What is the Sabbath? Traditionally,it is the practice of dedicating a day of rest devoted to God on the seventhday of the week (Sabbath literally means “seventh”), as modeled in God’s workof creation and commanded under the Law of Moses (Ex. 20; Deut. 5). Throughoutchurch history, there have been various ways how Christians have regarded theSabbath, with most emphasizing that the legal requirements of the Law of Mosesare no longer binding, but that if one so chooses, the Sabbath may be continuedas an act of love and devotion rather than of legal observance.

Evidence from the Gospels:The Gospels show the Sabbath as being re-oriented in its meaning toward theperson of Christ, to be fulfilled in him:

-       Jesus in the Gospels – Jesus and hisdisciples observe the Sabbath-laws just like any godly Jews, since the NewCovenant has not yet been established by Jesus’s death. On the other hand,Jesus is regularly presented as pushing the boundaries of normal practice inhis Sabbath-keeping, re-orienting its meaning around his own identity (e.g.,calling himself “Lord of the Sabbath”). Jesus reinterprets Sabbath practicesfrom an emphasis on simply keeping the Law to an emphasis on pursuing God’screated intent for humanity—“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for theSabbath” (Mark 2:27). Ultimately, Jesus’s “rest” on the seventh day of hispassion-week—when he was lying in the grave—sums up the Christologicalsignificance of the Sabbath, as the event to which the Old Testament pointed.

-       Jesus’s Fulfillment of the Law – Thecommand to observe the Sabbath is foundational to the Old Testament covenantwith Israel, given to Moses in the Ten Commandments. In the Gospels, Jesus issaid to fulfill the Law, not abolish it (Matt. 5:17). In practice, this meansthat the commands of the Law of Moses are considered binding on Christianswhere they reflect the character of God (since Jesus is himself the Son ofGod), but the practical laws intended to regulate Israelite culture are only bindinginsofar as they convey unchanging moral principles. For example, the lawsrelating to Temple sacrifices are fulfilled by Christ and are no longer bindingon Christians, but they do continue to inform us about foundational moralprinciples regarding sin and atonement. In Christian tradition, the Sabbath isusually thought to be one of these practical laws. It tells us valuable thingsabout who God is and who we are, but its letter-of-the-law practice is nolonger binding on Christians.

o   Butwhat about the Ten Commandments? The position outlined above surprisessome people, as it appears to negate one of the Ten Commandments, but rememberthat the Ten Commandments were given as part of the Mosaic covenant, which weare no longer directly under. This does not mean, however, that the other rulesin the Ten Commandments are somehow optional, because most of them are morallaws which reflect the character of God, and so they represent a standard ofunchanging reality. Because God is still God and sin is still sin, murder andadultery and so on continue to be prohibited in Christian practice, but theSabbath was a command specifically oriented toward the religious practices ofancient Israel, and was not required of God’s followers who were not under theLaw of Moses (like all of the great men and women of faith in Genesis). In thesame way that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were never asked to keep the Sabbath,neither are we who are under the New Covenant. Nevertheless, we must rememberthat while Christ fulfills the Law, he does not abolish it, so while we’re notobligated to a letter-of-the-law observance of the Sabbath, we should stillseek out and apply the principles behind it.

Other New TestamentEvidence: The New Testament shows that the idea of Sabbath now appliesto the Christian’s whole life in Christ (see Heb. 4), and that Christians werenot expected to keep the Sabbath laws of the Old Covenant (see Acts 15, 21;Col. 2).

-       In Acts 15:19-21, there are only threeLaw-oriented rules which the apostles require of Gentile converts: to abstainfrom food sacrificed to idols, from the meat of strangled animals or blood, andfrom sexual immorality. These combine practical laws about food with morallaws, with the idea being that breaking these laws would make GentileChristians offensive to the Jewish believers in whose company they now live(see v.21). Gentile Christians are not asked to keep the Sabbath; it is not oneof the three requirements (see also Acts 21:25).

