-39–at the institution of the Feast of Tabernacles, the LORD commanded Israel:
For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it…on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest.
Note especially how the Lord prescribed a first and eighth day Sabbath during the Feast of Tabernacles. This alone ties together the point about them having identity in their theological significance.
Then in Numbers 29:35 we read again read of the Feast of Tabernacles: “On the eighth day you shall have a sacred assembly. You shall do no customary work.” The Feast of Tabernacles was a reminder to the Israelites of God coming and dwelling with them in the wilderness. Israel lived in tents. In His redeeming mercy, God graciously came and dwelt with His people. In order to do so, He became like His people. The Israelites lived in tents, so God lived in a Tent. This was all a prefiguration of the incarnation. The Apostle John tells us, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14). The purpose of the incarnation was to restore the lost presence of God to His chosen people. In order for this to occur, the incarnation was necessary; but–and this should be carefully noted–reconciliation was only possible through the sin-removing, substitutionary death of Jesus. In order for God to dwell with His people their sins need to be atoned for and His wrath needs to be satisfied. This is what Christ accomplished in His death. The incarnation (tabernacling) made this possible. Interestingly, as Augustine noted, Jesus finished this necessary work and then rested in the tomb on the Old Covenant Sabbath. Then, on the first day of the week (i.e. the eighth day), He rose and His presence was forever guaranteed to believers. The restored presence of God is seen in the manifestation of the two angels, sitting one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus lay, just as the two Cherubim sat over the Ark of the Covenant where the presence of God appeared when the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the mercy seat. In the resurrection of Jesus on the first day (i.e. the eighth day), the glory of God’s presence is made manifest to His people. Jesus brings about the new creation through His incarnation, death and resurrection and so fulfills the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Sabbath day prefigured the need for eternal and new creation rest. Picking up on the time element of the Sabbath, Iain D. Campbell, in his very helpful work, On the First Day of the Week, made the following observation on the significance of the eighth day in the prophecy of Ezekiel’s eschatology Temple:
Things will be different in the future, but the Sabbath principle will remain. The blessings of communion with God, of which the Sabbath speaks so eloquently, will be enjoyed in new measure by the people of God. Iain Duguid brings out the importance of this, when he comments on the ‘lack of timelessness’ so often found in eschatological visions in the Bible. He goes on to say that ‘in Ezekiel’s reordering of the festival calendar, time itself is brought under the discipline of the new age’, and he goes on to apply this to Christian worship today. And although he does not explicitly speak of the Sabbath factor in Christian worship, that is surely one of the main lines along which Ezekiel’s vision takes us: to the realization that just as Jesus is our sacrifice and Prince, and just as we are a spiritual temple in him, so he has given us a new sacred ‘time’, a new Sabbath, a Sabbath of the eighth day (cf. 43:27), our Lord’s Day Sabbath.3
While these truths certainly have implication for the theological shift from the bloody sign of circumcision to the unbloody sign of baptism, and from the seventh day to the first day (eighth day) for the Sabbath, they teach us much about the fulfillment of all things in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The storyline of the Scriptures is the story of the new creation through the death and resurrection of Christ. By His death on the cross, Jesus brought about the new creation. Peter T. O’Brien makes the following helpful observation about the meaning of the phrase “the circumcision of Christ” in Colossians 2:11 when he suggests, “It is better to regard the statement as denoting the circumcision that Christ underwent, that is, His crucifixion, of which His literal circumcision was at best a token by way of anticipation (cf. Bruce, 234).4 His death was a bloody circumcision that brought about the circumcision (made without hands) in the hearts of His people. When he was cut off in bloody judgment under the wrath of God, He was providing all that was necessary for the cutting away of the guilt, corruption and power of our sin. By His resurrection, Jesus ushered in the new creation, by both raising His people up to newness of life now as well as by securing our bodily resurrection and the New Heavens and New Earth wherein righteousness will dwell at the consummation. The “eighth day” is pregnant with ceremonial significance in redemptive history. As with all the types and shadows ordained by God, it was invested with theological significance to serve the redemptive historical purposes of God.
1. St. Augustine Reply to Faustus the Manichaean 16.29
2. An excerpt from Calvin’s comments on Genesis 17:12 in his Commentary on Genesis
3. Campbell, I. D. (2005). On the First Day of the Week: God, the Christian and the Sabbath (p. 95). Leominster, UK: Day One Publications.
4. Peter T. O’Brien Word Biblical Commentary: Colossians, Philemon (Word, Inc., 1982) vol. 44 p. 117
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I remember reading sometime ago that water makes it’s first appearance in the embryo on the eighth day. The author went on to say that this is the water mentioned in John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God…” He then drew the conclusion that the eight day was when God implanted the soul in the embryo. Any thoughts or comments? This seems to stay with the theological importance of the eighth day and new creation. Just wondering
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The eighth day never ends.
the 8th day and the 1st day are the same.
