Should we keep
the Sabbath or not?
Exodus 20:8; 23:12; 31:15; Deuteronomy 5:12;
Leviticus 26:2
and and Romans 14:5; Colossians 2:16
Keep the Sabbath
(Exodus 20:8) - "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
(Exodus 23:12) - "Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor in order that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves."
(Exodus 31:15) - "For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death."
(Deuteronomy 5:12) - "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you."
(Leviticus 26:2) - "You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the Lord."
Don't keep the Sabbath
(Romans 14:5) - "One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind."
(Colossians 2:16) - "Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day."
It was the custom of
the Jews to come together on the Sabbath, which is Saturday, cease work, and
worship God. Of the 10 commandments listed in Exodus
20:1-17, only nine of them were reinstituted by in the New Testament. (Six
in Matthew 19:18,
murder, adultery, stealing, false witness, honor parents, and worshiping God; Romans
13:9, coveting. Worshiping God properly covers the first three commandments)
The one that was not reaffirmed was the one about the Sabbath. Instead, Jesus
said that He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt.
12:8).
In creation God rested on the seventh day. But, since
God is all powerful, He doesn’t get tired. He doesn’t need to take a break
and rest. So, why did does it say that He rested? The reason is simple: Mark
2:27 says, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the
Sabbath." In other words, God established the Sabbath as a rest for His
people, not because He needed a break, but because we are mortal and need a time
of rest, of focus on God. In this, our spirits and bodies are both renewed.
The O.T. system of Law required keeping the Sabbath as
part of the overall moral, legal, and sacrificial system by which the Jewish
people satisfied God’s requirements for behavior, government, and forgiveness
of sins. The Sabbath was part of the Law in that sense. In order to
"remain" in favor with God, you had to also keep the Sabbath. If it
was not kept, then the person was in sin and would often be punished (Ezekiel
18:4; Rom. 6:23; Deut.
13:1-9; Num. 35:31;
Lev. 20:2, etc.).
But with Jesus’ atonement, and justification by faith
(Rom. 5:1), we no
longer are required to keep the Law and hence the Sabbath which was only a
shadow of things to come (Col.
2:16-17). We are not under Law, but grace (Rom.
6:14-15). The Sabbath is fulfilled in Jesus because in Him we have rest (Matt.
11:28). We are not under obligation to keep the Law and this
goes for the Sabbath as well.