-       Colossians 2:16-17: “Do not let anyonejudge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, aNew Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things thatwere to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

-       Hebrews 4:9-10 [using the Sabbathallegorically to speak of salvation in Christ]: “There remains, then, aSabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also restsfrom their works, just as God did from his.”

Evidence from the EarlyChurch: It appears that early Christians considered the Sabbath to havebeen fulfilled in Jesus, and they no longer practiced the Sabbath laws of theOld Testament. Instead, they saw life in Christ as an obligation to a“perpetual Sabbath,” ordered around refraining from sin and resting in God’ssalvific work on their behalf. They did not see this as a relaxation of theSabbath ordinance, but, if anything, an expansion of it.

-       Ignatius of Antioch (late 1st,early 2nd century, a student of the apostles): “If, then, thosewho had lived according to ancient practices came to the newness of hope, nolonger keeping the Sabbath but living in accordance with the Lord’s day, onwhich our life also arose […] how can we possibly [do less]?”

-       Justin Martyr (mid-2nd century):“The new law requires you to keep a perpetual Sabbath. However, you [a Jew] areidle for one day, and suppose you are godly. […] If there is a thief among you,let him cease to be so […]. Then he has kept the true Sabbath of God.”

-       Irenaeus (mid-late 2nd century):“The Sabbaths taught that we should continue day by day in God’s service […],abstaining from all avarice. […] However, man was not justified by these things.This fact is evident, for Abraham himself—without the observance ofSabbaths—‘believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’”

-       Tertullian (late 2nd, early 3rdcentury): “Let the one who contends that the Sabbath is still to beobserved as a balm of salvation prove to us that in times past righteous men(like Enoch, Noah, or Melchizedek) kept the Sabbath and were thereby madefriends of God. […] Just as the abolition of fleshly circumcision and of theold Law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific times, soalso the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary. […]We Christians understand that we still more should observe a Sabbath from all[unbefitting works]. This is not only every seventh day, but at all times.”

-       Apostolic Constitutions (3rdcentury): “God had given the commandment to keep the Sabbath [to Moses], byresting on it for the sake of meditating on the laws. However, he has nowcommanded us to meditate on the law of creation and of providence every day.[…] There is only one Sabbath to be observed by you during the whole year—thatof our Lord’s burial. On that day, men should keep a fast, but not a festival.”

How Should Christians Keepthe Sabbath?

1.)   First,recognize that in Christ, we have been given rest from the works of the Law, andare no longer tasked with earning our favor with God by means of following achecklist of rules. Rather, we are saved by grace, and we rest in Christ’s workon our behalf.

2.)   Second,seek to keep a “perpetual Sabbath”—leaving the works of the world behind anddevoting yourself to God every day of the week.

3.)   Third,while not required of Christians, it is helpful to recognize that Sabbath wasgiven to God’s people as a blessing, and that we can grow in a healthy andwell-ordered devotional life by choosing to practice it—not because we have to,but because it is the gift of a good and loving God. As such, Christians havedeveloped a variety of Sabbath practices, from devoting a “Sabbath hour” ineach day to choosing a particular day, like Saturday or Sunday.

a.     For most, the best practice is to set aside oneday per week if you are able—and preferably the seventh day—to put aside work,distractions, and other obligations, and carve out intentional time to spend inthe presence of the Lord. While Christians are not required to do this, doing iton the actual Sabbath helps us order our lives according to the biblical cyclesof both God’s creation and Jesus’s passion. For Christians, a continuingpractice of honoring the Sabbath on the seventh day also helps prepare ourhearts and minds for worship on the next day, Sunday.

b.    Just remember that if you choose to keep Sabbaththis way, it is a gift of God and not a law that earns you favor or merit.There is a danger of sliding into a “works-righteousness” faith, and we need tobe vigilant about that. Do not fall into the trap of judging others for notkeeping the same kind of Sabbath you do, and also don’t judge yourself tooharshly if your own practice of Sabbath fails to live up to your hopes andexpectations for yourself.