This is another one of those topics i think we shouldn't have any problem with. In the  old testament this could have been a big issue. But  deffinitely not today.

Unfortunately, there has  been so much contention about what day should be set aside by Christians as Holy. While some say it is saturday, others say it is Sunday. Some even say it is thursday.  As a result, many denonminations have splitted.

Again, i do not have a  problem with this.  I think you are to worship God every day of your life. Every day of your life should be lived for God. The problem i think is in the lack of understanding of the purpose of the old testament sabbath day or the pu rpose of the Old testament as a whole.

The  bible tells us that  the old testament is a shadow of the new:

Col 2:16,17-

" Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ".

I believe the Sabbath was actually a shadow of the 'rest' God had prepared for His people by christ Jesus.

In Matthew 11:28  Jesus said:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."   

Heb 4:1-3:

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.  For we which have believed do enter into rest..."

So the rest which the Sabbath signified was  the rest  which  we have in christ. This is the true rest.  This one is  24hrs a day, 7 days a week. For me every day i wake up is  sabbath... Today!         

Heb 4:7

"Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

He limited a certain day...TODAY!  This is  my sabbath day!

I have this to say to those who will choose to make this an issue of  contention:

Gal 4:9-11

" But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.  I am afraid of you!..."

I am waiting for  you...

Pastor!

Thank you very much Donnie (pastor: Seun refers) for your explanation. Your explanation is spiritually suit, but to remove perplexities from the minds of people we need to address this problem of sabbath.

Sabbath to the Jews (and as it is suppose to be: I mean the real sabbath day) is Saturday. However, there are special events or reasons that make christians to adapt our sabbath from saturday to sunday. some of these events include: The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the coming the Holy Spirit, to mention a few. all these holy events took place on sunday. this is one of the reasons why Christians felt God has already made sunday a holy day better for us to observe.

I personally think Sabbath day is Sunday since it's considered the 7th day of the week which was on the same day God rested.

@Goodguy: but sunday na 1st day of the week

It's considered.... (in some cases)

Sabbath should be looked at spiritually and not physically
it is a religious day of rest meant for christians on the seventh day
now Jesus himself is the rest and thatz y he said.
I AM THE LORD OF THE SABBATH
He is the one and only true rest
men if we are to follow sabbath physically,on that day u are
not supposed to even cook. But it with spiritual interpretation.

no controversy, the sabbath day is saturday

Originally Posted by: Otokx
no controversy, the sabbath day is saturday

Thank you!

The sabbath day is a saturday, but we are supposed to keep the sabbath holy? The issue we should look into is Is the sabbath before God a day or a state... and an express symbol just as baptism is? reminding us of what we shall be with God? Hebrews 4: 1-11 sheds a little more light how God sees the sabbath, beyond it being just a day (saturday)....does anyone know that if it is to be an issue of saturday then no one will really fulfil that? why? because what we call saturday now is just an arbitrary day that was fixed.

Donnie said everything right

In the Kingdom of God everyday, TODAY, is Sabbath.

Everyday is God's Holy Day

The OT is but a shadow of what the NT brings.

Those outside the Kingdom of God pick their own day to worship the Creator.

Jg 21:25
In those days there was no king ... every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

RhodaRose

RhodaRose:

Those outside the Kingdom of God pick their own day to worship the Creator.

In other words, those of us that choose to go to church are outside the kingdom of God??

I dont think thats what she meant....to God and in the present day dispensation, everyday is the sabbath[i].....and there remainth a rest unto the people of God[/i]; he merely teaches us to make us know we are getting ready to enter a rest with him in eternity where all we do is appreciate our God and the beauty of his holiness.

This is rest from struggle, rest from pain and sickness, rest from opppression...halleluyah!

and what he is teaching us is that we can enter into that rest here on earth and be free from all pain, sickness, sorrow and struggles...now who will want this rest only on a saturday? surely none...aye we want it everyday, in the present dispensation everyday is a sabbath, not just for the worship of God...but better still we dont have to worship him only on saturday, we can worship him everday[i]....remember the sabbath day to keep it holy....hence we keep everyday holy!!![/i]

da sabbath is saturday as it says in Exo 20-8
sunday is actually da first day week, it has alwayz been saturday
until the years of constantine or da pope ,somebody change it
i dont remember who but dey changed it to sunday...

w h a t e v e r

Everyday is a holy (whole) day.

Saturday is da sabbath day

So, okay. . . here's what I can do for you, as promised earlier:

1) it seems, just as IAH suspected, that you did not carefully go through others' inputs and assimilate them before typing away your responses. Try and do so, and let's be calm.

2) you should understand that the OT and the NT actually form the whole of God's Word - the Bible; but are you under the old covenant and not realise that you're a believer under the new covenant? Did you not read what it says to those who want to continue under the Law of the old covenant? Sample this -

Heb 8:13 - "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and
waxeth old is ready to vanish away."

3) you keep dragging this issue about the Sabbath having been changed - but I never hinted at that. There's nowhere I said so, and if you still can't take it from me, leave off the issue. I never said there was a change; I only said the disciples did gathered on the first day of the week.

