What Does the Bible Say About the Sabbath?
Recently I have had several people email me questions about the Sabbath. Should we keep the Sabbath? If so, how should we observe it today? Should we worship on the Sabbath? Is it alright to miss a day of worship? Should we refuse to work on the Sabbath? On what day should the Sabbath be kept?
These are just some of the questions that I have received. I decided to post my answers in this article. I am basically doing a copy / paste of the answers that I gave in my emails (with all personal information removed of course) so this article might be a little less formal than some of the others. I hope that the information is still beneficial!
The Sabbath was originally kept on Saturdays, but the very early Christians began to worship on Sundays (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2, Rev. 1:10). They probably did this because it is the day that Jesus rose from the dead (Mat. 28:1).
I am not aware of a Scripture that says that worship should only happen on the Sabbath, or even that the Sabbath was intended by God to be a day of worship. Jews and Christians did worship on the Sabbath, but the only commandment from God was that it would be a day of rest. The Sabbath was intended as a day of rest (Ex. 20:9).
Regardless of whether God commanded worship to happen on the Sabbath, there is no rule against worshiping on any other day. Why would God want His children to worship Him on just one day of the week? To say that a person *can’t* worship on any other day but the Sabbath is just human tradition!
The Sabbath was intended as a day of rest. It was also included in the 10 Commandments, and the 10 Commandments are considered by most Christians (including myself) as being morally binding even today. So should we observe the Sabbath? Yes, I think we should. But why should we observe the Sabbath, and how should we do it? Should it be a burden? Absolutely not!
See, Jesus made it clear that the Sabbath was created for man. God knows that humans need rest, and He created the Sabbath for that reason. Humans messed it up when they created so many rules about the Sabbath that it caused the Sabbath to become the exact opposite of what God intended (Mat. 12:1-14)!
At this point it might be beneficial to quote Matthew 12:1-14, then make a couple of observations:
"At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? “Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? “But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? “How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. " (Matthew 12:1-14, NASB)
Now, some observations about this passage:
- Jesus’ disciples picked grain on the Sabbath. They were hungry and needed to eat. Jesus approved that action.
- Jesus pointed out that the priests in the Temple work on the Sabbath, but they are innocent. I think this point has a direct correlation with our church services today. The people who "work" in a church often find the "Sabbath" the most stressful day of the week! In that case, I think it’s good that those people who "work" in the church be given a day in the week to rest.
- Sometimes things have to be done on the Sabbath. If a sheep falls in a ditch, get it out. If your car breaks down and you have to fix it, get it fixed. If your boss demands that you work or be fired, then work. Sometimes exceptions have to be made. That’s not my opinion, that’s Jesus! (Mat. 12:11-13)
So what should we take from all of this? Well, my personal conclusion is that each person should try to have a day of rest in the week. I don’t think it has to be a Saturday or a Sunday. I also think that
"rest" can mean different things to different people. Hiking a difficult mountain might be relaxing for one person but hard work for another. Cleaning the house might be relaxing for some people and work for others. For example, my girlfriend finds cleaning very relaxing. I find playing a computer game or going hiking very relaxing. The definition of “rest” is very dependent on a person’s personality.
The core issue of the Sabbath is rest. Humans need a day of rest. And, as always, Jesus says it best:
"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27).
With that said, there is still one question that needs to be answered: Is it alright to “miss church”?
The answer to this question is that the Bible does not say “thou shalt attend every church service.” The first Christians met for worship every day (Acts 2:41-47; Acts 5:1-11). Sometime after that they began to meet on Sundays. But there is no Scripture that says a person has to go to church every single time the doors are open. However, the Bible does say that we should fellowship with fellow believers (Heb. 10:24), but that is only part of the command. The full passage says:
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:23-25, NASB)
There are three things to note from the above passage:
- Fellowship is important, and it should not be ignored, but there is no "thou shalt go every Sunday from 10-12" (or whatever) command.
- The reason we are to assemble is to "stimulate one another to love and good deeds."
