Question:  Dear Greg,

            In some of your answers you say it doesn’t matter what day we observe.  Why change it from the original day—Saturday—to Sunday?

            Anonymous

Answer:  Dear Anonymous,

            The Sabbath day has not been changed.  You are correct.  No human authority can change the Sabbath day.  But if the question is “which day is the correct, best or only day to worship on” or some similar question, that line of reasoning begs the question and in fact is a red herring.  According to the new covenant, there is no day—not Saturday or Sunday—that is the “one true, best, better, only, etc., etc.” day upon which Christians must worship.  According to the new covenant Saturday remains the Sabbath, but the Sabbath has no relevance for Christians because it has been fulfilled in the rest in Christ, the new life that Christ brings—Jesus who is Lord of all, even of the Sabbath.

            Christians are free to worship whenever they wish.  That includes Saturday.  But Christians should be careful to “stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).  A careful study of the context of Galatians (PTM has a six tape series on Galatians aired on Plain Truth Commentary) will demonstrate the specific yoke of slavery Paul had in mind was the old covenant restrictions that were being mixed and imposed upon new covenant Christians.

            It is possible to set aside either Saturday or Sunday as a day of worship and do so legalistically, as a sabbatarian.  There are probably more Sunday sabbatarians than there are Saturday sabbatarians simply because those who regard Saturday as a day of worship are in a distinct minority compared to those who use Sunday for the same purpose.  Sabbatarians often speak of “breaking” the Sabbath (whether Sunday or Saturday), “keeping” the Sabbath, not doing certain things on that day because it would be a violation of the law, etc., etc.  They do so without any new covenant Christian direction.  Instead, their efforts are legalistic and glorify humans and their efforts to earn some degree of acceptance with God rather than giving God the glory.  God alone gives us salvation and eternal life.  To God goes the glory.

            Back to the central question.  Some Christians think that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday.  It was not—it cannot be changed.  There is no divine authority to do so and no new covenant directive to do so.  Jesus is the Sabbath—he is our Rest—not a 24-hour period of time every seven days.

            Christians did, however, realize that worshipping on Saturday would forever leave them a slave to the old covenant rather than a slave of Jesus Christ.  They therefore chose their weekly day of worship as Sunday, as a weekly memorial to his resurrection, rather than the Sabbath, which is a weekly memorial of the old covenant.  In the same way Christians decided upon holidays that would glorify Jesus Christ as the center of their faith—with Christmas and Easter being primary, rather than trying to pour some Christian significance into the Jewish calendar.

            I pray this will help you with your question.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht