Sabbath in Christianity 1

Sabbath in Christianity
Sabbath in Christianity is a weekly day of rest or related
occasion, derived from Biblical Sabbath (Hebrew: ‫תָּבַׁש‬‎, shabbâth,
Hebrew word #7676 [1] in Strong's, meaning intensive "repose").
Biblical Sabbath observance, i.e., resting from hard labors on the
seventh biblical day from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is
practiced by seventh-day Sabbatarians, similarly to Shabbat in
Judaism.
Also, since shortly after the church's founding, the majority of
Christians have observed the first day for weekly corporate
worship (Sunday, now also known as the Lord's Day). From the
fourth century onwards, Sunday worship has largely also taken on
the observance of Sunday rest (first-day Sabbatarianism).
Among these Christians, Sunday worship and/or rest eventually
became synonymous with a first-day "Christian Sabbath".

Non-Sabbatarianism, the principle of Christian liberty from

being bound to physical Sabbath observance (and the focus on
Sabbath as typological present or future spiritual rest in Christ), A Ten Commandments monument which includes the
also has significant historical support. command to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy".
Most dictionaries provide both first-day and seventh-day
definitions for "Sabbath" and "Sabbatarian", among other related uses.

Biblical traditions
Sabbath was first described in the Biblical account of the seventh day of Creation (Gen. 2:2-3). Observation and
remembrance of Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments (the fourth in the Eastern Orthodox and most Protestant
traditions, the third in Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions). Most people who observe first-day or seventh-day
Sabbath regard it as having been instituted as a "perpetual covenant [for] the people of Israel" and proselytes
(Ex.  31:13-17, Ex.  23:12, Deut.  5:13-14), a sign in respect for the day during which God rested after having
completed Creation in six days (Gen.  2:2-3, Ex.  20:8-11).
In the New Testament, Jesus debates the Jews about the topic of Sabbath observance and declares that the Son of
Man is Lord of the Sabbath (e.g., Mk.  2:23-28). Early Jewish Christians such as Paul of Tarsus visit the synagogue
on Sabbath. (Acts  13:13-14). The New Testament epistles contain Sabbath teachings interpreted variously by
Christians as affirming seventh-day rest, first-day worship, and/or freedom from legalistic requirements to observe
days.

Early-church worship

Early church
According to Bauckham, the post-apostolic church contained diverse practices as regards Sabbath.[2] "In the first
centuries the true (seventh day) Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were zealous for the honor of God,
and, believing that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts".[3] "That the
attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ.
Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly
Sabbath in Christianity 2

observed."[3]
Widespread seventh-day Sabbath observance by Gentile Christians prevailed in the 3rd and 4th centuries.
In the 4th century, Socrates Scholasticus Church History book 5 states:[4]
For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the sabbath of every
week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do
this.
On 7 March AD 321, the Roman Emperor Constantine issued a decree making Sunday a day of rest from labor
stating:
All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun. Country people,
however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the fields, because it frequently happens that no other days are
better adapted for planting the grain in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the advantage given by
heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time perish.
– Joseph Cullen Ayer, A Source Book for Ancient Church History [5]
Also in the 4th century, Sozomen Church History book 7 states:[6]
The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the
first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.

