Question: “If, as a Christian, I am seeking to follow the 10 Commandments, what about the Fourth Commandment?  Isn’t Saturday the Sabbath?”

Answer:  Yes.  That is the simple answer.  But, of course, there is more to it than that.  We need to consider several things—the nature of the Sabbath, the 10 Commandments, the Mosaic Law, and what God expects of Christians in the New Covenant.

First of all, the principle of keeping the Sabbath is based on the original creation.  After God created everything in six days, he ceased from his labors (Genesis 2:2).  That is what it means when it says God “rested.”  The word “Sabbath” itself means “to cease” or “to rest.”  The Sabbath day is a day to stop working and rest.  The original rest on God’s part is the foundation for the commandment to observe the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11).

Of course, God’s ceasing from work occurred on the seventh day of the creation week.  Therefore, God made the seventh day a holy day, a day of rest (Genesis 2:3, Exodus 20:11).  This original declaration of God regarding the Sabbath was codified in the Ten Commandments and made a part of the Mosaic Law (Exodus 23:12).  For the Jews, the seventh day was the Sabbath.  It was a holy day to God, sanctified for rest, worship, and family.  The Sabbath was a perpetual sign of Israel’s covenant with the Lord (Exodus 31:16-17).  God considered this such a serious matter that to violate the Sabbath was punishable by death (Exodus 31:14-15).

For ancient Israel, the Mosaic Law, including the Ten Commandments, was both a moral law and a civil code for the Jewish nation.  Following the Law of Moses was a requirement to be ritually pure and capable of worshiping in the Temple.  Pleasing God was tied to observance of the Law.  Of course, the problem with this is that no person can fulfill all the requirements of the Law.  The sinful nature of human beings prevents this (Romans 8:3, Galatians 3:21-25).  Therefore, a better covenant and a superior means of approaching God were required.  This was done through Christ and his atoning sacrifice on the cross.  Christ completed and fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17, Romans 10:4).

For the Christian believer, the Law (including the Ten Commandments) is no longer the means of atonement and reconciliation with God.  We are justified by grace through faith.  We serve in trust and love.  However, this faith does prompt us to obedience.  For the believer, the Ten Commandments are a moral guide for living a godly life that will honor the Lord.  Obedience to them does not save us.  We cannot be saved through the Law at all, including the Ten Commandments (Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16).  We are only saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).  However, our faith in Christ compels us to live as obedient servants of the Lord, including the moral code of the Ten Commandments.

It is interesting that in one form or another, the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament (cf. Mark 10:19).  The one exception is the Fourth Commandment.  Jesus certainly observed the Sabbath himself and talked about the Sabbath.  But there is nothing in his teaching, or the teaching of the Apostles, that admonishes us to keep the Sabbath.  Jesus did stress that the original intent of the Sabbath was to provide rest; that the Sabbath was created “for man” (Mark 2:27).  In saying this, the Lord emphasized the importance of the principle of Sabbath-keeping but removed the legalistic requirements of the Sabbath.  Essentially, the Savior said that people need days of rest, but the outward demands and restrictions of Sabbath-keeping are no longer necessary.

The early church, being mostly Jewish, continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath (Acts 13:14, 17:1-2, 18:1-4).  However, they also began to keep the first day of the week as “the Lord’s Day” (Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Revelation 1:10).  This was done in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, which occurred on the first day of the week (Luke 24:1).  For the 1^st century Messianic believers in Jesus, this was a day of worship, but not a day of rest.  After the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70, the church became increasingly a Gentile movement.  As such, observance of the Sabbath faded away.  At the same time, worship on the first day of the week became more common.  First-day worship services were mentioned by Christian writers of the second century, such as Justin Martyr.  The Roman writer Pliny the Younger apparently referred to this practice when he noted that Christians “met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately among themselves in honor of Christ.” 

So in the early church (mostly Jewish), there was both a seventh-day Sabbath rest and a first-day worship service.  Paul was aware of both practices.  He also plainly teaches that it doesn’t matter which day people worship.  He even says that Christians do not have to observe any day as holy.  Consider his words about this matter:

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.  Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.  (Romans 14:5-6)

In discussing matters of personal conscience, whether eating meat or observing holy days, the Apostle Paul is clear that we should not judge others.  We are to leave such matters to the individuals themselves and let them walk according to their own convictions.  Listen to Paul’s teaching:

You then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat… Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another…  So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.   (Romans 14:10, 13, 22)

Paul further summarizes his teaching by saying, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17).  Notice that ritual observances of the Law, including the Sabbath, are only a “shadow” compared to the reality we have in Christ.

If we make observing the Sabbath a religious and moral requirement for Christian believers, then we are returning to a legalistic view of salvation.  Paul is clear about this in Galatians.  He rebukes the Galatians for returning to keeping “special days” (Galatians 4:10).

As Gentiles increased in numbers, the early church met to decide how to deal with them, and what the proper moral requirements were for them to follow.  The Council of Jerusalem laid out a moral code for Gentile believers (Acts 15:28-29).  Observing the Sabbath was not included in their guidelines for Gentile Christians.

Some claim that observing the first day of the week as a Christian holy day began in the 4^th century.  It is asserted that when Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, he also changed the day of worship to Sunday instead of Saturday.  It is said that he did this because he was a follower of the pagan sun god.  However, history does not bear this out.  As we have already seen, the first-century Christians observed a first-day worship service.  In addition, the early Church Fathers from Ignatius to Augustine all stated that the Christian day of worship (Sunday) had replaced the Jewish Sabbath.

In a technical sense, Christians who worship on Sunday do not observe the Sabbath.  Instead, they celebrate the Lord’s Day.  It is clear that God declared the seventh day as the Sabbath (Genesis 2:3).  Christians now are freed from the legalistic restraints of the Law, and may worship on any day they choose (Romans 14:5-6).  Some observe the Sabbath, the seventh day, as a time of rest and worship.  Others choose to worship on the Lord’s Day.  Either one is acceptable according to the New Testament.  And Christians in either camp should not judge others in a different camp.  The bottom line is always to love.  This is the essence of Paul’s teaching about matters of conscience and conviction (including the Sabbath) in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8.  Based on Paul’s teaching, we may say that it doesn’t matter whether a believer considers Sunday a sacred day, thinks Saturday is holy, or believes that every day is holy.  Each person should decide for themselves.

However, we should consider the question of whether Christians should have a day of rest.  The simple is yes.  Jesus told us that “the Sabbath was made for man.”  The Lord knew that we needed rest, and that is why he instituted the Sabbath in the first place.  It is true that New Covenant believers are not required to observe the Sabbath.  However, the practice of Sabbath-keeping has great merit.  To observe one day out of seven as a day of rest is prudent and of great benefit.  In a too-hurried, busy world, it would be wise to return to Sabbath-keeping—not as a legalistic requirement, but as a sensible practice that is good for our spiritual, mental, and physical health. 

How important is this practice?  While all that we have said above about the Mosaic Law and its requirements is true, we cannot dismiss the fact that keeping the Sabbath is enshrined in the Ten Commandments.  God considered it that important.  We would do well to have a day of rest once a week.  We need it.  At the same time, it is also good to have one day a week devoted to the Lord’s worship.  One other factor to consider in this regard.  It would be good for Christians to regain a reverent sense of the holy.  We have often forgotten this in our secularized, too-busy, consumeristic culture.  Sabbath-keeping is a weekly reminder that God is holy and deserves time devoted to his worship and nothing else.