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There is a clear distinction laid out by Paul between the laws of the Old Testament and the New Testament: “Second Corinthians 3:1–4:6 forms the most detailed, sustained treatment in Paul of the role of the Law in the age of the gospel and of the need to recognize a clean break between the two even as numerous principles carry over from the old age to the new age. One ministry (the Mosaic covenant) brought death for those who do not see its fulfillment in Christ; the other (the age of the Spirit) brings life precisely through that same fulfillment (vv. 6–7a, 14–16). The former was glorious even though transitory and provisional; the latter is far more glorious because of its permanence and completion (vv. 7b–11).” So how should we understand the connection between the Old and Testament?¹

For Blomberg, the concept of the law fulfillment in Christ is the key to understanding what role the moral laws of the Old Testament age have in the New Testament age: “Jesus is not abolishing the Law; every last verse remains an inspired authority for believers (cf. 2 Tim 3:16–17). But Jesus does not contrast ‘abolish’ with its natural opposite, such as ‘preserve unchanged.’ Instead he uses a verb that implies here ‘to give the true or complete meaning to something,’ or ‘to provide the real significance of’ that item…Pervasive throughout the NT is the concept that Christians live in the era of the fulfillment of everything to which every part of the Hebrew Scriptures pointed. Every portion of the law remains an inspired, relevant authority for believers; but none of it may be applied properly until one understands how the new covenant has fulfilled that particular law or part of the law."²

The moral laws then do not become irrelevant in the modern age but, in Christ, provide new understandings for us. For example, Blomberg points out that Matthew chapter 5 provides examples of how Jesus contrasts the conventional Jewish understanding of the Old Testament laws to Jesus’ interpretation. Here is a specific example how this is played out in understanding the Old Testament laws in the New Testament age: “Kosher laws that created ritual purity need not be literally followed (Acts 10:1–11:18; Mark 7:19b), but they do remind us about the need for moral purity (cf., e.g., the transfer of language of ritual purity to the moral arena in Jas 1:27).”³

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN:B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 328.
² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN:B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 323, 332.
³ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 323-324.

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Law of Christ - Freedom from Moral Keeping but Not to Antinomianism

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Law of Christ - Freedom from Moral Keeping but Not to Antinomianism

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This perspective is an extension of the understanding that Christ has fulfilled the commandment in the law of love, or the law of Christ: “Paul twice speaks about ‘the law of Christ’ as that to which he is most directly subject. In Gal 6:2, after enunciating the freedom of the believer from the yoke of the Torah in chapter 5, he declares, ‘Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.’”¹

Understanding the law of Christ is critical to see that Christ’s work and fulfillment has freed us from law keeping but does not lead us to antinomianism: “After thoroughly rebuking the Judaizers who insisted on keeping the Torah as a requirement for salvation in chapters 1–4, Paul enunciates the true Christian way—freedom from Torah. But he immediately guards against the opposite and perhaps equally dangerous alternative—antinomianism or lawlessness. So he proclaims, ‘You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love’ (Gal 5:13).”¹

This law of Christ is the law of love as laid out by Matthew 22 (the double love commandment): “Scot McKnight’s wonderful primer, The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others, shows how all the major themes of Jesus’ own ministry and teaching can similarly be summed up in the double love command.”²

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 326.
² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 324.

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Augustine: “love God and do as you please”

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Augustine: “love God and do as you please”

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Blomberg summarizes his perspective of the Sabbath Commandment by quoting above statement of Augustine: “If you love God, moreover, and let your life flow from that commitment, you may well wind up worshipping Him more often than once on a weekend, perhaps much more often, perhaps even corporately much more often. If you love Him as He has disclosed Himself in Christ, you will likewise adopt a Christological approach to the Scriptures and see that in Him is our perfect rest.”¹
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 289.

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Colossians 2:16-17: “let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival, or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things to come; but the substance belongs to Christ” (ESV).

Blomberg believes these verses to be the keys that demonstrate that the Sabbath observance is optional for Christians: “To be sure, a tiny handful of scholars have proposed all kinds of alternatives to avoid the plain meaning of the text: these are special ceremonial Jewish Sabbaths separate from the weekly day of rest, only the nonbiblical Jewish traditions about Sabbath-keeping are in view, some Greco-Roman practice is in view and not the Jewish one at all, or only the Sabbath sacrifices are revoked. But in the broader context of chapter 2, it is difficult to imagine that Paul had only one or more of these narrower ranges of practices in mind…Unless one is prepared to insist that all of these rituals remain incumbent on Christians, there is no warrant for maintaining that the Sabbath law, as cessation from work, must be practiced by believers, whether on Saturday, Sunday, or any other day of the week. And if one did insist on mandating all of these, then those who acquiesced without a clear conscience confirming that they were the right practices for them, would be in violation of the first part of verse 16.”¹
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 342-344.

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John 7:23-24: “If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.” (ESV)

Blomberg shows that Jesus points out that he is being judged wrongly for his healing of a crippled man on the Sabbath falsely based on externalism. Blomberg points out that keeping of the Sabbath is not merely an external issue: “The fact that the Jewish leaders condemn Him for what externally looks like a violation of the Sabbath halakah, without understanding His motives or His reasons or, for that matter, God’s real heart and concern for the crippled man in this situation, shows that they are judging incorrectly. Ironically, most forms of Sabbatarianism throughout history have themselves actually fostered the kind of externalism Jesus eschews. Observant participants tend to focus on what they have successfully refrained from doing and at times obsess over determining precisely what those things should be, and miss the real purpose behind rest—physical and spiritual refreshment and renewal.”¹
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 338..

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Mark 3:4: “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” (ESV)

Blomberg interprets this rhetorical question Jesus gives to the Pharisees to state that there are always good that needs to be done: “(this) suggests that there will always be meaningful and appropriate work for believers on every day of the week since there is always much good, including the saving of lives both physically and spiritually, that needs doing 24–7 (to use the current vernacular).”1
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 334-335.

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Mark 2:27–28: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (ESV)

Blomberg makes two points from this passage:
1). It is to benefit humanity at all times: “If the principle of Sabbath rest was designed to benefit humanity, then there will always be circumstances in which what actually benefits a given person more than cessation of work is some important activity that someone else will consider to be work."
2). Jesus with His divine origin was instituting a "systemic change to the implementation of the Sabbath command" rather "than merely recognizing a broader range of exceptions to it." Blomberg backs this statement up by documenting the following: "After all, the specific OT practice to which Jesus appealed as precedent for breaking the Sabbath was one in which the written law itself was broken (Mark 2:26: David ‘entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions’).”1
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 333-334.

