Jesus taught more about the Sabbath than all the other nine commandments put together. Why would He do that if the Sabbath would expire soon?
One hears, from time to time, preachers claim that nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament and that the only commandment that is not repeated, is the Sabbath. From that, they most often conclude that the seventh day is not applicable to the church. This argument seems to be based on the view, since Christ lived under the Old Covenant, that the gospels effectively are part of the Old Testament, which would make Paul the primary author and teacher of the New Covenant.
However, although Christ lived under the Old Covenant, His teachings are the foundation of the New Covenant. After His death, the church continued to exist for a few years as part of Judaism, consisting of Jews only. After a number of years, God guided the church to take the gospel to the Gentiles as well. This caused a controversy in the young church over the question of whether believing Gentiles must become Jews through circumcision. This was the main controversy when Paul started to work, which was about ten years after Christ’s death, causing Paul to write the letter to the Galatians. In that letter, Paul wrote that, through the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit, he was informed that Gentiles are saved without becoming Jews through circumcision. Paul’s main God-given task was to extract the church from Judaism, but Paul did not introduce a new system of ethics. As far as ethics (moral laws) are concerned, he followed Christ. Christ was therefore the primary teacher of the new covenant.
Since the ethics of the New Covenant are based on what Christ taught, and since He taught more about the Sabbath than about all the other nine commandments put together, it is not true to say that the Sabbath commandment is not repeated in the New Testament. Jesus taught a different Sabbath, but His statements, such as that the Sabbath was made for man, and that to do good is allowed on the Sabbath, imply the continued relevance of the special seventh day.
Why would Jesus spend so much time teaching about the Sabbath, and resisting the traditions of the elders, which corrupted the Sabbath, if the Sabbath would come to an end just a few months later; at His death?
ARTICLES IN THE SERIES ON THE SABBATH
THE SABBATH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
– Blessed and Sanctified at Creation
– The Evolution theory makes the Bible null and void.
– The Sabbath before the time of Moses
– In the Ten Commandments
– In the Traditions of the Elders
CHRIST’S SABBATH HEALING MIRACLES
– A demon-possessed man and Simon’s mother-in-law
– The man with the withered hand
(The rulers wanted Jesus to heal on the sabbath.)
– The crippled woman
– The paralytic man at Bethesda
– The man that was born blind
CHRIST’S TEACHINGS ON THE SABBATH
– The Sabbath was made for man.
(The disciples picked grain on the Sabbath.)
– Jesus deliberately contravened the Sabbath.
– The Real Reason they killed Jesus
– His miracles gave Him the opportunity to teach.
– What did Jesus teach about the Sabbath?
– Jesus taught a different Sabbath.
– Jesus replaced the Law of Moses with the Law of Christ.
SABBATH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS
– The Sabbath is not repeated in the New Testament.
– Romans 14:5-6 – Each must be fully convinced in his own mind.
ARTICLE SERIES
Sabbath – List of articles
Jesus is not God, but He is God.
Daniel 9 – Overview of the four major interpretations
Seven Seal of Revelation – Verse by verse summary
General Table of Contents
Please let me know cos I’m confused… I’m a Christian who worship on Sunday day….. What if I rest on Saturday and then go to church on Sunday? Will that be a problem?
Hi Lenny
The only requirement for the Sabbath, as I read the Bible, is to rest. I would say that you are free to worship on another day. That is your Christian liberty. But when we are compelled to worship on Sundays or to adhere to any other religious rule, through psychological pressure or otherwise, we need to take a stand for what we believe to be the truth.
Andries
You haters of the Sabbath. THREE VERSES. that will make you knees knock:
“the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Rev 12:17).
“Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus” (Rev. 14:12).
See also Rev22:14
Jesus did not WORK on the sabbath. He did good deeds to the needy. That is not work.
Judging Christians based on special days is the work of demons. Paul specifically addressed this in Romans. It is the weak who held to the OT food ordinances & Sabbath days as still law & it is the wicked who teach & demand they are required.
If you cannot see that umpteen times in the New Testament than you are resisting the Holy Spirit, because it is so blatantly clear that these people most likely have not received God’s Spirit.
Hi James, are you not doing the very thing you accuse Johnny of, namely accusing him of horrible things because he interprets the Bible differently from you?
I have read all the comments and have thought about all the positions. Let me give you another view:
Romans 14:5 states clearly ALL days are honorable as long as it is in honor of God. The 7th day was ordained by God, our Creator, as a day of rest; NOT as a religious day, but a day to recuperate. It is man that gave it religious meaning and have made it special.
Now, every day is holy. It’s what we do on each day that is important. We repent daily, we forgive daily, we worship daily, and we honor God daily.
No matter what DAY you chose to worship God, as long as you worship HIM in spirit and truth, it will be accepted. Your sabbath can be any day of the week as long as it is in honor of God.
So, based on the New Testament, in my view, the 7th-day ritual has been made very clear to be of the past.
Love you all. Have faith and trust God entirely.
Garfield, I do not think your reading of Romans 14 is valid.
Given that the Sabbath is so important in the Old Testament and given that it is included in the Ten Commandments, do you really think that Paul would have said that each person must make up his mind whether or not to keep it? You seem to ignore the historical context.
For a number of years, the church was a sect of Judaism, keeping all the laws of the Old Testament. See Jerusalem Phase.
When the first Gentiles became Christians, there was a huge dispute about whether they must be circumcised and, therefore, keep the entire law (Acts 15:5). See Gentile Dispute
But then the Acts 15 church council agreed that the Gentiles do not have to be circumcised (Acts 15:28). It is clear from the instructions to the Gentiles that that church council WAS ONLY CONCERNED WITH CEREMONIAL LAWS (Acts 15:20, 28-29). (See Separation Phase.
