The Sabbath Day Verses the
First Day of the Week
The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans
Below are brief answers to three questions
frequently asked
by Sabbatarians. It must be observed that the questions are skewed or
slanted
to their particular point of view instead of benign religious questions
for
which biblical answers are sought. We do not discount the sincerity of
whoever
worded the questions; however, it is possible to be sincerely mistaken
(i.e.,
for one's conclusions or beliefs to be unsupported by the biblical
evidence).
#1 Where
in God's word does it say that God changed His Holy Sabbath day from
the 7th
day to the 1st day?
Respecting question #1, God, at different
times, has
given mankind three different religious systems of law: Patriarchy
(beginning
with Adam and Eve), Judaism (for the Israelites, beginning with Moses
through
the cross of Christ) and Christianity (through the present). Judaism
superseded
and replaced Patriarchy (for the Israelites). Christianity superseded
Judaism
(for the Israelites) and Patriarchy (for non-Israelites), so that
everyone now
living and who ever shall live as long as time remains is amenable
exclusively
to Christianity. No one today is amenable to any part of Judaism or
Patriarchy.
Some (but not all) items under either Patriarchy or Judaism have been
reinstated under Christianity; however, the Sabbath Day, which is the
seventh
day of the week, has not been reinstated in the New Testament or in
Christianity as a holy day, a day of rest or as a day of any special
significance.
New Testament Scripture repeatedly affirms that
the Old Law
has been replaced with the New Law or Covenant or Testament. Consider
these
passages: "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the
law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make
in himself
of twain one new man, so making peace" (Ephesians
The following passage that applied initially to
first
century Jews who were reluctant to acknowledge that Christianity
replaced
Judaism applies equally to religious people today who likewise are
reluctant to
acknowledge the full impact of Christianity's replacement of Judaism:
“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new
testament;
not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the
spirit
giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven
in stones, was glorious, so that the children of
When Sabbatarians decide to accept that
Christianity has
fully replaced Judaism, the veil will be removed from before their
faces, too,
and they will no longer be Sabbatarians.
The writer of Hebrews throughout that volume
contrasts
Judaism with Christianity. Hebrews 8:6-13 speaks of the Old and New
testaments
and reminded first century Hebrew people that the prophet Jeremiah
(31:31-34) had
prophesied the replacement of Judaism with Christianity.
“But now hath he obtained a more excellent
ministry, by how
much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon
better promises. For if that first covenant had been
faultless,
then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault
with
them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make
a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not
according to
the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them
by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not
in my
covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 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: And they shall
not
teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the
Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will
be
merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I
remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath
made the
first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready
to
vanish away” (Hebrew 8:6-13).
All or most Sabbatarians acknowledge that the New Testament or Christianity has superseded even Judaism. However, Sabbatarians hedge their admission by claiming that the cross of Christ removed what they call ceremonial law (e.g., animal sacrifices) but that it has not displaced what they call moral law (e.g., the Ten Commandments). The Bible does not represent the Old Testament as comprised of two distinct segments called ceremonial law and moral law.
An additional New Testament passage respecting the
replacement of the Old Testament with the New Testament specifies some
of what
has been replaced with the New Testament by quoting one of the Ten
Commandments. "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead
wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and
not in the
oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God
forbid. Nay,
I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except
the law
had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Romans 7:6-7).
Clearly, the entire Old Testament, including the
Ten
Commandments, has been replaced with the New Testament. Since to keep
the
Sabbath Day holy is one of the Ten Commandments that has been replaced,
Old
Testament commandments respecting the Sabbath Day are no longer valid
or in
force today. Keeping the Sabbath Day holy could only be applicable
today if it
were reinstated in the New Testament, which it has not been reinstated.
Essentially the other nine commandments have been reinstated, but to
keep the
Sabbath Day holy has not been reinstated in the New Testament.
#2 Where
does it say that the 1st day of the week is now a rest day instead of
the 7th?
Regarding question #2, it has been
established
already in the foregoing that the Sabbath or seventh day has no
significance
under Christianity since (1) it is part of the Old Testament that has
been
replaced with the New Testament, and (2) nothing respecting the Sabbath
or the
seventh day of the week has been either reinstated or implemented in
the New
Testament. Regarding question #2, all that remains to address
is whether
the New Testament construes the first day of the week as a day of rest.
No, the
New Testament does not describe the first day of the week as a day of
rest.
The writer of Hebrews used the word "rest" to
refer to
#3 Where
does it say God blessed or sanctified the 1st day in place of the 7th
day to
make it holy?
Respecting question #3, the significance
of the first
day of the week is obvious from several facts contained in the New
Testament.
(1) Jesus resurrected from the grave on the first day of the week (Mark
16:9).
(2) The Lord's church began on the first day of the week; Pentecost,
the day on
which the church began, was seven Sabbaths plus one day (50 days) after
the
Passover, which means Pentecost was on the first day of the week (Acts
2:1-47).
(3) The church assembled for worship, including observance of the
Lord's Supper
and taking up a collection, on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1
Corinthians 16:1-2). Hence, the Lord's Day under the New Testament
(Revelation
Following the apostle Paul's statement to the
Colossians
that the Old Law has been nailed to the cross of Christ (2:14), he
wrote to
them that they ought to refrain from practicing those things, and being
criticized for practicing things, from which they have been delivered
when the
Old Law was removed. Included in the list of things from which they
were
delivered and that should no longer characterize them was special
attention to
the Sabbath Day and holy days. "Let no man therefore judge you in meat,
or
in drink, or in respect of an holyday, 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