Question:  Dear Greg,

            I am a former Sabbatarian (SDA).  I agree with you that the more important aspect of Christ’s resurrection is the fact that he really rose from the dead, thus we have a reason to believe, be saved and be resurrected.  That, really, is the gospel!  Unfortunately, for most hardcore “legalists”, saying these things will never help.  They want hardcore evidence, hardcore support from the scriptures and hardcore explanations.  I believe that there are a lot of approaches to sharing the gospel with “cultic” minded people and sharing with them the historical facts as well as the biblical facts in a loving manner is one of them.

            I would greatly appreciate it if you can share with me some biblical as well as historical facts why we should be comfortable with celebrating the resurrection on Sunday.  Keep in mind, too, that I strongly support your stand (as I have read from your other answers to questions) that “the main thing should be the main thing”—the gospel behind the resurrection and not the accurate computation of days and times of Jesus’ resurrection.  But for witnessing purposes, kindly share with me your stand on this.

            Thanks, God bless your ministry.

            Arnold

Answer:  Dear Arnold,

            Perhaps it would be good to take a look at this issue from another direction—the starting point.  Sabbatarians start with this assumption/given—Saturday is the “one and only” day of worship.  For Sabbatarians, “true” Christians (to whom God has given this “precious knowledge, insight, key and sign”) worship on Saturday.  After all, Jesus said his flock was a little flock, and therefore “true” Christians are in the minority, while other Christians are in the vast majority (if they are accepted as Christians at all—depends on how toxic the Sabbatarianism is) and they worship on Sunday.

            Some Sabbatarians believe that Sunday worship is the mark of the beast spoken of in Revelation (this is still the official teaching of the SDA church while they downplay that teaching to other Christians).

            So, given that starting point, Sabbatarians look for evidence to fit their belief.  This of course is what many humans do on many issues—but whether it is done in the name of science, religion or some other discipline, it is faulty thinking, closed-minded scholarship and anything but fair and open minded.

            Therefore, it is my experience that historical facts and evidence will not sway Sabbatarians.  They will counter all facts with fabrications they have been given—such as the 3 days and 3 nights issue, such as the old covenant issue, etc.

            It is for this reason that Paul told us that days, months, seasons and years (Galatians 4:10) are not the focus of worship—Jesus is.  Christians cannot accept the Sabbatarian argument, which is that there is one and only one time to worship—annually, weekly, etc.—for the new covenant stands against this premise.

            Christians may worship God on any day of the week—they are free to do that—but they are not free to tell others that there is one and only one day of the week to worship on.  In so doing, they fail to remember that we all stand or fall before the Master as we worship (Romans 14)—not to old covenant, Sabbatarian flawed logic and premises.

            Why do most Christians worship on Sunday?  They do so because the early church rejected the Galatianizing old covenant arguments that Saturday MUST be the day of worship because it was the seventh day.  Christianity did not change the day of the Sabbath—in that argument the Sabbatarians are correct.  God has never given any human authority to change the Sabbath day.  The Sabbath is the seventh day.

            The real issue is not day—the real issue is are Christians required to obey the terms of the old covenant?  And if they are, by whose authority do we decide how much of that covenant to obey?  The Sabbath is just one part of the old covenant—there re Hebrew holy days, dietary laws, etc.  The Apostle Paul said that if you keep any of the old covenant law, in terms of earning your salvation by doing so, in terms of thinking God is requiring it of you and other Christians, then you must keep it all.

            In the face of Jewish Christians who wanted to cling to the seventh day Sabbath, early Christians decided to worship on the day Jesus was resurrected.  Sunday is the day that historic and orthodox Christians have worshipped for almost 2000 years.  No wonder Sabbatarians have to find a way to dismiss historic Christianity as “false” or “falsely so-called”—as “sincere, but sincerely wrong” in their attempt to revive what Paul condemned.

But let’s suffer the Sabbatarian argument about Christ not being resurrected on, of all things (gasp!!), Sunday morning.  If Christ was actually resurrected on Saturday evening, or at just before midnight, or at 2:00 AM Sunday morning—does that mean Christians should worship exactly at that time?  Do Sabbatarians worship at exactly the time on Saturday that they, in a vain attempt to take the focus off of Sunday and off of Easter, say that Christ was resurrected?  No—for their very best mathematical gymnastics trying to uphold the Sabbath have Jesus being resurrected Saturday evening—at or just after the sun goes down.  Any good Sabbatarian knows that sundown ends the Sabbath—so what exactly are they trying to say?

            This argument, trying to discredit Easter (or Resurrection Sunday if you prefer) and Sunday, and uphold the Sabbath follows the idea that Christians today should model themselves perfectly after Jesus.  But that argument does not hold water.  Jesus was the only thing he could have been to do what he came to do—he was an observant Jew.  In fact, he was the only Jew who ever kept the law perfectly.  He lived the way he needed to do in order to fulfill the old covenant law.  He did that so we would not have to.  He therefore kept the entire old covenant, went to temple, synagogue, was circumcised, kept what we would call kosher, etc.  All of this was before the cross.  We live after the cross—and if we are Christians we accept the cross and its power, sufficiency and grace.  If we accept the argument that we must do everything that Christ did, we are denying Christ’s sacrifice, his life, the reason he came, his cross and all that he did on our behalf.  We are, in essence, saying that what he did was not enough—we must do our part (whatever that means).

            Sabbatarianism is legalism, described and defined in Romans, Galatians, Colossians and Hebrews.  It is a curse upon Christianity.

            Hope this helps, Arnold.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht