Ever been riding around town on a typical Saturday morning, going shopping, doing sports, going out to eat breakfast? You may have observed that nearly all churches are usually closed on Saturdays. Sure you have, but did you happen to notice a few church buildings looked busy with cars parked all around. It may have been a wedding or funeral, which are about the only things most churches do on the last day of the week. Then again, it may have been a Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) or a Jewish Synagogue, both which meet on Saturdays (or Friday nights).
Those two religious groups are among those that still observe the seventh-day Sabbath as proscribed in the Fourth Commandment (another is the Seventh Day Baptists):
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 of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you (lit.: “in your gates”). For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the 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.” Exodus 20:8-11 (All Scripture quotes are from the NASB)
So what about the Fourth Commandment? Of all the Ten Commandments it is the only one that Christians and Jews (and some Christian Sabbatarians, like the SDA) disagree about. Religious Jews obviously still keep the seventh day of the week as the day for worship and family activities. Orthodox Jews still keep it with strict limitations on what activities they may engage in on the Sabbath. My wife knew a woman in her home town of Miami who would walk both ways each Saturday to attend her synagogue. She would never drive (in her case the synagogue was only a few blocks away) and the rest of the day she would stay in her house and did no work.
So what should be a Christian’s perspective on the Sabbath? Are we obligated to keep it as did the Hebrews? What about Sunday, the first day of the week? Is that the Christian “Sabbath?” Are we supposed to treat it with strict observance as the Jews did the seventh day Sabbath? Besides going to church, should we do no work on Sunday? Should we avoid shopping, playing, going to sporting events, riding a bicycle, or anything? And what about people who have to work at their jobs on Sundays? Are they sinning?
Clearly the Jewish people kept the seventh-day Sabbath. Even early Christians who were Jewish went the synagogues or the temple on the Sabbath. However, when we look carefully at the New Testament, we see that many early followers of Jesus, especially those from Gentile backgrounds, met and worshiped regularly on the first day of the week. Does that mean the Sabbath was changed for Gentiles? In this fourth installment of our study of the Ten Commandments, we will attempt to answer all those questions. We will look at this commandment, its meaning, and its applications for us. First lets define the Sabbath itself.
1. The Biblical Sabbath is a day of rest and worship running from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.
Perhaps you remember the Academy Award winning movie Chariots of Fire. It was the true story of two British rival sprinters who competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics. One was Harold Abrahams, who was Jewish. The other was Eric Liddell, a devout Scotch Presbyterian who was renowned as “The Flying Scotsman.” In the story, when Liddell found out that his first heat for the 100 meter dash was to be run on Sunday, he balked saying he could not violate the Sabbath. He shifted then to the 200 meter dash which ran on Monday and went on to win the Gold Medal (as did Abrahams in the 100).
Liddell’s devotion to his convictions is very commendable. But we must ask, was he right to believe Sunday was the Sabbath? To find the answer we need to know how the Sabbath was instituted and why.
The word Sabbath (Hebrew: sabbat) is probably derived from a Hebrew verb meaning to cease or to stop. It is based on the six days of Creation when God rested on the seventh day. It also came to refer to the seventh day of the Hebrew week. That day began at sundown on one day and ended at sundown on the next. It was a day reserved for worship and rest. In Jesus’ time, the Sabbath had taken on an extremely legalistic level of observance by the Jews, especially the Pharisees. They would only walk a certain number of steps on the Sabbath (“a Sabbath’s day journey” – Acts 1:12). In their mind just about anything that required physical exertion was prohibited. Nothing, including doing good deeds, was to be done on that holy day. As we will see, Jesus had a different understanding.
The term Sabbath also had other applications in relation to Jewish holy days. These include the following: Rosh Hashanah – the New Year, observed in September or October (Hebrew calendar Tishri 1); Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10); Sukkoth – the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (Tishri 15-22); Simchat Torah – the celebration of the Torah (Scripture, Tishri 23); Hanukkah (“Dedication”) – commemorates the purification of the temple in 165 BC by the Maccabees after its desecration by the Greek ruler Antiochus, observed in December for 8 days (beginning Kesliv 25); Purim (“Lots”) – commemorates Queen Esther’s role in stopping the extermination of the Jews by the Persians, observed in February or March (Adar 14-15); Pesach (Passover) – commemorating the Exodus and deliverance from the last plague on Egypt, observed in March or April (Nissan 14-21/22); and Shavuot (Pentecost) – commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments and the harvest, observed fifty days after Passover.