Sunday worship
Early observance of Sunday is attested in patristic writings of the second century.[7] These writers and approximate
dates include Ignatius of Antioch (107), Bardaisan (154), Irenaeus (178), Cyprian (200), Victorinus of Petovio (280),
and Eusebius of Caesarea (324). "The churches that were under the rule of the papacy were early compelled to
honour the Sunday as a holy day. Amid the prevailing error and superstition, many, even of the true people of God,
became so bewildered that while they observed the Sabbath, they refrained from labour also on the Sunday. But this
did not satisfy the papal leaders. They demanded not only that Sunday be hallowed, but that the Sabbath be profaned;
and they denounced in the strongest language those who dared to show it honour. It was only by fleeing from the
power of Rome that any could obey God's law in peace."[8]
Didache 14:1 (AD 70-120?) contains an ambiguous text, translated by Roberts as, "But every Lord's day gather
yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving";[9] the first clause in Greek, "κατά κυριακήν δέ
κυρίου", literally means "On the Lord's of the Lord",[10] and translators supply the elided noun (e.g., "day",
"commandment" (from 13:7), or "doctrine").[11] This is one of only two extrabiblical Christian uses of "κυριακήν"
where it does not clearly refer to Sunday.[12] Breaking bread may refer to Christian fellowship, agape feasts, or
Eucharist (cf. Ac.  2:42, 20:7).
The Epistle of Barnabas or Pseudo-Barnabas on Is.  1:13 stated the eighth-day assembly marks the resurrection and
the new creation: "He is saying there: 'It is not these sabbaths of the present age that I find acceptable, but the one of
my own appointment: the one that, after I have set all things at rest, is to usher in the Eighth Day, the commencement
of a new world.' (And we too rejoice in celebrating the Eighth Day; because that was when Jesus rose from the dead,
and showed Himself again, and ascended into heaven.)"[13]
By the mid-2nd century, Justin Martyr stated, "We all gather on the day of the sun" (recalling both the creation of
light and the resurrection);[14] he stated that Sabbath was enjoined as a sign to Israel because of Israel's sinfulness,[15]
no longer needed after Christ came without sin.[16]
Tertullian (early 3rd century), writing against Christians who participated in pagan festivals (Saturnalia and
New-year), defends the Christian celebration of Sunday against the accusation of sun-worship.
By us, to whom Sabbaths are strange, and the new moons and festivals formerly beloved by God, the
Saturnalia and New-year's and Midwinter's festivals and Matronalia are frequented--presents come and
Sabbath in Christianity 3

go--New-year's gifts--games join their noise--banquets join their din! Oh better fidelity of the nations to their
own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself! Not the Lord's day, not Pentecost, even it they
had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians.
We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens! If any indulgence is to be granted to the flesh, you have
it. I will not say your own days, but more too; for to the heathens each festive day occurs but once annually:
you have a festive day every eighth day.
—Tertullian, On Idolatry, 14 [17]
Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the sun is the god of the
Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make Sunday a day of
festivity.
—Tertullian, Ad Nationes, 1:13 [18]
Nevertheless, widespread seventh day Sabbath observance by Gentile Christians prevailed in the 3rd and 4th
centuries. Some authorities continued to oppose this as a Judaizing tendency.[2] For example, the Council of
Laodicea (canon 29) states Christians must not Judaize by resting on Sabbath but must work that day and then if
possible rest on the Lord's Day and any found to be Judaizers are anathema from Christ.[19] [20]

Origins of Sunday worship

The origin of Sunday worship remains a debated point, with at least three scholarly positions being taken.
• Bauckham argues that Sunday worship must have originated in Palestine in the mid-1st century, in the period of
the Acts of the Apostles, no later than the Gentile mission.[7]
• Some Protestant scholars, such as R. Beckwith and W. Stott (1978), W. Rordorf (1962) and Paul King Jewett
(1971) have argued that Christian Sunday worship traces back even further, to the resurrection appearances of
Jesus recorded in the Gospel narratives.
• Samuele Bacchiocchi has argued that Sunday worship was introduced in Rome in the 2nd century, and was later
enforced throughout the Christian church as a substitution for Sabbath worship.[21]

Middle ages
Augustine of Hippo followed the early patristic writers in spiritualizing the meaning of the Sabbath commandment,
referring it to eschatological rest rather than observance of a literal day. However, the practice of Sunday rest
increased in prominence throughout the early Middle Ages.[22] Thomas Aquinas taught that the Decalogue is an
expression of natural law which binds all men, and therefore the Sabbath commandment is a moral requirement
along with the other nine. Thus Sunday rest and Sabbath became increasingly associated.[22]

Protestant Sunday-observance
According to Bauckham, the reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin repudiated the idea that Christians are bound
to obey the Mosaic law, including the fourth commandment of the Decalogue concerning Sabbath, although they
followed Aquinas' concept of natural law. They viewed Sunday rest as a civic institution established by human
authority, which provided an occasion for bodily rest and public worship.[23] However, in his work against the
Antinomians Luther repudiated that he had taught the abolition of the 10 Commandments.[24] Methodism founder
John Wesley stated "This 'handwriting of ordinances' our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His cross.
(Colossians 2: 14.) But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did
not take away.... The moral law stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law. ...Every
part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages."[25] The Baptist Church Manual states "We
believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government."[26] The founder of the
Moody Bible Institute states "The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth
Sabbath in Christianity 4

