Sabbath in the New Testament: An Enduring Command

The New Testament does not contain any direct command or intimation that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day to the first day of the week, or that Christians are to observe a different weekly Sabbath than the one God ordained at Creation. Instead, the New Testament consistently refers to the seventh day as the Sabbath. Let us explore this truth together! ✨📖

The Consistency of the Sabbath in the New Testament

The Scriptures clearly show that the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day, was still observed by Christ and His followers in the New Testament era.

• The Gospel of Luke records the women who prepared spices to anoint Jesus' body after His crucifixion: "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment." - Luke 23:56. This verse, written approximately thirty years after the resurrection, demonstrates that even Christ's own followers continued to observe the Sabbath as commanded. The very next verse confirms this: "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher." - Luke 24:1. This clearly shows that the day of their rest, the Sabbath, was the day before the first day of the week.

• Jesus Himself affirmed the Sabbath's purpose, stating, "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:" - Mark 2:27. This highlights that the Sabbath was established for the benefit of all humanity, not just for a specific group of people or a particular time. The creation account in Genesis reveals its origin: "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." - Genesis 2:2-3. This blessing and sanctification of the seventh day by God Himself establishes its enduring sacredness.

• The Apostle Paul, in his ministry to both Jews and Gentiles, consistently attended synagogue on the Sabbath. For example, in Acts, we read: "And Paul, as his manner was, went in to them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures," - Acts 17:2. In another instance, when Paul preached in Antioch, Gentiles requested that he speak to them again: "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles sought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath." - Acts 13:42. And what happened on the next Sabbath? "And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." - Acts 13:44. This demonstrates that the Sabbath continued to be a day of worship and instruction for early Christians, including the Gentiles.

Understanding Colossians 2:16-17

Some interpret Colossians 2:16-17 as evidence that the Sabbath has been abolished. Let's look at this passage carefully: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." - Colossians 2:16-17.

To understand this, we must consider the broader context. The apostle Paul distinguishes between the ceremonial ordinances and the moral law. He states that God blotted out the "handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;" - Colossians 2:14. This "handwriting of ordinances" refers to the ceremonial laws, feast days, new moons, and specific annual sabbaths associated with the Jewish system, which were "a shadow of things to come."

• Leviticus chapter 23 clearly distinguishes between the weekly Sabbath of the Lord and various annual feast-day "sabbaths." For instance, it speaks of a "sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets," and a "sabbath of rest" on the Day of Atonement, and also sabbaths connected with the Feast of Tabernacles. These were "besides the sabbaths of the Lord." - Leviticus 23:24, 32, 39. These specific ceremonial sabbaths, along with the "meat, or in drink," were indeed shadows that pointed to Christ and found their fulfillment in Him. The moral law, including the Ten Commandments, remains eternally binding.

The Sabbath of the fourth commandment, however, is presented throughout Scripture not as a shadow but as a perpetual memorial of creation and a sign between God and His people. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work... For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." - Exodus 20:8-11.

The Enduring Law of God

The Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, were written by God's own finger on tables of stone, signifying their eternal nature. Jeremiah prophesied of a new covenant where God would write His law not on stone, but in the hearts of His people: "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." - Jeremiah 31:33. The Apostle Paul reinforces this in Hebrews, stating, "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second... For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:" - Hebrews 8:7, 10. The law itself is not abolished; rather, it is transformed from an external code to an internal principle of life in the heart of the believer.

The New Testament does not abolish God's law, but rather upholds and deepens our understanding of it. Jesus declared, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." - Matthew 5:17-18. Our Lord did not come to do away with the holy law of God but to live it out perfectly and empower us through His grace to do the same.

In the heavenly country, the redeemed will continue to worship the Lord from Sabbath to Sabbath: "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." - Isaiah 66:22-23. This vision of the future reinforces the eternal nature of the Sabbath as a day of worship.

May these truths guide us in living lives that honor our Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who is Lord of the Sabbath! 🙏❤️