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What does the NT teach on the Sabbath itself? – Fulfilled in Christ

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What does the NT teach on the Sabbath itself? – Fulfilled in Christ

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In this perspective, Jesus has fulfilled the Sabbath Commandment along with the other Old Testament commandments: “Not only does Jesus fulfill the Passover by becoming the Bread of Life, and Tabernacles by becoming living water and the light of the world, he also fulfills the Sabbath law by becoming our rest. Just as believers are no longer required to practice the other Jewish holidays that occurred annually, there is no reason for them literally to observe the weekly holiday known as the Sabbath. Jesus has fulfilled that as well.”¹

What else is said about the Sabbath in the New Testament?
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 339.

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Distinction of Christian Sabbath versus Lord’s day

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Distinction of Christian Sabbath versus Lord’s day

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Blomberg describes an important difference between the concept of Christian Sabbath and the Lord’s day quoting Athanasius: “Athanasius in around 345 still declared, ‘The Sabbath was the end of the first creation, the Lord’s day was the beginning of the second, in which he renewed and restored the old in the same way as he prescribed that they should formerly observe the Sabbath as a memorial of the end of the first things, so we honor the Lord’s Day as being the memorial of the new creation’…And the excerpt cited shows that Athanasius did not understand Sunday as the Christian Sabbath but as a different kind of day for a very different purpose—to remember Jesus’ resurrection rather than to cease from one’s weekly labor."¹
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 310-311.

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Blomberg points out that there is an important difference between worshipping and resting: “when Christians, many of them Gentiles, began to worship consistently on what they called the first day of the week, without any regular opportunity to refrain from their occupations on that day, the concepts of rest and worship obviously became separated. A variety of quotations from patristic writers from the first four centuries shows that attempts to enforce Sabbath rest one day a week were frequently labeled as Judaizing and viewed as a danger to the gospel of salvation and spiritual living by grace through faith alone.”¹

Sabbath, for whoever practices it, means cessation from labor; the first day of the week is for worship. The one is not interchangeable with the other.²

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 309.
² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 312.

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Example of how those with different perspectives would discuss a controversial verse on the Sabbath

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Example of how those with different perspectives would discuss a controversial verse on the Sabbath

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Hebrews 4:9: "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God." (ESV)

Both Pipa and MacCarty would argue that there is a Sabbath rest with its promise of eternal life “for the new covenant people of God.” This links the Old Testament people of God with the “covenant people of the New Testament church” to make the Sabbath rest a continual reality for us today.¹

1. Pipa would Interpret "sabbatismos" (Sabbath-keeping) used in this verse to be Sunday. He argues that Hebrews 4:10 “for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” (ESV) is referring to the resurrection. Therefore, the day of resurrection, Sunday, should be observed.

2. In comparison, MacCarty would interpret Hebrews 4:10 to say that Jesus rested in the tomb on the seventh day at the completion of his earthly redemptive work similar to God resting on the seventh day at the end of His creation work.

Blomberg argues that this verse is not talking about ceasing from work for rest one day out of the seven days but is pointing to the importance of “remaining faithful to Jesus rather than committing the apostasy against which this letter so regularly warns.” He backs up his statement by pointing to the following verses in Heb 4:10–11 which states, “For those who enter God’s rest also rest from their own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” Blomberg states that “entering God’s rest here cannot refer to literal Sabbath observance because it is contrasted with perishing through disobedience. In a book that judges people’s salvation by the state in which they end their lives, regardless of any prior profession of faith, Hebrews here has to be referring by ‘Sabbath rest’ to a lifetime of perseverance in trusting in Christ, which will then eventuate in an eternity of rest from our labors.”²

1. In response to Blomberg, Pipa and MacCarty would argue that “the meaning of sabbatismos in extrabiblical literature and its cognate usage as a verb in the OT Greek means exactly ‘ceasing from work’ in connection with Sabbath (either the seventh-day Sabbath or other Sabbaths of the Lord).”³

2. To this Blomberg would respond that the unique usage of the word sabbatismos is “play on words.” Blomberg argues that “the spiritual, eternal rest promised by God has not been fulfilled” and “they must enter it by persevering faith” which is done only by faith in Jesus Christ and “fully realized only when one enters the eternal rest of glory” and not here on earth.⁴

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 156.  ² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 350. ³ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 368. ⁴ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 385.

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By remembering the Sabbath day, we are to commemorate this day: “In the Bible, however, the term remember means more than not forgetting. It also means to observe and celebrate…When God calls us to 'remember the sabbath day,' He summons us to observe it in a unique way, to commemorate it.”¹

This meant corporate worship according to Leviticus 23:2–3: “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations–My appointed times are these: For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation.’" A holy convocation was a time of corporate worship.¹

We are also to plan for the Sabbath day and help others celebrate the Sabbath together:

For example as parents: “We are to structure the lives of our covenant children so that they as well may be freed from work in order to devote themselves to the special transactions of the day. We set an example of Sabbath-keeping for them…We use the day as well to teach them that there is greater enjoyment in life than playing.”²

For example as consumers: “To do so, we should avoid shopping, unnecessary dining out, and recreational activities that cause others to work on the Lord’s Day (this would include those events mediated by television, which necessitates hundreds of employees being at work).”²

We are to commemorate this day by serving for the the good of others: “The Sabbath is also a day for doing spiritual good to our neighbors. Therefore, in addition to corporate worship and times of private and family reading and fellowship, it is a day for Christian service by doing good, for example, through ministering in nursing homes, visiting those who live alone or cannot get out of their homes, and evangelism. Both the early church fathers and the Puritans made provision for distributing food and money to the poor on the Lord’s Day, recognizing that God designed this day for doing good.”³

What are we not to do? Pipa explains that the Sabbath is not a day for our own pleasure: “By doing one’s pleasure on it. This word pleasure is used throughout the OT to describe things in which people delight (Ps 1:2; Isa 44:28; 46:10; 58:3; Eccl 3:1,17; 8:6). ‘Doing your pleasure’ describes those things you enjoy doing or have to do the other six days: business, work, play, and so on. By doing these things on God’s holy day, you profane it.”⁴

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 129-130.  ² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 132-133. ³ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 143. ⁴ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 167-168.

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What are we to do with all the different perspectives? How should we handle our differences in opinion? I believe Craig Blomberg has great insight on these questions:
"We can understand why these people’s enthusiasm for their own experiences can sometimes lead them to insist that others follow suit. But there is a difference between enthusiastically encouraging someone to try something one has found of great help in one’s own life and telling them they must practice something because Scripture requires them to do so. And there is no justification for any Christian or group of Christians censoring or censuring those who do not practice the Sabbath as they do, as in any way inferior or disobedient…They acknowledge that mature, Bible-believing Christians differ on the matter; and they agree that nothing is necessarily at stake with respect to the salvation or sanctification of believers who hold to a different option. We should be able to join hands with such Christians in fellowship, worship, and service in countless areas of Christian life and ministry. We all acknowledge our finitude and fallenness and realize that any one of us might be wrong in our views. Indeed, there will never likely be complete agreement among believers on this topic, as on many others, prior to Christ’s return.”1
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 354.

