The Sabbath and Sunday
There are many misconceptions about how we should treat the Sabbath, or even in understanding what the Sabbath is.
Out of the Ten Commandents, the one about keeping the Sabbath is the only one not re-affirmed in the New Testament. the other nine are not only re-affirmed, but in most cases they are strengthened in the New Testament.
One of the problems we face in understanding the Sabbath is that this is a Hebrew word that wastaken directly into English. Thus this is a word whose English meaning is not readily apparent. The word "sabbath" includes concepts such as, rest, end and take a break. The word sabbatical (taking an extended break from your work) is derived from "sabbath".
Why do Christians worship on Sunday, instead of the Sabbath day--Saturday? A common myth is that the Roman Emperor Constantine imposed Sunday as the Christian worship day. This is just a myth. Christians were worshipping on Sunday long before Constantine stopped the persecution of Christians.
The main reason Christians worship on Sunday is to celebrate the resurrection of Christ--which occured on a Sunday. The day Christ rose is a much more important day than the second day he was in the tomb (Saturday), the Sabbath. Nothing happened on the Sabbath--which was as it should be. There were other, secondary reasons involved in moving Christians from worshipping on the Jewish Sabboth, to worshipping on Sunday. One was to differentiate and separate themselves from the Jews, who were heavily persecuting Christians.
Are we required to have our sabbath on Saturday? No. The Bible says nothing about a particular day of the week being the sabbath day. Nor does the meaning of the word "sabbath" dictate a particular day--other than through Jewish tradition. What the Bible says is that we can work for six days, and on the seventh we are to rest--take a break. If someone works Tuesday through Sunday, and has Monday off, then Monday is their Sabbath day of rest.
"Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord Your God." - Exodus 20:9 (NIV)
"For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day." - Exodus 20:11 (NIV)
Out of the Ten Commandents, the one about keeping the Sabbath is the only one not re-affirmed in the New Testament. the other nine are not only re-affirmed, but in most cases they are strengthened in the New Testament.
One of the problems we face in understanding the Sabbath is that this is a Hebrew word that wastaken directly into English. Thus this is a word whose English meaning is not readily apparent. The word "sabbath" includes concepts such as, rest, end and take a break. The word sabbatical (taking an extended break from your work) is derived from "sabbath".
Why do Christians worship on Sunday, instead of the Sabbath day--Saturday? A common myth is that the Roman Emperor Constantine imposed Sunday as the Christian worship day. This is just a myth. Christians were worshipping on Sunday long before Constantine stopped the persecution of Christians.
The main reason Christians worship on Sunday is to celebrate the resurrection of Christ--which occured on a Sunday. The day Christ rose is a much more important day than the second day he was in the tomb (Saturday), the Sabbath. Nothing happened on the Sabbath--which was as it should be. There were other, secondary reasons involved in moving Christians from worshipping on the Jewish Sabboth, to worshipping on Sunday. One was to differentiate and separate themselves from the Jews, who were heavily persecuting Christians.
Are we required to have our sabbath on Saturday? No. The Bible says nothing about a particular day of the week being the sabbath day. Nor does the meaning of the word "sabbath" dictate a particular day--other than through Jewish tradition. What the Bible says is that we can work for six days, and on the seventh we are to rest--take a break. If someone works Tuesday through Sunday, and has Monday off, then Monday is their Sabbath day of rest.
"Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord Your God." - Exodus 20:9 (NIV)
"For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day." - Exodus 20:11 (NIV)
posted by BrickBalloon
Read This Post In Our: Christianity in America Blog Archive
1 Comments:
Wow, what a great posting. Thanks for the enlignment on this issue. I always wondered why the sabbath was observed on Sunday. Especially when ministers and priests always work Sundays. Quite a conflict, as you can see.
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