God declared the seventh day of the week a day of rest. Jesus, as a Jew, and the early Christians observed this day as the Sabbath – as Scripture commanded. Then another day came into focus, the Lord's Day, and eventually, among Christians, Sunday replaced the Sabbath. But how did this development come about, and how should it be understood?
Jesus observed the Sabbath, as every devout Jew does. Where the Gospels discuss the Sabbath, the question is not whether to observe it, but how. If Jesus observed the Sabbath, then his disciples did as well. Therefore, it can be assumed that the early Jewish community in Jerusalem (the Messianic movement after Easter) also observed the Sabbath, since it consisted of Jews and lived in Jerusalem. The Jews who believed in Jesus, the so-called Messianic Jews, adhered to the Jewish way of life for centuries and thus also respected the Sabbath. Many continue to do so today.
The situation was different for the so-called Gentile Christians, the believers from the nations. Paul fought to ensure that non-Jewish Christians were not required to circumcise. Circumcision removed the obligation to live a Jewish life, and this in principle also included observing the Sabbath. However, many Christians maintained close contact with the local synagogue and adopted elements of Jewish life—some more than others. This was common practice well into the 4th century, and thus the Sabbath was frequently observed in early Christianity.
Shabbat and Lord's Day
From early times, another day came into focus for Christian believers: the day after the Sabbath, the first day of the week. This day was so significant because it was the day of Jesus' resurrection (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:1-2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1). Soon, this day was celebrated and called the "Lord's Day" (Rev 1:10; Didache 14:1). People likely initially met at the beginning of this day, on Saturday evening (cf. Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2), since in Judaism the day begins in the evening; they held religious services, partook of the Lord's Supper, and celebrated the resurrection of Jesus.
This worked well for Jewish Christians, as they celebrated Shabbat in the synagogue during the day and the Lord's Day in the evening with fellow Messianic believers. Gentile Christians who maintained close ties with the synagogue did something similar. Other Gentile Christians celebrated only the Lord's Day. This also applied to Messianic Jews who abandoned the Jewish way of life, were excluded from the synagogue (cf. John 16:2), or were pressured by Gentile Christians to renounce Judaism. The separation between Christians and Jews, between church and synagogue, is already evident here.
Even in the 4th century, there were Christian voices that valued the Sabbath. The Apostolic Constitutions (around 380) state: "Celebrate the Sabbath and the Lord's Day with joy, for the one is the commemoration of creation, the other of the resurrection" (VII 23,3). However, the opposite view was increasingly prevalent. Already in the Epistle of Barnabas (2nd century), the Sabbath is rejected. This occurs through a misapplication of Isaiah 1:13, where God says, "Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot tolerate." God was not speaking against the Sabbath itself, but rather against the way it was observed. The Epistle of Barnabas, however, uses this passage to argue against the Sabbath and thus achieves its goal: "Therefore we observe the eighth day..."—that is, the Lord's Day (Barn 15:8-9)—instead of the Sabbath.
Up until the 4th century, church leaders and bishops such as Origen and Chrysostom polemicized against the celebration of Jewish festivals and the observance of Shabbat. This shows that such practices were still widespread in Christendom. At the same time, there was a strong trend toward distancing oneself from Judaism, developing one's own religion (Christianity), and positioning oneself against the Jews. In other words, some maintained their roots in Judaism, while others worked to break away from it.
Shabbat, Lord's Day and Sunday
A new stage in this development was reached in the 4th century. In 321, Emperor Constantine issued two decrees declaring the solar day (den dies solis = day of the sun) a day of rest in the Roman Empire. The solar day was the first day of the week, thus the Christian Lord's Day. This had a linguistic impact. In the Romance languages, the first day of the week is called "Lord's Day" (Latin dies dominica, from dominus = lord, French dimanche, Italian domenica), while other languages continue the Roman solar tradition (English Sunday, Dutch zondag, German Sonntag). Christian theologians combined these two traditions by emphasizing that the Lord is also the light of the world (the sun).
Constantine's Sunday and the Christian Lord's Day thus merged seamlessly – state and church joined hands. The church reacted to this situation by giving Sunday a theological significance and demanding that it be sanctified – like the Sabbath in the Old Testament. The Sunday rest was now justified by the Old Testament commandment of the Sabbath. Later, the desecration of Sunday was even made a punishable offense. Eusebius aptly observes that the essence of the Sabbath had been transferred to Sunday. With this, the Jewish Sabbath was definitively superseded and replaced by the Christian-Roman day of rest.
Concluding remarks
Is this development to be seen as a blessing or a curse? That Constantine introduced a day of rest and that the Church imbued it with spiritual meaning is undoubtedly a blessing for all who observe it. However, it is painful that this day off fell not on Shabbat, but on Sunday. In this way, Sunday replaces Shabbat. This also contains an anti-Jewish element. This development fits into the pre-Constantinian trend – away from Jewish roots and toward replacement theology.
Of course, it won't be possible to turn back the clock. As friends of Israel, we won't be able to persuade either the churches or the governments to switch from Sunday back to Saturday. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It makes perfect sense to allow the Jews to keep their Sabbath. For an important function of the Sabbath in the Old Testament is to distinguish the Jewish people from the nations of the world. The worldwide Christian observance of Sunday allows Jews to continue using the Sabbath as a distinguishing feature.
Another argument: According to Genesis 2:1-4, the Sabbath is already rooted in creation. God himself designated the seventh day as a day of rest for humankind. It's interesting that Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day and immediately encountered the day of rest, which began that same evening. For them, the day of rest was at the beginning of their week, on the first day. Is choosing Sunday then acceptable after all? I would put it this way: The fact that we have Sunday as a day of rest worldwide, thanks to Constantine, is a cultural asset for which we can be grateful. The seven-day rhythm seems more important to me than the choice of the day of the week, and holding worship on this day makes perfect sense. From this perspective, perhaps even observing Sunday today could be considered "shabbat observance"—a setting aside of the seventh day for the Lord. Personally, I would certainly fight to preserve Sunday rather than to move it to Saturday.
At this point, it becomes apparent that many nations have not just one day of rest, but two: Saturday and Sunday. It is therefore quite possible today to observe Shabbat on Saturday but attend church services on Sunday – much like many Messianic Jews did in the first century. This is an option that some friends of Israel are making good use of.
In any case, the day of rest is a gift from God, and observing it spiritually brings us blessings. We should not allow ourselves to be deprived of either the gift or the blessing.
This article first appeared in our newspaper "Israelaktuell," issue 134. You can order the newspaper free of charge here. We would also be happy to send you several copies for distribution.