commandment begins with the word 'remember,' showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law
on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they
will admit that the other nine are still binding?"[27]
Sunday Sabbatarianism became prevalent amongst both the continental and English Protestants over the following
century. A new rigorism was brought into the observance of the Christian Lord's Day among the 17th-century
Puritans of England and Scotland, in reaction to the laxity with which Sunday observance was customarily kept.
Sabbath ordinances were appealed to, with the idea that only the word of God can bind men's consciences in whether
or how they will take a break from work, or to impose an obligation to meet at a particular time. Their influential
reasoning spread to other denominations also, and it is primarily through their influence that "Sabbath" has become
the colloquial equivalent of "Lord's Day" or "Sunday". The most mature expression of this influence survives in the
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), Chapter 21, "Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day". Section 7-8
reads:
7. As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in
his Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly
appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to
the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into
the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s day, and is to be continued to the end of the
world, as the Christian Sabbath.
8. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering
of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe a holy rest, all the day, from their own works, words,
and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the
public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.
Though first-day Sabbatarian practice declined in the 18th century, the evangelical awakening in the 19th century led
to a greater concern for strict Sunday observance. The founding of the Lord's Day Observance Society in 1831 was
influenced by the teaching of Daniel Wilson.[23]

Modern first-day churches

Roman Catholicism
In 1998 Pope John Paul II wrote an apostolic letter Dies Domini,[28] "on keeping the Lord's day holy". He
encourages Catholics to remember the importance of keeping Sunday holy, urging that it not lose its meaning by
being blended with a frivolous "weekend" mentality.
In the Western Catholic Church, "Sabbath" is a synonym of "Lord's Day" (Sunday), which is kept in commemoration
of the resurrection of Christ, and celebrated with the Eucharist (Catholic Catechism 2177).[29] It is also the day of
rest. Lord's Day is considered both the first day and the "eighth day" of the seven-day week, symbolizing both first
creation and new creation (2174).[29] Roman Catholics view the first day as a day for assembly for worship (2178,
Heb.  10:25),[29] but consider a day of rigorous rest not obligatory on Christians (Rom.  14:5, Col.  2:16).[30]
Catholics count the prohibition of servile work as transferred from seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday (2175-6),[29] [31]
but do not hinder participation in "ordinary and innocent occupations".[32]
Cardinal Gibbons affirmed Sunday Sabbath as a sign of the Roman Catholic Church's sufficiency as guide:
Now the Scriptures alone do not contain all the truths which a Christian is bound to believe, nor do they
explicitly enjoin all the duties which he is obliged to practice. Not to mention other examples, is not every
Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the
observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from
Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The
Sabbath in Christianity 5

Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.
– Faith of Our Fathers, Cardinal Gibbons, p. 72 [33]

Lutheranism
Lutheran founder Martin Luther stated "I wonder exceedingly how it came to be imputed to me that I should reject
the law of Ten Commandments...Whosoever abrogates the law must of necessity abrogate sin also."[34] The Lutheran
Augsburg Confession states "They (Roman Catholics) allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, as it
seemeth, to the Decalogue (the ten commandments); and they have no example more in their mouths than they
change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church's power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with the
precept of the Decalogue."[35] Lutheran church historian Augustus Neander[36] states "The festival of Sunday, like all
other festivals, was always only a human ordinance".[37]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

In 1831, Joseph Smith published a revelation commanding his related movement, The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, to go to the house of prayer, offer up their sacraments, rest from their labors, and pay their
devotions on the Lord's day. (D&C 59:9–12). Latter-day Saints believe this means performing no labor that would
keep them from giving their full attention to spiritual matters (Ex. 20:10). LDS prophets have described this as
meaning they should not shop, hunt, fish, attend sports events, or participate in similar activities on that day. Elder
Spencer W. Kimball taught that mere idle lounging on Sabbath does not keep the day holy, and that Sabbath calls for
constructive thoughts and acts (Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 96–97).
Latter-day Saints prepare only simple foods on Sabbath (D&C 59:13, Is. 58:13) and believe the day is only for
righteous activities. In most areas of the world, Latter-day Saints worship on Sunday, but in parts of the world where
traditional Sabbath is on another day, such as in Israel or in Saudi Arabia, Latter-day Saints observe local
Sabbath.[38]

Other
Other Protestants regard the seventh day Sabbath as a day of rest for all mankind and not Israel alone. This is due to
the statement that is recorded having been said by Jesus, "the Sabbath was made for man", indicating that it was
purposed for man at the time of its creation (Mark  2:27), which was approximately 2,300 years before the Israelites
were said to have existed, and around 2,700 years before the commandments were recorded being given at Mt. Sinai.

Seventh-day rest
Sabbath in Christianity 6

Apostolic history
The Bible records that the seventh-day Sabbath was kept after the
crucifixion of Jesus by the followers of Christ.
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 Oldest Sabbatarian Meeting House in America,
built in 1729 in Newport, Rhode Island, now
rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.
owned by Newport Historical Society.
– Luke 23:52-56
Some early Christians continued to observe Sabbath as evidenced in Ignatius' letter to the Magnesians.[2]
We have seen how former adherents of the ancient customs have since attained to a new hope; so that they
have given up keeping the sabbath, and now order their lives by the Lord's Day instead (the day when life first
dawned for us, thanks to Him and His death.)
—Ignatius, To the Magnesians, chapter 9[39]
According to Seventh-day Adventist writer Ellen G. White,
Amid the gloom that settled upon the earth during the long period of papal supremacy, the light of truth could
not be wholly extinguished. In every age there were witnesses for God--men who cherished faith in Christ as
the only mediator between God and man, who held the Bible as the only rule of life, and who hallowed the
true Sabbath. How much the world owes to these men, posterity will never know. They were branded as
heretics, their motives impugned, their characters maligned, their writings suppressed, misrepresented, or
mutilated. Yet they stood firm, and from age to age maintained their faith in its purity, as a sacred heritage for
the generations to come."
– The Great Controversy, p. 61[40]

Pre-Reformation
Still farther to the east there is a body of Christian Sabbath keepers mentioned from the eighth to the 12th century.
They are called Athenians (“touch not”) because they abstained from things unclean and from intoxicating drinks,--
the translator of Neander styles them Athinginians, -- as the following shows:
“This sect, which had its principal seat in the city of Armorion, in upper Phrygia, where many Jews resided sprung
out of a mixture of Judaism and Christianity. They united baptism with the observance of all the rites of Judaism,
circumcision excepted. We may perhaps recognize a branch of the older Judaizing sects.” [41]
Cardinal Hergenrother says that they stood in intimate relation with Emperor Michael II (AD 821-829), and testifies
that they observed the Sabbath.[42] As late as the 11th century Cardinal Humbert still referred to the Nazarenes as a
Sabbath-keeping Christian body existing at that time. But in the 10th and 11th centuries, there was a great extension
of sects from the East to the West. Neander states that the corruption of the clergy furnished a most important
vantage-ground on which to attack the dominant church. The abstemious life of these Christians, the simplicity and
earnestness of their preaching and teaching, had their effect. “Thus we find them emerging at once in the eleventh
century, in countries the most diverse, and the most remote from each other, in Italy, France, and even in the Harz
districts in Germany.” Likewise, also, “traces of Sabbath-keepers are found in the times of Gregory I, Gregory VII,
and in the twelfth century in Lombardy.”[43]
Sabbath in Christianity 7

"While, under the pressure of long-continued persecution, some compromised their faith, little by little yielding its
distinctive principles, others held fast the truth. Through ages of darkness and apostasy there were Waldenses who
denied the supremacy of Rome, who rejected image worship as idolatry, and who kept the true (seventh-day)
Sabbath. Under the fiercest tempests of opposition they maintained their faith. Though gashed by the Savoyard
spear, and scorched by the Romish fagot, they stood unflinchingly for God's word and His honour."[44]

Reformation
Seventh-day Sabbatarianism was advocated in England by John Traske (1586–1636) and Thomas Brabourne.
The Seventh-day Adventist church arose in the mid-19th century in America, having inherited seventh-day
Sabbatarianism from the Seventh-day Baptists.

