Editorial – Remember the Sabbath Day…

There are three major positions that Christians take concerning the Sabbath of the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8–11). The majority position of Christians today is that the Sabbath does not need to be kept for a variety of reasons.

The most straightforward reason is the reason that has been given by Roman Catholic theologians, namely: “Question: Which is the Sabbath day? Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day. Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336) [other sources say 364] transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” Peter Gehermann, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, Second Edition, 1910, p. 50.

Other reasons given are that Sunday is observed in honor of Christ’s resurrection and simply because it has become a custom to worship God on this day or to rest on this day. Scholars have attempted to prove that the apostles, especially the apostle Paul, actually instigated the change but there is no real proof of this, as we will later see.

There are two minority positions taken by Christians today concerning the Sabbath. The first one is that we need to keep the law of Moses, which, of course, includes the seventh day Sabbath, and all the other laws written by Moses. The second minority position is that there are actually two codes of law in the Old Testament—one which is eternal, moral and unchangeable and the other which was temporary for the dispensation of the Old Covenant and not in force anymore.

Interestingly, proponents of all three positions have gone to the early and later church fathers, ancient Christian sources, for support of their position. Before investigating further, we need to know what sources we are going to depend on for authority. The Roman Catholic position is that tradition has authority as well as the Bible and not only written tradition but oral tradition. The Protestant position is that only the Bible should have authority in matters of faith and doctrine.

“The grand principle maintained by these Reformers—the same that had been held by the Waldenses, by Wycliffe, by John Huss, by Luther, Zwingli, and those who united with them—was the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures as a rule of faith and practice. They denied the right of popes, councils, Fathers, and kings, to control the conscience in matters of religion.” The Great Controversy, 249.