In its original setting and application the Sabbath command was a law intended only for the people of Israel. The Deuteronomic version of this commandment gives the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt as the primary reason for observing it. The keeping of the Sabbath is elsewhere declared to be the sign of Israel’s allegiance to God (Exod. 31:13; Neh. 9:14).
One way we can understand the law is in a two-fold summarization, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5). This is the first and great commandment and the second is like unto to it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Similarly, the first half of the Ten Commandments deals with how we relate to God and the second half our relationship with people. We can only have relationships in these two directions and so all the law covers these two categories. And right in the middle of these two divisions of the Decalogue is the fourth commandment of keeping the Sabbath day.
“Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations” (Exod. 31:13). The Sabbath was a ceremonial sign placed within the Ten Commandments. We don’t have a command to circumcise every man who becomes a Christian. Why then would we extricate the very complex Sabbath law which involved every seventh day and a long list of festivals?
The Mosaic law of the Sabbath is a pretty complicated system. You go from the weekly Sabbath to the Passover. Following the Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost, and then the Feast of Trumpets. All of these were counted and based upon a seven day cycle. Furthermore, there were not only weekly Sabbaths but yearly Sabbaths too including sabbaths of Sabbaths. The Year of Jubilee was counted as seven Sabbaths of years; seven times seven years. Therefore, if the Sabbath is binding on believers today then we are responsible for far more than just resting once a week; we are obligated to observe it all.
What we need to understand is that the Ten Commandments as a unit was the law of the Old Covenant which passed away (2 Cor. 3:7, 13; Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14; Heb. 8:8-13). Now this does not mean, of course, that any moral laws have passed away. Moral laws proceed from God and are timeless and universal; they existed before the Old Covenant and continue to be in force today for all people. The Ten Commandments, along with hundreds of other commandments in the Pentateuch, simply revealed to the Jews a standard of morality they had not known before even though the moral standard had always existed. Truly the Ten Commandments as a unit passed away with the Old Covenant. This means that all of the ceremonial laws, including the Sabbath, were abolished at the time of Christ’s death yet the moral aspects continue to be in force as always.
Paul informed us that Christians are not under the law but under grace (Rom. 6:14). Peter reminded us, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Pet. 1:15, 16). Therefore, our moral behavior is to be based upon the holiness of God.
How did Christ treat the Sabbath day?
If you were to ask how Christ treated the Sabbath day the answer would be “Anyway He wanted!” Christ said of Himself, “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8). He is in charge of the Sabbath and He can do whatever He wants. He was constantly derided by the Pharisees for breaking it.
On one occasion after healing a man on the Sabbath, the Jews sought to kill Him (John 5:1-16). But Christ’s simple response was, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 5:17). His answer made Himself equal with God and above the law of the Sabbath. And the fact that Christ could “work” on the Sabbath day thereby violating it and yet still being pure from sin proves that it was not a moral but a ceremonial law. The bottom line is that Sabbath law is not moral and there are times when reason dictates it to be set aside for man’s benefit.
One thing the Pharisees did was overemphasize ceremonial laws and traditions while minimizing moral laws. But Christ did just the opposite. He stressed the absolute standard of moral laws and at times almost disregarded the ceremonial. On one occasion after healing a man on the Sabbath, He told him to “Rise, take up your bed and walk” (John 5:8). By picking up his bed and carrying it, it is as though Christ purposely wanted this man to “work” on the Sabbath to stimulate controversy over this issue.
“Then He said to them, ‘What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’” (Matt. 12:11, 12). Christ asked this question in the synagogue before healing the man with the withered hand. His example scenario implied that even the Jews would “work” on the Sabbath to lift their own sheep out of a pit. The conclusion is that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
In John chapter 7, Christ gave an example of a situation where two provisions of the Law were in conflict. All male babies were to be circumcised the eighth day after their birth. But the eighth day could fall on any day of the week including the Sabbath yet the priests still carried out the “work” of circumcising children on this day. The priests concluded that circumcision took precedence over the Sabbath day and Christ agreed with them.
The Sabbath was made for man
Christ’s statement, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), has been interpreted several ways. One understanding of it is that it points back to the original Sabbath rest of God at the time of creation. In other words, the Sabbath was made for man at the time man was made. But the problem with this view is that the book of Genesis, which records the early history of mankind, never gives account of any man keeping the Sabbath. The Sabbath day of rest was not introduced to man until the time of Moses.
Another way this statement has been understood is that the Sabbath was not just made for the Jews but for all of mankind; it “was made for man.” Yet this is difficult to reconcile with the remaining part of what Christ said “and not man for the Sabbath.” Christ was revealing the purpose for the Sabbath not who the recipients of it are.
In most likelihood, this statement reveals the ceremonial nature of the Sabbath. Ceremonial laws are “made for man,” i.e., for man’s assistance and learning. Christ was saying that just as the law concerning the showbread (Mark 2:26) was “made for man” so also was the Sabbath. Christ and His disciples could “break” the Sabbath just as David and his men could “break” the law about showbread because both were ceremonial and not moral.
Did God make the Sabbath day to be burdensome in its requirements? No, the Sabbath day was made to serve man not to be a master over him.
What is the "rest" in Hebrews 3 and 4?
Some have used this passage to teach that the keeping of the Sabbath day is binding upon Christians today. But please notice that nowhere in the whole book of Hebrews is the Sabbath day even mentioned. What is spoken of in Hebrews 3 and 4 is the rest of salvation that belongs to the people of God. The writer refers back to the beginning and teaches that God’s rest after the six days of creation is a type of the rest we have in Christ. When we believe on Jesus Christ we “rest” from our own works as God did from His (Heb. 4:10).
The writer of Hebrews was warning his Jewish Christian readers against the possibility of apostasy in “departing from the living God” (Heb. 3:12), by falling back into the works of Judaism. He used the children of Israel as an example of this. The “gospel”—the good news about the Promised Land of rest—was preached to them yet they did not enter in because of unbelief. The gospel message of the Cross had also been preached to these Christians but they have to believe it to enter in.
He then clarifies that when Israel finally did enter the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua (Heb. 4:8), this was not the fulfillment of the true rest. Otherwise David would not have prophesied many years later about the rest in Psalm 95. Remember, the type is when God rested from His works after creating the universe. The antitype is the rest of salvation in Christ that still belongs to the people of God.
On a different note, the Sabbath day itself was also a type of the rest of Christ. “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” (Col.2:16, 17). Ceremonial laws, including the Sabbath, are types of Christ. The true substance and fulfillment are found in Him.
A few points for thought
• If keeping the Sabbath is a moral law, why is it never repeated in the New Testament like the other nine of the Ten Commandments?
• Nowhere in the New Testament is there prescribed any adherence to the Sabbath. Not only this, but never does the apostle Paul or any New Testament writer chide believers for violating the Sabbath.
• Jesus equated the Sabbath with ceremonial sacrifice in Matthew 12:1-7. Therefore, He taught that it was a ceremonial law.
• Old Testament and New Testament writers consistently place the Sabbath in lists of other ceremonial laws. No moral law is grouped or listed with ceremonial laws (1 Chr. 23:31; 2 Chr. 2:4-8, 13; 31:3; Neh. 10:33; Ezek. 45:17; Hos. 2:11; Col. 2:16).
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