Sabbath in the Bible is usually a weekly day of rest and time of worship. The Sabbath is first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative. The seventh day is there set aside as a day of rest—the Sabbath. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in several other faiths. It is regarded as having been instituted as a "perpetual covenant [for] the people of Israel" and proselytes (Exodus 31:13-17, Exodus 23:12, Deuteronomy 5:13-14).
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So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in Creation. —Genesis 2:3
In 20:8-11Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none .... Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. —Exodus 16:26, 16:29
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work .... For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. —Exodus 20:8-11
In 31:12-17, Sabbath is affirmed as a perpetual sign and covenant, and Sabbath-breakers are to be cut off from the assembly or killed. In 35:2-3, lighting fire on Sabbath is forbidden.
This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.~ Luke 23:52-24:1-2
Based on one interpretation of Luke 23:52-56 Jesus died on Friday (the preparation day also Good Friday) and rested the next day on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Here some see no change in God's law, in fact his Jewish disciples are keeping the Sabbath. Based on Luke 23 the Sabbath was not nailed to the cross, as the Jewish disciples kept it after Jesus died on the cross.
Brueggemann emphasises the Exodus as an historical origin of Sabbath-keeping.[5]
Seventh-day Sabbatarians rest on the seventh Hebrew day. Jewish Shabbat is observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night; it is also observed by a minority of Christians. Thirty-nine activities prohibited on Shabbat are listed in Tractate Shabbat (Talmud). Customarily, Shabbat is ushered in by lighting candles shortly before sunset, at halakhically calculated times that change from week to week and from place to place. Shabbat ends approximately one hour after sunset by rabbinical ordinance to extend the Tanakh's sunset-to-sunset Sabbath into the first day of the week. The Jewish interpretation usually states that the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31) refers to the future Messianic Kingdom.
Several Christian denominations (such as Seventh Day Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist, and Church of God (7th day) - Salem Conference) observe Sabbath in similar manner as in Judaism, but observance ends at Saturday sunset instead of Saturday nightfall. Like the Jews with Shabbat, they believe that keeping seventh-day Sabbath is a moral responsibility, equal to that of any of the Ten Commandments, that honors God as Creator and Deliverer. The Christian seventh-day interpretation usually states that Sabbath belongs inherently to all nations (Ex. 20:10, Is. 56:6-7, 66:22-23) and remains part of the New Covenant after the crucifixion of Jesus (Lk. 23:56, Mt. 24:20, Ac. 16:13), Heb 8:10.[1][6] Many seventh-day Sabbatarians also use "Lord's Day" to mean the seventh day, based on Scriptures in which God calls the day "my Sabbath" (Ex. 31:13) and "to the Lord" (16:23)[7]).
The Seventh-day Adventist official 28 fundamental beliefs (at 20) state:
The beneficent Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God's unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God's kingdom. The Sabbath is God's perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God's creative and redemptive acts. (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11; Luke 4:16; Isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Matt. 12:1-12; Ex. 31:13-17; Eze. 20:12, 20; Deut. 5:12-15; Heb. 4:1-11; Lev. 23:32; Mark 1:32.)[8]
The Doctrinal Points of the Church of God (7th day) - Salem Conference states:
We should observe the seventh day of the week (Saturday), from even to even, as the Sabbath of the Lord our God. Evening is at sunset when day ends and another day begins. No other day has ever been sanctified as the day of rest. The Sabbath Day begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday. Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11; Isaiah 58:13-14; 56:1-8; Acts 17:2; Acts 18:4,11; Luke 4:16; Mark 2:27-28; Matthew 12:10-12; Hebrews 4:1-11; Genesis 1:5, 13-14; Nehemiah 13:19.