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What we are promised on the Sabbath “ If you call the Sabbath a delight . . . and if you honor it . . . then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land” (Isa 58:13–14)

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What we are promised on the Sabbath “ If you call the Sabbath a delight . . . and if you honor it . . . then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land” (Isa 58:13–14)

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Looking at Isaiah 58 and Psalms 105, Pipa describes three excellent promises that God has in store for us when we keep the Sabbath: “First, He promises exquisite, spiritual pleasure (‘Then you will take delight in the Lord’). As noted above, the word delight means exquisite pleasure…God is promising you a communion and fellowship with Him that defies description. The Sabbath is like a wonderful garden adorned with beautiful flowers where God meets with us….But He doesn’t stop there. He adds, ‘And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth.’ This is language of victory, taken from Deut 32:12–13 and 33:29. In Deuteronomy, God promises Israel great victory over her enemies. As Isaiah speaks about returning to the land, He promises the people victory over their enemies (Isa 33:16). Their victorious return is a picture of the victory promised in the new covenant. We who are members of new Zion will also have victory…But there is still more. Not only will we find exquisite pleasure in the Lord and have victory over our enemies, but we will also enjoy the benefits of our salvation: ‘I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.’ He is promising that God’s people again will possess the land (Ps 105:10–11). We know that the possession of the land was symbolic of the inheritance of God’s covenant people. Our inheritance includes the benefits of salvation—adoption, assurance of salvation, boldness in prayer, and our ultimate glorification. This promise means we will revel in our privileges as children of God."¹
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 170-171.

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Pipa points out that Jesus’ teachings were meant to clarify and correct the Sabbath ideology (in order to continue the Sabbath observance) rather than to abrogate them: “Consequently, in Matt 12:1–8, Jesus was repudiating the false interpretations of the Jews and asserting the true interpretation of the Law. He defended His disciples by asserting that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, the only authoritative interpreter of the Holy Sabbath and its proper observance. Therefore, He did not abolish the careful observance of the Sabbath day, but reestablished the day as the time to celebrate the spiritual rest of God’s people. Having proclaimed Himself as the promised restgiver (Matt 11:28).”1
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 136.

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Pipa demonstrates that there was a shift of the Sabbath day from the seventh to the first day with Jesus’ work of redemption. One has to see the connection between the creation work of God and redemption work of God: “At the conclusion of creation, God rested on the seventh day to declare His work completed, to delight in that work, and to promise the eternal rest promised to Adam in the covenant of works. When Adam broke the covenant, God renewed the offer of eternal rest through a redeemer. The seventh-day Sabbath looked forward to that rest. God the Son rested from His work of redemption on the first day of the week as a sign that His work had objectively been accomplished and nothing remained to be done. In the resurrection He entered into the joy of His work and confirmed that eternal life had been purchased (cf. Isa 53:10–11; Heb 12:2). By His example the day was changed.”¹

Like Karl Barth above, Pipa argues that the early church adopted this change with resurrection of Jesus Christ: “In connection with the concept of the eighth day, the early church emphasized the festive character of the Sabbath: a holy festival, celebrating the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Also Pipa notes the early church adopted the term Lord’s day to imply a new day of remembrance: “understanding that the day belonged in a special way to the Lord, the church immediately adopted the phrase of the apostle John, ‘Lord’s day’ (Rev 1:10)…Ignatius related the Lord’s Day to the completed work of Christ, ‘on which also our life sprang up through him and his death.’"²

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 161.
² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 149-150.

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Pipa distinguishes the characteristics of God’s laws (positive law and moral law) and states that the Sabbath Commandment contains both of these characteristics allowing for the change in the day of the Sabbath observance: “Theologians distinguish between that which is permanent in God’s law and that which is temporary by the terms positive law and moral law. A positive law is a commandment of God that is not morally necessary (i.e., is not inherently right or wrong). God requires or forbids certain things at different times in the history of redemption to regulate His relation to His people and their relation to one another. Such laws are binding only on the person or nation to whom they were given...A moral law, on the other hand, is a commandment that reflects the moral nature of God, as well as our relation to Him and one another. These laws are absolutely necessary for our spiritual well-being as image bearers of God and are permanently binding on all people…The Westminster Confession refers to the Sabbath law as a positive and moral law. As noted above, this means that the moral law of Sabbath-keeping had positive elements, among them “which day?” Because the particular day is positive law, the day can be changed without affecting the moral nature of the law.”¹
By having these two components of the law, Pipa argues that while Sabbath keeping is a moral law, the day on which it is to be celebrated was changed by Christ’s fulfillment of the Sabbath.”2
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 145.
² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 145-146.

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Moral law grounds for the permanence of Sabbath

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Moral law grounds for the permanence of Sabbath

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Pipa states that the Sabbath Commandment is “an expression of God’s universal moral will for all people.” He believes that the Ten Commandments served as “the foundation of Israel’s covenant relationship to God because they are the timeless expression of God’s moral will.” Because of this, Pipa argues that the Sabbath Commandment is not to be thought of as a ceremonial law and no longer binding on us.¹
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 123-124.

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Sabbath as creation ordinance - permanence of Sabbath

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Sabbath as creation ordinance - permanence of Sabbath

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Similar to seventh-day Sabbath position, this perspective believes in the permanence of the Sabbath Commandment. It does so by using the language of creation ordinance: “By resting on the seventh day, God Himself established the principle and practice of Sabbath observance. In order to understand the Sabbath ordinance, we first must consider why God rested. First, by resting, God declared that His work as Creator was completed”¹

What did God’s rest mean? Pipa argues that the rest was associated with God’s delight in creation: “The refreshment of God on the seventh day was through joy as He contemplated the beauty and perfection of all the creation: at the conclusion of the sixth day, ‘God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good’ (Gen 1:31)…By resting on the Sabbath, God reflected on the beauty and glory of His completed work, taking joy in it.”² So we should also take delight in Him on this day.

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 120.
² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 120-121.

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First Commandment as the organizing center

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First Commandment as the organizing center

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Luther contends that “the summary of all summaries (summa summarum) of biblical teaching” is the First Commandment: “In the catechetical tradition of the Middle Ages, the First Commandment was generally regarded as being fulfilled by adhering to the remaining nine. But for Luther, all the Commandments are fulfilled by keeping the first! The breaking or keeping of each commandment depends upon the attitude of one’s heart toward God. This conviction is conveyed consistently throughout Luther’s writings.”¹

Luther sees a triad of “fear, love, and trust” in the first commandment. These three factors lead us to obey the first, and therefore all of the commandments: “God threatens to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore we are to fear His wrath and not disobey these commandments. However, God promises grace and every good thing to all those who keep these commandments. Therefore we also are to love and trust him and gladly act according to his commands…The fear of God leads one to avoid all that is contrary to His will lest we provoke God to wrath…Whereas fear held in view the punishment and the wrath of God, love and trust look to the gracious father.”²

By having the First Commandment as the organizing center of all the following commandments, this links the commandments with their giver: “The catechisms’ concentration on the First Commandment guards against all attempts to loosen the individual commandments from the person and will of God.”³

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 283. ² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 234, 242, 243.  ³ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 245.

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The Sabbath: central focus on rest and in the word of God

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The Sabbath: central focus on rest and in the word of God

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Sabbath is a day of rest for Luther: “In his ‘September Sermons’ (1528) Luther put it succinctly: ‘The Sabbath means that one rests.’”¹

Luther focuses then on what we are to do with the times of rest since “the accent in Luther’s catechisms will fall not on the ‘rest’ but on ‘sanctifying’ the day of rest.”²

We first note that Luther “did not turn that day of rest into a catalog of do’s and don’ts at which point it would no longer be restful!” and he did not want to create “humanly devised devotional acts” that would “require our obedience.”³

For Luther, it was God’s Word that would sanctify the day of rest: “Luther referenced the biblical sentence ‘God sanctified the Sabbath (Exod 20:11)’ to mean that the day of rest had the Word as its ‘holy thing’ (heiligtum): ‘The Word of God is the thing (heiligtum) that makes the holy day holy.’ So people and their actions are holy through the Word…But God’s Word is the treasure that makes everything holy…This places emphasis upon the Word as the holy thing."²

God’s word was the magic formula for the Sabbath for Luther: “Did you notice the turnaround of events that takes place? We sanctify the day by devoting ourselves to God’s Word, but the Word ends up sanctifying us and thus the day.”⁴

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 253. ² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 257.  ³ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 254.  ⁴ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 259.

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The Sabbath Commandment: does it apply to the Christians?

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The Sabbath Commandment: does it apply to the Christians?

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Luther believed that end of the law was Christ in all the forms of the laws and that the Christians were free from the Old Testament laws: “Christ is the end of it—period. This applies to all of the Old Testament laws, whether they are civil or ceremonial. But it also applies to the Ten Commandments, which for Luther are a mixture of ceremonial (e.g., the Sabbath command in the form presented there), civil (e.g., adultery), and moral. In other words there is a sense for Christians that the Ten Commandments do not apply to them. They were literally given to the Israelites. They were not given to Christians. As Christians, we have been freed from all of the Old Testament laws and injunctions and now live in the freedom of the gospel.”¹

However, this did not make Christians lawless and the Sabbath Commandment did have a function for Christians: “to confess that Christ is the end of the old covenant law does not render Christians antinomians, much less anarchists. To the contrary, it gives Christians the freedom to go back into the Old Testament and see what is there that they can use for their daily lives.”²

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 220.
² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 221.

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Unique creational approach to highlight the universal context of the Ten Commandments

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Unique creational approach to highlight the universal context of the Ten Commandments

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In Luther's exegetical writings, Arand shows, the Ten Commandments was interpreted in light of their prologue that states “I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt." However, Arand notes a difference in Luther’s catechetical writings where Luther links the Ten Commandments to the created order of God: “Luther interprets them (the Ten Commandments) within the wider context of Genesis rather than Exodus, which is to say that he interprets them in light of God’s created order before interpreting them in light of redemption history…By doing it this way, Luther highlights the universal context of the Ten Commandments. In other words, they are not a distinctively Christian ‘thing’ or ethic. They apply to everyone by virtue of the truth that everyone was created by God. Luther believed that the entire Ten Commandments applied to Christians not because they appear in Exodus or Deuteronomy but because they express the law of creation.”¹

Arand states that Luther emphasized the creational basis for following the Ten Commandments: “he will quote the words, ‘I am the Lord your God,’ but he generally does not follow it up with the clause, ‘who led you out of Egypt.’ Whether or not one agrees with Luther’s approach in this matter, it is fascinating to see how he deals with the two clauses in light of creation and redemption. Luther includes the first clause ‘I am the Lord your God’ because this clause applies to all people—Christian and non-Christian alike. How? Because as maker of heaven and earth, God is the Creator of all people. This is what makes God ‘God.’ For Luther, what defines God above anything else is His creative activity."²

The implication is that the original qualifying phrase in the prologue “who led you out of Egypt” applies only to the Israelites who received the Ten Commandments at the time: “This again makes clear that the literal Ten Commandments do not pertain to Christians, for God never led us out of Egypt.”³

Christians, however, have their own Egypt and exodus with “the crucifixion-resurrection account.” Arand states that Luther would give the following interpretation: “for Christians, people are restored to be the people that God had originally envisioned for them in creation. In other words, the Ten Commandments are not new instructions given to a redeemed people. Instead, they are in a sense ‘regiven’ to God’s people. We can now live as God first created us to live.”⁴

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 219.  ² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 227. ³ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 227-228. ⁴ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 230.

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MacCarty argues that observing the Sabbath day on seventh day does not diminish their appreciation for Jesus: “For us, Jesus’ fulfillment of the Sabbath doesn’t make Sabbath observance obsolete; rather, it infuses it with even richer meaning than the most devout OT believer had the privilege of understanding or experiencing. Rightly observed, the Sabbath does not divert our attention away from Jesus but focuses it on Jesus, bonding us to Him ever more strongly in covenant love.”¹
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 70.

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First-day/Christian Sabbath Perspective: Joseph A Pipa 

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First-day/Christian Sabbath Perspective: Joseph A Pipa 

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It is the Resurrection of Christ that is to be remembered on the Sabbath by orienting us to what is to come: “The first Christians saw in the resurrection of Jesus the first and isolated but clear ray of His final return in judgement and consummation, the prophecy of the future general resurrection of the dead, and the security and pledge of redemption and restoration, of the revelation of the coming kingdom and of eternal life….in the imperfection in which we must now continually repeat it (the Sabbath Commandment), it directs us to the future, perfect, eternal Sabbath of the last day, to the perpetuus, sabbathismus futurae vitae which here and now we can only long for and seek after more and more."1
¹ Karl Barth, “The Holy Day.” In Church Dogmatics, III.4, The Doctrine of Creation. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1961), 57.

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1 Cor 16:2 "On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up..."
Acts 20:7 "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread..."

Karl Barth suggests that these verses demonstrate that the early church looked to a new holy day in the resurrection of Jesus: “Similarly, we can affirm that when New Testament Christianity did not proclaim a particular annulment but, as it would appear from 1 Cor. 16:2 and Acts 20:7, quite naturally began to celebrate this holy day on the first day of the week, it was not rebelling against the order of creation but was acting in profound agreement with that is said in Exod. 20:8 and Gen. 2:1 on the basis of the Sabbath commandment…the day of Jesus Christ’s resurrection was the day after the Jewish Sabbath and therefore the first day of the week...in the resurrection of Jesus it saw and understood that the seventh day of creation which is to be kept holy as the 'Lord’s Day' – as the day of God’s resting and also of the resting in Him commanded to man – is not only the last but above all the first day of man, and is therefore to be kept as his holy day.”¹

¹ Karl Barth, “The Holy Day.” In Church Dogmatics, III.4, The Doctrine of Creation. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1961), 53.

