There have been many disagreements among Christians regarding the Sabbath day being on Sunday. Those who think it is wrong, believe that Christians should be observing the Sabbath on Saturday like the Jewish people do.
For clarification on this issue, we must refer to the Old Testament to see what God actually commands regarding the Sabbath day, and this can be found in:
Genesis 2:2-3 – By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Exodus 20:8-11 – “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 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. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Exodus 31:17 – It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
Deuteronomy 5:14 – but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
Leviticus 23:3 – “‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.
Exodus 34:21 – “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.
Exodus 23:12 – “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.
Exodus 16:29 – Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”
As we can see in all the scriptures, God is only referring to the Sabbath day as the seventh day. Whatever you consider the seventh day of the week according to your calendar, whether it is Jewish or Gregorian, is the day you should observe as the Sabbath. It is not a specific day but rather whatever is considered the seventh day of the week, according to your society’s calendar. Most of today’s known world operates using the Gregorian calendar, which would make the seventh day Sunday.
Colossians 2:16-17 – Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Paul is stating that we should not be judged by anyone regarding which calendar is used to decide the day of the week to consider the Sabbath.
New Moon celebrations and Sabbaths are mentioned in the following Old Testament scriptures which is what Paul is referring to. In Jewish culture, the New Moon signifies the beginning of the new month. Therefore, the Jewish calendar months are different from our Gregorian calendar months. There is a minor celebration/observance that takes place on the first day of the month, which is identified by the New Moon.
Paul is also stating not to quibble and argue about when the first day of the month is due to the New Moon festival. This is due to the difference in calendars between the Greeks and the Jews during his time and now between the Jewish and Gregorian calendars.
Numbers 28:11 & 14 – 11 “‘On the first of every month, present to the Lord a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect…14 With each bull there is to be a drink offering of half a hin[e] of wine; with the ram, a third of a hin[f]; and with each lamb, a quarter of a hin. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each new moon during the year.
Psalm 81:3 – Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
Isaiah 66:23 – 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord.
Ezekiel 46:1 – “‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened.
These scriptures are some examples of the New Moon festival being observed in ancient Israel.
1 Chronicles 23:30-31 – They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening 31 and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the Lord on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon feasts and at the appointed festivals. They were to serve before the Lord regularly in the proper number and in the way prescribed for them.
2 Chronicles 2:4 – Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him, for setting out the consecrated bread regularly, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths, at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the LORD our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.
2 Chronicles 8:12-13 – On the altar of the Lord that he had built in front of the portico, Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord, 13 according to the daily requirement for offerings commanded by Moses for the Sabbaths, the New Moons and the three annual festivals—the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles.
2 Chronicles 31:3 – The king contributed from his own possessions for the morning and evening burnt offerings and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths, at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals as written in the Law of the Lord.
Nehemiah 10:32-33 – “We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God: 33 for the bread set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon feasts and at the appointed festivals; for the holy offerings; for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the house of our God.
1 Samuel 20:5 – So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow.
2 Kings 4:23 – “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.” “That’s all right,” she said.
Amos 8:5 – saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,
Isaiah 1:13-14 – Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. 14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
As we can see, New Moon festivals and the Sabbath go hand in hand as the New Moon festival is the first day of every month. The Jewish people treat this day as a Sabbath and abstain from work on this day also. And so, Paul is stating not to quibble and argue regarding the timing of this day of the month either – meaning what is the first day of the month on the calendar.
Paul also speaks of these disputable matters in:
Romans 14:1-23 – Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.
22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
Paul is stating that disputable matters such as this should not be argued about. We shouldn’t be arguing about what day of the week the Sabbath should be observed and which day of the week should be considered the seventh day. The point is to make sure that we are honoring God by observing the Sabbath weekly.
According to these scriptures, God only refers to the Sabbath as the seventh day. Paul also speaks of the Sabbath and refers to it as the seventh day.
Hebrews 4:4 – or somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”
According to the Jewish calendar, the Sabbath or seventh day is Saturday and Sunday is considered to be the first day of the week. The Jewish day starts at sunset and ends the following sunset. This is why the Jewish sabbath begins at sunset on Friday.
Leviticus 23:32 – It is a day of sabbath rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath.”
In the Gregorian calendar (which is what we use in the West along with most of the modern world), the seventh day is Sunday, and the first day of the week is Monday. For this reason, the Christian sabbath begins Sunday at midnight.
1 Colossians 2:16-17 – Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
We can see from scriptures that things like what you eat, drink, celebrate, and what day of the week is considered the seventh day for the Sabbath or the first day of the month are all disputable matters that should not be argued over.
So then, whatever day of the week is considered the seventh day according to the calendar you follow – keep it holy! The main purpose of Sabbath is making sure that we are keeping it holy, not what day of the week it falls on.
Exodus 35:2 – For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.
Isaiah 56:2 – Blessed is the one who does this— the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil.”
Exodus 31:14 – ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people.
Exodus 31:16-17 – The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
Ezekiel 20:20 – Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 26:2 – “‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
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