International Bible Teaching Ministries
The Sabbath’s Application
Question 1: What caused the Sabbath to change from the last day of the week to the first day of the week?
ANSWER: This so-called "change" has occurred only in the mind and vocabulary of man. It is not biblical to refer to the first day of the week as "the Sabbath." People today, under the New Testament, are not directed or authorized to keep the seventh day, but, rather, are directed to worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 16:1-2). Keeping of the seventh day (the Sabbath) was a part of the Old Testament Law, which was done away with in Christ (II Corinthians 3; Galatians 3:16-19; Ephesians 2:13-14; Hebrews 7:12; Hebrews 8:7). Christians cannot observe any part of the Old Law (including the Sabbath), because to do so is to fall from grace (Galatians 5:4)! Neither may they permit any man to judge them in respect of the Sabbath days (Colossians 2:16).
Question 2: Why is it not allowable to work on the Sabbath as some teach?
ANSWER: The reason that Israel, under the Old Law, was not to work on the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week, i.e., Saturday) is given in Exodus 20:8-11. We today are no longer under any part of that Old Law, but rather all people from the cross until the end of time have been, are, and will be, answerable only to the New Testament. (Please read Romans 7:1-7; II Corinthians 3:1-18; Galatians 3:24-25; Ephesians 2:13-16; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 7:12 & 8:7).
The Bible is clear that Christians are to worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 16:1-2; Revelation 1:10; Colossians 2:16).
Question 3: Does Hebrews 4:10 teach that we are to keep the Sabbath Day, because God rested on the seventh day?
ANSWER: No! The "rest" promised to the people of God (Vs.8-10) has reference to the eternal rest (heaven) and not to the seventh day of the week. As God rested from His labor after the creation, faithful Christians too shall rest, according to His promise, after their labors are over.
Question 4: Some say we are to worship on Sundays; some say Saturday. I believe we are to assemble for worship every day of our lives and that we cannot forsake the assembling on Sundays or any other day. Would you please clarify this for me?
ANSWER: Your desire to assemble for worship to God every day is commendable. However, we need to be careful not to bind things where the Bible has not bound. That the saints are to assemble to worship God on Sunday, the first day of the week, is clearly set forth in Acts 20:7 and I Corinthians 16:1-2. On this day only are we to partake of the Lord's Supper and contribute as God has prospered us. The other acts of worship (teaching, singing and praying), which occur on the Lord's Day, may, as well, be engaged in on other days of the week. The frequency of such worship assemblies may scripturally vary from congregation to congregation, depending upon many local factors, such as: the spiritual needs of a congregation; the proximity of members to a place of assembly; transportation issues; the necessity of individual employment to financially support self, family, and the work of the local congregation, etc. A wise eldership or the faithful men of the congregation, if no eldership exists, will consider all such factors before selecting times and dates of assembly. To insist that all members of a congregation must assemble for public assembly each and every day of the week, under any and all conditions, is to go beyond that which is written (I Corinthians 4:6; Revelation 22:18-19).
Question 5: Did Jesus command anyone to keep the Sabbath (Matthew 24:20; Matthew 12:12; Mark 2:27)?
ANSWER: Jesus commanded only those who lived under the Old Testament (those who lived before His death on the Cross) to keep the Sabbath, just as He did! As shown above, the Old Testament was no longer binding after the death of Christ, including Sabbath-keeping! None were commanded to keep the Sabbath after the Cross!
It should be noted that Matthew 24:20 is not a command to keep the Sabbath under any circumstance. The reason that Jewish Christians were to pray that their flight from the destruction of Jerusalem would not occur on the Sabbath Day was because it was the custom of those Jews, who would still (in error) be keeping the Old Law, to close the gates of the city on the Sabbath Day. If Christians had to flee on that day, then, because the gates would be closed, they couldn’t get out of the city! Therefore, they were to pray that it wouldn’t be necessary for them to flee on the Sabbath!
