In my sermon on Sunday, I mentioned that the Sabbath requirements of the Old Covenant are not carried over in the age of the New Covenant. While our practice of gathering together for worship every Sunday is clearly an expectation of every believer, and has been the pattern of Christians from the beginning, neither Scripture nor history support the idea that it’s a “Christian Sabbath”.

The New Testament passages that address the Jewish Sabbath (on the last day of the week) and the Lord’s Day (on the first day of the week) never make a connection between the two days. Furthermore, the topic of the Sabbath is glaringly absent from the discussion of what to require of Gentile converts at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. Likewise, no connection between the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord’s Day was established in the writings of the early church fathers until the year 321, almost three hundred years after Christ’s ascension.

The Apostle Paul clearly connects Sabbath observance with the other major boundary markers between Jews and Gentiles, namely, circumcision and dietary restrictions, showing that the Sabbath requirements are likewise no longer part of the New Covenant age (Colossians 2:16-17; Galatians 4:10; Romans 14:5-6).

The Sabbath, which was not instituted until thousands of years after Adam (Exodus 16:23), was about refraining from work. With the possible exception of one phrase in Lev 23:3, there was no clear Old Testament command for the people to assemble together on the Sabbath, nor any description of such an assembly. There is no evidence of Jews gathering in synagogues for Sabbath worship until after the close of the Old Testament.

Regardless of how we refer to the first day of the week on which we gather to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, part of what we celebrate is the grace in which we now rest, not consumed by rituals and rules in order to be made right with God. Those who have been united to Christ through faith will increasingly yearn to gather with fellow blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ for worship as a foretaste of what awaits us in eternity. May the Lord greatly bless each of our Lord's Day gatherings (see Rev 1:10; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2; Heb 10:24-25).

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Evan

For further reading: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/a-brief-history-of-sunday/