![\"4.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/4.jpg\")
<\/span>Nightline\u2019s series on the Ten Commandments<\/a> continues with a look at the Sabbath command, and it raises a question that often arises: Do Christians celebrate \u201cSabbath\u201d? Let\u2019s begin with the command itself, in both versions in the Old Testament, and then I want to address our question.<\/p>\nExodus 20:8<\/span>\u00a0\u201cRemember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy.\u00a020:9<\/span>\u00a0For six days you may labor and do all your work,\u00a020:10<\/span>\u00a0but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates.\u00a020:11<\/span>\u00a0For in six days the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\nDeuteronomy 5:12<\/span>\u00a0Be careful to observe the Sabbath day just as the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0your God has commanded you.\u00a05:13<\/span>\u00a0You are to work and do all your tasks in six days,\u00a05:14<\/span>\u00a0but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the foreigner who lives with you, so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest.\u00a05:15<\/span>\u00a0Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0your God brought you out of there by strength and power. That is why the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/div>\nSo, what does this all mean (for us)?
<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nFirst, \u201cSabbath\u201d was a day of rest and was not a day of \u201cworship\u201d together as is done in the Christian Sunday. But, a careful reading of Genesis 1 shows that the Sabbath is the day the Lord takes up habitation in the Cosmic Temple \u2014 the world \u2014 and so the seventh day of Creation should not be seen simply as relaxation from work. God\u2019s rest is more than relaxation; it is Shalom \u2014 it is God\u2019s world being what it was intended to be. We only \u201cdo Sabbath\u201d well when we dwell in the world as God intended it to be. The earliest Christians had a Sabbath (Saturday) and worship (Sunday, the Lord\u2019s day).<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSecond, there\u2019s more: Jesus cut up the Ten Commandments into love God commands and love other commands. The Sabbath was traditionally understood as a day of sanctity toward God, a day wherein one did not work at all. Hence, it became a day where focus on God was paramount \u2026 and Jesus saw a crack. Some were so devoted to Sabbath\u2019s sanctity that they failed to show mercy to those in need.\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHerein lies the genius of Jesus when it comes to Sabbath: \u201crest\u201d means dwelling in the world as God would have it. That means loving God (worship, obedience, etc) and loving others (doing good on Sabbath). So, for Jesus, the Sabbath straddles the love God commands and the love others commands.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMatthew 12:1<\/span>\u00a0At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pick heads of wheat and eat them.\u00a012:2<\/span>\u00a0But when the Pharisees saw this they said to him, \u201cLook, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath.\u201d\u00a012:3<\/span>\u00a0He said to them, \u201cHaven\u2019t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry \u2013\u00a012:4<\/span>\u00a0how he entered the house of God and they ate the sacred bread, which was against the law for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests?\u00a012:5<\/span>\u00a0Or have you not read in the law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are not guilty?\u00a012:6<\/span>\u00a0I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.\u00a012:7<\/span>\u00a0If you had known what this means: \u2018I want mercy and not sacrifice<\/i><\/b>,\u2019 you would not have condemned the innocent.\u00a012:8<\/span>\u00a0For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
12:9<\/span>\u00a0Then Jesus left that place and entered their synagogue.\u00a012:10<\/span>\u00a0A man was there who had a withered hand. And they asked Jesus, \u201cIs it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?\u201d so that they could accuse him.\u00a012:11<\/span>\u00a0He said to them, \u201cWould not any one of you, if he had one sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, take hold of it and lift it out?\u00a012:12<\/span>\u00a0How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.\u201d\u00a012:13<\/span>\u00a0Then he said to the man, \u201cStretch out your hand.\u201d He stretched it out and it was restored, as healthy as the other.\u00a012:14<\/span>\u00a0But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, as to how they could assassinate him.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
On top of the Sabbath being a day of doing good \u2014 toward God in worship and love and obedience and toward others in compassion and love and justice \u2014 the earliest Christians, third, eventually swallowed up the Sabbath into Sunday, a day of worshiping together on a day that memorialized the resurrection. So, for the Christian, Sabbath also signifies the new order, the new day of Jesus, the day when BC changed to AD. As ancient Israel, in Deuteronomy, saw the Sabbath as the result of being liberated from slavery, so the Christians saw Sunday as the day of resurrection, the day when they had been liberated from sin and death.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nightline\u2019s series on the Ten Commandments continues with a look at the Sabbath command, and it raises a question that often arises: Do Christians celebrate \u201cSabbath\u201d? Let\u2019s begin with the command itself, in both versions in the Old Testament, and then I want to address our question. Exodus 20:8\u00a0\u201cRemember the Sabbath day to set it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Do Christians have a Sabbath?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nightline's series on the Ten Commandments continues with a look at the Sabbath command, and it raises a question that often arises: Do Christians\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do Christians have a Sabbath?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nightline's series on the Ten Commandments continues with a look at the Sabbath command, and it raises a question that often arises: Do Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-04T22:33:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/4.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/\",\"name\":\"Do Christians have a Sabbath?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-04T22:33:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-11-04T22:33:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Nightline's series on the Ten Commandments continues with a look at the Sabbath command, and it raises a question that often arises: Do Christians\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Do Christians have a Sabbath?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do Christians have a Sabbath?","description":"Nightline's series on the Ten Commandments continues with a look at the Sabbath command, and it raises a question that often arises: Do Christians","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do Christians have a Sabbath?","og_description":"Nightline's series on the Ten Commandments continues with a look at the Sabbath command, and it raises a question that often arises: Do Christians","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2009-11-04T22:33:43+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/4.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/","name":"Do Christians have a Sabbath?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-11-04T22:33:43+00:00","dateModified":"2009-11-04T22:33:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Nightline's series on the Ten Commandments continues with a look at the Sabbath command, and it raises a question that often arises: Do Christians","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/04\/do-christians-have-a-sabbath\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do Christians have a Sabbath?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}