So we should be very clear, Sunday, the first day of the week, is not the Sabbath. The Old Testament clearly indicates that that term is reserved only for the seventh-day and special holy days. As we mentioned, observant Jews still keep the seventh-day Sabbath (Friday evening until Saturday evening), some very strictly. Many only keep the Sabbath by attending a synagogue service on Friday night or Saturday. For most secular Jews, the weekly Sabbath is rarely kept. However, many will observe the high holy days listed above by taking a day off from work or school. This principle was demonstrated in 1965 by Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, who is Jewish. He chose not start the first game of the World Series that year which happened to fall on Yom Kippur. (He pitched game two the next day and lost, but went on to pitch games five and seven, shutting out the Minnesota Twins and being name series MVP.)
So, in that sense, Jews, Seventh-day Adventists, and Seventh-day Baptists are correct when they maintain that Sunday is not the Sabbath. The question that remains, though, is whether they are right that Christians are obligated to keep the Sabbath.
Why then do most Christian movements worship and meet on Sunday? Early in church history the churches adopted the first day of the week as the Lord’s Day in order to commemorate the day when Jesus rose. We will explore that concept more later in this article. But let’s first look at Jesus’ relationship to the Sabbath.
2. Jesus is “Lord of the Sabbath”.
Matthew 12:1-14 relates the story of Jesus going through the grainfields on the Sabbath. As he went through, he instructed His disciples to pick the heads of the grain and eat them. When the Pharisees heard what they were doing, they complained that it was unlawful to gather a harvest on the Sabbath. In response, Jesus reminded them that David and his companions had entered the house of God (the tabernacle) and ate the consecrated (showbread) bread on the altar. He also told them that it was permissible for the priests in the temple to break and eat bread on the Sabbath. He then made an astonishing assertion, quoting the Old Testament (Hosea 6:6):
“But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matt. 12:6-8)
Later in that same chapter, Jesus encountered a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees badgered Him as to whether or not it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. So, before He healed the man, Jesus threw it back at them:
“And He said to them, ‘What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.'” (Matt. 12:11-12)
Jesus did many other deeds on the Sabbath, much to the consternation of the Pharisees. Clearly Jesus, though He certainly respected the Sabbath, understood that it had a deeper meaning than just an outward observance. And, since He was the “Son of Man” (the Messiah), He, and anyone He appointed, had every right to override its legalistic observance. He made it clear that the Sabbath was not intended to be a burden on God’s people. In Mark’s account of this encounter, Jesus makes a profound statement:
“Jesus said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.'” (Mark 2:27)
Obviously, the Sabbath stands under the Lordship of Christ (as does all the Law). He plainly did not take it to be as much of a moral obligation as did the Pharisees. That being said, what then is the Christians’ obligation to the Sabbath? Was Eric Liddell right to skip the 100 meter run in order to honor the Sabbath? To get that answer, we turn to several other relevant passages in the New Testament.
3. Sabbath-keeping is an option for Christians but is not mandatory.
In his letter to the Colossians, a predominantly Gentile church, the Apostle Paul emphasizes salvation by grace alone through faith in Jesus’ death on the cross. In it he makes a significant statement regarding keeping the Old Testament Law.
“Therefore no one is to act as your judge (lit. judge you) in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day – (KJV wrongly translates as “days”) things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ (KJV – the body is of Christ).” (Col. 2:16-17)
Paul seems to be pretty clear that Gentile Christians are not legally bound to keep the Sabbath. In this case, Seventh-day Adventists are wrong. Now understand, the Bible does not prohibit Christians from keeping the seventh-day Sabbath. Jewish believers in the early church definitely did so. But it does not command that they must do so. It is a matter of individual conscience for which we should not judge one another. It is in some sense like the Jewish covenant of circumcision, which predated the Ten Commandments and the Law (Gen. 17:11-14). The early church decided it was an unnecessary burden for Gentiles desiring to become Christians (Acts 15).
So, let’s be honest, the “Lord’s Day” is not the same as the Jewish Sabbath, though some Christians unwittingly call it that (eg.: Eric Liddell). For many Christians, the Lord’s Day (Sunday) has much of the spiritual meaning of the Sabbath, but focuses on Jesus. So then, does the Fourth Commandment apply to Christians at all? Yes it does, as we now will see.
4. Though they are not mandated to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath, Christians should, nonetheless, observe what might be called the “Sabbath Principle.”
The idea of a special weekly day set aside for God is definitely a Biblical precept. However, not in the legalistic manner that the Jews were accustomed to. So how do we observe it? There are several ways Christians can do so. First, Christians should observe the “Sabbath Principle” to reserve one day a week to rest from their work. The Fourth Commandment says that God’s people should work for six days and rest on the seventh. Note, it includes everyone in the community: families, servants, visitors, even animals (this implies that animals do have a God given right to rest and not be abused).
“…in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.” (Exodus 20:9-10)
When I was a boy, most towns in America had what were known as “Blue Laws.” Those were local ordinances that prohibited most businesses from being opened on Sunday. The exceptions were those that served important needs such as pharmacies and gas stations. Most offices had the day off except those in public service jobs like police, firefighters, and hospitals. Obviously, that is no longer the case. Nearly all retail stores and food service providers (restaurants and supermarkets) are now open on Sunday, with the notable exception of Chic-fil-a.
So how and when did the first day of the week come to be the Christian day of rest and worship? In 1 Corinthians, written about AD 55, Paul gives several clues about this fact.
In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 he says,
“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.”
Corinth was not the only church that was taking up collections on the first day of the week; so were the churches in Galatia. It appears that by that time, the first day of the week had become the regular time for gathering together for worship and receiving gifts in those Gentile regions (see also 1 Cor. 5:4; 11:19-20). This partly may have been because, in their culture, Sunday had long been a day of religious observance. To try and changed it would have been almost impossible for Christians living and working in Gentile areas.
Several years after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, Luke, the writer of Acts, noted the believers in Troas gathered on the first day specifically to “break bread” (possibly a reference to a regular weekly time for the Lord’s Supper) and to hear Paul speak.
“On the first day of the week, when we (Luke himself was an eye-witness) were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.” (Acts 20:7)
Another verse often cited as addressing this question is in the beginning of Revelation.
“I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, ‘Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.'” (Revelation 1:9-11)
Granted, John does not identify “the Lord’s day” (vs. 10) as the first day of the week, but given the time when he wrote (some forty years after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians) and the context of the predominantly Gentile Asian churches to which he was writing (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) it is likely they would have understood it that way.
Thus, very early in the Christian movement, the first week day came to be called the “Lord’s Day.” The most important reason to celebrate it was because it is the day of the week when Jesus was raised from the dead.
“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.” (John 20:1)
Primarily for that reason and others we cited, in time, the first day of the week became the traditional day for Christian churches to worship, study, and fellowship. Most Christians the world over still do so today.
Conclusion
So then, are Christians required to obey the Fourth Commandment? The paradoxical answer is both “no and yes!” Christians are not required to keep the Old Testament Sabbath as did the ancient Hebrews, the first century Jewish Christians, and modern observant Jews. Some Christian groups today are seventh day Sabbatarian, which is their legitimate choice, but it is not mandated. In any case, it should not be a test of fellowship among true believers in Christ. Those who are not Sabbatarians should respect those who are, and those who are should respect those who are not.
That being said, this commandment is not to be ignored as irrelevant. Christians do need to honor the spiritual principle for which it was given. Followers of Jesus certainly need a day set aside for worship, study of God’s word, and rest from their labors. Sunday is called the “Lord’s Day” and, in honor of Jesus’ resurrection, is the day most Christians around the world meet together.
And, though our increasingly secular culture basically pays no attention to the Sabbath principle regardless of what day it is, we should still make the most of it. That does not mean they cannot work if necessary or participate in sports or recreational activities on Sunday. However, if such activities seriously hinder or interfere with their regular involvement in spiritual matters, then they may need to carefully examine their priorities in life!
Commandments One through Four all deal with mankind’s relationship with God. In the next installment we will examine the Fifth Commandment:
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.” (Exodus 20:12)
Commandment Five is the first of the last six commandments, all of which concern interpersonal relations among God’s people. As we shall see, they also have essential moral and legal relevance for society in general.
© 2018 Tal Davis