How does the law on the Sabbath stand in the light of the cross?

An answer to a comment left below

It is my opinion that the covenant with Abraham and the Covenant with Moses have been accomplished in Christ. What is greater has come and their purpose is fulfilled.

Ephesians 2:13;16
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

The dividing wall here is the law, which divides Jew from Gentile.

Galatians 3:19 (English Standard Version)
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.


Jesus was the offspring, the promise was to Abraham and Moses was the intermediary. Here we learn something that is not in the Old Testament, that the law was given to Moses by angels. But God gave the first ten laws directly, they were written in stone by his finger and we know them as the moral law. Are they outside what Paul sees as being abolished?

Romans 7:5-6 (English Standard Version)
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Paul goes on to use one of the Ten Commandments on covetousness to justify his point. Paul teaches that we are free from the whole law, to the Jew the whole law was one; the division into moral and ceremonial and societal law is a later interpretation of scholars.

Paul takes his authority from the teaching of Jesus. Jesus is a greater authority than Moses. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus sets aside the religiosity of Israel so that he could affirm the truth of the Gospel; believe in Jesus and you will inherit eternal life (John 3:16).
But, does Jesus contradict himself?

Luke 10:25-28 (English Standard Version)
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."

These are the defining statements of the law taken from the law itself. Do they offer an alternative way of salvation? Only if, Jesus is not LORD. Jesus changes the entire interpretation of the law without changing a word as he himself is revealed to be the righteousness they point to. Jesus was angry with the way the Law was being used so that the salvation they promised was being missed, Matthew 23:4 (English Standard Version) They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. This is warning to us also who have the Gospel.

Clearly Jesus’ teaching would be disquieting for the orthodox Jews as he was setting aside their traditions, their answers to the requirements of the law, but this was because they did not see who he was; they did not recognise him as LORD. If they had they would have understood him to have the authority.

Jesus made it clear that nothing in the written code had changed or would change when he taught in Matthew 5:17-19 (English Standard Version)
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”


The Law and the Prophets cannot be altered; their purpose is they are to be fulfilled. If our interpretation is good we fulfil them, if it is bad we abolish them making them worthless and leading people away from life. The Law will remain for a long time and will not alter in any way until it has been accomplished. If they had known the Father rightly they would have seen that Jesus was the fulfilment of the law. In him is the completion of the revelation; he is the pinnacle of God’s revelation of himself; he is the righteousness they promise. In Christ there is someone of greater authority than King David and Moses. The revelation of Christ is the final word.
In Christ the Law is fulfilled, not abolished but glorified. Christ is all righteousness; he is truth. In Christ his righteousness becomes our righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is beyond that of the Pharisees and even the least of those in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John and all the Prophets (Matthew 11:11). Justification is not by the Law but faith in Jesus Christ. The Law now has no power to justify or curse and the great in the Kingdom of Heaven keep the Law and teach others to do so. In the Gospel Jesus shows his disciples how to handle the commandments, how to do them and teach them in the light of what Christ has accomplished on the cross. In Acts, the letters and Revelation we see how the Holy Spirit works out this Gospel.

The Covenant of Moses and the Covenant of Abraham are so important and are fulfilled in the cross which sets aside a Holy People; Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 (English Standard Version)
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The sacrifices were the means by which the people could be forgiven and approach a Holy God and be holy; they sanctified the people. The food laws kept them pure, and the ceremonial laws ensured propriety in worship. The foolishness of the cross fulfilled all these and they are glorified in the Christ the only way to the Father in whom we can draw near to the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:14;6) and enter the Holy of Holies. All the requirements of the law are fulfilled in Christ, in fact the apostles would only advise practices to the Gentiles,

Acts 15:28-29 (English Standard Version)
“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell."

The covenant with Moses is complete, as we are purified in Christ and the law is fulfilled. Is this not the meaning of the first miracle in the gospel of John when Jesus changes the water for purification into wine? Was Jesus pointing to the purification that was his blood remembered by the sharing of the cup when we come together. Circumcision as the mark of the covenant with Abraham is now ended as the seed, Jesus has come and the covenant is fulfilled. Paul says,

Galatians 5:2 (English Standard Version) Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

So what of the Sabbath? The question has to be and can only be, how should it be practised and taught in the light of the revelation of Christ. How is the Sabbath to be taught in the light of Christ, his death and resurrection? How are we to interpret the law so that it is fulfilled?
Let us hear Jesus.

Mark 2:27 (English Standard Version) And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12:12 (English Standard Version) “Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (English Standard Version) “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The yoke is Jesus’ teachings and the burden is the requirements of his interpretation.

Matthew 12:6-8 (English Standard Version) “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

Remember Sabbath breaking was punishable by death.

John 5:16-17 (English Standard Version) And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Let us listen to the Spirit.

