In the Old Testament, God commands his people to keep the Sabbath, the seventh day of week or Saturday, by refraining from work and dedicating the time to rest and worship. Many Christians believe that the Sabbath was changed into the first day of the week or Sunday, also called the Lord's Day, and continues to have the same purpose and requirements. This Sabbatarianism is described in the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 21, paragraphs 7 and 8. It's a doctrine and practice over which Christians can agree to disagree, but it exposes important issues which are useful to understand. My position comes from New Covenant Theology or Progressive Covenantalism taught by reformed Baptists (that is, I didn't come up with this.)
While the Sabbath was grounded in God's pattern set in the creation week, it is only commanded to man as part of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11), which is the opening and summary text of the Mosaic Law. The word Sabbath first appears when manna is given (Exodus 16), much like the first Passover is described a few chapters before it is instituted as part of the Law (Exodus 12). When God finishes his initial law giving in the book of Exodus, he calls the Sabbath the sign of the covenant (Exodus 31:13), just like circumcision was given as the sign and seal of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17).
The Gospels show that Jesus was a faithful Jew who kept the Sabbath, but even in Jesus' teaching there are hints that something is changing (Luke 6:1-11). The rest of the New Testament explains this change by teaching that the Sabbath has been fulfilled in Christ, along with all of the Mosaic Law (Galatians 3:17-29, Colossians 2:16), In a similar way, Jesus hints that dietary and sacrificial laws would change (Mark 7:19, Mark 13:1), but he leaves it to his Apostles to explain it fully. Paul instructs Christians to graciously accept brothers who still practice the Sabbath (Romans 14:5), but he is clear in the same passage about the reality of Christian freedom from Mosaic Law (Romans 14:14).
The Christian practice of faithfully gathering on the Lord's Day is related to the Sabbath, just like baptism is related to circumcision and the Lord's Supper is related to Passover, but this relation is one of shadow giving way to substance (Hebrews 8:5, 10:1). There is continuity and discontinuity between Old and New, but we need some guide or rule to understand it.
The Westminster Confession of Faith describes a tri-partite division of Mosaic Law in chapter 19. The moral part of the Law is binding in all ages, while the ceremonial and judicial parts of the Law were temporary, only for the Old Covenant age. While this system has some value in distinguishing continuity and discontinuity, it doesn't actually help distinguish which individual laws are in each part. The Sabbath seems ceremonial, like the monthly and yearly festivals, but Westminster assumes it is part of the moral law, likely because of its placement in the Ten Commandments.
Instead, I believe the teaching of Jesus, as contained in the whole New Testament, is the Christian's guide to understanding the Old Testament. Some say that where the New Testament is silent, the Old Testament is still binding. But I find the New Testament is not silent in any matter that binds the conscience. The simple principle is that we are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law, which has been made obsolete, but are under the Law of Christ (Hebrews 8:13, 1 Corinthians 9:21, Galatians 5:18). In a similar way, an American citizen sees great continuity between his country's laws and British common law, but he is clearly only under the jurisdiction of the former. The Old Testament is still the infallible and authoritative Word of God, the revelation of his character and purposes, but it must be understood in submission to Christ, which means we always read it in the light of the New Testament.
The one passage in the New Testament that explicitly calls for continued observance of the Sabbath actually commands the New Covenant fulfillment of faith in Christ, not Old Covenant practice. Hebrews 3 and 4 quotes from Psalm 95, "Today if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion...As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'" The author reasons that the Psalm describes the Israelites refusing to enter Canaan under Joshua (3:16), yet it was written by David hundreds of years after that event (4:7). He then argues that there remains an ongoing command and opportunity to believe God and enter his rest (4:8). And then he says, "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest." This Sabbath rest has the same precedent in God's creation week, it's related to the Mosaic Sabbath rest, but it is a rest from keeping the Mosaic Law by instead trusting in Christ who is the better mediator, better high priest, better sacrifice and better temple. If this one reference to the Sabbath establishes a continuation of Old Covenant practice, it makes no sense of the immediate context or the argument of the entire book.
Finally, how does this affect my practice? I have no trouble being in close fellowship with Christians who practice a Sabbath day. I would never want to flaunt my freedom. I highly value the gathering of the church on the Lord's Day and the wisdom of taking a break from work and using the time to worship God and studying his Word. I'm even writing this blog post on a quiet, easy Sunday afternoon. But I don't call it Sabbath keeping. Christ is my Sabbath and I have entered into his rest by faith.
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