To Sabbath or Not to Sabbath?

The Gospel Goalition (TGC) put together a 3-part set of articles on the Sabbath. The first one is here and the subsequent ones are linked at the bottom. They do not agree. That is, they are not designed to argue the same point, but to offer three different views for your consideration.

I have to admit I've never quite been comfortable with the topic. It is abundantly clear that God rested on the 7th day of Creation (Gen 2:3) and, by doing so, "made it holy." He didn't mention it to Adam, but He did bring it up to Moses and the children of Israel in the 10 Commandments (Exo 20:8-11). His basic principle is "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." (Exo 20:11) Essentially it's "Now go and do thou likewise." So the Sabbath was the 7th day -- Saturday. But wait. Not just Saturday. The Jews recognized a "Sabbath week" (Lev 23:15-16). Some of the commanded feasts included special Sabbaths. So it was every Saturday and then some. They were marked by "no work" -- days of rest. So important were these Sabbaths that God told Moses it was a sign "throughout your generations" (Exo 31:13) and that to profane it was punishable by death (Exo 31:14). Serious stuff.

That was Old Testament. We're in the new. On more than one occasion Jesus transgressed the Pharisees' view on the Sabbath by violating their understanding of "work." Jesus disagreed (e.g., Matt 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28). There is no reference in the New Testament that renews the Sabbath commands and, in fact, when the Council at Jerusalem gave instructions for Gentile believers, they did not include the Sabbath (Acts 15:28-29). We do know that the first century church recognized "the Lord's Day" (Rev 1:10), the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). So is the Christian Sabbath Sunday?

We, today, of course, have moved beyond that. For a long, long time Sunday was considered the Christian Sabbath, so much so that most of life shut down on Sundays even in the secular world because we were supposed to have a day of rest. But we've moved beyond that, too. Some churches meet on Sunday with a Saturday night service, too. Most Christians no longer consider a Sunday "day of rest" sacrosanct. Get it if you can; don't worry about it if you can't. I think the general sense in modern Christianity is, "Sabbath? No big deal -- Sunday or otherwise."

There you have three views. (Not necessarily the views of those three articles I referenced, but close, I think.) Saturday as a recognition of God's work and rest, Sunday as a celebration of the Resurrection, or not much at all because, hey, we're New Testament Christians and we have no such obligations.

Me? I am not convinced in my own mind (Rom 14:5). Paul does say, "Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath." (Col 2:16) But what does that tell me in regards to the Sabbath? I've got questions. I have few answers.