Is Sunday the Christian Sabbath?

The question might then be asked, "Has the Christian believer no Sabbath day to keep?" The answer is, No. If we speak of a Sabbath day then surely it must mean the seventh day, and if we desire to keep the Sabbath day holy we must keep not the first day of the week but the seventh day. But some will say, "the Sabbath has been changed from the last day of the week to the first day." This is often said; but there's no scriptural authority for it. Neither Christ nor His apostles declared such a change. It is, therefore, wrong to call the first day of the week, known by the name "Sunday," the Sabbath or "Christian Sabbath." The first day of the week is the Lord's day, the day of resurrection, the day of the new creation. This day was kept in the very beginning of the Christian age as a precious memorial of Him who was dead and was raised from the dead, who is seated in the Highest Heaven and who is coming again. It was with the early Christians, and should be so still, a day of worship, when they came together to break bread and partake of the blessed cup, to show the Lord's death, till He come again. Some one has expressed it in the following short sentences: " Israel was commanded to observe the Sabbath day; the church is privileged to enjoy the first day of the week. The former was the test of Israel 's moral condition; the latter is the significant proof of the Church's eternal acceptance. The Sabbath day manifested what Israel could do for God; the Lord's day perfectly declares what God has done for us."

There is no law about this blessed first day of the week. The Christian believer is in perfect liberty, with no yoke and bondage upon him. "For ye have been called to liberty, brethren; only do not turn liberty into an opportunity to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:15). The child of God will know how to use this liberty in the right way and will certainly have the first day of the week as a day of rejoicing in the Lord and fellowship with Him.

But what of the first day of the week? Is not it the sabbath on a new footing — the Christian sabbath? It is never so called in the New Testament. There is not so much as a hint of anything of the kind. If we look through the Acts of the Apostles, we shall find the two days spoken of in the most distinct way. On the sabbath, we find the Jews assembled in their synagogues for the reading of the law and the prophets. On the first day of the week, we find the Christians assembled to break bread. The two days were as distinct as Judaism and Christianity; nor is there so much as a shadow of scripture foundation for the idea that the sabbath was merged in the first day of the week. Where is there the slightest authority for the assertion that the sabbath is changed from the seventh day to the eighth, or first day of the week? Surely, if there be any, nothing is easier than to produce it. But there is absolutely none.

And, be it remembered, that the sabbath is not merely a seventh day, but the seventh day. It is well to note this, inasmuch as some entertain the idea that provided a seventh portion of time be given to rest, and the public ordinances of religion, it is quite sufficient, and it does not matter what you call it; and thus different nations and different religious systems have their sabbath day. But this can never satisfy any one who desires to be taught exclusively by scripture. The sabbath of Eden was the seventh day. The sabbath for Israel was the seventh day. But the eighth day leads our thoughts onward into eternity: and, in the New Testament, it is called "the first day of the week" as indicating the beginning of that new order of things of which the cross is the imperishable foundation, and a risen Christ the glorious Head and Centre. To call this day the "Christian sabbath" is simply to confound things earthly and heavenly. It is to bring the Christian down from his elevated position as associated with a risen and glorified Head in the heavens, and occupy him with the superstitious observance of days, the very thing which made the blessed apostle stand in doubt of the assemblies in Galatia.

It is quite impossible to over-estimate the value and importance of the Lord's day, (e kuriake emera,) as the first day of the week is termed, in the first chapter of the Apocalypse. Being the day on which Christ rose from the dead, it sets forth, not the completion of creation, but the full and glorious triumph of redemption. Nor should we regard the celebration of the first day of the week as a matter of bondage, or as a yoke put on the neck of a Christian. It is his delight to celebrate that happy day. Hence we find that the first day of the week was pre-eminently the day on which the early Christians came together to break bread; and at that period of the Church's history, the distinction between the Sabbath and the first day of the week was fully maintained. The Jews celebrated the former, by assembling in their synagogues, to read "the law and the prophets;" the Christians celebrated the latter, by assembling to break bread. There is not so much as a single passage of scripture in which the first day of the week is called the Sabbath day; whereas there is the most abundant proof of their entire distinctness.