— The Doctrinal Points of the Church of God (7th Day)[9]
Noticing the rise of blue laws, the Seventh-day Adventist church in particular has traditionally taught that in the end time a coalition of religious and secular authorities will enfoce an international Sunday law; church pioneers saw observance of the seventh-day Sabbath as a "mark" or "seal" or test of God's people that seals them, even as those who do not observe Sunday rest will be persecuted and killed. Ellen G. White interpreted Dan. 7:25, Rev. 13:15, Rev. 7, Ezek. 20:12-20, and Ex. 31:13 in this way, where the subject of persecution in prophecy is thought to be about Sabbath commandments.
Various New Testament texts offer insight into Sabbath observance in Christianity. "And he (Paul) reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks."(Acts 18:4) Sabbatarians note that the writer of the book of Acts still saw the seventh day Sabbath as the official Sabbath day for it is clearly stated through the book of Acts. Additional texts include "On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God." (Acts 13:44) "But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down." (Acts 13:14) "For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him."(Acts 13:27) The apostle John also saw the Seventh day Sabbath as the Sabbath when He wrote the book of John "Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes." "Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." (John 9:14, 19:31).
First-day assembly generally states that because Jesus rose on Sunday(Mk. 16:9), the Sabbath should be changed. Yet no scripture stating spells out or requires such a change. (Jesus stated "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."(Matthew 5:17-18).)
In Troas the early believers in the Messiah met to break bread and to listen to preaching (Ac. 20:7). Most English translations state that the day this meeting was held on the first day of the week; however, the Good News Bible translation states that they met on Saturday evening. Therefore, since there is a discrepancy in the English translation we must turn to the Greek text for Acts 20:7.
Looking at the Greek for Acts chapter twenty and verse seven we find the following: "ἐν δὲ τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων συνηγμένων ἡμῶν κλάσαι ἄρτον ὁ Παῦλος διελέγετο αὐτοῖς μέλλων ἐξιέναι τῇ ἐπαύριον παρέτεινέν τε τὸν λόγον μέχρι μεσονυκτίου" [10]. In Textus Receptus: Ἐν δὲ τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων συνηγμένων τῶν μαθητῶν τοῦ κλάσαι ἄρτον ὁ Παῦλος διελέγετο αὐτοῖς μέλλων ἐξιέναι τῇ ἐπαύριον παρέτεινέν τε τὸν λόγον μέχρι μεσονυκτίου [11]. Even if you do not read Greek you can recognize the word: σαββάτων. Any English reader can read almost all letters of the word: αββάτ =aBBaT. One can easily add the understandings of the other Greek letters from Google translate: σ=S, ω=long O, v=N. With this information the Greek word in the text becomes even more obvious: Sabbaton, which bears a striking resemblance to the English word Sabbath and to the Spanish word Sábado; both which mean the seventh day of the week and the holy day of rest.
However, to fully understand the Biblical meaning of the Greek word σαββάτων (Sabbaton) it is needful to review every single time this word is used in the Greek New Testament [12]. In doing so we find this word to be used 68 times in 62 verses. When translating the Greek text into English the translators chose to translate this word sometimes as Sabbath and sometimes as first day of the week. Why is it translated this way? The answer lies in understanding this Greek word σαββάτων (Sabbaton) was transliterated (borrowed) from Hebrew. [13] When the word σαββάτων is used with a numeral it is translated as week (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; John 20:19). It is clear from the context in Matt. 28:1 that the day referenced was Sunday and not Saturday.
A look back at the Hebrew root word shows absolutely no confusion between the word for Sabbath: שַׁבָּת and the word for week: shabuwa: שָׁבוּעַ[14] שָׁבו Sabbath in Hebrew is a root word carrying the meaning rest. The word for week in Hebrew שָׁבוּעַ shabuwa comes from a completely different root word: שבע [15] derived from the cardinal number seven[16].
James Cardinal Gibbons, a Roman Catholic, states “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify."[17] The Roman Catholic church claims authority to change times and laws through papal infallibility. "For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman Catholic] church outside the Bible."[18]
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