4) nowhere will you find a support in scripture that the early Christians changed from the seventh day to the first day: if there's a verse for that, please quote it in full. They had consistently gathered on the first day of the week right from the very day that Christ rose from the dead and appeared in the midst of those assembled/gathered (John 20:19).

5) initially, the early Christians actually met everyday, not just on the Sabbath day; and you'll be surprised that they didn't limit their gatherings to the Temple, but from house to house (Acts 2:46 - "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart". Here it shows clearly that even when they met in the temple, it was not just the seventh day they did so, but rather on a daily basis.

6) you will not find the church spoken of anywhere in the OT (except prohetically); and it did not exist until after Jesus ascension and the pouring out of the Holy Ghost in Acts 2. Jesus said earlier: "I will build my Church" (Matt. 16:18) - and this means that at that time the Church was not yet in existence ('will build' is future tense). Therefore, you cannot use Exo. 20:8-11 or any other OT scripture to justify a Saturday worship for NT Christians.

7) the NT argues that the old covenant law does not justify a new covenant believer or anyone else for that matter - Acts 13:39 - "And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."

Now, I'm no relative of Martin Luther; so this should not grow into another 95 theses of the 21st century. All I ask you to do is simply go through these matters again - carefully - and then I'll follow up anything you don't get clear.

Blessings.

You guys are really making this difficult for me. Same thread with two titles. Moderator, what's with that?

Hi 4get_me,

I note with interest your arguing that obsolescence of the law removes the requirement for a fixed sabbath. We could of course go on to discuss how the NC spiritually fulfills the physical aspects of the OC. And of course, I'd absolutely agree.

I find it a little odd though, that when it comes to tithing you conveniently forget this.

At least virozuru has shown some degree of consistency in holding to the law (however futile I personally believe that may be).

Have a good weekend sir.

God bless

Dear TV01,

Thank you for your observations. There's something you seem to be consistently missing. I'll find time to help you with some notes. But what you call the Law, OC, NT, NC are mixed up in many instances and until you sort these out in their proper contexts you'll continue to make the same mistakes.

That is why when you mistake the one for the other, you saw a curse where there was none, and tried to use an OT verse to curse the NT Church, while still arguing that the OC has been done away with in Christ! Do you not see your mistake? I think you really should settle down first and understand a few of these matters before you insinuate what ought not to be. Whatever is not clear to you, let me know and then I'll try and find the time to address them.

I'm back to base now from my trip and think I can have some more time to visit the Forum.

Regards.

Sabbath is Saturday. The Sabbath is a covenant between God and the Jews. We christians aren't bound by it. The N.T. Church assembled on Sundays probably because of the resurrection of Jesus, which is the foundation of christianity. I believe that we can worship on any day of the week, as God owns all the days. I think Messianic Jews meet on the Sabbath.

Plus, we should remember that when God gave the Sabbath (and the entire Mosaic Law) to the Jews, they were a theocracy. God, through Moses, directed everything about their lives; gave laws to direct every relationship or transaction.

Saturday

Saturday has always been the sabbath, it was changed by u know who?(Roman Catholics)

Nope, the Sabbath was not changed by we know who - the Roman Catholics.

The issue is that the first day of the week was observed from the earliest by
Christians as a day on which Christ rose from the dead, and Paul's argument
was that keeping the Sabbath (of a Saturday) as a means to pleasing God is
clearly failing to see the reality that has come through Jesus Christ:

"Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or
with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of
the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ." (Col. 2:16-17).

As for the Sabbath, for Christians wondering if they should be observing a day
according to the OT as a means to drawing near to God, the same Paul would
say:

"But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how
can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the
world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months
and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain."
(Gal. 4:9-11).

But the argument goes further to say:

"For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested
on the seventh day from all his works. . . So then, there remains a Sabbath rest
for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from
his works as God did from his." (Heb. 4:4, 9-10).

There we are - we have entered into God's true rest by faith in Jesus Christ who
invited us with the calling: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest." I offer that the observance of days and seasons as a means
to securing grace or pleasing God is not actually a Christian position. Sabbath in
the NT is simply a rest provided for us in Jesus, and that's what we are called to
enter into - His true rest for our souls.

wrong, very very wrong, if you are conversant with church history, they actually did,

the rest you are referrring to in matthew 11:28 is different from the sabbath rest,

besides its a commandment of God to observe the sabbath, besides in the NT Jesus says "i have not come to destroy or abolish the law". The law still stands, thus it is necessary to observe the sabbath rest, and if you don't know, early christians were observing saturday as the sabbath, before it was changed,

if u want proof i'll give it to you

I'm staggered. The law still stands? (4get_me <<== shakes his head with a fever!!)

