The weekly sábbath was addressed in “Sabbath 7th Day”, Parts (1) and (2). This Part 3 concludes (1) and (2). Part 1 contains the primary verses; so it should be read first. Also, the change from Saturday to Sunday observance is outlined in “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”. That topic includes early church background and meeting custom. In regards to the change, statements by Roman Catholic Church (RCC) theologians were quoted in Parts (1) and (2). Following are statements by non-RCC:
Anglican Isaac Williams Plain Sermons on the Catechism, vol.1, p.334-6 “Where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the 1st day at all? We are commanded to keep the 7th; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the 1st day. The reason why we keep the 1st day of the week holy instead of the 7th is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it.” It’s a church tradition which comes down from 2nd century Rome and the RCC.
Lutheran August Neander The History of the Christian Religion and Church, p. 186 “The festival of Sunday, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic Church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.” Jesus’ apostles didn’t try to change the sabbath.
“Sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities. The customary practice of setting aside Sunday as the day of Christian worship is tradition. But the New Testament (NT) never says Sunday is the church or gentile sabbath, in the manner that Saturday is sabbath holy time.
1Clement was written from Rome to Corinth in the latter 1st century. It doesn’t mention Sunday church meetings. Sunday observance first appears in 2nd century writings. And over the centuries, most Christians have continued observing and worshiping on the 1st day, Sunday. Men and the RCC have tried to do away with the Lord’s 7th day sabbath rest!
This hoax exchanged a 1-hour church service Sunday morning for a 24-hour day of cessation and devotion to God. In Parts 1 & 2 we referenced verses and commentaries which show the 7th day sabbath was made holy by God at Creation in Ge.2:1-3. Man is unable to alter God’s holy time!
RCC Archbishop James Gibbons admitted in The Catholic Mirror, 1893 “The Catholic Church ….by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.” Many in the RCC so admit.
Peter Heylyn The History of the Sabbath, 1613 “Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb ‘When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.” Ambrose lived in the latter 300s AD.
Anglican priest & scholar Joseph Bingham Antiquities of the Christian Church “The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the 7th day. It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival. Epíphanius says the same.” (v.2, b.20, ch.3, sec 1, 66) “Athanásius…says: They met on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the sabbath.” (b.13, ch.9, sec 3) The sabbath and its observance predates Judaism.
Over the centuries, others besides Rome have tried to enforce Sunday observance (e.g. the Puritans). Continuing from Part 2, there are NT passages which some use to negate God’s 7th day sabbath. Re.1:10 John wrote, “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day”. Some think John had in mind Sunday. But in his gospel (Jn.20:1, 19), John refers to Sunday as the “first (day) of the week” (sábbaton Strongs g4521, Greek), not the “Lord’s day”. Whereas Mk.2:28 shows that the sabbath is the Lord’s day! Christ ceased on the 7th day of Creation. He’s the Lord of the sabbath, and He told ancient Israel about it. In Is.58:13-14, Christ the Lord of hosts calls the sabbath “My holy day”. Matthew Henry Commentary Is.58:14 “Even in Old Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord’s day, and is fitly called so still; for a further reason, it is the Lord Christ’s day, Re 1:10. If we thus remember the sabbath day to keep it holy, we shall have the comfort and profit of it.”
The first clear references to Sunday as the Lord’s Day aren’t until the mid-to-latter 2nd century (Gospel of Peter, Dionýsius, 2Clement). It became a tradition of men.
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, v.4, p.2259-60 “Sunday was adopted by early Christians as a day of worship…It was called the ‘Lord’s Day’…no regulations for its observance are laid down in the New Testament, nor indeed, is its observance even enjoined.” Christ didn’t change His sabbath.
Ga.4:8-10 Paul wrote, “In time past you were slaves to those who are no gods. Why do you return to the weak and worthless elements to which you desire to be enslaved? You observe days, months, times and years.” Benson Commentary Ga.4:8 “No gods.’ This is a description of idols worshiped by the heathen.” Those gods aren’t the true God who made the sabbath day holy. e.g. astral veneration of Saturn isn’t holy. Surely the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments which Christ gave to Moses/Israel, aren’t the “weak and worthless elements” to which Paul refers. Ex.20 God’s Decalogue prohibitions against murder & theft, with His commands to keep the sabbath & honor one’s father/mother…obviously aren’t weak and worthless! Paul himself wouldn’t knowingly violate any of the Decalogue. (Paul wrote in Ro.7:12, “The commandment is holy, just and good”.) Ac.16:12-14 Paul & Luke worshiped on God’s sabbath day in European Phílippi. Cambridge Bible Ga.4:10 “There is clearly no exemption here from the obligation of the observance of ‘the 7th day’. The law of the Sabbath…is as old as the Creation.”