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The Sabbath day in early church history - a breech in God's law?

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The Sabbath day in early church history - a breech in God's law?

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MacCarty argues that the reason for the shift in days from the seventh day to Sunday is mainly political and social/cultural. He provides the following evidence: “Emperor Hadrian (AD 132–135) outlawed the Jewish religion, including Sabbath worship, after losing many thousands of soldiers in the Jewish Bar Kochba rebellion of AD 135. Anti-Jewish sentiment led some church leaders to disparage keeping the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments, to help separate Christianity from Judaism…Church leaders at Rome unashamedly acknowledged a similar influence in their choice of Sunday as the day for weekly worship. It appears that Sunday observance began at the intellectual centers of Rome and Alexandria not as a replacement day for the Sabbath but as an ordinary workday to which a worship service had been added… The Council of Orleans in 538 prohibited labor, even for farmers, so they could attend worship services on Sunday. With these decrees the Sabbath commandment had been completely reversed, turning the Sabbath into a common workday and Sunday into a day of rest. And on whose authority? Political decrees and church councils! A breach had been made in God’s law.”1
¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 42-43.

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Permanence of the seventh-day Sabbath - The Reasons

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Permanence of the seventh-day Sabbath - The Reasons

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1). Established in the creation

The Sabbath was established at creation. The Sabbath commandment was forever linked to the creation week: God “rested on the seventh day,” and God “blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”¹ Therefore the Sabbath day had its origin in the beginning of the world’s history: “Scripture wishes to emphasize that the sanctity of the Sabbath is older than Israel, and rests upon all mankind.”²
2). Eschatological argument
MacCarty also argues for its permanence by referring to its eschatology: “Beaming through Isaiah 65–66, as shafts of sunlight through latticework, is the divine longing for return to Edenic conditions and God’s promise to bring it about…John alludes to this same Isaiah passage in his own description of ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Rev 21:1–5)….the parallels between the Edenic creation and the new heavens and new earth indicate that Sabbath observance will continue in the new earth. Clearly, the eschatological message of the OT did not anticipate eliminating the Sabbath; on the contrary it reaffirms its universality and permanence.”3
3). Demonstrated and endorsed by Jesus

MacCarty demonstrates that Jesus Himself observed the Sabbath using a passage in Luke: “Jesus returned to His hometown Nazareth in order to launch His ministry on the Sabbath, in the synagogue where He had grown up (Luke 4:16). It was His ‘custom’ to worship on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16).”⁴

MacCarty describes that Jesus used terms that exhibit universal and permanent character of the Sabbath when Jesus proclaimed that “the Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27): egeneto, ‘made’ (literally, ‘came into existence’), and , ‘man.’ The Greek word egeneto linked the Sabbath with creation; it is used 20 times in the Septuagint in the Genesis 1 creation story, once in Heb 11:3 in reference to God’s creation of our world out of nothing, and three times in John 1:3, which establishes Jesus as the one through whom all things were ‘made’ (created). The Greek term is the generic term for humankind. Numerous scholars have understood Mark 2:27 as Jesus’ affirmation of the creation origin and universal character of the Sabbath.”⁵

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 11. ² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 11-12.. ³ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 16-18. ⁴ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 20. ⁵ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 21.

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The application of the Sabbath commandment is universal as demonstrated its extension to include the servants, animals, and “the alien within your gates,” and in its universal reference to the Lord who made “the heavens . . . earth . . . sea . . . and all that is in them.”1

Furthermore, we can find passages that demonstrate that the intention of God's law is to be outward involving the people of the other nations: “God intended that ‘the law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations’ (Isa 51:4)…Thus foreigners, as well as God’s missionary people, were invited into a share of the redemptive, spiritual blessings of God’s covenants, including His gift of the seventh-day Sabbath: ‘foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servant, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold fast to my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer’ (Isa 56:6–7).”²

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 11.
² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 14-15.

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Jesus Christ abolished the ceremonial components of the commandments, including the observance of the Sabbath, by fulfilling this commandment in Him. John Calvin states “this is not confined within a single day but extends through the whole course of our life, until, completely dead to ourselves, we are filled with the life of God...Christians ought therefore to shun completely the superstitious observance of days.”¹

Historical grounding on the early century fathers: Based on writings of the 2nd century fathers, some have rejected a literal “keeping” of this day: “Perhaps there were some Gentile Christians who kept the Sabbath but if so, they found no spokesman whose writings survive…The attempt to steer a course between Judaism and Tertullian to clarify the elements of continuity and discontinuity between the religion of the Old and New Testaments. The metaphorical interpretation of the Sabbath commandment enabled them to explain how the commandment could be God given and valuable and yet not binding on Christians in its literal sense.”²

Is there any value of the Sabbath?
There are 2 values (but not binding) of the Sabbath as laid out by John Calvin: 1). Based on Acts 2:42-“And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers”-he claimed that the Christians ought to come together on “stated days” for preaching, communion, prayers, and for fellowship; 2). He saw the value of providing rest from work for “servants and workmen” and “not inhumnanely oppress those subject to us.”³

¹ John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion 2.8.30.
² Don Carson, From Sabbath to Lord’s day: A biblical, historical, and theological investigation. (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock: 1982).
³ John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion 2.8.32 and 2.8.34.

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Karl Barth provides an interesting perspective on the Sabbath which he terms "renouncing faith" and describes that such faith in God is required of us on the Sabbath: “The command to celebrate the Sabbath, and therefore to cease and abstain from all our own knowledge, work and volition, even from all our arbitrary surrenders and inactivity, from all arbitrary quiescence and resting – this command claims from man that which on the basis of his self-understanding he can understand only as a sacrifice of his human nature and existence, and against which he can really only rebel as life rebels against death...The Sabbath Commandment demands the faith in God which brings about the renunciation of man, his renunciation of himself, of all that he thinks and wills and effects and achieves.”1
¹ Karl Barth, “The Holy Day.” In Church Dogmatics, III.4, The Doctrine of Creation. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1961), 58.

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“Like everything that comes from God, the holy day is not given to the individual in isolation, but in relationship to his fellows...it does not belong to him in himself but in the community of which he is a member and therefore in human society.”¹
¹ Karl Barth, “The Holy Day.” In Church Dogmatics, III.4, The Doctrine of Creation. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1961), 69.

