"WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE SABBATH"

The Bible says that the Sabbath was a day set aside by God as a day of rest and holy remembrance of God by Israel (Deuteronomy 5:1-15; Exodus 31:16-17; Ezekiel 20:10-12). No work was to be done on the Sabbath as a remembrance of the day God ceased from His creation of the universe (Genesis 2:2).

The Bible says that the Sabbath was a perpetual day for Israel (Exodus 31:16-17). It was to be kept as long as Israel was God's chosen people. Since God's "chosen" is now the church there is no longer a binding command to keep the Sabbath (Isaiah 24:5; Zechariah 11:10-11). Paul wrote to the church at Galatia regarding this issue:

"But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?"{10} "You observe days and months and seasons and years ", {11} "I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain, " (Galatians 4.9-11).

If we must still keep the Sabbath today then we must also observe other elements of the same law such as the Passover, the offering of animal sacrifices, and burning of incense on an altar (Exodus 12:14; 30:8; 29:42; Numbers 15:38).

The Bible says that under the new covenant of Christ the first day of the week is the day of worship and remembrance of the death of Jesus (Acts 20:6-7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2). This is probably due to the fact that Jesus arose on the first day of the week and appeared to His disciples on the first day of the week (Mark 16:9; Luke 24:13-36; John 20:19-26).

There is no command or precedent in the New Testament that authorizes the same prohibitions against work or other activity on the first day of the week that were observed by Israel on the Sabbath. There is no reference in the New Testament referring to Sunday as the "Christian Sabbath."

David Decker              

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