- (This is my personal opinion): If the church that a person is attending is not loving and/or doing good deeds–if church has become a burden, not a place of rest and spiritual edification—then it might be time to pray about finding another church =). But that’s just my opinion =)
August 9th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
In the beginning when God made the 7th day a day of rest. It was the 7th day of the week which is Saturday…now, you agree on that point, but, how about the part where he santified it and made it holy. A Day set aside to think of HIM and rest……that means we should keep it holy, ergo, making it the day we worship him with other believers. We should be with HIM everyday in our everyday lives, but to worship together with like believers….I’m confused here.
September 12th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I’m reflecting on Luke 4:16 which says that Jesus went to the synagogue on Sabbath, as was his custom. I think this suggests that His custom included keeping the Sabbath by going the to worship on the Sabbath day.
September 15th, 2009 at 5:47 am
I read you take on the Sabbath(saturday) and I think to a degree it is misleading. YES IT IS LAWFUL TO DO GOOD ON THE SABBATH! This is where I would like to make my point. Yes if a animal falls in a ditch on the Sabbath we should rescue it. However to say if “your car breaks down get it fixed” or “if your boss requires you to work, work”. That is very misleading. When the Lord created the Ten Commandments it was made clear and really need no real explination. The Sabbath day is a day of rest that has been set aside. The Lord have made that day holy because if he did not man would work seven days. Now When you refer to getting a car fixed on the Sabbath you are pleasing man not God. A animal is a living creature created by God, a car is man made which does not breath life. Your boss threating to fire you, because you will not work on the Sabbath is wrong. This is where we have to trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding. I would rather lose my job and have that faith in the Lord then to disobey Gods command regarding the Sabbath. What profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his soul. If we as christians seek God guidence in everything and set the standards from the start, God will do the rest. I just wanted to bring out that point in your passage concerning the Sabbath. As a Seventh Day Adventist christian this is what I believe. I don’t expect you to just go on my word, but that you pray and ask God to direct you in what his truth is on the Sabbath.
September 15th, 2009 at 5:54 am
*** correction on a point in my previous statement. God created the Sabbath as a Holy day where we will rest in him. This is a day God has set aside for us to worship him with out the cares of the world. If God did not give us this day of rest, we would work seven days and never really give the Lord a true day of worship.
September 20th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I stopped going to church about a year ago after 15 years of some hard-core service and being extrememly active. I guess I just started to realized that I didn’t see much of a point in going anymore… it all just seemed like a show: a band gets up and plays, we all sing. A man gets up and talks (5% of his sermon being Words of God), we listen. I left the church to SAVE my faith actually. And everyone likes to “whip out” the reference of not forsaking the fellowship of believers, which, hey… it’s the Word of God therefore I totally agree with it. I also don’t think that I need to “attend church on Sunday” for me to fulfill my meeting with believers as I go to a bible study during the week as well as TONS of conversations throughout the week with my Christian friends at work.
ANYWAY, my main search recently has been trying to figure out when the Israelites went from hearing the commandment to rest and honor the sabbath to attending synagogue every sabbath. And no matter what we ‘think’ might be the deeper meaning in the commandment… it does NOT say to attend synagogue on the sabbath. In fact, no where in the Torah does it say this at all. In fact, I’m actually having trouble finding out where the Jews came up with the idea. They were such sticklers about following the written law and yet it is no where in the texts but thousands of years people have attended some kind of worship on the sabbath.
All I know is that God will hold me accountable to his Word… and His Word says to honor the sabbath and keep it holy and to not do any work.
Hmmmm… so I guess this might be considered work!
(And Josh, I’d love it if you’d email me if you have any insight into the beginnings of the sabbath church tradition)
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:04 am
I am a firm believer in what the apostle Paul states as being justified by faith, not works. God commanded that we remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. We have to understand that attending church service does not make the day holy. It is how we honor God on that day. Jesus went to the synagogue to teach, not out of religious duty. Neither God or Jesus ever came close to requiring anyone to attend a church service every sunday. There is nothing wrong with going, but to make anyone feel ashamed and condemned for not attending every sunday is not what God had in mind.