Presbyterian T.C. Blake, D.D. Theology Condensed, p.474-475 “The Sabbath is a part of the decalogue – the Ten Commandments. This alone forever settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution…Until, therefore, it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand…The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath.” De.5:12-14 allowing those under our charge (and our work animals) to rest on the sabbath is a moral principle of loving our neighbor! To say we ‘rest in Christ’ (work animals?) is a good spiritual principle, but doesn’t abate physical fatigue.
The same sense regarding the Decalogue can be applied to the controversial Col.2:16-23. A syncretistic form of religion with Jewish & pagan Gnosticism existed at Colóssae. Paul in this passage merges: whether to eat/drink/fast, feasts, new moons, the sabbath, asceticism, worship of angels, man-made religion, commandments of men. v.16-17 “Let no one judge you in eating and drinking, or in part of a feast or a new moon or the sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body of Christ.”
Besides God’s Day of Atonement, Jews ordained their own fast days (Zec.8:19); some fasted twice-a-week (Lk.18:12). Dietary customs of neo-Pythagoréans were there. God’s feasts, authorized to be kept only at the temple (no uncircumcised men), were Passover, Pentecost, Booths. Jews ordained Hánukkah & Purím feasts. Rosh Hashánah fell on a new moon. New moons were traditional holidays for women.
But God sanctified the 7th day sabbath at Creation! False teachers, Pharisees, etc. were acting as judges of how to keep various occasions. Ellicott Commentary Col.2:16 “Let no man judge you’, that is, impose his own laws upon you.” Rather, the Body of Christ is the judge, not the “commandments of men” (v.22-23). Christ authored His Ten Commandments, including the sabbath. And it’s the longest of the Ten!
For Paul to disregard any part of the Decalogue would’ve been viewed as hypocrisy. The sabbath is in God’s Top Ten! Some do’s & don’ts of sabbathkeeping promoted by Judaism in Colossae were false. Yet true sabbath rest is a divine blessing for the Body of Christ. (I’m not 7th Day Adventist/SDA.)
Peter’s “shadow” remained visible in the sunlight for healing; it didn’t disappear (Ac.5:15-16)! Adam Clarke Commentary Co.2:16 “There is no intimation here that the Sabbath was done away, or that its moral use was superseded, by the introduction of Christianity. ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy’, is a command of perpetual obligation, and can never be superseded but by the final termination of time.” JFB Commentary Col.2:16 “The weekly sabbath rests on a more permanent foundation, having been instituted in Paradise to commemorate the completion of Creation in six days.” Fast days, pilgrim feasts, new moon observances, Israel’s sanctuary…were later additions. The sabbath remains.
He.4:9 “There remains therefore a sabbath rest [g4520 sabbatismós, only NT occurrence] for the people of God.” A sabbatism. He.4:4 this cessation is associated with the 7th day of Creation (Ge.2:1-3), which is the great prototype referred to in Ex.20:8-11. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians. They were sabbathkeepers. Joshua, David, Jesus, too were sabbathkeepers. Its writer isn’t defending the 7th day sabbath; sabbath observance is a given among those Israelites. And 7th day observance now foreshadows our future rest in glory.
JFB Commentary He.4:9 “It is Jesus, the antitype of Joshua, who leads us into the heavenly rest. This verse indirectly establishes the obligation of the Sabbath still; for the type continues until the antitype supersedes it….the typical earthly Sabbath must continue till then. The Jews call the future rest ‘the day which is all Sabbath.” Ellicott Commentary He.4:9 “The Míshnah speaks of Psalms 92 as a ‘Psalm for the time to come, for the day which is all Sabbath, the rest belonging to the life eternal.”
In Ga.6:16, Paul referred to the “Israel of God”. Most commentaries say Paul’s “Israel of God” meant all Christians, both Jewish and gentiles grafted-in…the church. (Whereas the 1Co.10:18 “Israel after the flesh” meant disbelieving Jews.) The early church kept the sabbath before Rome & men intervened.
Anglican clergyman Jeremy Taylor, The Whole Works of Jeremy Taylor, vol.IX, p.456 “The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews…therefore the Christians for a long time together, did keep their conventions on the Sabbath, in which some portion of the Law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council.” At Laodicea in 363 AD the church outlawed resting on the sabbath!