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Examples of some verses to consider to highlight the different perspectives

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Examples of some verses to consider to highlight the different perspectives

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Hebrews 8:8b-9a,10,13 "Behold, the days are coming declared the LORD, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt...For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people...In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete." (ESV)

Seventh-day Sabbatarians and strict first-day Sabbatarians believe that the verses demonstrate to us that the Law of God, including the Sabbath Commandment, is eternal and has now been placed in the hearts of God's people to be continually kept. Non-Sabbatarians and some first-day Sabbatarians use these verses to argue that Sabbath-keeping is obsolete (old covenant) and not mandatory.

Colossians 2:16-17 "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ" (ESV)

Non-Sabbatarians interpret these verses as giving us freedom from mandatory obligations to follow the old covenant, including the Sabbath Commandment. Seventh-day Sabbatarians and strict first-day Sabbatarians believe that these verses describe that weekly Sabbath days are shadow of things to come and also serve as a remembrance of the creation and the creator, and therefore the Sabbath remains to be kept.

Jeremiah 31:31 "Behold, the days are coming declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah." (ESV)

Similar interpretations are used as above for other verses. I will add that the Jewish interpretation of this verse would add that the new covenant has yet to come and we are awaiting the future Messianic Kingdom for this new covenant to be revealed.

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Various Christian Perspectives on the Sabbath

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Various Christian Perspectives on the Sabbath

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Lutheran/Covenant Sabbath Perspective: Charles P. Arand

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Lutheran/Covenant Sabbath Perspective: Charles P. Arand

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Fulfillment/Non-Sabbatarian Perspective: Craig L. Blomberg 

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Fulfillment/Non-Sabbatarian Perspective: Craig L. Blomberg 

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1. Barth, Karl. “The Holy Day.” In Church Dogmatics, III.4, The Doctrine of Creation. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1961, 47-72.

2. Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Edited by John T. McNeil. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. 2 vols. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1960.

3. Carson, Don. From Sabbath to Lord’s day: A biblical, historical, and theological investigation. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock: 1982.

4. Coogan, Michael. The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text. New Haven, CT: Yale University, 2014.

5. Donato, Christopher. Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011.

6. Duff, Nancy. “The Old Testament in public: the Ten Commandments, evolution, and Sabbath closing laws.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew/Old Testament. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2016, 447-65.

7. Heschel, Abraham. The Sabbath. New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951.

8. Lowery, Richard. Sabbath and Jubilee. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2000.

9. Miller, Patrick. The Ten Commandments. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.

10. Moller, Francois. “Three perspectives on the Sabbath.” In die Skriflig, 53.1 (2019): 1-10.

11. Stjerna, Kirsi. The Large Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther 1529. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2016.

12. Vos, Johannes Geerhardus, and G.I. Williamson. The Westminster Larger Cathechism: A Commentary. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P & R Pub, 2002.

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Traditions: Just prior to sunset on the sixth-day evening, the Sabbath is ushered in by the lighting of the candles.

"When all work is brought to a standstill, the candles are lit. Just as creation began with the word, 'Let there be light!' so does the celebration of creation begin with the kindling of lights. It is the woman who ushers in the joy and sets up the most exquisite symbol, light, to dominate the atmosphere of the home."¹

Activities: There are 39 prohibited activities on the Sabbath and are listed in the Talmud. It is a day to be enjoyed in its festivities and the presence of God.

"Refreshed and renewed, attired in festive garments, with candles nodding dreamily to unutterable expectations, to intuitions of eternity...One should like to sing for all men, for all generations. Some people chant the greatest of all songs: The Song of Songs...It is a chant of love for God, a song of passion, nostaliga and tender apology."²

Duration: Observance of the Sabbath goes from the sixth-day evening until the seventh-day evening. The Sabbath ends about one hour after the sunset of the seventh-day.

¹ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 66.
² Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 66-7.

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More than a date but a palace (a place) in time

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More than a date but a palace (a place) in time

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The Jewish faith considers Sabbath as a meeting place with God: “The seventh day is like a palace in time with a kingdom for all. It is not a date but an atmosphere.”¹

The Sabbath comes upon those who observe the Sabbath, and one goes into it: “The primary awareness is one of our being within the Sabbath rather than of the Sabbath being within us.”²

God is found and met in a place called Sabbath:

“Yet the likeness of God can be found in time, which is eternity in disguise.”³ This point is clarified further to state that “time is the presence of God in the world of space”⁴

Again, instead of searching for God in the creation, we find the creator in the eternal time: “It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.”⁵

¹ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 121.; ² Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 121.; ³ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 16.; ⁴ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 100.; ⁵ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 10.

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Importance of work is not negated in Judaism as we are commanded to work: “six days you shall labor, and do all your work.” (Exodus 20:9) However, the Sabbath presents an opportunity to achieve independence from work. This is nicely summarized by Heschel: “in regard to external gifts, to outward possessions, there is only one proper attitude – to have them and to be able to do without them. On the Sabbath we live, as it were, independent of technical civilization.”¹

We also attain independence from greed of this world: “The rewards that most people woo were of little worth to Rabbi Shimeon ben Yohai. He was not captivated by the things of the earth, by all the world that is bound to decay…The world is transitory, but that by which the world was created – the word of God – is everlasting.”²

¹ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 28.
² Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 41.

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It is evident that the Sabbath day is the central point of the week for those of Jewish faith. Rest of the weekdays revolve around the Sabbath.

“To the Biblical mind, however, labor is the means towards an end, and the Sabbath as a day of rest, as a day of abstaining from toil is not for the purpose of recovering one’s lost strength and becoming fit for the forthcoming labor…The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of Sabbath.”¹

“This is what the ancient rabbis felt: the Sabbath demands all of man’s attention, the service and single-minded devotion of total love.”²

¹ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 14.
² Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 17.

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There is an aura of mystical character of Sabbath in its description. Sabbath is considered to be more than just a date, or time: “The day was a living presence, and when it arrived they felt as if a guest had come to see them.”¹

The Sabbath is considered to be more than an abstract concept of time but an actual reality.

The Sabbath is described as a bride to the groom:
“The six days stand in need of space; the seventh day stands in need of man. It is not good that the spirit should be alone, so Israel was destined to be a helpmeet for the Sabbath.”²
“The Sabbath is a bride, and its celebration is like a wedding.”³

Heschel expounds on this concept to state that this is not to be taken and understood as personification but “an exemplification of divine attribute, an illustration of God’s need for human love; it does not represent a substance but the presence of God, His relationship to man.”4

It is also described as “Spirit in the form of time.”⁵

It is also enlightening to see what the Rabbis believed about the mystical happenings on the Sabbath. Heschel describes Rabbi Hamnuna the ancient’s thoughts on the Sabbath: “’At each arrival of the Sabbath, he said, man is caught up into the world of souls. Happy is he who is aware of the mysteries of his Lord.’”⁶

One tale that Heschel tells of brings the mystical happenings surrounding the Sabbath into light: “Once a rabbi was immured by his persecutors in a cave, where not a ray of light could reach him, so that he knew not when it was day or when it was night. Nothing tormented so much as the thought that he was now hindered from celebrating the Sabbath with song and prayer…Beside this an almost unconquerable desire to smoke caused him much pain…All at once, he perceived that it suddenly vanished; a voice said within him: ‘Now it is Friday evening” for this was always the hour when my longing for that which is forbidden on the Sabbath regularly left me.’ Joyfully he rose up and with loud voice thanked God and blessed the Sabbath day. So it went on from week to week; his tormenting desire for tobacco regularly vanished at the incoming of each Sabbath.”⁷

¹ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 53.; ² Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 52.; ³ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 54.; ⁴ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 60.; ⁵ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 75.; ⁶ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 66.; ⁷ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 21-22.