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Nic,
Very interesting stuff. Barnabas also understood the eighth day eschatologically. In the Epistle of Barnabas (c. AD 70-79), the fifteenth chapter is about the sabbath, and the eschatological understanding of the sabbath is quite striking.. Barnabas quotes Isa. 1:14 (“Your new moons and your feasts have become a burden to me”), and then explains the meaning:
“You see what his meaning is; it is not your present sabbaths that are acceptable, but that (sabbath) which I have made; when I have put to rest all things I will make the beginning of the eighth day, which is the beginning of another world. Therefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, on which Jesus also rose from the dead, and, after being manifested, ascended into the heavens.”
ὁρᾶτε πῶς λέγει· Οὐ τὰ νῦν σάββατα [ἐμοὶ] δεκτά, ἀλλὰ ὃ πεποίηκα· ἐν ᾧ καταπαύσας τὰ πάντα ἀρχὴν ἡμέρας ὀγδόης ποιήσω, ὅ ἐστιν ἄλλου κόσμου ἀρχήν. διὸ καὶ ἄγομεν τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ὀγδόην εἰς εὐφροσύνην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ φανερωθεὶς ἀνέβη εἰς οὐρανούς.
Peace,
T. David
Thanks for this, David! I am surprised how little has been written on this subject. It seems as if it is worthy of much more focused writing. I suppose that this neglect is partly due to the reticence that many Reformed have to typology on account of dispensational abuses and to numeric significance due to the abuses in numerology.
Thank you for your teaching and edification.
The 8th Day which is the New Creation is the resurrected Christ into whom you are baptized.
Great article! I’ve come across it some time after it was written, of course. One thing I noticed is you mentioned “bloody” circumcision replaced with “unbloody” baptism. Like you, I come from a Reformed tradition practicing infant baptism but it is helpful to remember Jesus referred to his own death as a “baptism” and our baptism, too, is a rehearsal and unification in his death and resurrection… So still kind of bloody! Anyway, thanks for a great article!
David is the 8th son. There also seems to be a connection with 50 (7×7 + 1). Both Jubilee (new freedom) and Pentecost (firstfruits/resurrection/Spirit poured out) take place on a 50th day. If seven represents completion or perfection, then eight seems to represent “new and better.”
The seed of Abraham came through the deadness of the womb. The new birth. The supernatural birth of which Jesus referred to wth Nicodemus. Circumcision on the 8th Day pointed to the resurrection of Christ with whom we are resurrected- the fulfillment of the preamble to the Abrahamic covenant “I am your inheritance and reward” after the conquest of the 5 Kings. Interestingly enough we miss the signposts God has put in creation. It all refers to the new birth. A lunar calendar has 28-29 days. The 8 th day was sometimes a two day feast to conclude the Shavuot – and other festivals- when the Diaspora was included – inclusion of the Gentiles into the seed. New moon on the “8th day”. Same as the womb of a woman. Menstruation occurs every 28-29 days. The shedding of blood must occur for new human life pointing to the new life we have being born into the Seed. Thus the womb is holy as are the children of believers. Circumcision was the seal of faith for the resurrection (new birth) into the Seed to come. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the seal of our new inheritance (new birth). Circumcision was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ on the 8th day. Baptism cannot replace circumcision because now the birth into the Seed (new birth and kingdom of God) happens upon repentance of sin- the very thing John the Baptist heralded. We are the body of Christ – part of the Seed, partakes of the Divine nature (Peter) regaining what was lost at the Fall. Israel the perfect historical object lesson of God dwelling with His elect One of whom we are part.
where should we look for the 8th day? first of all, we cannot step into it. not yet. 1 now, when jesus rises, his feet step into the 8th day.
2 what john writes in the beginning of his gospel becomes more true. he was in the beginning. 8th and 1st become the same. simply, eternity. numbers cannot define eternity.
3 pentecost is also the 8th day. now, i am jumping ahead. to fully understand pentecost or shavuot, one has to understand that it is more than 50 in count. it is a hundred. not because of numbers, because of time. if one takes pentecost and understood the 7 and 7 to be fourteen, one needs to look at it as a day. See day were and is considere a time in 12 hours. the extra hour is saying . . . someone eternal is doing something. in reality, the hour does not exist. we count out when looking at maybe days to count pentecost, 50 days out to get pentecost. the question should it be from sunday or monday. Should it be when the curtain tore? The curtain tore should take one backwards to 3 men in the spirit at the transfiguration. 3 men in the spirit – the curtain tears – 120 people in the spirit. there are other ways of seeing this time line. It is not in days. this means what I am saying, an hour is equal to a time. in the case of pentecost, an hour is equal to a day. It is less about numbers and more about time. we use numbers to tell time. there is really no perfect 7.
I could go on more and more. I am basically talking about weeks and that there are specific weeks like genesis and like the passion week. there are 15 in all. when one understands the weeks, one understand better why the 1st day is the same as the 8th day. or the 8th day is the same as the 50th day in in pentecost. It is about the eternal showing us step by step the way to Christ and eternal life. in short here is god’s weeks.
genesis . . . god is almighty. It will end with a 8th day or a 50th day. the eternal god has never left eternity to accomplish the week. so by logical argument, the 1st day is the same as the 8th day. we have not arrived into the 8th day. this week will end last.
ark of the covenant . . . god is holy
temple . . . god is worshipped in spirit and truth
Immanuel . . . god is with us
Passion . . . god can be touched.
pentecost . . . god is in us
2nd pentecost . . . enter the kingdom of god.
All of these time periods if you believe they are historical are also weeks. these are the weeks god completes to bring for reconciliation, redemption and revelation. as you can see, all are complete except for the genesis week and the 2nd pentecost. all of these weeks are examples of the 1st day and the 8th day are the same. The 8th day is the same as the 50th day. The 1st day is the same as the 100th day. It is not about numbers. These numbers help to understand time. time is running out. When there is no time, there will be no numbers. There will be only eternity to spend with Christ. To spend with Christ is what all weeks are about. The story is about Jesus. He is the first to step into the 8th day or the 1st day . . . . or eternity. He was always there like John says, in the beginning. He ends the story with him being there two. Step into the 8th day. Follow Jesus.
Enjoyed 8th day discussion very much please add me to your mailing list Frmbl@AOL.com
Rev martin Lavengood episcopal chaplain in a CCRC in new jersey across the river from Philadelphia
Very helpful! Thank you Nick
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the feasts of the tabernacles are seven weeks, god’s weeks. The feast of the weeks is 15 weeks meaning God’s weeks, Israel’s weeks and the adopted week.
The feasts of the tabernacles refer to “God’s weeks”. It is impossible to explain in full the weeks, but when each the weeks enter the 8th day or the jubilee hour; the outcome is given.
The seven tabernacle weeks which god fulfills and seven workers work these weeks. (worker)
1 (god) Genesis week – God is light. (it has not been fulfilled) The first shall be last.
2 (father) Ark of the Covenant week – God is holy.
3 (father) Temple week – God is worshipped in spirit and truth.
4 (son) Immanuel week – God is with us.
5 (son) Passion week – God is touched (paradigm week too)
6 (spirit) Pentecost week – God is is us.
7 (spirit) 2nd Pentecost week – God is the kingdom. (This week started with the jesus movement in 1972 at the height of the jesus movement. We will know when the middle of the week shows it self which will probably be 2024. These are interesting times. To be certain, watch the temple fall. )
no . . . passion week does not fulfill the tabernacle weeks. The passion week opens the door to seeing Christ in all weeks. One week does not fulfill the other weeks. All weeks carry the same value meaning all have a specific job to fulfill the revelation, redemption, reconciliation, resurrection and kingdom story.
The eighth day, [ogdoad] in Greek became a clear way to distinguish Christian worship from the Jewish Sabbath. I am fairly certain that the Epistle of Barnabas is the first written account of using this designation…which means that it was highly likely to have been used prior to this.
The eighth day (someone correctly mentioned above that the 8th day is the same as the First day) was the morning when the empty tomb was discovered, giving it great significance. As early as the Didache it was called “the Lord’s Day” and was held to remember/celebrate the empty tomb:
“But every Lord’s day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.” Didache 14:1
Unfortunately strife developed between the Jewish faith and the Christian faith. Some Christian writers became negative towards Jews. Ignatius of Antioch, for example; Epist. of Barnabas as well. Barnabas indicates that the destruction of the Temple was God’s judgement against the Jews for rejecting the Christ. Christianity was straining to be independent of the Jewish faith.
The Gnostics made use of the “eighth day” which made it less popular. Clement of Alexandria makes full use of the ogdoad in his efforts to argue against the Gnostic movement.
A “new beginning” is, I think, a very good way to see the 8th day as a believer. I had planned to use the concept in my Easter message…which led me to this site.
It is quite important to me that Christians know the 8th Day is Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Historically it is THE DAY Christians have always met to celebrate the empty tomb. Very early the Jewish believers kept the Sabbath AND met on the Lord’s Day. It was NOT instituted by Constantine [one of many Constantine myths]. Our brethren who meet on the Sabbath are fine. God is honored no matter when/how/where we meet to celebrate Him. But the Lord’s Day is Sunday…the eighth day.
[apologies for my site below…it is being rebuilt and is a bit crazy right now]
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