Hebrews 4:9-10 (English Standard Version) So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Acts 2:46-47 (English Standard Version) And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Romans 14:5-6 (English Standard Version) One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honour of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honour of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honour of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

These scriptures are the yoke and burden of Christ. They demonstrate how Christians are to approach the law and fulfil it.

Colossians 2:16-17 (English Standard Version) Therefore 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. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus so no one is discounted because of their practice of the law. We are called to a higher righteousness and we live in “the rest” of God every day. Making one day holy is a step backwards in my opinion. In Christ we have a new covenant that fulfils the law in a new way and we await the accomplishment of some of the prophecies. The sign of the New Covenant is the breaking of bread and more specifically the sharing of the cup. This we are to do whenever we feel it right and on any day. (Matt 26:27, Mark 11:24, Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:26)

Jesus’ teaching on the Sabbath is that it was created for man and that the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments was a day when good was to be done as any other day. Some would say that Jesus’ expectation was that it would continue to be observed as in Matthew 24:20 he prays that the destruction of the temple would not happen on a Sabbath. Of course Jesus was right, Sabbath observation would continue in Israel after Jesus’ death.

The teaching of Jesus then leaves us with the purpose in the Sabbath and the festivals; it is good for people to rest one day in seven. Christians do not keep Sabbaths as holy days as this would be part of the covenant of Moses; all days are holy. However it is good that men rest after 6 days of work. Isaiah 58 puts the breaking of the Sabbath as a sign of injustice. Isaiah speaks of the unjust fast that leaves the weak and the poor suffering and calls Israel to do justice in drawing near to God and concludes with a call to rededication to the Sabbath. In fact this is set in the context of the prophecy Isaiah brings of a new covenant, a covenant of peace which Jesus’ words in Matthew 11: 28-30 echo in calling us to be faithful to his teaching and application.

Isaiah 55:1
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.

Indeed Jesus wants us and all mankind to benefit from this new covenant of peace.

Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2 and Revelation 10 attest to the fact that some Christians met regularly on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, but nowhere in the plain reading of scripture is this an ordinance to replace the Jewish Sabbath day for Christians. This was done because the first day was the day Jesus rose from the dead (Mark 16:9). People gathered to break bread and to remember as they did on any other day available, but it wasn’t until it became Roman law that they were able to observe it as a day of rest.

In my opinion, misguided church authorities formalised this practice in the 4th Century, which, in their reading of Church government, had to be imposed. It was the day Constantine had set aside from 7th March 321 for rest and for the worship of the sun god whose birthday by the way was 25th December, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun." which allowed the Romans to worship Elah-Gabal the Syrian god and Mithras. This is part of the story of the syncretism of the Roman Church which has given us Sunday as our day of rest and Christmas. The equivalent today would be for Christians to combine Diwali and Eid-Al-Adha into a Mid Winter Festival and have a three day weekend to accommodate Jewish, Christian and Moslem days of rest. I would consider this a mistake!

Making Sunday a day of worship is not biblically sanctioned. The church authorities would have done well to have read Galatians 4:10-11 and taken it to heart.

Galatians 4:10-11 (English Standard Version) You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have laboured over you in vain.

They did not and, as their decision is part of their tradition not the teaching of Jesus, I am not bound by it and because of Christ I am released from it.

It is good that Christians still are able to rest because of Roman Catholic tradition on a Sunday and worship together. When they interpret the law in this way I feel they are fulfilling the law. Families are able to be together and society is in order. It is a bad thing when people judge others who need to work on a Sunday. It is a sad thing when we lose perspective and start creating Sunday laws which I believe is poor interpretation and so abolishes the law of Jesus.

Sunday, or one day in seven, should be special in a secular sense because it enables society to function and is just. What people need to see is families being together and worshipping God, proclaiming his death and resurrection through the breaking of bread and sharing their lives and Jesus’ teaching on any or every day. Christianity should affect every day of the week; look what we create through our lack of diligence, Sunday Christians! However the issue of keeping Sunday special is an issue of Justice in the UK.

We should pray for our brothers and sisters who have no opportunity to rest one whole day in seven or ever some of whom ear he poorest in our midst, aliens doing the most menial tasks. We should not judge those only able to worship on a Friday in Moslem countries or a Saturday in Israel. But we should all meet as often as possible and as we are able.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (English Standard Version) And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

The observation of a personal Sabbath is essential to our wellbeing in Christ; it is good to carry around with us a sense of the Spirit working in us the benefits of Sabbath, and we should ensure that this is possible and the practicalities and disciplines that enable this are hedged around as vital. It is so important that we work from the knowledge of the Peace won for us in Christ Jesus. Take every opportunity afforded by a day of rest or time of solitude to find God in this way.

Phillipians 4: 4-7 (ESV) Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.