Note too what is said in Mark 2:27: It simply says that the Sabbath (for the appointed time) was in the best interest of man. In the Verse 28, we note that Jesus is “Lord also of the Sabbath.” This means He can say what should and should not be done on that day; that it is His to do with whatever He wants. And He, through men inspired of the Holy Spirit whom He had sent, said in Romans 7:1-7, that we are ‘dead to it, and we are delivered from it’ and in Colossians 2:16, that we are not to allow anyone to pronounce sentence on us regarding it.’ In other words, Jesus did with it what He wanted to do with it!
Question 6: Does not the fact that God said, “Remember” the Sabbath Day to keep it holy indicate that the Sabbath was already being kept and in the minds of the Israelites?
ANSWER: No! The idea that because God said “Remember” the Sabbath Day to keep it holy indicates that it was God’s law from the beginning is totally without merit and is a grasping of the wind. Such a suggestion is at odds with, and contradictory to, Nehemiah 9:13-14 and, therefore, implies that the Bible contradicts itself. “Remember” here simply means, “Keep in mind what I am now telling you to do.” As an example, I may say to you today, “Remember to write me a letter.” This does not imply that I told you to write me a letter sometime in the past or that you did it! SDA proponents have used this worn-out argument for years, but it remains merely a feeble attempt to support the unsupportable.
Question 7: Does not Acts 16:13, 17:1-2, and 18:4 prove that the apostle Paul worshiped on the Sabbath and that we should do likewise?
ANSWER: To infer that these verses teach that Paul entered the synagogues for the purpose of worshipping is to read something into these passages that is not there. The reasons for Paul going into the synagogues are clearly stated, i.e., (1) that’s where the Jews were to whom he wanted to preach and (2) he wanted to preach Christ (New Testament) to them. Allow me to illustrate by asking this question: Where would I be on the seventh day of the week if I wanted to preach to a Seventh Day Adventist? Would I not be in his place of worship, because that is where and when I would find them gathered? Would such mean that I would not be worshipping in my own place of worship on the first day? Of course not! Surely, you are not suggesting that Paul went into the Jews’ place of worship to participate and commune with them according to the worship practices of the Old Law, i.e., sacrificing animals, burning incense, etc.? The record says that while in the synagogues he “argued” with the Jews (Acts 17:17), he “reasoned” with the Jews (Acts 18:19), he “disputed and persuaded” the things concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 19:8) and when they were hardened and would not believe he quit going into the synagogues and preached for two years in the school of one Tyrannus! Now, from these accounts, how can any unbiased person get the idea that Paul supported Sabbath-keeping by going into the synagogues? Without doubt, one of the reasons why the Jews were hardened and would not believe “things concerning the kingdom of God (the church of Christ) is that they would have to reject the Old Law and its Sabbath in favor of the New Law of Jesus Christ! Would not Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, speak and argue with the Jews in the synagogues about the same matters he discussed with Roman Christians, i.e., we are “dead to” the Law and “delivered from” the Law that says that shalt not covet; the Ten Commandment Law (including the Sabbath-keeping commandment)? What sense does it make to hear Paul teach these matters in the book of Romans 7:1-7 (and many other places) and then conclude that he violated his own instructions by worshipping in the synagogues according to the Law that he had died to and was delivered from? Without doubt, Sabbath-keepers of today are plagued with the same problems, as were the Jews of Paul’s day!
Question 8: Does Isaiah 66:22-23 teach the permanency of the Sabbath?
ANSWER: No! The passage does not say that the Festival of the New Moon and Sabbath Day are eternal. They did exist at that time and occurred on a steady and regular basis. So the writer is simply saying that the day (the Christian age) will come when “all flesh shall (in similar manner – on a steady and regular basis) come to worship before me.” It is worthy of note that if this passage teaches that people of today are to keep the Sabbath Day, it also teaches that people of today are to keep the Festival of the New Moon! Where is the consistent Sabbath-keeper who does so? Colossians 2:16 clearly forbids the Christian to keep either (or any) of these Old Testament days!
Question 9: Does not Hebrews 4:3-9 teach that we are to keep the Sabbath today?
ANSWER: No! It does not. This passage has reference to the Old Law in its comparison with the New Law. It discusses the “rest” of Canaan Land; some entered in and some did not. So, in his comparison, the inspired writer tells Christians, that we should not fall away as some of them did, but, rather, let us labor to enter into the “rest” that God has prepared for the faithful, i.e., Heaven (Verse 11). The passage says absolutely nothing about Christians keeping the seventh day.
