Different Views on the Sabbath Day

Christians have differing views on the weekly Sabbath day—which day it is, and whether it should be kept by people today.

Decalogist

In the biblical law, God commanded that people should keep Sabbath on the seventh day of each week (Exod. 20:8–11). Long before Jesus was born, Jews were keeping Sabbath according to the biblical law: on the seventh day of each week, which we call “Saturday”.

Christianity began as a denomination of Jewish religion. The first Christians were Jews, and so they kept Sabbath on Saturday, according to the biblical law. There was no question about whether to keep Sabbath, or which day of the week the Sabbath day was.

Historic Sabbatarian

After the time of the Apostles, most early Christians began keeping the first day of each week, which we call “Sunday”, as the “Lord’s Day”. They would cease from work and hold holy assemblies on Sundays. Yet, many Christians did not stop keeping Sabbath on Saturday. Thus, they kept both the Sabbath day on Saturday and the Lord’s Day on Sunday.

However, as time progressed, unbiblical practices began entering into Christian Sabbath-keeping. For example, some Christians did not cease from work on the Sabbath day on Saturday. Yet, they still acknowledged that the Sabbath day was Saturday, and they still kept Sabbath on Saturday—though in an increasingly unbiblical manner.

Non-Sabbatarian

Many early Christians believed that Christians did not have to keep the Sabbath day at all. They thought that after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Sabbath day had been abolished and replaced with the Lord’s Day. Thus, they only kept the Lord’s Day on Sunday.

These non-Sabbatarian Christians still acknowledged that the Sabbath day was the seventh day of the week, Saturday. They did not think that Sunday was the Sabbath day, or that the Sabbath day was changed from Saturday to Sunday. Even as they kept the Lord’s Day on Sunday by ceasing from work and holding holy assembly, they did not think that they were keeping Sabbath on Sunday.

Reformed

Beginning in the 17th century CE, many Reformed Christians found that the Non-Sabbatarian view was not biblical. They realized that the Sabbath commandment was still valid; it had not been abolished. However, they also thought that since Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Sabbath day was changed from Saturday to Sunday. Thus, to them, Sunday was both the “Lord’s Day” and the new “Christian Sabbath”. This was the first time in Christian History that Sunday was identified as “Sabbath”.