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I pray that this mind map has shown you the richness of the Sabbath Commandment through the minds of many different perspectives. I pray that it will give you more joy when considering the Sabbath Commandment from your own conviction. I will end with Psalm 92 labelled “A song for the Sabbath”:
"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep! The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this: that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever; but you, O Lord, are on high forever. For behold, your enemies, O Lord, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." (ESV)

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Other considerations: How does it impact those who do not uphold the Judeo-Christian values?

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Other considerations: How does it impact those who do not uphold the Judeo-Christian values?

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Sabbath closing laws, or called “blue laws”: “In 1610, laws in Colony of Virginia prohibited people from working on the Sabbath and required them to attend two worship[ services every Sunday. The penalty for violating the law was one week’s provisions for the first offense and another week’s provision, plus being whipped, for the second. A third offense resulted in death...Most stringest law still enforced in Paramus, New Jersey, where all 'worldly employment.'”¹

In 2010, New Jersey governor Chris Christie proposed to repeal these Blue Laws, but this was not successful.²

Duff provides this perspective about using the Sabbath Commandment to enforce the "blue laws": “Christians should be motivated by this divine command to advocate for labor laws limiting the number of hours in a given week that people are required to work. At the same time, serving this God and following this God’s commandments does not require them to deny the civil rights of others…There were, nevertheless, always citizen who wished to be free from obligatory worship, as well as those who wanted to be free to worship and rest on a day other than Sunday. What better way is there for Christians to honor the God who delivers from slavery than by supporting secular laws protecting the rights and freedoms of all their neighbors.”³

¹ Nancy Duff, “The Old Testament in public: the Ten Commandments, evolution, and Sabbath closing laws.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew/Old Testament (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 459-460.
² John Brennan "11 things you might not know about Bergen County's blue laws." North Jersey. June 23, 2017. Accessed April 3, 2019. https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2017/06/23/11-things-you-might-not-know-bergen-countys-blue-laws/420512001/
³ Nancy Duff, “The Old Testament in public: the Ten Commandments, evolution, and Sabbath closing laws.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew/Old Testament (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 461-462.

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As an extension to the understanding of the Sabbath Commandment in the context of the covenant, we are also told that the Sabbath Commandment is a perpetual sign that God is the creator.
Observe, Exodus 31:12-17 “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Your are to speak to the people of Israel and say, above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you…Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” (ESV)

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Some understand the Sabbath Commandment to be a covenant, or quite literally "coming together" in its Latin origin meaning. Two or more parties make a binding contract that agree on the contract's responsibilities and stipulations, and was commonly used in legal and theological contexts.
Mӧller states that “the Sabbath should have been celebrated by the Israelites as a covenant between them and God. It is a covenant that speaks of the truth that God is a God for them – his part of the agreement, and that Israel should be a people for him – their part of the agreement…If they were truly a people for God (serve him wholeheartedly and keep his commandments), then they would also ‘pass through time into eternity.’”¹
¹ Francois Moller, “Three Perspectives on the Sabbath,” In die Skriflig 53.1 (2019): 3

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Two crucial words in the Genesis passage: Rest and Holiness

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Two crucial words in the Genesis passage: Rest and Holiness

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We need to note that the Hebrew word used for “rested” is shabat.  This demonstrates that the word Sabbath is related to rest.

Second the word qadosh, or holy, enters the Bible for the first time through this passage. Abraham Heschel raises this curious question: “Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it and altar?” He answers “how extremely significant is the fact that it (qadosh) is applied to time…there is no reference in record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness.”¹

¹ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 9.

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“And he (Jesus) said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’” (Mark 2:27, ESV) As Miller puts it: “Sabbath is a gift of God as much as it is a command…The LORD’s blessing of the Sabbath thus is the provision of the Sabbath as a gift for human existence…It is a part of the continuities of life, given to bless human existence.”¹
¹ Patrick D. Miller, The Ten Commandments (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 122-123.

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One of the first questions that arise from the reading of the Sabbath commandment is what we are to do to keep the day holy: “As is true so regularly in the Commandments, the basic command gives a fundamental direction but leaves out many details about how it is one carries out the divine command.”¹

As shown in other parts of this mind map, different traditions of faith have different thoughts on what is allowed and not allowed on this day to the Lord.

Disputes over proper Sabbath observance is no trivial matter, and may even mean life or death. Observe this example given by Coogan: “One of the most striking is from the time of the Maccabees in the early second century BCE. Some of those who had fled to the wilderness to avoid the draconian attempts of the Greek ruler Antiochus IV to suppress Judaism refused to defend themselves when attacked on the Sabbath, and a thousand of them were killed along with their wives and children. When he learned of this, Matthias, a leader of the revolt against Antiochus…decreed that self-defense did not violate the Sabbath (1 Maccabees 2:40-41).”²

¹ Patrick D. Miller, The Ten Commandments (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 120.

² Michael Coogan, The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 2014), 71.

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A day without end - eschatological meaning

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A day without end - eschatological meaning

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Interestingly, unlike the first six days of creation where there are specific indications for morning and evening, on the seventh day there is no ending but only the beginning.

Lowery states: “The seventh day account does not end with the expected formula ‘there was evening and morning’. Breaking the pattern in this way emphasizes the uniqueness of the seventh day and opens the door to an eschatological interpretation. Literally, the sun has not yet set on God’s Sabbath.”¹

Miller states: “The rabbis were right. The Sabbath is indeed a glimpse of the world to come.”²

Heschel points out that the Sabbath is described as “meˁen ˁolam ha-ba” in the Talmud. This means “somewhat like eternity or the world to come” and Heschel goes on to describe the perspective of Rabbi Hayim of Krasne that “to him the Sabbath is the fountainhead of eternity, the well from which heaven or the life in the world to come takes its source.”³

¹ Richard H. Lowery, Sabbath and Jubilee (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2000), 90.
² Patrick D. Miller, The Ten Commandments (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 166.
³ Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath (New York, NY: The Noonday Press, 1951), 74.

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Brief background on Saturday versus Sunday (more to be explored in other sections)

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Brief background on Saturday versus Sunday (more to be explored in other sections)

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Saturday: Saturday has been and continues to be the Jewish Sabbath since its origin. Both Jewish and Christian seventh-day interpretation usually state that Jesus, himself, kept the seventh-day Sabbath on earth and that His condemning teachings on Sabbath observance relate to the Pharisaic position.

Sunday: Christians began to gather on the first day of the week in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus: “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread.” (Acts 20:7).  The day of rest shifted to Sunday, the first day of the week. Miller describes that “by the second century CE, Sunday had generally replaced Saturday as the Christian day of rest and that was made official by an edict of the emperor Constantine in 321.”¹

Karl Barth summarizes the shift of the days in this way: “In the resurrection of Jesus it saw and understood that the seventh day of creation which is to be kept holy as the 'Lord’s Day' – as the day of God’s resting and also of the resting in Him commanded to man – is not only the last but above all the first day of man, and is therefore to be kept as his holy day.”

¹ Michael Coogan, The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 2014), 73.
² Karl Barth, “The Holy Day.” In Church Dogmatics, III.4, The Doctrine of Creation. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1961), 53.

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Jewish Perspectives: Abraham Joshua Heschel

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Important points to consider in the Deuteronomy verses

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Important points to consider in the Deuteronomy verses

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The motivation clause for rest on Sabbath day in Deuteronomy is “so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.” (Deut. 5:14b) These Deuteronomy verses shed light, particularly, on the role of the Sabbath Commandment as the crucial bridge between the first set of the commandments that deal with our relationship to God and the second set that deal with our relationship to our neighbors: "But the purpose of the Deuteronomic form of the commandment as it grounds the Sabbath in the need to provide rest for your servant means that it also points forward and becomes a part of that group of commandments that have to do with the way one treats the neighbor.”¹

These verses focus on the importance of humanitarianism and social justice. Israelites are called to remember that the LORD has delivered them from their own history of oppressive slavery and labor (Egypt), and to provide everyone the opportunity to rest on a regular basis and to protect the workers from oppressive labor: "The many words of Deuteronomy about sole worship of the LORD are rooted in the opening commandments: the humanitarian character so prominent in Deuteronomy is rooted in the Fourth Commandment. Along with the prophets, the command to keep the Sabbath is the primary biblical impetus for social justice in the human community."²

¹ Patrick D. Miller, The Ten Commandments (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 125.
² Patrick D. Miller, The Ten Commandments (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 129.

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Important points to consider in the Exodus verses

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Important points to consider in the Exodus verses

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The motivation for keeping the Sabbath is based on the story of creation in Genesis 2:2-3. A concept referred to as Imitatio Dei, Patrick Miller puts it this way: “The sabbatical practice of each family in the community, interrupting its work with a day of rest, is a self-conscious reflection and imitation of the work of God, who also interrupted – or better – finished the divine creative labor with a day of rest.”¹

Mӧller expounds on the concept of the resting of God: “The Sabbath observance is backed up by the astonishing statement that the Lord paused to ‘get His breath back’ (yinnāphash) on the 7th day, does not refer to God as being exhausted, but rather invigorated.”2

Another motivation for keeping the Sabbath is based on the natural law that exist in the created order. The rest on the 7th day brings to light that there is an inner mechanism of rest at work for all created order: “that begins with the land, with the need of God’s creation to have its rest, even as the Creator rested...The imitation Dei is not confined to the human creature: it is a requirement of creation.”³

¹ Patrick D. Miller, The Ten Commandments (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 125.

² Francois Mӧller, “Three Perspectives on the Sabbath,” In die Skriflig 53.1 (2019): 1.
³ Patrick D. Miller, The Ten Commandments (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 143.

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Genesis 2:2-3 "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation." (ESV)
Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (ESV)
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a might hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” (ESV)

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Introduction: Observation of the Sabbath day is one of the Ten Commandments. Starting with the differences in the numbering of the Sabbath Commandment (it is considered to be the fourth commandment in the Jewish, the Eastern Orthodox, and most Protestant traditions while it is considered to be the third commandment in the Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions), there are many different perspectives of the Sabbath Commandment...If you are like me, we grow up in a certain tradition of thought and never consider the perspectives of other traditions of faith. When that happens, I believe, we miss out on the richness that can be gained from others.
Purpose of the mind map: The objective here is to provide an opportunity to gain a broad understanding about the Sabbath Commandment through the lens of different faith traditions. While the perspectives I present for each tradition may not be comprehensive, I will use prominent scholars from different traditions of faith as representatives in the hopes to at least depict some of the general beliefs upheld within the individual traditions of faith.
Outline of the mind map:
North – Background materials for understanding the Sabbath Commandment
East – Jewish thoughts and perspectives on the Sabbath
West – Various Christian thoughts and perspectives on the Sabbath
South – Additional considerations, conclusions, and bibliography

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The Sabbath day is to be enjoyed together and extended to nonbelievers: “The devout in Israel sought this blessing not for themselves alone but that it might enhance their witness to the nations—their mission as new covenant people…True Sabbath observers place themselves in the path of divine blessing that they might both receive the blessing and share it.”¹

The Sabbath day reminds us that God is holy and that we have no holiness in ourselves apart from God: “They have nothing, and need nothing, that recommends them to Him. His grace is enough…While it is true that we do not automatically realize this Sabbath quality by merely resting on the Sabbath day, there is a quality of Sabbath observance that cannot be found on any other day than God’s own day, the day He ‘blessed.’”²

The Sabbath day links us to our Creator and when understood, it reminds us that we are all one and equal under God: “the Sabbath serves as an antidote to pride and racism, reminding that all nations, races, social classes, and genders come from the hand of God and are of one blood, made in His image, brothers and sisters, equal and precious in His sight. Similarly, the Sabbath’s testimony to creation serves as an antidote to an evolutionary view of naturalistic origins. Sabbath observance reminds us that we are not the result of impersonal natural processes in a universe devoid of morality but are moral beings created in the image of an almighty God of love who wanted us. God sovereignly chose the Sabbath to make Himself available to us in a unique intimacy, to remind us of the extreme value He places on us as His created children and covenant partner.”³

The Sabbath day links us to our redeemer Jesus Christ and His salvific work: “Jesus’ dying announcement, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30), and His subsequent Sabbath rest in the tomb, infused the Sabbath with the added significance of a completed redemption. He who as Lord of the Sabbath rested from a finished creation on the seventh day now rested as Lord of salvation from a finished redemption on the Sabbath day. Sabbath observance, therefore, celebrates His completed work in grateful, loving response.”³

The Sabbath day offers us divine rest and freedom from the burden of work: “True Sabbath observance reminds us that we do not belong to our work and are not defined by our work; we belong to God and are defined by our relationship to Him. As important as our work can sometimes be, the Sabbath releases us from the tyranny of work and puts it in proper perspective, bringing back into view the very things that make our lives meaningful—God, family, friends, people who need us.”³

¹ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 62. ² Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 42-43. ³ Christopher J. Donato, Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 64-70.