Should Christians Keep the Sabbath? | An Unbiased View
Should Christians keep the Sabbath? That is a great question. Let’s take an unbiased look at what the Bible has to say.
Before we jump directly into answering the question of whether Christians should keep the Sabbath, let’s first look at what it means to keep the Sabbath. Here’s what God told Moses about the Sabbath:
“12 And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people” (Exodus 31:12–14, ESV).
Later on in Exodus we read,
“These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. 2 Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day” (Exodus 35:1–3, ESV)
In Numbers 15:32-36, we see a man who profaned the Sabbath by gathering sticks. As was commanded in the verses above, he was put to death.
So, is it a sin to not keep the Sabbath?
We just read, “Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people” (Exodus 31:14b, ESV). According to these verses, it is.
Do you have to keep the Sabbath to be saved?
If you don't want your soul to be cut off from among God’s people, it seems as though we ought to keep the Sabbath.
In light of that, would it be foolish to even ask if Christians should keep the Sabbath? Doesn't it seem obvious?
Who was the Sabbath given to? Did God give it to everyone, or just to some people?
Some think that God instituted the Sabbath in the Garden of Eden because of the connection between the Sabbath and creation in Exodus 20:11:
“11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and 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 20:11, ESV).
While it is true that God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:3), there is no Biblical record of the Sabbath existing before the children of Israel left the land of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. A simple search of the Hebrew word for Sabbath shows that.
In fact, there is no evidence that Sabbath-keeping was practiced from the time of Adam to Moses, which is the Patriarchal Age (click here to watch our three-part series on the three Biblical ages: the Patriarchal age, the Mosaic Age and the Christian Age).
If God didn't give the Sabbath to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or Joseph, who did He give it to?
God gave the Sabbath to the children of Israel when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. This is recorded in Exodus 16:23-30, then again in the 10 Commandments.
Listen to who God made His covenant with:
“1 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today” (Deuteronomy 5:1–3 ESV).
Later on in Chapter 5, Moses restates the Ten Commandments, mentioning observing the Sabbath in verses 12–14.
Then, Moses explains why the Lord gave them the Sabbath:
“15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15, ESV).
God’s intent for giving the Sabbath to Israel was not so that they would remember creation, but so that they would remember their Egyptian slavery and the Lord’s deliverance.
“12 And the Lord said to Moses, 13 ‘You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, “Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you”’” (Exodus 31:12–13, ESV).
This covenant and this Sabbath were special for the Israelites who came up out of Egypt.
Unfortunately, the Jews didn’t keep this covenant and God punished them by allowing them to be conquered by their enemies and taken into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity.
Because of their disobedience, God promised to make a New Covenant with them.
“31 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke…” (Jeremiah 31:31–32, ESV).
Roughly 750 years later, Jesus the Christ was born. Jesus, being a Jew, lived his entire life under the covenant God had made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah when he took them by the hand out of the land of Egypt.
I can 100% guarantee Jesus kept the Sabbath. Why? Because it was God’s Law. To not keep the Sabbath would be a sin, and since Jesus never sinned, He must have kept the Sabbath.
However, what did Jesus say about that Law that he kept perfectly?
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Mt 5:17–18, NKJV).
How did Jesus fulfill all the Law and the Prophets?
Jesus Christ fulfilled the Prophets by fulfilling hundreds of prophecies concerning Himself (Matthew 1:22; 13:35; John 19:36; Luke 24:44).
He fulfilled the Law by obeying the Law perfectly (John 8:46; 1 Peter 2:22) and by becoming the perfect sacrifice for sins.
“17 Therefore he [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17, ESV).
“14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14 ESV).
As Jesus was dying on the cross, just after he had made arrangements for his mother to be cared for, the Bible says,
“28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:28–30 ESV)'.
Jesus had accomplished what He came to do; He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets.
Christ’s death and resurrection brought the New Covenant into effect.
That is why the Hebrew writer quotes Jeremiah,
“6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.’… 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:6–9, 13, ESV).
God found fault with Israel because they didn’t keep the covenant. So, He made a new, better one. The Law had a purpose, which was to bring the Jews to Christ.
“24 the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian [ie. the law]” (Galatians 3:24–25, ESV).
With Jesus’ death on the cross, the Law of Moses was fulfilled and became obsolete. Jews who have faith in Christ Jesus are no longer under the Law, while Gentiles were never under the law of Moses.
Unlike the Old Covenant, the New convent that God made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah applies to everyone, not just to the Jews.
Jesus said,
“15 Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15–16, ESV).
So, Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant and established a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah; a New Covenant that applies to the entire world.
But I'm confused …
It sounds like we are not under the law of Moses anymore. But Christians are still not supposed to steal, murder, and commit adultery. We are still supposed to honor our fathers and our mothers, so shouldn't we also keep the Sabbath? That's a great question and seems to make perfect sense. Let's see what the Bible has to say about it.
In Acts 15:1-5, ethnically Jewish Christians were trying to force Gentile Christians to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses, which would include the Sabbath Law.
While Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch, these Jewdizers came down to Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1, ESV).
So, Paul and Barnabas headed down to Jerusalem to straighten this matter out. When they got there and explained all that God was doing, “…some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses’” (Acts 15:5, ESV).
Here was the perfect opportunity for God to say that he wants us to keep the Sabbath today or that it is a sin to not keep the Sabbath.
But, listen to what God had to say about the situation,
“28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell” (Acts 15:28–29, ESV).
No greater burden than these requirements…and He didn’t mention the Sabbath.
Although this letter seems clear on the issue of keeping the old Law, unfortunately sometimes we get so caught up in the way we think things should be that we can’t see the way things really are. We want what we want.
These ethnically Jewish Christians wanted to bind the Law of Moses on Gentile Christians and judge them for not keeping it, including the Sabbath.
Listen to what God had to say about that in Paul’s letter to Gentile Christians,
“16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16, 17, ESV).
Isn’t it interesting that the early church was never commanded to keep the Sabbath? In fact, the only people we see keeping the Sabbath are lost Jews (Acts 13:14, 27, 34; 15:21; 16:13; 17:21; 18:4). The only reason we read even of this is because Paul goes to the synagogue to evangelize them. Trying to free them from the Law of sin and death until, “when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles’” (Ac 18:6, ESV).
That is the last time we see anyone gathering on a Sabbath day in Scripture. Instead, what we do see is Christians gathering on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1).
So, does God want us to keep the sabbath day?
The Sabbath Law was a shadow that is fulfilled in Christ. If we want to rest on Saturday, go ahead. There is no commandment in scripture forbidding resting on Saturday. But, Scripture plainly instructs us to not pass judgment on those who choose to work, kindle a fire, or gather sticks on Saturday.
We also plainly see that Christians gathered for worship on the first day of every week and were commanded not to forsake their assembling together.
