The Sabbath Dilemma

Should Christians keep the Sabbath?

We could write a book to answer this question. People obviously have different opinions on this. To some, “keeping the Sabbath” is going to church on Sunday. To others, it no longer applies.

Israel was holy and set apart from other nations, and keeping the Sabbath—a day that would be holy among other days—was Israel’s way of recognizing God as Yahweh over Israel. It reminded the people of God that it is He who makes them holy (Ex. 31:12-17). Because the Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ, we could argue that there is no longer any requirement to keep what was initially a shadow of what was to come (Col. 2:17), a picture of a future realization, Christ Himself.

But wait, God is the same, right? He doesn’t change His mind (Nu. 23:19) or change like shifting shadows (Jas. 1:17). If He instituted the Sabbath, why doesn’t it still apply?

In Acts 15, the apostles met and discussed what was necessary for the Gentile believers. Their conclusion was that they “abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.” Sabbath-keeping didn’t make the list.

Even so, the function and blessing of the Sabbath remain. There is a Sabbath-rest for the people of God (Heb. 4). God established the Sabbath because He was aware of man’s need for rest. He modeled that on the seventh day of creation. He desired His people to re-focus on and find their joy in Him (Is. 58:14). Christians today keep the principle of the Sabbath when they choose to rest in God and put Him first.

It may be helpful to recognize that there is a distinction between a seventh-day “Sabbath” and the “assembling of ourselves together” (Heb. 10:25), a New Testament command. The Sabbath is the seventh day, not Sunday, although many Christians choose to set aside Sunday as their day of rest and gather with others, commemorating the risen Christ.

No Christian should feel burdened today with the details and intricacies of Old Testament Law and “keeping the Sabbath” (Gal. 4:21). At the same time, setting aside a day to focus on the Lord yields spiritual blessing and promotes necessary spiritual renewal.

Ultimately, individual believers should obey the Spirit’s leading regarding specific habits in their own lives but not be a stumbling block or judge others according to certain convictions about something not explicit in the Bible. In the words of Paul to the Colossians, let no one “judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day” (Col. 2:16). We live according to our conscience and do what we think is right and adhere to the principle but don’t judge others if they take a different position (Rom. 14:5). These were a shadow, pointing to the fulfillment in Christ, who Himself said that He came not to abolish the Law but fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8) and in Him we find rest for our souls.

We gather on the first day of the week like the early Christians (Ac. 20:7) to celebrate and gather and commemorate the resurrection—the defeat of evil and death—of the Lord of the Sabbath, who said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:29).

Sundays today function as a celebratory day on which we obediently gather together (Heb. 10:24-25). The apostles may not have included keeping the Sabbath on their list of “dos and don’ts” for the Gentile believers in Acts. For New Testament Christians, the day they chose to meet was the first day of the week, not the seventh (or Sabbath). However, God’s blessing in Isaiah is still binding for those who obey Him, take time to re-focus on Him, and rest.

I used to see Sunday as a free day to accomplish extra work. At one point, however, I decided that Sunday would be my day of rest. I was shocked by how much that simple decision put my heart at ease and freed up my mind to focus on Christ. Even if the command has been fulfilled, there is still the blessing of choosing to follow God’s example.