Question 10: Should Gentiles keep the Sabbath Law (Romans 3:29-31)?
ANSWER: No! There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for we all are one by faith in Christ Jesus (Acts 15:9; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 3:29; Galatians 3:26). Whatever one is commanded to do, so the other! As explained and shown above there is no commandment anywhere in the Bible that directs Christians (whether Jew or Gentile) to keep the Sabbath today. In fact of matter, the Bible teaches against keeping the Sabbath by making it clear (1) that the Ten Commandments were taken out of the way (Romans 7:1-7) and (2) that Christians are to worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 16:1-2; Revelation 1:10).
Question 11: Explain fully Matthew 22:35-40! If loving the Lord with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself relieves one from the responsibility of keeping the Sabbath Day holy, why did the two greatest commandments in the Old Testament not relieve the Israelites of this responsibility (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18)?
ANSWER: Nobody contends that loving God and your neighbor relieves one from responsibility. However, the fact of the matter is, as shown above, the responsibility of keeping the Sabbath Day holy was never assigned to Christians! That responsibility was assigned to those under the Old Testament! In this particular passage Jesus is talking to a lawyer who lived under the Old Testament. He and all others that lived at that time, including Christ, were bound by the fourth commandment. Nothing could have relieved them from that responsibility! Because they were assigned that responsibility does not mean that Christians are bound by that same responsibility. If this were the basis for what is bound on us today, we would also have to conclude that we are also bound to offer animal sacrifices, burning incense, etc. Do you do these things? If not, why not? Based on your argument in this question you have no other alternative, if you would be true to what you believe!
Jesus does not tell Christians today that they are to be limited to the same kind of love He was talking about to those under the Old Testament in Matthew 22:37-39. In John 13:34, He tells us He has given us a “new” commandment. It was “new” in the sense that our love was to exceed the love of the Old Testament. Christians are to love, “as I have loved you.” Christians are to be willing to die for one another, even as Christ was willing to die for us. This love that Christians are to have far surpasses any love that existed before the cross! See also I John 2:7-11. The commandment was old in that, as those under the Old Testament, we, too, are commanded to love, but it is new in the sense that it is to be a deeper love. Having the love for Christ that is demanded in the New Testament, indeed, relieves us from Sabbath-keeping or any other Old Testament commandment! In Matthew 17:1-8, we are instructed by the Father that we are not to hear Moses and Elijah (the Law and the Prophets), but rather that we are to hear Christ! Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my (not Moses’) commandments!
Question 12: Does John 5:17-18 support Sabbath keeping? “My Father worketh even today” on Sabbath.
ANSWER: The Jews were persecuting Jesus and sought to kill Him because He was healing people on the Sabbath. They felt that He was not keeping the Sabbath Day holy according to their traditions. Obviously, Jesus was without sin (II Corinthians 5:21) and did not violate it by doing this necessary work of healing the sick. He is saying in Verse seventeen, that both He and the Father work continually to do those things that are necessary on the Sabbath as well as every other day. For example: God causes the sun to rise on the Sabbath as all other days. He causes the rain to fall on the Sabbath as all other days. He provides these and other necessary things for the sustenance of His creation (Acts 14:17; Colossians 1:17)! Jesus was not wrong about the matter. The Jews were in error!
Question 13: God rested on the seventh day (Saturday). Christians are to come together on the first day of the week (Sunday). Which day of the week is man’s resting day?
ANSWER: Christians have not been given a specific day of the week on which to rest. Our rest will come at the end of our laboring in His service. The Hebrew writer tells us that there “remaineth a rest to the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). Then he writes, “he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works” (Hebrews 4:10). In the next verse (Hebrews 4:11), he says, “Let us (Christians) labor therefore to enter into that rest.” A Christian is not to cease working in this life, but is to continue laboring until spent in death. The rest that awaits the faithful Christian, then, is Heaven. John writes in Revelation 14:13, “And I heard a voice saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” Christians may rest then, but not now! We are to work, as imitators of Jesus Christ, while it is yet day (while we live), for the night (death) cometh when no man can work (John 9:4).