Seventh-day churches
Fundamental Belief # 20 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church states...
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.)
– Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Beliefs[45]
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)[46]

Eastern Christianity
The Eastern Orthodox church distinguishes between "Sabbath" (Saturday) and "Lord's Day" (Sunday), and both
continue to play a special role for the faithful. Many parishes and monasteries will serve the Divine Liturgy on both
Saturday morning and Sunday morning. The church never allows strict fasting on any Saturday (except Holy
Saturday) or Sunday, and the fasting rules on those Saturdays and Sundays which fall during one of the fasting
seasons (such as Great Lent, Apostles' Fast, etc.) are always relaxed to some degree. During Great Lent, when the
celebration of the Liturgy is forbidden on weekdays, there is always Liturgy on Saturday as well as Sunday. The
church also has a special cycle of Bible readings (Epistle and Gospel) for Saturdays and Sundays which is different
from the cycle of readings allotted to weekdays. However, the Lord's Day, being a celebration of the Resurrection, is
clearly given more emphasis. For instance, in the Russian Orthodox Church Sunday is always observed with an
All-Night Vigil on Saturday night, and in all of the Orthodox Churches it is amplified with special hymns which are
chanted only on Sunday. If a feast day falls on a Sunday it is always combined with the hymns for Sunday (unless it
is a Great Feast of the Lord). Saturday is celebrated as a sort of leave-taking for the previous Sunday, on which
several of the hymns from the previous Sunday are repeated.
Sabbath in Christianity 8

In part, Orthodox Christians continue to celebrate Saturday as Sabbath because of its role in the history of salvation:
it was on a Saturday that Jesus "rested" in the tomb after his work on the cross. For this reason also, Saturday is a day
for general commemoration of the departed, and special requiem hymns are often chanted on this day.
The Ethiopian Orthodox church (part of the Oriental Orthodox communion, having about 40 million members)
observes both Saturday and Sunday as holy, but places extra emphasis on Sunday.

Non-Sabbatarianism
Justin Martyr, writing in the 2nd century, rejected the need to keep literal seventh-day Sabbath, arguing instead that
"the new law requires you to keep the sabbath constantly."[47] Similarly, Irenaeus wrote that the Christian "will not
be commanded to leave idle one day of rest, who is constantly keeping sabbath",[48] and Tertullian argued "that we
still more ought to observe a sabbath from all servile work always, and not only every seventh-day, but through all
time".[49] This early metaphorical interpretation of Sabbath applied it to the entire Christian life.[2] Augustine, Luther
and Calvin taught that the Sabbath commandment of the Decalogue is not binding on Christians. Other historical
non-sabbatarians from more recent times include the Anglicans Peter Heylin, William Paley and John Milton; the
nonconformist Philip Doddridge; the Quaker Robert Barclay; and Congregationalist James Baldwin Brown.[23]

Other definitions
By synecdoche the term "Sabbath" in the New Testament may also mean simply a "se'nnight" or seven-day week,
namely, the interval between two Sabbaths. Jesus's parable of the Pharisee and the Publican describes the Pharisee as
fasting "twice a week" (Greek dis tou sabbatou, literally, "twice of the Sabbath").
Seven annual Biblical festivals, called by the name miqra ("called assembly") in Hebrew and "High Sabbath" in
English, serve as supplemental testimonies to the plan of Sabbath. These are recorded in the books of Exodus and
Deuteronomy and do not necessarily occur on Sabbath. They are observed by Jews and a minority of Christians.
Three of them occur in spring: the first and seventh days of Passover, and Pentecost. Four occur in fall, in the
seventh month, and are also called Shabbaton: Trumpets; Atonement, the "Sabbath of Sabbaths"; and the first and
eighth days of Tabernacles.
The year of Shmita (Hebrew ‫הטימש‬, literally, "release"), also called Sabbatical Year, is the seventh year of the
seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah for the Land of Israel. During Shmita, the land is to be left to lie
fallow. A second aspect of Shmita concerns debts and loans: when the year ends, personal debts are considered
nullified and forgiven.
Jewish Shabbat is a weekly day of rest cognate to Christian Sabbath, 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. 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.
The new moon, occurring every 29 or 30 days, is an important separately sanctioned occasion in Judaism and some
other faiths. It is not widely regarded as Sabbath, but some Messianic and Pentecostal churches, such as the native
New Israelites of Peru and the Creation Seventh Day Adventist Church, do keep the day of the new moon as Sabbath
or rest day, from evening to evening. New-moon services can last all day.
In South Africa, Christian Boers have celebrated December 16, now called the Day of Reconciliation, as annual
Sabbath (holy day of thanksgiving) since 1838, commemorating a famous Boer victory over the Zulu.
Many early Christian writers from the 2nd century, such as pseudo-Barnabas, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and Hippolytus
of Rome followed rabbinic Judaism in interpreting Sabbath not as a literal day of rest, but as a thousand-year reign of
Jesus Christ, which would follow six millennia of world history.[2]
Secular use of "Sabbath" for "rest day", while it usually refers to Sunday, is often stated in North America to refer to
different purposes for the rest day than those of Christendom. In McGowan v. Maryland (1961), the Supreme Court
Sabbath in Christianity 9

of the United States held that contemporary Maryland blue laws (typically, Sunday rest laws) were intended to
promote the secular values of "health, safety, recreation, and general well-being" through a common day of rest, and
that this day coinciding with majority Christian Sabbath neither reduces its effectiveness for secular purposes nor
prevents adherents of other religions from observing their own holy days.

