When is the Sabbath Day?

Whenever I teach, speak, or write about the necessity of Christians observing a Saturday Sabbath I get the following response. "We don't have to obey the Old Testament Law any more, because Jesus fulfilled it! Therefore, we can observe a Sunday sabbath if we want to, especially since that commemorates the day Jesus rose from the dead."

Well, this would have been my own response five years ago, but today my thinking has completely changed. Let me tell you how I came to a different conclusion.

When I became a born again Christian I began to voraciously read the Bible. Whenever I would read the Old Testament I would come across verses like the following:

Exodus 31:16-17 (KJV)
¹⁶ Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
¹⁷ It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.


Clearly, God said that the observance of the seventh day, or Saturday, Sabbath was to be kept for a perpetual covenant (verse 16) and as a sign forever (verse 17). I could not understand why "forever" didn't seem to mean "forever", since every Christian I knew at the time worshiped on Sunday and not Saturday. I brushed it off thinking that the "church" for sure would know the right way. Yet, this little thing kept bugging me at the back of my mind.

And then there was Paul, who said in Romans:

Romans 14:5-6 (KJV)
⁵ One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
⁶ He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.


So after reading this I felt much more comfortable about the observance of Sabbath on Sunday. I fell in line with the pervasive thinking of traditional Christianity. I was content until many in Christianity began to push the envelope even further. Some were beginning to state that you could have any day as a Sabbath day. So, if you needed to work on Sunday, that was fine. Just worship on Tuesday or any other day that was convenient. But Exodus 31 came back to haunt me. Why didn't God's "forever" mean "forever"?

As I learned about the Messianic movement I found that there were some Christians who believed that God did mean "forever" when He said it. These people were observing a Saturday Sabbath. I was blown out of the water. After several weeks of study, meditation, research, and prayer I came to understand what the Messianics were believing.

It hit me like a ton of bricks! When God said "forever" He had to mean it or He was a liar. Let me be blunt. Christianity has made God into a liar!

Yet, still Paul stood like pillar against what was written more than once in the Old Testament. How could the two passages contradict each other? In Exodus we know that God is speaking. In Paul's book of the Romans a man is speaking. I would much rather find Paul to be the liar rather than God. I believe this is how the Jewish people look at Paul. He generally is dismissed. However, this did not satisfy me since I believe that the New Testament is just as inspired as the Old Testament. Although Romans is written by Paul, God was speaking through him. The only solution MUST be that we are misunderstanding Paul. The two passages cannot contradict each other.

Simply, rereading Paul did not help me. The contradiction remained. Learning some history made all the difference.

Acts 21:17-24 (KJV)
¹⁷ And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
¹⁸ And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
¹⁹ And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
²⁰ And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
²¹ And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
²² What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.
²³ Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;
²⁴ Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.


In this passage Paul had come to Jerusalem to fulfill the obligations of a vow that he had taken. While he is there he meets with James, the head of the Jerusalem church, and the elders. Paul tells them about God's working amongst the Gentiles. The church glorifies God and then comments on how many Jews are believing, but are also zealous of the Law. They go on to describe how Paul has been viewed in verse 21. They had heard that Paul was telling the Gentiles to forsake the Law, telling them not to circumcise their children, or to walk in Jewish customs. Because of this, to show the people that Paul was not guilty of these things, James recommends that Paul go with the four men and fulfill their vows together. Paul was to also pay for their expenses. In this way, the people would understand that Paul was keeping the Law and not teaching against it.

So from the Acts passage we see that Paul would not have contradicted the Old Testament. But how can we explain Paul's statement?

In Judaism the rabbis and sages wrote other "laws" to place a hedge around The Law of God. In this way, the people would find it harder to sin against The Law of God. Some of these "laws" had to do with days. For example, outside of Israel Rosh Hashanah is observed for two days instead of the command in Leviticus to observe one day. There are reasons for this that are unimportant to this discussion. The same is true about the observance of the new moons. There are also fast days in several of the months of the Jewish year that are not in God's Law. The Jews observe by their laws many days. A new convert to Christianity back in the first century would have found it very difficult to try to observe all of these days. But, since they are not commanded by God is it truly essential that they be followed? No. This is what I believe that Paul was talking about in Romans. One Christian might observe Rosh Hashanah for two days because he's familiar with the Jewish custom. But another Christian simply looks at the Biblical requirement and decides that the second day of observation at Rosh Hashanah is not essential. Paul was saying that each had to be convinced in his or her own mind, but not that the observing of Rosh Hashanah was voluntary.

This is the only way that the two Bible passages can be read together without contradiction. Paul was not talking about the voluntary observance of a Saturday Sabbath. When God said the command was "forever" He truly meant it!

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