Question 14: Does not Isaiah 42:4 teach that the Old Law was to be magnified and thus continued?
ANSWER: No! It does not! Isaiah 42:4 surely does not disagree with Jeremiah 31:31-34 and its fulfillment, as expressed in Hebrews 8:5-13! The idea of “magnifying” the law does not suggest that the Old Law is to continue forever. It simply denotes the law’s magnification through the one that kept its precepts perfectly. Today, we magnify the law of Christ by keeping its precepts! For you to suggest that we reject that which the Lord magnifies is simply not true and a woeful misunderstanding of God’s Word! We magnify our Lord by keeping His commandments (John 14:15) and living a faithful Christian life according to the New Testament (Philippians 1:20). To suggest that these or any other passages teach the keeping of the Sabbath in perpetuity is wresting scripture by taking it out of context to prove one’s own wish. At this the SDA excels!
Question 15: Why do you believe that the Lord transferred the holiness of the Sabbath to the first day of the week?
ANSWER: I do not believe that the Lord transferred the holiness of the Sabbath Day to the first day. You’re talking about Protestantism, which I totally reject, as I do Catholicism! The Sabbath Day, and every command associated with it, was removed at the cross of my Lord! The above (and many other passages) proves such to be the case! The notion of the transference of the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, thereby, referring to it as the “Christian’s Sabbath” is ridiculously inconsistent with truth!
Question 16: I am not clear about Sabbath and Sunday keeping. Why does the phrase “ye observe days” in Galatians 4:10 not include Sunday?
ANSWER: We need to consider the verse in the context of that which is under discussion by the apostle Paul. There can be no doubt that he is, in the entire book, presenting the truth that Christians are no longer under the Old Law. He is continuing that same subject in Chapter four and will carry it through the end of book. Verse ten, then, must be understood in that context. In Verse nine, that to which some of the Galatians desired to be in bondage again (at the urging of Judaizing teachers), is a direct reference to the Old Law. The observance of days, and months, and times, and years as stated in Verse ten constituted a part of the weak and beggarly elements of that Old Law (Carefully read from 3:24 through 4:10). Under the Old Law, the Jews kept the Sabbath Day, or the seventh day of the week. Under the Law of Christ, Christians worship on the first day of the week, as demonstrated and taught by this very same apostle in Acts 20:7 and I Corinthians 16: 1-2. Since the references in Galatians 4:10 are to those things under the Old Law and not to the things under the New Law, we can, therefore, know that Sunday (as our day of worship) is not included! We may also know that Sunday is not included by the fact that the apostle himself observed Sunday worship!
Question 17: On the first day of the week in the Greek it is the same word for sabbath. Who has the right to change the meaning of the word from sabbath to first day of the week? 4521 is the word for sabbath in Strong’s and also the word for first day of the week. One is right and one is wrong. The Greek is not that wishy-washy. Easter is in the bible also, but not in the Greek.
ANSWER: In I Corinthians 16:2, there are three Greek words that are translated "first day of the week," i.e., "kata mian sabbaton," while the one Greek word for "sabbath" is simply "sabbaton." Of the hundreds of Greek scholars who have prepared all of the world's Greek to English translations, none has ever translated these words to be anything other than "first day of the week." The Jews used the word Sabbath to denote the week; a period of seven days, as is clearly seen in Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:9; Luke 18:12; 24:1; and John 20:1,19; compare also Leviticus 23:15 and Deuteronomy 16:9. Of this period of seven days, the Greek in I Corinthians 16:2 simply says "every first (of the seven) sabbaton." It is universally agreed by all Greek scholars that this, without doubt, denotes the first day of the week, or the Lord's Day.
Neither does the Bible in its original autographs use the English word "easter," as found in only the King James Version translation. The word in the Greek is "pascha" and is properly translated "passover," as seen in the ASV. As well, this error was corrected in the New King James Version, in which was rightly seen no need for a correction of I Corinthians 16:2. The fact of a translator's mistake in Acts 12:4 does not support your notion of a mistake in I Corinthians 16:2, as you seem to imply.
We would recommend that you revisit I Corinthians 16:2 in the light of truth and of the world's scholarship. Communication with one of the many Greek University language departments would definitely be in order, if you do not find the above convincing.