References
First-day:
• Dawn, Marva J. (1989). Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting. Grand Rapids.
• Dawn, Marva J. (2006). The Sense of the Call: A Sabbath Way of Life for Those Who Serve God, the Church, and
the World.
• United States Catholic Conference, Inc. (1997). "You Shall Love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart, and
with All Your Soul, and with All Your Mind, Article 3, The Third Commandment". Catechism of the Catholic
Church (2d ed.). New York City: Doubleday. 2168–2195.
Seventh-day:
• Bacchiocchi, Samuele (1977). From Sabbath to Sunday [50]. Pontifical Gregorian University Press; Biblical
Perspectives.
• Bacchiocchi, Samuele (June 1980). Divine Rest for Human Restlessness [51]. Biblical Perspectives.
ISBN 9789994610242.
• Bacchiocchi, Samuele (1998). The Sabbath Under Crossfire: A Biblical Analysis Of Recent Sabbath/Sunday
Developments [52]. Biblical Perspectives.
• Ford, Desmond (1981). The Forgotten Day.
• Strand, Kenneth A., ed. (July 1982). The Sabbath in Scripture and History. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald
Publishing Association. ISBN 9780828000376.
• Tonstad, Sigve K. (November 2009). The Lost Meaning of the Seventh Day [53]. Berrien Springs, Michigan:
Andrews University Press. ISBN 9781883925659.
Non-Sabbatarian:
• Brinsmead, Robert (June 1981). Sabbatarianism Re-examined [54]. Verdict Publishing 4:4.
• Ratzlaff, Dale; Muth, Don; Tinker, Richard; Fredericks, Richard (2003) [1990]. Sabbath in Christ.
Varying:
• Carson, Don A., ed. (1982). From Sabbath to Lord's Day. Zondervan. ISBN 9781579103071. Includes
Bauckham, R. J. The Lord's Day. pp. 221–250. Bauckham, R. J. Sabbath and Sunday in the Post-Apostolic
Church. pp. 252–298. Bauckham, R. J. Sabbath and Sunday in the Medieval Church in the West. pp. 299–310.
Bauckham, R. J. Sabbath and Sunday in the Protestant Tradition. pp. 311–342.

Notes
[1] http:/ / www. biblestudytools. net/ Lexicons/ Hebrew/ heb. cgi?number=7676& version=kjv
[2] R. J. Bauckham (1982), D. A. Carson, ed., "Sabbath and Sunday in the Post-Apostolic church", From Sabbath to Lord's Day (Zondervan):
252–298
[3] The Great Controversy, p. 52 (http:/ / www. crcbermuda. com/ reference/ ellen-white-books-g-m/ great-controversy/
1899-chap-3-an-era-of-spiritual-darkness)
[4] CHURCH FATHERS: Church History, Book V (Socrates Scholasticus) (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ fathers/ 26015. htm)
[5] (New York: Charles Scribner’s sons, 1913), div. 2, per. 1, ch. 1, sec. 59, g, pp. 284, 285
[6] CHURCH FATHERS: Ecclesiastical History, Book VII (Sozomen) (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ fathers/ 26027. htm)
[7] Carson 1982, pp. 221–250.
[8] The Great Controversy p. 65 (http:/ / www. crcbermuda. com/ reference/ ellen-white-books-g-m/ great-controversy/
1900-chap-4-the-waldenses)
[9] "14:1" (http:/ / www. earlychristianwritings. com/ text/ didache-roberts. html). Didache. Roberts, trans. Early Christian Writings. .
Sabbath in Christianity 10

