Question / Comment - Seventh Day Adventism and the Sabbath

I have a friend who subscribes to this religion and am trying to explain to her that it's ok to celebrate "sabbath" on Sunday, yet she says that we are to follow the 10 Commandments of which Sabbath was one, and the Jews celebrated and still do on Saturday and so did the early church. I also explained that we are under grace, yes we still follow the commandments, but in early church history there was a separation between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians and with the change in the calendar, Sunday was considered the end of the week (work week) or first day of the week (i.e. first fruits to God, I didnt tell her this example). I need more help as she still doesn't think its right.   Thank you.

Hi, Thanks for your email. It is hard to say how far you will get with your friend as the question of the 'Sabbath' is obviously right at the heart of what Seventh Day Adventism is all about. With that said, we can but try! Here are a few things for you to think about and look at yourself. 1. While God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, there is no command from God to do likewise until Israel, as a nation was taken out of Egypt (Ex 16). There is no record before this time of Abraham, or Noah or anyone else resting on the seventh day. The oldest book in the Bible is believed to be the book of Job, and again, there is no mention of a Sabbath or resting on the seventh day. This is quite telling as Job's "friends" accused him of sorts of things that he had supposedly done to bring about God's wrath and I'm sure that if the Sabbath was in force, he would have been accused of not keeping it. But there is no mention of it. I take from this then, that there wasn't a Sabbath in force until the time of Israel's exodus out of Egypt. 2. We know that God's covenant of the Law with the nation of Israel lasted until the New Covenant was introduced with the death of Jesus. As believers we are under the New Covenant, not the Mosaic Covenant, and again, it is very important to note that there is not one command from the death of Jesus onwards to keep the Sabbath. While the 10 commandments show the character of God, and most are repeated in the New Testament, the Sabbath command is not. It should also be pointed out that Paul calls the 10 commandments the 'ministry of death' and the 'ministry of condemnation' (2 Cor 3). It you put yourself under any part of the law of Moses then you have to observe the entire thing! You cannot just choose which parts to observe. That is why it is a ministry of death and a curse! (See Gal 3:10) 3. In fact, when the first Gentiles started getting saved, the Church had to hold an important meeting to discuss what exactly these gentiles needed to observe. Read about it in Acts 15. For the sake of keeping peace between Jews and Gentiles, some commands were given, but there is no mention of keeping a Sabbath day. This again is telling as these new gentiles converts would never had kept one day as holy before becoming Christians (as this command was only given to the nation of Israel) and the Apostles didn't burden these believers with this observance either. 4. Even more convincing, in my view, is the fact that there are actually warnings in the New Testament against Sabbath observance (especially it should be noted when the person observing the Sabbath is doing so as a type of works righteousness. Amongst these are: Gal 4:9-10 which speaks against observing days and months etc Col 2:16-17 shows that the Sabbath was only a shadow, a type, of what we have in Christ. And it says don't let anyone judge you regarding a Sabbath day (ie don't let anyone judge you for not keeping it because the actual reality of the rest which God wants us to enter is in Christ... not in observing one day) I will write more on this in point 5. Rom 14:5 actually declares that each believer should determine in his own mind whether or not they will set aside one day over another, and that we are not to judge each other if we do this. The exception to this would be if someone was using Sabbath Keeping as a form of meriting favor with God. Then it becomes wrong. 5. Hebrews 4:1-13 shows that the true Sabbath for a believer is not one day a week, but is "Today". ie it is not a physical resting from work and activity on Saturday, but a spiritual resting from out own work and trusting in what Jesus has done, and who He is now for us! And that is everyday which is why Heb 4 emphasizes the word "Today". And that is the rest we need! That is why Col 2:16-17 said that the Sabbath was only "a shadow" of what was to come in Christ. It was an outward picture of the rest that we have in Christ. 6. Nor is there any command that makes Sunday the new "Sabbath". It is not. The seventh day is Saturday. Sunday is the first day of the week. We should not try to make Sunday the new Sabbath. The point is that the reality is in Christ... not in resting physically one day a week. If a believer decides to set aside one day a week to rest and seek God, then that is fine according to Rom 14 (as long as it is not seen as something that makes a person 'more holy') but it is not commanded. 7. It is true however that the Church in the New Testament met together on the first day, Sunday, which was called ‘The Lord’s day’. That is because this is the day that Jesus rose from the dead and brought in the New Creation! The Jewish observance of the Sabbath pointed back to God resting on the seventh day (ie it pointed back to the first creation.) The Church of the New Testament met on the Sunday, the first day, as this pointed to the resurrection and the New Creation! Note that it was on Sunday that: Christ rose from the dead (Matt 28:1) Paul and gentile believers met together to break bread and preach (ie have what we would call 'church') (Acts 20:7) Paul instructed the Corinthians to put aside money to give to the Church (because that is when they met.) 1 Cor 16:1-2 8. Sunday, the first day of the week, became known as 'The Lord's Day" because of His resurrection on that day and the start of the new creation. This is what John called it in Rev 1:10. I have a copy of Walter Martin's "The Kingdom of the Cults" at my home and in that he has numerous quotes from the early church which show that they met on Sunday, the first day, not Saturday, and that they called it the Lord's day. These quotes are very early such as Ignatius (110 AD), Justin Martyr (100-165 AD), Irenaeus (around 178 AD) etc. The early church did not meet on Saturday as your friend said. It is true that Paul often went to the Synagogue on the Saturday to preach Christ, but this was to evangelize the Jews as they met on the Saturday. Hopefully this gives you something to go on. All the best and good luck!