In our current evangelical climate, the Sabbath has momentum. While it is likely that the dominant interpretation of the Sabbath is still that it has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and the literal and physical requirements of the day are no longer binding (cf. Romans 14:5, Colossians 2:16-17), there is certainly a growing movement that is putting greater emphasis on Sabbath practices. This can take the form of either presenting the Sabbath as a spiritual discipline or arguing that it is still an active commandment. Of course, the former is reasonable if offered charitably (and I practice a form of it), but the latter claims that Old Testament style Sabbath adherence is a matter of obedience.
My goal for this article is not to make a complete argument for any of these positions. Rather, I want to focus primarily on one aspect that is commonly lost in this discussion, and that is whether the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day are identical or interchangeable. This is important to the wider considerations of Sabbath observance. For, if the days are one-and-the-same, then some form of observance is at least more likely, as early Christians in Scripture clearly made a practice of observing the Lord’s Day. If they are not the same, then this does not eliminate the possibility of required Sabbath observance, but it does remove one common way to argue for it.
The Sabbath is the Seventh Day
When thinking about the Sabbath as it was given in the Law, it is important not to miss the fact that the Sabbath is clearly a specific day of the week. The Sabbath is undeniably meant to be observed on the seventh day of the week, which would correlate to our Saturday. We see this in every example provided in the Old Testament. We do not have examples of Israelites getting to pick which day they would sabbath, rather they corporately observe it on the seventh day.
This, of course, is easiest to see in the analogy provided by God in Genesis 1, where he rests on the seventh day. In Exodus 20:8-11, God specifically calls the seventh day holy and makes reference to the Creation week. Further context is provided in Exodus 31:12-18, where God again instructs Israel to observe His Sabbaths.1 Here, God specifically states that the Sabbath is a sign between Him and Israel, and once more ties it to the seventh day of creation.
All of this is relevant to the foundational point that the Sabbath is the seventh day. We will get to the Lord’s Day considerations below, but it must be understood that the original texts describing the Sabbath firmly bind it to a specific day. To imagine that the text allows for any kind of “pick your day of the week to rest” practice is to fail to see the obvious and repetitive link to the importance of the seventh day.2
As D.A. Carson observed:
In the Old Testament, this opinion entails a startling result: some men, namely the priest, break the Sabbath repeatedly, and yet are innocent. Indeed, if the Old Testament principle were really “one day in seven for worship and rest” instead of “the seventh day for worship and rest,” you might have expected the Old Testament legislation to prescribe some other day off for the priests. The lack of such confirms the importance in Old Testament thought of the seventh day, as opposed to the mere one-in-seven principal so greatly relied upon by those who wish to see in Sunday the precise New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament Sabbath.3
This is what Seventh-day Adventists get so right. They fully understand that the Sabbath is meant to be observed on the seventh day, and their position is more consistent than many Sabbatarian views within broader Protestantism. Whatever else we may think, Scripture teaches extremely clearly that the Sabbath is the seventh day.
The Lord’s Day is Not a Substitute
This conclusion, of course, raises the question of whether the Lord’s Day is the New Covenant equivalent to the Sabbath day. Often, it is argued that Jesus’s resurrection marked the beginning of the new creation. Therefore, the Sabbath has been moved to the first day of the week and is now called the Lord’s Day (even if the language is often used interchangeably).
While it is granted that Jesus’s resurrection did inaugurate the new creation and that the Lord’s Day does appear to be the New Testament day that the people of God gathered together, the above section should make clear that none of this then implies that the Lord’s Day is also the Sabbath. As has been argued, the Sabbath day cannot be unwed from the seventh day, it is directly and unchangeably part of its very nature. Thus, with the Lord’s Day we have something that is indeed new and distinct from the Sabbath.
Further, we find very little to indicate that the intense Sabbath commandments have somehow transferred over to the Lord’s Day. Not only do we see clear teaching that a Christian can, in good conscience, “regard every day alike” (Romans 14:5), but we also no longer see the slightest indication that Sabbath commands of ceasing from all labor are still in place following the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have both positive indications that “a Sabbath day” may be viewed as “a mere shadow of what is to come” (Colossians 2:16-17), and negative indications in that there are no post-resurrection commands for Sabbath-like observance. We simply do not have New Testament teachings that indicate the Sabbath rest laws follow into the New Covenant.
Andrew Lincoln recognizes this major dissimilarity between the days when he states that:
Sabbath-transference theology requires that once the change of day has been assumed, the Mosaic Sabbath and the Christian Sunday should be seen to have the same principle at the heart of each and so traditionally it has been held that both are a day of rest for worship. This, however, is to blur the distinction between the Old and New Covenants. It plays down the rigor of the Mosaic Sabbath, which was primarily a day of physical rest from work rather than a day for special acts of worship, and misinterprets the Christian Lord’s Day, which was appropriate for worship but by no means necessarily involved a day of rest.4
If the Lord’s Day really is a substitute for, and continuation of, the Sabbath, then we would expect a similar emphasis on work and rest, which was so central to the Sabbath in the Old Covenant. However, as we read through the New Testament, we simply do not find this to be the case. It is recognized that Jesus’s teachings are relevant, but here we are primarily focusing on the evidence in reference to the timeline of historical redemption. What Jesus said about the Sabbath is very important, but it is just as important to recognize that his observance of any Sabbath laws occurred before the resurrection and the full inauguration of the New Covenant.
As Thomas Schreiner writes:
Jesus’ observance of the Sabbath does not constitute strong evidence for its continuation in the new covenant. His observance of the Sabbath makes excellent sense, if he lived under the Old Testament law. He was “born under the law” as Paul says (Gal. 4:4). On the other hand, a careful reading of the gospel accounts intimates that the Sabbath will not continue to play a significant role.5
As we come to recognize both the significance of the seventh day for the Sabbath and the importance of rest, and then consider what the New Testament teaches about the observance of days and the practices seen on the Lord’s Day, what becomes unquestionable is that the two days are simply not interchangeable.
The Historical View
If the case is this strong, we would expect to find a large interpretative tradition for it within Church history. It just so happens that we do. A fulfillment view of the Sabbath was the dominant view throughout Church history up until the rise of the Puritan theologians (who could be very legalistic about the Sabbath). From the early church and throughout the patristic era, in the medieval church, the Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church, and even by the early reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin, the Sabbath commands of the Old Testament were not believed to be in force for Christians.
As Richard Bauckham observed about the early history of the Lord’s Day:
Our study of the origins of the Lord’s Day has given no hint of properly sabbatical associations; for the earliest Christians it was not a substitute for the Sabbath nor a day of rest nor related in any way to the fourth commandment. It was simply, by the normative custom of the apostolic church, the day on which Christians met to worship, and, for us, the use of its title, the Lord’s Day, in Revelation 1:10 gives that custom the stamp of canonical authority.6
Schreiner provides just one example which clearly demonstrates how early Christians distinguished the two days and observance of them:
The contrast between the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day is clear in Ignatius, when he says, “If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death” (To the Magnesians 9:1). Ignatius, writing about A.D. 110, specifically contrasts the Sabbath with the Lord’s Day, showing that he did not believe the latter replaced the former.7
A dominant and pervasive interpretation of a doctrine does not guarantee its accuracy, but it does hold weight. Scripture is our final authority. Nevertheless, we need to understand that there is great value found in the entirety of the Church’s witness on any given belief. The more united the front, the more authoritative the view. When that historical perspective can also be grounded by sound exegesis and clear biblical statements, the argument is, if nothing else, one that should be respected by other Christians.
Jesus Our Sabbath Rest
What can unfortunately get lost in this discussion is the very one who it is all supposed to be about, Jesus Christ. He is the substance of the Sabbath. He is our true Sabbath rest. Both now and in the age to come (Hebrews 4:9). No matter what one thinks about the Sabbath, if such thoughts are not continually bringing them to reflect on the Lord of the Sabbath, then, without a doubt, they are getting it wrong.
The Sabbath was a great gift of God to the Israelites. The rest of God in Creation on the seventh day certainly has much to teach Christians about the value of rest in a work-saturated culture. Just because the Sabbath is fulfilled, does not mean that it has nothing to teach. But, the point of the shadow is to point to the substance. To bind Christians to the shadow when the substance is offered is no gift. Those who hold to the fulfillment view do not dishonor the Sabbath. No, we view it as most holy. We simply find our rest fully in Jesus Christ and, thus, choose to view every day alike.
Notes
- The fact that the plural Sabbaths is used is important for interpreting what Paul means in Colossians 2:16-17 when he states: “Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” This provides further counter evidence against a Sabbatarian position that would argue that Paul merely means festival Sabbaths, not the weekly Sabbath. Although that interpretation is already highly suspect, the use of the plural form of Sabbath, with an immediate transition back to the singular, indicates that any and all Sabbaths are interconnected and inseparable. To argue otherwise is to superimpose a category distinction that is not original to the text.
- Of course, it could be argued that this evolved in the New Testament with Jesus’s coming and being Lord of the Sabbath. However, the point being made here is simply to demonstrate how tightly the concept of the Sabbath is tied to the seventh day.
- D. A. Carson, “Jesus and the Sabbath in the Four Gospels,” in From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation, ed. D. A. Carson (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1999), 66-67
- Andrew T. Lincoln, “From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical and Theological Perspective” in From Sabbath to Lord’s Day, ed. Carson, 352
- Thomas Schreiner, 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2010), 211
- Richard J. Bauckham, “The Lord’s Day,” in From Sabbath to Lord’s Day, ed. Carson, 240
- Schreiner, 40 Questions, 216
Further Reading
- Jesus, the Law, and the Sabbath: Remembering the Timeline
- Finding Balance Within Simplicity
- What Prevents Me From Being Baptized?
Photo by Benito sanity on Unsplash
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