Why, therefore, contend for that which has no foundation in the Word? Love, honour, and celebrate the Lord's day as much as possible; seek, like the apostle, to be "in the spirit" thereon; let your retirement from secular matters be as profound as ever you can make it; but while you do all this, call it by its proper name; give it its proper place; understand its proper principles; attach to it its proper characteristics; and, above all, do not bind down the Christian, as with an iron rule, to observe the seventh day, when it is his high and holy privilege to observe the first. Do not bring him down from heaven, where he can rest, to a cursed and bloodstained earth, where he cannot. Do not ask him to keep a day which his Master spent in the tomb, instead of that blessed day on which He left it. (see, carefully, Matt. 28:1-6; Mark 16:1-2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19, 26; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10; Acts 13:14; Acts 17:2; Col. 2:16.)

Now we read, "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre" (Matt. 28:1). You must bear in mind that the Jewish day began at six o'clock in the evening, so the Sabbath had gone by, and the first day of the week begun when those women at eventide came out. Elsewhere we are told that they "rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56). They obeyed the law. They had prepared spices, "that they might come and anoint him" on the Friday evening, and then rested on the Saturday. That was the Sabbath. The Lord's Day has nothing at all to do with the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the last day of the week. There is no such thing as the Christian Sabbath, although men often so speak. There is the Lord's Day. The first of the week is the day that belongs to the Lord. And I claim a greater sanctity for the Lord's Day than the Jew does for the Sabbath. You and I give the Lord the first day of the week.

The sabbath is not the first day but the seventh day of the week. There is no such thing as a "christian" sabbath. "The sabbath" or seventh day was connected with the old creation, the "first day" with the new. The N.T. unites with the Lord's name, the first day, and also the supper; for the adjectival form of the word used in 1 Cor. 11:20 "the Lord's" supper is identical with "the Lord's" day in Rev. 1:10, and these two places form its only occurrence. The first of the week is constantly spoken of in the N.T. People make so much of the uniform seventh day — a certain 24 hours — but this cannot apply all over the world, because while it is mid-day here it is midnight at the antipodes. But in a limited area to a people "folded" off it exactly suited. The sabbath is incorporated in the law of a carnal commandment; the Lord's day is a day of holy liberty. "He that regards the day," has no reference to the Lord's day. There were Jews who regarded certain days as still of God's appointment; to such those who knew their liberty as risen with Christ were to be gracious. We ought to be on our guard to avoid legality. We are under grace and ought to be jealous of it.

It is well for Christians to remember that the religious observances of days is not consistent with the spirit of the good news. To keep one day different to another is to say that in some sense this day is holier than other days; but to the Christian every day is holy. It is true that the Lord has marked out for us the first day of the week as set apart from the other days. It is the day of our Lord's resurrection. It is the day on which the Holy Spirit was given (Lev. 23:15-16; Acts 2:1). It is the day on which the disciples came together to break bread (Acts 20:7). The Apostle told the Galatians and the Corinthians on this day to lay by them in store as God had prospered them (1 Cor. 16:1-2). If we compare this with Hebrews 13 we will see that this is included as one of the sacrifices we may offer to God on that first day of the week. Finally we find in Revelation 1:10, that the Spirit of God calls this day "the Lord's day." In Greek the word "Lord's" is an adjective; so we might better translate it "the Lordly day." This word is only used in this way twice in the New Testament: "the Lordly day" and "the Lordly supper" in 1 Corinthians 11:20. This word beautifully links together the supper and the day. In many lands the Lord's people have liberty to use "the Lordly day" for their Lord. In many lands it is set apart as a day on which we may turn away from our usual employments, and use this day not for ourselves but for our Lord. The Sabbath of old was a day of rest. Often for the Christian, the Lord's day is the busiest day in the week. The Sabbath of old was made for man (Mark 2:27). The Lord's day belongs to the Lord, and we have the privilege of using it for Himself. Alas, in China many have not this privilege, and it may be that the Lord's people can only use it in this way at very heavy cost to themselves. But let us remember that the Lord has said, "Them that honor Me, I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." 1 Sam. 2:30.

Some people talk about the "Christian Sabbath" meaning the first day of the week. There is no such thing in the Bible as the "Christian Sabbath." "Sabbath" means "rest," and the Lord said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." John 5:17. The Lord Jesus could not rest in a world full of sin and suffering: He could not keep the Sabbath down here; and so we find that continually the Jewish leaders were finding fault with Him because He broke the Sabbath. No more can a true Christian keep the Sabbath in such a world. He has no more right to be resting here than his Master. If his Master must work, so must he. But in Hebrews 4:9 we read: "There remaineth a keeping of a sabbath to the people of God." The sabbath rest is ahead of us. Soon, in the glory, we will rest with Him who has purchased that rest for us. Then we will keep sabbath: but not now.