[10] Holmes, M. The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations.
[11] Strand 1982, pp. 347–8. In Morgan, Kevin (2002). Sabbath Rest. TEACH Services. pp. 37–8.
[12] Archer, Gleason. An Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties.
[13] Epistle of Barnabas. 15. Staniforth, Maxwell, trans.
[14] Justin Martyr. First Apology. 67.
[15] Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 21 (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ schaff/ anf01. viii. iv. xxi. html)
[16] Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 23 (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ schaff/ anf01. viii. iv. xxiii. html)
[17] http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ schaff/ anf03. iv. iv. xiv. html
[18] http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ schaff/ anf03. iv. viii. i. xiii. html
[19] NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ schaff/ npnf214. viii. vii. iii.
liv. html)
[20] Eusebius, in Life of Constantine, claims Constantine stated: "Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we
have received from our Saviour a different way."http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ fathers/ 25023. htm Book III chapter 18
[21] Bacchiocchi 1977.
[22] Carson 1982, pp. 299–310.
[23] Carson 1982, pp. 311–342.
[24] Martin Luther, “Wider die Antinomer (“Against the Antinomians”),” secs. 6, 8, in his Sämmtliche Schriften, ed. by Joh[ann] Georg Walch,
Vol. 20 (St. Louis: Concordia, 1890), cols. 1613, 1614. German.
[25] John Wesley, "Sermons on Several Occasions," 2-Vol. Edition, Vol. I, pages 221, 222.
[26] Baptist Church Manual, Article 12
[27] D.L. MOODY, "Weighed and Wanting," page 47
[28] http:/ / www. vatican. va/ holy_father/ john_paul_ii/ apost_letters/ documents/ hf_jp-ii_apl_05071998_dies-domini_en. html
[29] U.S. Catholic Conference 1997, pp. 580–6.
[30] "Sabbath" (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ cathen/ 13287b. htm). The Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913. .
[31] "Ten Commandments" (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ cathen/ 13287a. htm). The Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913. .
[32] "Sabbatarians" (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ cathen/ 13287a. htm). The Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913. .
[33] Gibbons, James. "VIII. The Church and the Bible" (http:/ / www. cathcorn. org/ foof/ 8. html). Faith of Our Fathers. p. 72. .
[34] Martin Luther, Spiritual Antichrist," pages 71, 72
[35] The Augsburg Confession, 1530 A.D. (Lutheran), part 2, art 7, in Philip Schaff, the Creeds of Christiandom, 4th Edition, vol 3, p64
[36] Biography of Augustus Neander (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ neander_a)
[37] Augustus Neander, "History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. 1, page 186
[38] LDS.org - Study by Topic - Sabbath (http:/ / lds. org/ study/ topics/ sabbath?lang=eng)
[39] "The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, chapter 9" (http:/ / www. earlychristianwritings. com/ text/ ignatius-magnesians-roberts. html).
Early Christian Writings. .
[40] The Great Controversy, p. 61 (http:/ / www. crcbermuda. com/ reference/ ellen-white-books-g-m/ great-controversy/
1900-chap-4-the-waldenses,)
[41] Neander, fourth period, 6, 428
[42] Kirchengeschichte, I, 527
[43] See quotation of Strong’s Cyclopedia, New York, 1874, I, 660 (http:/ / dedication. www3. 50megs. com/ historyofsabbath/
hos_twentyone_b. html#027)
[44] The Great Controversy, p. 65 (http:/ / www. crcbermuda. com/ reference/ ellen-white-books-g-m/ great-controversy/
1900-chap-4-the-waldenses,)
[45] Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Beliefs (http:/ / www. adventist. org/ beliefs/ fundamental/ index. html)
[46] (http:/ / www. churchofgod-7thday. org/ Publications/ Doctrinal Points Final Proof. pdf)
[47] Justin Martyr, [[Dialogue with Trypho (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ schaff/ anf01. viii. iv. xii. html)] 12:3],
[48] Irenaeus, Epideixis 96
[49] Tertullian, Adv. Jud. 4:2 (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ schaff/ anf03. iv. ix. iv. html),
[50] http:/ / www. biblicalperspectives. com/ books/ sabbath_to_sunday/
[51] http:/ / www. biblicalperspectives. com/ books/ rest_restlessness/
[52] http:/ / sdanet. org/ atissue/ sabbath/ bacchiocchi. htm
[53] http:/ / universitypress. andrews. edu/ catalog. php?key=199
[54] http:/ / www. exadventist. com/ Home/ Articles/ sabbatarian/ tabid/ 452/ Default. aspx
Article Sources and Contributors 11

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