Mt.24:20 “Pray your flight be not in winter, nor on the sabbath.” Jesus indicated the sabbath day would still exist…His holy time wouldn’t have somehow become obsolete! Barnes Notes Mt.24:20 “Jesus teaches his disciples to pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath, because, if they should not go farther than a Sabbath-day’s journey, they would not be beyond danger.” (ref Ex.16:29, Ac.1:12, Is.58:13 relating to excessive/tiresome travel on the sabbath.) JFB Commentary Is.58:13 “The Sabbath, even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory.” Bengel’s Gnomen Mt.24:20 “Because it is peculiarly miserable on that day, which is given to joy, to break off the rites of worship and flee.”
Shabáwth (h7676, Hebrew) implies a rest. Besides the sabbath being time holy to God, the rest is needed for our physical bodies. We’re refreshed. The relatively new scientific field of chronobiology has found there is a circaséptan (Latin sept = 7) rhythm in the bodies of humans & animals. Every 7–8 days our body clock, so to speak, resets or renews. This is separate from cultural evolution or religion. It’s not some new age bio-rhythm quackery. Rather it’s an innate system we’re not conscious of which God hid in our cell structure. Seven is God’s number, and is the ‘beat of life’ inherent in His creation!
Wikipedia: Circaseptan “A circaseptan rhythm is a cycle consisting of 7 days in which many biological processes of life are resolved.” Jeremy Campbell Winston Churchill’s Afternoon Nap, 1988, p.75 “Circaseptan, or about weekly, rhythms are one of the major surprises turned up by modern chronobiology. Fifteen years ago few scientists would have expected that seven-day biological cycles would prove to be so widespread and so long established in the world. They are of very ancient origin.”
Erhard Haus Chronobiology in the Endocrine System. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2007; 59(9-10):985-1014 “A seven-day cycle was found in the blood pressure fluctuations in the acid content in the blood, in erýthrocytes, in a heartbeat, the oral temperature, the temperature of the female breast, chemical and urine volume, rate of two important neurotransmitters – norepinéphrine and epinéphrine – and the increase and decrease of various body chemicals, such as coping stress hormone, cortisol.”
They say that approximately every 7 days our heart rate slows slightly (then resumes normalcy), and our immune system resets. If our immune system is violated or becomes too stressed, sickness and even death can result. Our Creator knew man needs His rest…animals too. (cf. chabad.org The Biological Shabbat Clock.) De.5:14 “The 7th day…that your ox and donkey and sojourner may rest.” Work animals belonging to non–Jews need rest too…sabbath rest isn’t just for Jews! SDA videos tell of bees in South America and beavers that are inactive on the sabbath…then resume normal activity on Sunday! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyYHG6jsTNY. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49T5unQEIbY.
The sabbath rest helps us be more aware of our dependence upon God for our spiritual and physical needs. We can relax for a day and be refreshed, spiritually and physically.
From 1793-1805 AD, the First French Republic tried to replace the 7-day week with a secular week having rest every 10th day. The attempt was a total failure! Then from 1929-1940, Stalin’s Communist Russia set up a rotating 5-day continuous work-week…80% of the people worked while 20% rested. It too failed! The work cycles in those undertakings violated the body clock God set within man.
Resting every 7 days is necessary for our innate body rhythm. Jesus said in Mk.2:27, “The sabbath was made for man”. Needless to say, Christ knew what He was doing when He made the 7th day holy at Creation. The ‘clock of seven’ within our body is ticking unyieldingly…we can’t escape it in this life.
God said in Is.55:3, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you”. Isaiah was prophesying of the new covenant! Is.56:1-7 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Blessed is the man…who keeps from profaning the sabbath. To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant…I will give them an everlasting name. Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord…to be His servants, who keep from profaning the sabbath.” The eunuchs & foreigners (even past hostile nekár h5236) who keep from profaning the sabbath will be blessed of the Lord! JFB Commentary Is.56:2 “A proof that the Sabbath, in the spirit of its obligation, was to be binding under the Gospel.” Gill Exposition Is.56:4 “The covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant.” Matthew Henry Commentary Is.56:6 “The Gentiles shall be one body with the Jews, that, as Christ says, Jn.10:16, there may be one fold and one Shepherd.” Observing the Lord’s sabbath in the everlasting/new covenant!
Count Zínzendorf (1700-1760), leader of the Morávian church (Czechoslovakia/America), in 1738 wrote of himself. “I have during my lifetime not eaten of the foods which were formerly forbidden them; I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel – that I have done without design, in simplicity of heart.” (Budingsche Sammlung, 1742, sec.8, p.224.)
A study book of the United Lutheran Church, The Sunday Problem (1923), p.36 “We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish sabbath faded from the mind of the Christian Church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church. We have seen that the Christians of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both.” (see “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”.)
We may worship the Lord every day. But only the 7th day is the holy time God ordained for man. His divine rest every 7th day foreshadows our rest with Him for all eternity! Shabbát shalóm!
Bible Topic Exposition 