Please help clarify these issues ASAP, abeg:

# How does the law still stand for Christian believers?

# where do you read in the Bible that early Christians were observing Saturday as the Sabbath before it was changed?

# when was it changed and by who precisely - (any Bible references)?

# so, what happens to Sunday - has it always been unbiblical for Christians to meet on such days for worship?

Thank ya.

and where is it stated in the bible that the first day of the week(sunday) was the sabbath day

please can someone please find it for me. The bible does not contradict itself, the law clearly states remember the sabbath and keep it holy, besides our Lord Jesus Christ also says he has not come to abolish the law, he only summarised the law into l[b]ove thy neighbour as yourself[/b], thus the new commandment that our lord preaches the commandment of love,

thus saturday still stands as the sabbath day, do u know why it was sunday,

lets go back to history,

in the roman empire of old there were so many religions and idolatry also reigned people had their gods, but christainity became widespread as of the time, the christians were being persecuted but they seemed determined to profess their faith, the romans saw they could not actually curb the menance of christainity at that time, then constantine; the roman emperor of the time decided to embrace christainity as a measure of peace, but this christainity was with impurities, the roman had a sun god, whom they worshipped on the first day of the week, so in order to bring peace with all pple (all religions) decided that the sun-day which is sunday should be the day of worship,

has anyone even bothered to ask how we came about the days of the week, who else would name the days of the week, (romans),

sunday is attributed to ancient religions of old besides, easter was added into the christain calender in the year 325, besides who has the authority to change the day of worship, man cannot change what God has ordained to be the day of rest,

monday is attributed to the moon day, just as in french, monday is lundi which has relations with lunar, which is the moon, the rest of the days like wise attributed to something,

besides even the sunday that we keep as sabbath is not properly kept on the sabbath, look at this, isaiah 58:13 - 14,

we don't keep the proper sabbath, and again, we keep sunday, but we are not even keeping sunday well, we go to parties on sunday and saturday, we do our pleasures on the sabbath which is not supposed to be,

lordimpaq:

and where is it stated in the bible that the first day of the week(sunday) was the sabbath day

Again, another 'doctored' question. You seem to have confused a lot of issues in your reply, and I don't see how you've addressed my concerns. First, I never stated that the first day of the week (Sunday) was the sabbath day! Second, "Love thy neighbour as thyself" is a separate stipulation from "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." Both are contained in the Law, but are not synonymous. Love was not absent in the OT, and when the Lord Jesus mentioned it as a 'new commandment' in John 13:34, it is clear He was pointing to Love as should be understood in the new covenant.

Now, as to the days you ferreted from one website or another about Sunday, that was a clever story someone weaved that you have been holding unto for eons. Could you just take a few moments and look into the Scriptures and observe that long before the Roman Emperor, Christians have been gathering on the first day of the week - Sunday? Constantine who came on the scene over two centuries later could not have been the one who asked Christians to be gathering for worship on the first day of the week - Sunday! The first day of the week, which is what we now call 'Sunday', was long in existence before Constantine emerged; and Christians were known to have been gathering on that day, especially because it was on that day that Christ rose from the dead:

Matt. 28:1 - 'In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.'

Mark 16:2 - 'And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.'

Mark 16:9 - 'Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.'

Luke 24:1 - 'Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.'

John 20:1 - 'The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.'

John 20:19 - 'Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.'

Acts 20:7 - 'And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.'

1 Cor. 16:2 - 'Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.'

Whoever posted that story about Constantine changing the day when Christians gathered for worship on Sunday, the first day of the week - that person sold you guys some lollypops for cheap. If you believe his/her tales, you certainly have not looked at what the Bible says; and you certainly have not reasoned out the chronology of events properly. That's why I was staggered.

Notice also, that Christians were not keeping the seventh day Sabbath as is eveident in the New Testament. They did not 'switch over' ceremonies linked with the Sabbath of the old covenant. Before Christianity proper, Jesus was questioned often by the religious authorities of His day why He always broke/did not keep the Sabbath (see Matt. 12:1-4). I proffer that the NT position on the Sabbath is as given in Col 2:16-17:

'Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.'

It is clear, therefore, that NT Christians are not to live their lives under the OT stipulations of the Sabbath. We live in the reality of these things in Christ, not in the shadow of the old covenant.

4get_me:


Matt. 28:1 - 'In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.'

why do u think they went to the sepulchure on the first day of the week, because they had to observe the sabbath day, because our Lord Jesus Christ rose on the first day of the week doesn't justify our observance of sunday, it wasn't changed.

4[b][/b]get_me:

Whoever posted that story about Constantine changing the day when Christians gathered for worship on Sunday, the first day of the week - that person sold you guys some lollypops for cheap. If you believe his/her tales, you certainly have not looked at what the Bible says; and you certainly have not reasoned out the chronology of events properly. That's why I was staggered.

no one sold me lollypops for cheap, besides lets forget about the constantine issue,

the sabbath is an everlasting convenant made between God and his people, likewise there would be a movement against this convenant, which we have today, most people today don't observe the correct sabbath, all i am saying is that, the sabbath is important, Daniel prophesied about the move against God's convenant Dan. 11:30-32

fine, it doesn't matter which day we worship God, but what matters is keeping the sabbath, its a seal, its God's seal, anything that has a seal means authority, God's authority, who has the power to change such authority? no one,

i repeat no one,