Should Christians keep Sunday as a Sabbath day?

When I was younger, the UK still had very strict rules on things like Sunday trading and sport.  However, the Thatcher government was in the process of seeking to liberalise most rules.  There was a prominent movement seeking to resist the arrival of Sunday trading including organisations such as The Lord’s Day Observance Society (now Day One) and Keep Sunday Special.  Fascinatingly, Christians at the time had secular support, particularly from the left where Trade Unions saw a risk to workers rights.  The end of Sunday as a special day would end the automatic presumption of time off and also lead to changes to pay and conditions so that working anti-social hours at the weekend leading to time and a half or double pay might no longer be a thing.

Eventually the laws changed, Sunday trading came into effect, though still with limitations.  The Union movement collapsed and the left saw EU laws limiting the working week as a better way to protect rights.  The church seemed to give up the fight too.  I think there were a few reasons for this. Partly it was the recognition that we could not impose Biblical rules onto a secular society and so we would need to work around the situation. However, I think that there was also a reaction to what had been an overly legalistic view of what Sundays should be like, with strict and at times arbitrary rules about what was permissible. This was perhaps reflected in recent responses to the Women’s World Cup final clashing with Sunday services.

It is my personal opinion that we have allowed the pendulum to swing too far.  So, whilst we should not be legalistic about it, I do think that it is important to recognise one day in seven as special and to keep a Sabbath.  For Christians it should be Sunday.  Here’s why.

First of all, we are not under Law but under Grace.  Christians are not controlled or ruled by the Law of Moses, we are not under its penalty or curse.  Our relationship with God is not determined by whether or not we keep the Law. We know that we cannot.  However, Jesus was clear that he had not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it.  Christians have historically understood this to mean that the moral requirements of the Law still exist and if we are saved by grace for good works (Ephesians 2:8-10), then those good works are about loving God and loving our neighbour, thr two great commands that sum up the Law.

This means that the Ten Commandments which develop on what it means to love God and love our neighbour still apply.  Now, much of that is uncontroversial.  The Law tells us not to murder, commit adultery, steal, covert etc. The Law calls on us to honour our parents, a command that Paul specifically picks up on in Ephesians 6 without any suggestion that it might no longer have legal force.  The Law insists that we should not have any other gods or idols.  One of the key points of the Gospel is that it rescues us from idolatry.  So, every other one of those commandments is recognised as good, true and effective today.

Secondly, the Sabbath command in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 is rooted in two things. First, it is rooted in Creation. We are to rest on one day in seven because God rested.  Secondly, it is clearly linked to God’s redemptive acts.  God is the one who brought the Israelites out of slavery, this meant that they were no longer bound to their work and so Sabbath rest marked this.  Similarly, God has rescued us from the things that held us bound and captive.  A sabbath day of rest symbolises the greater rest that we have.

Thirdly, Jesus said that the sabbath was made for us, not us for the sabbath.  It is worth considering then that the command to rest is a command to enjoy, a command to receive, a command to benefit. 

For those reasons, I believe that Christians should keep a sabbath.  I believe that this is now Sunday, or the Lord’s Day.  It shouldn’t be a day of drudgery and compulsion.  We’ll talk a bit more about why Sunday and how we can observe the day in future articles.