Why Do Christians Celebrate Sabbath On Sunday – The Christian world for some time observed two different days. On the one hand, most Christians faithfully observe Sunday, the first day of the week, which they consider the memorial of Christ’s resurrection. A large group of Christians, on the other hand, just as sincerely believe that the Bible only recognizes the seventh day as the Sabbath and nowhere affirms the sanctity of Sunday.
Does it really matter which day we observe as the Sabbath? As sincere people who want to know the truth, we must always ask ourselves: “What is important to Jesus? What does Jesus want me to do?”
Why Do Christians Celebrate Sabbath On Sunday
Finally, we need the assurance to follow the truth of the Bible and obey God’s instructions when He says: “This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).
The Lord’s Day: Reclaiming Sunday And Transforming The Culture
In deciding on the divine day of worship, several important questions must be answered: “Who changed the Sabbath from Saturday, the seventh day of the week, to Sunday, the first day of the week? Did the Bible authorize such a change? If so, did God, Christ or maybe the apostles made the change?” “
Is there any statement from God changing the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week? Most Christians accept the Ten Commandments, given by God at Sinai, as a valid guide for living by them. Moses reminded Israel:
“The Lord spoke these words to all your congregation, on the mountain through the fire, the cloud and the dense darkness. And he added nothing more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me” (Deuteronomy 5:22).
The Ten Commandments are the only message that God personally wrote to mankind. They are so important that he wrote them on stone with his own finger (Exodus 31:18). In the fourth commandment, God teaches us:
What Did Jesus Teach About The Sabbath?
“Remember to keep the Sabbath holy. For six days you shall work and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Do not do any work in it. . . . For in six days the Lord created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).
When God created our world, He set apart the seventh day as the “Sabbath of the Lord” by three divine acts (Genesis 2:1-3). God:
Again at Sinai, when He gave the Ten Commandments, God repeated the same truths. He also explained that no human should modify or edit the instructions that came from His holy lips. “Do not add to the promise that I make to you, nor take from it, so that you may obey the Lord your God, which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2).
God himself promises not to change his commandments: “I will not break my covenant, I will not change the word of my lips” (Psalm 89:34). The Bible is clear that God did not change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week.
Keeping The Sabbath: 10 Tips
According to Jesus, the Ten Commandments and all the moral principles of the Old Testament scriptures cannot be changed; He will continue to guide his followers:
“Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one jot will pass from the law until all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks the least of these commandments and teaches men thus, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19).
Jesus faithfully respected and observed the Sabbath. He is our example of keeping the Sabbath. “He [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he was brought up. And according to his custom he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath” (Luke 4:16).
Looking to the future, Jesus wanted His disciples to continue to experience the joy of true Sabbath observance. He asked them to pray so that, during the siege, they would not have to flee Jerusalem on the Sabbath. “Pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the sabbath” (Matthew 24:20).
Did The Early Church Move The Sabbath From Saturday To Sunday?
Jesus spoke about the destruction of Jerusalem – an event that took place in the year 70 AD, about 40 years after his resurrection. Jesus did not change the Sabbath commandment or any other commandment. In fact, He told the rich young ruler to obey the Ten Commandments (Matthew 19:16-22). Jesus’ teaching and example make it clear that we still need the Sabbath to rest, relax and spend time with God.
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he is guilty of everything. For he who said: Do not commit adultery, also said: Do not kill. Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you are a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10, 11).
“On the Sabbath we went out of the city to the river, where the prayers were said; And we sat down and talked with the women who were there” (Acts 16:13).
“For he [God] spoke thus in a certain place on the seventh day: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his work’ [see Genesis 2:2]. . . . Therefore there remains the twentieth [Sabbath] for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:4, 9).
Which Day Is The Sabbath According To The Bible?
The New Testament Book of Acts mentions 84 different Sabbaths observed by the apostles, during 14 years after the resurrection of Jesus.
John, the last of the 12 apostles to die, wrote five books of the Bible – gospel, three epistles (epistles), and the prophetic book of Revelation. Jesus died around 100 AD, about 70 years after his resurrection.
Nowhere in all his writings does he speak of changing the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week. In fact, John himself kept the Sabbath. He wrote: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10). According to Jesus, the Lord’s day is the Sabbath: “The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8).
A search of the scriptural evidence shows that the apostles did not try to change God’s day of rest from the seventh day (Saturday) to the first day of the week (Sunday). The first day of the week is mentioned only eight times in the New Testament. In none of these instances is the first day of the week spoken of as a holy day, nor is there any indication that we should observe it as a day of worship.
Working On Not Working On The Sabbath
A careful examination of the eight texts that refer to the first day of the week reveals what happened in those Sunday events:
2. “When the Sabbath was over,” the women brought spices to anoint Jesus’ body “early on the first day of the week” (Mark 16:1, 2).
4. After resting “as commanded” on the Sabbath (Luke 23:56), the women came to the tomb of Jesus early “on the first day of the week” (Luke 24:1).
5. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found the tomb empty “on the first day of the week” (John 20:1).
What Is The Sabbath In The Bible? Origin Of The Sabbath, Day Of The Week, Meaning, And Importance
6. The disciples gathered on the first day of the week “for fear of the Jews” (not for worship) (John 20:19).
7. Paul told the church members to count their funds “on the first day of the week” and to “put something aside” for the poor in Jerusalem (1 Cor 16:1, 2). No religious meeting is mentioned in the passage.
8. In Acts 20:7 Luke speaks of the disciples gathering “to break bread” and of Paul preaching an impromptu farewell meeting “on the first day of the week”. Elsewhere, Luke describes the early Christians as meeting “daily” for fellowship, breaking bread, praising God, and praying (Acts 2:41-47).
None of these verses suggest that the apostles intended to stop observing the seventh Sabbath and begin worshiping on Sunday. There is clearly no evidence in the New Testament to change the Sabbath from Saturday, the seventh day of the week, to Sunday, the first day of the week. This change came after the days of Jesus and the apostles, so we must turn to history to see when and how this change occurred.
Why Isn’t The Sabbath On Saturday?
After the New Testament was fulfilled and all the apostles died, there was a change of observance from the Sabbath to Sunday. History records that Christians later changed from worship and rest on the seventh day to the first day of the week.
“The history of the problem shows that in some places, after a few centuries, the Sabbath rest completely disappeared, and then came the practice of observing physical rest on Sunday” (Vincent J. Kelly,
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