DENOMINATIONAL DOCTRINES: Keeping the Sabbath

The most misunderstood page in the Bible among evangelicals, and even those on the fringe, seems to be the page between the Testaments. We often hear Christians say “keep the Ten Commandments” or “we need to get back to the Ten Commandments.” And it is ironically stated in connection with the moral deterioration of our nation, which demonstrates that while the intentions are excellent, the remedy is incorrect.

The United States has never been under the Ten Commandments, nor could it ever be. Those laws were given to the Jewish nation and only to them (Deut. 5:1-5). The Gentiles had a law on the heart according to Paul (Rom. 2:12-16), so that does not mean that they were not held responsible for living the right kind of lives. It does mean that no one has ever been under the Law of Moses except the Hebrew nation. The Gentiles did not have that law (Rom. 2:12).

The Sabbath law would become a part of Christianity if we were to keep the Ten Commandments, which were never intended for us. That, of course, is what many groups are saying, not just the Seventh Day Adventists. There is a strong push from several corners that Christians are to keep the Sabbath. But those among mainline denominations who talk about keeping the Ten Commandments do not keep the Sabbath or talk about keeping the Sabbath. But it was not the “Nine Commandments.” There were ten of them, so the Sabbath law would have to be included.

There is absolutely no way to get the Sabbath law into the New Testament Church no matter what kind of twisting of the Scriptures is done. The apostles did go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, but it was not to keep the Sabbath law. They went to preach Jesus, because they knew there were Jews there who were awaiting the Messiah (Acts 13:14; 17:1-2). The gospel was preached to the Jews first (Rom. 1:16).

During the period after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, until the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, there were Christians who wanted to continue keeping the Law of Moses. But they were referred to as weak, immature brethren and Paul wrote to correct their errors (Rom. 14; Gal. 4:10-11). One of their problems was they still wanted to keep the Sabbath.

There are no special days in Christianity. The Sabbath law was nailed to the cross and went down with the temple just like all of the Law of Moses did. It is a serious misunderstanding to try to impose the Sabbath upon Christians today. You might as well try to offer animal sacrifices through a Levitical priesthood that no longer exists in a temple that is not there anymore. It is time for Christians to grow up and accept the fact that we live by the principles of the New Covenant and we are not in any way under the Law of Moses.

Dewayne Dunaway