Why did the Early Church stop keeping the Sabbath?
I also gave them my Sabbaths to serve as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I am the Lord who consecrates them. –Ezekiel 20:12 (CSB)
Previously, we looked at some of the theological tension between Christians and Jews in the first few centuries of the Church’s establishment. I wanted to make a separate post focusing solely on the Sabbath, because I feel it demands more attention. This is still a controversial topic in Christian circles, and many have different opinions and conclusions on whether or not we are to keep the Sabbath.
My goal is not to give a full case for why Christians aren’t called to keep the Sabbath, nor am I arguing that we should view the Sabbath the exact way the Pre-Nicene Fathers viewed it. Rather, it is my hope to simply the answer the question: What was the theological reason the Church stopped keeping the Sabbath?
We will be looking at different quotes from Church Fathers, and examine the theology and passages of Scripture they reference. Regardless of your personal view of the Sabbath, it is my hope this will be informative and helpful to your own theological conclusion on the subject.
1. The Sabbath was not a universal command from the beginning, but a later established commandment given as a sign between God and Israel
If you read the previous post about how the early Church understood circumcision and the dietary laws, then this line of thinking should sound familiar. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian argue that Genesis shows how different men were accounted as righteous before God without ever keeping the Sabbath. While they acknowledge God blessing the seventh day of creation in Genesis 2:2-3, they also argue how the command to keep the Sabbath wasn’t established by God until He established the Sinai Covenant. (Exodus 16:23-29, 20:8) This is affirmed later in the Old Testament by Nehemiah:
“You came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke to them from heaven. You gave them impartial ordinances, reliable instructions, and good statutes and commands. You revealed your holy Sabbath to them, and gave them commands, statutes, and instruction through your servant Moses.”
Both Justin Martyr and Tertullian argue (similar to their argument regarding circumcision) that the Sabbath wasn’t kept by Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, or Melchizedek, proving it was not a binding command from the very beginning. (Justin Martyr 1.204, Tertullian 3.153) Justin and Irenaeus also argue how passages such as Ezekiel 20 affirm that God established the Sabbath as a sign for Israel, not a binding work of righteousness. (Justin Martyr 1.204, Irenaeus 1.480-481)
2. The Lord’s Day (Sunday) represents a new day, the “eighth day” of creation
This is one of the more controversial views, as it doesn’t necessarily have much biblical referencing to support. However, it is clear that at least some if not many of the Pre-Nicene Christians understood Sunday this way.
The idea is this: Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, conquering death and bringing a new, redeemed, life to the world. Those who believe are made new in Him and adopted into this new life. Because this new and redeemed life was accomplished on Sunday, then the day is now seen as sort of a spiritual eighth day of creation.
This is of course just a very brief explanation, and there are many theological and biblical layers behind this understanding. What we do know, as far back as the Apostolic Fathers, is that the Church sought to meet together on the Lord’s Day instead of the Sabbath:
“If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death—whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master—how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher?”
The Epistle of Barnabas also comes to a similar conclusion. In chapter 15, Barnabas speaks about the Sabbath command, and after arguing for its temporary use, concludes, “You perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead. And when He had manifested Himself, He ascended into the heavens.”
This theological understanding can be found various times when reading the Pre-Nicene Fathers. One other brief example can be found in late 2nd century to early 3rd century Church Father Clement of Alexandria:
“In fulfillment of the commandment according to the Gospel, a person keeps the Lord’s Day—when he abandons an evil disposition and assumes the disposition of the spiritual man, glorifying the Lord’s resurrection in himself.”
With these and other quotes from this era in mind, it seems that while the early Church understood Sunday replacing Saturday as the day to gather as God’s people, it wasn’t dogmatically understood as a day that requires no work at all. So it would be a misunderstanding to assume the Church Fathers expected the same regulations of Sabbath keeping to be just moved to Sunday. Rather, the Sabbath has been fulfilled in Christ, and now we come together and celebrate on Sunday. So then, how did they view the resting piece of the Sabbath?
3. The true rest Christians seek is the eternal rest to come in Christ, not the temporary rest on the Sabbath
This understanding can be traced to Hebrews 4, where the author discusses the rest God talks of in the Old Testament being a rest bigger than the weekly rest one finds in keeping the Sabbath. This eternal rest is found in Christ and will ultimately be experienced in the New Earth. (Hebrews 4:1-11)
Going back to the Epistle of Barnabas, the anonymous author (most likely not Barnabas from Acts) preaches that Christians will be experiencing a greater and more rewarding Sabbath rest when Christ returns. This rest will emulate the rest God has on the seventh day of creation, and be intimate and more complete than a rest from works that one could keep on Saturday. (Barnabas 15)
Tertullian cites the beginning and ending of Isaiah (1:13, 66:23 LXX) to show that the Old Covenant Sabbath was temporary, and that a new Sabbath would come in the days of the New Earth, where all mankind will worship God:
“For the Scriptures point to a Sabbath eternal and a Sabbath temporal. For Isaiah the prophet says, “Your Sabbaths my soul hates,” and in another place he says, “My Sabbaths you have profaned.” Whence we discern that the temporal Sabbath is accounted divine; concerning which He predicts through Isaiah: “And there shall be,” He says, “month after month, and day after day, and Sabbath after Sabbath; and all flesh shall come to adore in Jerusalem, says the Lord;” which we understand to have been fulfilled in the times of Christ, when “all flesh”—that is, every nation—“came to adore in Jerusalem” God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, as was predicted through the prophet: “Behold, proselytes through me shall go unto You.” Thus, therefore, before this temporal Sabbath, there was withal an eternal Sabbath foreshown and foretold; just as before the carnal circumcision there was withal a spiritual circumcision foreshown.”
Admittedly, Tertullian’s train of thought and biblical argument is a little hard to follow, but the bigger point he is trying to make is similar to Barnabas, in that the Church has a greater rest to come, and that it is not necessary to keep the Sabbath that was once commanded for Israel.
Conclusion
So hopefully this helped bring some insight into how the early Church understood the Sabbath. It is worth pointing out that later Church Fathers didn’t hold to the same theology as those who were quoted in this blog. But I think it is fair to say that these three points were the broad, majority understanding in the Pre-Nicene era of the Church. Whether or not they were correct for holding these views is up for debate. But hopefully this can help see the Sabbath from their point of view, and understand better why the Church stopped holding to the commandment.
Bibliography
Roberts, Donaldson, Coxe. (1885). The Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 1. New York, NY. Cosimo Classics.
Schaff, P. (2016). The Complete Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Collection of Early Church Fathers. Toronto, Canada.
Holmes, M. (2006). The Apostolic Fathers in English (3rd ed.) Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Academic.
Bercot, D. (1998). A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. Peabody, MA. Hendrickson Publishing.