Over the past few years, I have noticed a very interesting phenomenon among Christians. You see, time after time the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, convicts us of areas in our lives that need attention, areas where we fall short. In these areas which are illuminated by Scripture, God expects us to make adjustments in order to be more in line with His will. Of course, reluctantly though it may be, we generally comply. For example, many times God convicts us concerning pride, lust, gossip, prayer, worship, and so forth. Consequently, we work and pray toward greater discipline and compliance in order to become the men and women God wants us to be.
But there is one discipline that Christians do not generally comply. There is one area that seems to be clearly marked out in Scripture to which Christians instantly throw up the dukes. That is the discipline of the Sabbath. If we look at the ten commandments, the law that was written by the finger of God and is especially close to the heart of God, we readily work to comply with almost every one of these; Keeping God first, avoiding idolatry (though I contend we're slipping on this one as well; American Idol, I'm looking in your direction), honoring our parents, not murdering. But when someone mentions the fourth commandment, we instantly get defensive and claim that we don't have to do that one any more.
The following is a relatively brief abstract from my more extensive theology (see below).
I contend that the institution of the Sabbath (by this I mean the seventh day of the week; sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) was established at creation, taught throughout both the Old and New Testaments, and the practice was not changed until the early part of the second century.
In Genesis 2:2 & 3, God ordained the Sabbath principle. Many who worship on Sunday as a "sabbath" argue that the principle is that we are to work six days per week and rest on one. But the principle is clearly deeper than that. Verse three says that God "blessed the seventh day and made it holy." There is clearly a specific block of time, the seventh day, that God blessed and made holy. Of course, blessing and separating out for a purpose is something taken seriously throughout the Hebrew culture.
Some argue against its legal aspect as it doesn't show up again until the commandments are issued (as though that were something to sneeze at (where in the world did that phrase come from?)). This is not the case. While it is uncertain how or even if the patriarchs of Genesis kept the Sabbath, its instruction was given in Exodus 16 prior to the issuing of the commandment.
Then there is the commandment itself. The Decalogue is the set of commandments that God wrote Himself for all humanity for all time. When we begin to prioritize these by misusing or denying the Sabbath all together, there is no reason to stop there. If we can pick and choose how or if we keep the Sabbath holy, why shouldn't we pick and choose if we don't murder or steal or commit adultery?
The punishment given in Exodus for breaking the Sabbath was being stoned to death. That's a pretty serious offense. This indicates to me that the Sabbath is something very important to God. If it was so important to a God whom we claim never changes, then it does not follow that it is something that we can choose whether or not to obey.
One argument is that the commandment of the Sabbath is just an Old Testament law. As previously mentioned, when we follow this line we prioritize the Decalogue which we cannot do. We'll see now that the Sabbath is taught and practiced in the New Testament. Thus we conclude not that the commandment is changed or done away with, but that its details have changed. So when we break the Sabbath, we don't have to be stoned to death, we just repent and receive forgiveness.
In the New Testament, we find that both Jesus (Luke 4:16) and Paul (Acts 17:2) taught by practice that the Sabbath was to be kept.
Now there are those who argue that there are some Scriptures that indicate that the early church of the New Testament began to meet on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7 & I Corinthians 16:2 are among the more popular). However, each of these passages specifically says why they were meeting (Acts 20 they were having a meal before Paul skipped town, I Cor. 16 they were collecting money, etc.).
Some argue that Jesus did away with the law and that keeping the Sabbath is legalism. However, Jesus fulfilled the law, He did not abolish it. He showed us how to keep it by resting, fellowship, worship, and doing good. He didn't get rid of it.
Some argue that Paul taught that it was okay to regard all days the same, indicating that the Sabbath was not important. However, as previously noted, He kept the Sabbath himself. He would not have been teaching against his own practice. Context suggests that He was speaking of High Sabbaths of the feast days.
People point towards John's reference to the "Lord's Day" indicating that this means people worshipped on Sunday. There are two problems with this. First, this is the only reference to the Lord's Day in the entire Bible. As it has no antecedent, there is no reason to believe that the Lord's Day is Sunday or Sabbath or any other day. This is an argument from silence. Second, even given that it could be on Sunday, the passage reads "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day" (Revelation 1:10). Suppose the Lord's Day was referring to Sunday, I say So What? It says nothing about worshipping, meeting, or keeping holy the Lord's Day as Scripture so clearly does concerning the Sabbath.
Finally, history tells us that Sunday worship didn't begin until the early part of the second century. Furthermore, when it did happen, it was not for Biblical reasons. The change occurred when the Christian community of Rome was being persecuted for their connection with the Jews. So they began to reduce their connections with the Jews.
To make a long story short, it seems clear that God established the Sabbath to be kept holy on the seventh day of the week for all eternity.
As previously noted, this is a "brief" abstract. For the even longer story check out my full
Sabbath Theology.
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