But even after that council, THE JEWISH CHRISTIANS CONTINUED TO KEEP THE ENTIRE MOSAIC LAW (Acts 21:20).
Now, within that context, while the vast majority in the church still was Jews, you want to interpret Paul as saying, as a by the way remark, while discussing food offered to idols, that every person must make up his own mind whether to keep the Sabbath! I am most certainly not convinced. It is MUCH MORE PLAUSIBLE THAT, since Paul, in Romans 14, was discussion food offered to idols, he was talking about FAST DAYS.
In my series on Romans 14, I show that (1) The dispute was NOT over the Law of Moses and (2) The days in Romans 14:5-6 are not Sabbath Days. Romans 14 is ABOUT FOOD OFFERED TO IDOLS. We must respect the context.
Good article. I mention the same idea that the sabbath gets more exposure in the 4 gospels than all of the other 9 put together.
Some will push back that Jesus was a Jew or some other antinomian excuse.
Paul seems to be the doctrine hero of many SUNday Christians , so I share that when Paul was approached by gentiles in ACTS 13:42 that he could have told them that since they were gentiles that he would present his follow up sermon on SUNday or any day other than Sabbath so as not to Judaize them.
Didn’t happen.. Would they say that Paul messed up by promoting Sabbath worship/attendance?
The real problem is that most churchgoers still have lingering ROM 8:7 attitudes.
Please brothers and sisters in the Lord be vigilant. In these end times people claim that they knowledge, but not all of it is from God. Ask Him by prayer and He will reveal all truth to you and you will be free. Amen
Hi Tshepo, I agree. The Lord said that the Holy Spirit will lead us to all truth. Andries
With respect to the Sabbath day of rest, the 7th day of the week, and its significance to the Church (the Born Again, saved & sealed saints IN Christ) today! It should be noted that AFTER Christ had risen from the grave on the FIRST day of the Week, we do not read in the NT of him observing the Sabbath day of rest anymore, nor meeting with his followers on the 7th day of the week, but rather on the FIRST day of the week, Also, it is to be noted, that after His Resurrection, the ONLY ones LORD Jesus showed himself to, appeared to, was those who were his followers, who believed on him, his Disciples, none other, but the Church !
Dear WebPreacher, I am afraid I do not agree with you. John 20:19 reads “So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst”. However, what people often do not know is that:
(1) As Jews counted days, a new day started at sunset;
(2) “evening” covers the period before and after sunset (See Mat. 8:16 and Mark 1:32 for examples of “evening” describing the next day and;
(3) the description of the same of the events in Luke indicates that Jesus appeared after sunset; in other words, actually on the second day of the week.
Consequently His appearance “eight days” later (John 20:26) could also have been on the second day of the week.
The other meeting you might be referring to is Acts 20:7, but that was, what we would call, a Saturday night meeting that was extended until daybreak on Sunday because Paul had to travel far that Sunday. Would Paul travel on the Lord’s Day?
I know of no other potential first day meeting mentioned in the NT.
As far as Sabbath meetings is concerned, the Jewish Christians in Paul’s day—possible still the majority in the church—continued to observe the Sabbath. Please see the articles on the early church. Gentile Christians are not subject to the Law of Moses, but they were taught the contents of the four gospels. The gospels were written for this purpose. And we know what glorious things Jesus said about the Sabbath, such as “made for man”. See the articles on this website. Therefore I believe that also the Gentile Christians observed the Sabbath in Paul’s day; not because of the Law of Moses, but because of what Christ said about the Sabbath.
Kind regards, Andries
Hi Andries
People so like Jesus appearing and the Holy Ghost falling on 1st day, linking Jesus to Sunday worship and forgetting the 7th day as a commandment. I really don’t understand why Jesus would teach and heal on sabbath and then abolish it at the cross.
And if it was abolished at the cross, why did’n brother Paul preach that to his fellows, saying that we are deeply erring by sabbath; it should be on the 1st day?
I tell people that the is no problem worshiping Sunday. It’s more like having revivals that starts Friday and continue to Sunday. But it is a problem if people disregard the 4th commandment and do more of what Is. 58 vs13,14 says..
I’m deeply concerned about pastors who are very powerful spiritually – courtesy to God – but who don’t preach keeping sabbath day holy and that it is for our benefit.
At the end, you can’t force people to do what you see best.
Best is in the Bible clearly, but they remain Blind.
Hi Mandla
I agree with you and yes, reading the comments here, it is clear there are a lot of confused Christians. Jesus nor his disciples changed the Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) but the Roman Catholic Church did around AD 350 because of their hatred for the Jews as “Jesus Killers” . That is where the change to 1st day of the week started….
I believe in keeping the Sabbath as commanded and rest but if I can help someone in trouble who asks my help or pray for someone who needs prayer, I will do it on the Sabbath. See my post on
https://www.astrangerhere.com on this subject.
Deception comes because Christians do not study the Bible as “the whole inspired word of God.”
Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the Sabbath Day. That is why He claims to be the Lord Of the Sabbath. After his death, his apostles, disciples and some gentiles observed the Sabbath. Please read the book of Acts. Sabbath will be observed even in the millennial kingdom of our Lord Jesus, Yeshua ha mashiach.
I do not agree. He rose on the first day. He RESTED on the sabbath day.
Jesus kept the Sabbath Luke 4v16
The argument is that Jesus was a Jew, living under the Jewish dispensation. We live under the New Covenant. We cannot rely on Jesus’ keeping of the Ten Commandments as proof that we must keep the Sabbath.