May 29th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Edit by Site Admin: Comments are not the place for Bible studies. Feel free to link to a Bible study that you have written, but please do not post them in the comments. I have deleted this Bible study, but if you would like to post it online and then link to it then that will be fine. If you need the original text then I have it filed and will be happy to email it to you =)
Thanks, and God bless.
- Josh S.
June 20th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Surprised no one mentioned Romans 14:4-6a
“Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord…”
Or, for that matter, and at risk of creating a Bible study, Colossians 2:8-17, where the sabbath is equated with types and shadows fulfilled in Christ and the Colossians are told not to allow anyone to judge them as regarding the Sabbath.
In other words, Paul is warning that we should not worry about who esteems what days holy… we are in a new era, according to him, where these symbols and types have indeed been fulfilled.
So… there is my two cents worth, at any rate…
JS
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:50 pm
This is a very interesting topic and one that I myself hold much to heart. I have studied this for the last 10 years and keep going back over all of the scriptures regularly.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he rested from all his work which God created and made. Also, Exo 31:17 tells us that “for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Man needs a day of refreshment. Because the Jews disobeyed this commandment they became slaves in Egypt and ended up working 7 days a week.
Note:
1) Why is that particular day blessed and sanctified = because He/God himself rested on that specific day
2) Which day was blessed and sanctified = the seventh day
If you study the number 7 throughout the Bible you will find some interesting facts with that number. It denotes COMPLETENESS or PERFECTION. Just google it and you will find out many facts.
God never changes Heb 13:8 tells us that Jesus Christ the same YESTERDAY, and to day, and for ever. This means that what he blessed and sanctified in the OT is blessed and sanctified in the NT.
Jesus also tells us that Mark 2:27 27 And he said unto them, The SABBATH was made for man, and not man for the SABBATH:
Next, this is one of the ten commandments. Man seems to respect all of the other 9 commandments no questions asked but the 4th commandment tends to cause division. Notice how it is written in Exodus 20:8 REMEMBER the sabbath day, to keep it holy. I wonder if God used the word REMEMBER because he knew that man would forget. We must always remember that what God commands for us to do is always for our own good. God loves us.
God takes the sabbath seriously because he says: Exo 35:2 whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. We must trust God when he tries to tell us how serious it is and we should do our utmost best to listen to him. If we really want to know the truth, he will give it to us but we must believe us and then really on his grace for the help we need. He really does know what is best. God goes on to tell us that there are many blessings and cursings for those who keep his commandments or those who choose to disobey them.
Study Lev 26:2-12, Num 15:39-40, Deut 6:6-25, Deut 7:11-21, Deut 28:1-13 (blessings) Deut 28:15-45 (curses)…
Lastly, the commandment has not changed in the NT. Notice that Jesus himself went to the synagogue on the sabbath day. Mark 1:21 There are many references to this. One point I’d like to make for those who have changed the Saturday sabbath to Sunday because of Christ’s resurrection is this. Have you noticed that when Jesus was resurrected (people say it’s on the first day of the week – Is it really?) Take a good look and notice that when the women went to the sepulchre Jesus was already gone. When did he leave? Reflect carefully on Matt 28:1 In the end of the sabbath (Saturday), AS IT BEGAN TO DAWN TOWARD the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. But Jesus was ALREADY GONE/RISEN. When did he leave or when was he really resurrected. Do we know for sure?
There are many, many, many other scriptures, but it is also important to note that even Paul waited until the next sabbath day to preach.
Acts 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next SABBATH.
44 And the next SABBATH day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
In order to honor our LORD’s command, we must walk against the whole world but I guess the one thing that I have noticed is that the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways and that this world truly does everything in it’s power to walk contrary to his word. Jesus however says that if we love him we will obey his commandments and that his commandments are not grievous.
God Bless!