The sabbath is not a seventh day. It is significatively the seventh day, the rest of God, Jehovah's rest. It is not now the seventh day, the rest of the old creation (to an intelligent Christian that is impossible), but, as clearly distinguished by scripture, the first day of the week in contrast with the seventh, Christ having been unquestionably in the grave during the seventh, and rising (the ground of our rest) the first, not the seventh. Talking about the sabbath being originally the first is slighting the facts, and ignorance as to the purpose and meaning of the change of day. It is not a Jewish or legal sabbath either, but the christian Lord's day. The only part flesh can have in it now is mercy to man in flesh, and that is a fresh revelation of Christ's. When originally instituted, toil was not man's portion; God's rest he might have enjoyed in a worshipping way, but never did. Now sin is come in, the Lord can tell us the sabbath was made for man. So far therefore as the Lord's day can be made a day of rest for all, grace will do it. I may not be able to impose it as a religious law on unconverted men. I do not know what that means in christianity, in the Church of God. Could the early Church have imposed it on the heathen? I believe it is a great mercy if civil law secure it, or the habits of society, even for the world; only there is the danger of self-righteousness. It is an external mercy, if the morality of the law, sabbath and all, be observed; for sin and contempt of God degrade, harden, and corrupt. As a Christian I rejoice to have one day, and the Lord's day, rescued from the world and the old creation for me a child of God; and I believe and have found that (not for visions, but for blessing and for joy) we may look to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day. But that is not law. Yet I do not accept at all the taunt of those who bury, as they say, or abrogate the sabbath. I say, If I were on board ship, I should be positively sinning not to take due care of it on the sabbath, and give heed to the safety of all. On the other hand I have not a doubt the Christian ought to think of others, and (unless in cases where mercy does require it) not use cabs and the like on the Lord's day; and an easy rule is to be found: if he takes one in the name of the Lord Jesus, let him; if not, let him not take one.

The fourth commandment occupies four verses (vs.12-16), insisting on Israel's observance of the Sabbath day. It was to be sanctified apart from all other days. Though they could labor for six days, labor was to cease of the seventh day, which of course is Saturday. This restriction extended to every family, children and servants, and included their animals. We must remember that the law was given to Israel, not to Gentiles, who are not to be judged in reference to Sabbath days (Col. 2:16). Under grace no law demands the keeping of any special day, but those who have appreciated the grace of God are glad to give the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, a place of special importance, for it was on this day the Lord rose from the dead, the day he appeared in the midst of His gathered disciples (Jn.20:19, the day also "when the disciples were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). It has been a great mercy of God that He has led in allowing the western nations at least to set aside this day that He might be specially honored -- not as a law, but as a spiritual privilege.

For a week they stayed there, and on the first day of the week the disciples met together to break bread. It is interesting to note that while there is a command to keep the Sabbath given to the children of Israel, there is no command to Christians to keep the first day of the week. It is the genius of Christianity not to give commands, save those that are moral, such as believers loving each other. Yet it is happy to note the overruling providence of God that gives the Sunday to be a day of rest and freedom from occupation. The fact that the early Christians met on the first day of the week, and were in the habit of breaking bread on that day has happily given to us a good example, which we gladly follow.

The Gentile nations had by this time lost all knowledge of the true God and of His work in creation. Israel alone had the knowledge of this and of the fact that God had rested on the seventh day. In the law God was enforcing His creatorial rights over man, and by Sabbath observance Israel was to have His creatorial work in constant remembrance.

We Christians are not under the law but under grace. The Sabbath, as the sign of the law covenant, has therefore lost its significance for us, as we see in such a Scripture as Colossians 2:16. Nevertheless there can be no doubt that a rest of one day in every seven is the wise and beneficent intention of God for man. The resurrection of Christ is the seal of our faith, and hence the first day of the week, on which He rose from the dead, became the day that Christians have from the very beginning devoted to His worship and service, and it has become the day on which we cease from our ordinary toil. Israel's week worked up to the day of rest. The Christian's week starts from the day of rest, based upon the resurrection of Christ.