Dr Paul Allen

At the outset, I have to acknowledge that the issues of when to observe the Sabbath and how we observe the Sabbath have not drawn much attention from Lutherans over the years. To this day, Lutherans are guided in large part by the way in which Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformer, interpreted the Sabbath commandment in his Small and Large Catechisms. In the Small Catechism, Luther renders the biblical text, “You shall sanctify the day of rest” (for the texts of Luther’s catechisms, see The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy Wengert [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2000]). As you can see, it looks a bit different than how we are perhaps accustomed to reading it. To better grasp the Lutheran view of the Sabbath day, we need to consider both its history and its current understanding. THE GOSPEL AND THE SABBATH Every tradition is shaped by the formative era from which it emerged. This is true also for Lutheranism. When Luther rediscovered the gospel, he stripped...

Rightly understood and observed, the seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday) is a precious gift from God. Millions of Christians in my faith community experience it as such. At creation, “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy” (Gen. 2:3; italics supplied); the Sabbath commandment echoes, “The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:11). The Sabbath is also God’s chosen sign of creation and redemption: “that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you” (Ex. 31:13); thus, rightly understood and observed, the Sabbath remains a perpetual antidote to both the theory of naturalistic evolution and to legalism.  Finally, the Sabbath is God’s designated day for rest and worship, “a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation” (Lev. 23:3). Scripture never attributes any of these sacred pronouncements, or explicitly assigns any meaning whatsoever, to any day of the week other than the seventh-day Sabbath. The New Testament upholds the Ten Commandments, including the seventh-day Sa...

Increasingly, few Christians reserve one day each week for both worship and rest from all forms of work. Should we be disturbed by this? Seventh-day Adventists and Seventh-day Baptists answer “yes,” and claim that the Sabbath day must be Saturday. Certain kinds of Presbyterians and Reformed Christians, along with others influenced by the legacy of the Puritans, equally adamantly answer “yes,” but they insist that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. Still, others argue for the principle of resting one day in seven but don’t worry about which day of the week it is, since preachers, for example, can scarcely rest on the day they lead worship services. Are any of these three perspectives right? Not really. Jesus declared, “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” (Matt. 5:17; NIV here and throughout). It’s an unusual contrast. Normally, if someone says he is not abolishing something, he goes on to say he is preservin...

The Israelites Leaving Egypt (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) " Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy . Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." ( Exodus 20:8-10 ) The Hebrew word for "remember" actually means to "mark" or "set aside." The Israelites didn't need to be told to "remember" the sabbath, because all nations had been keeping time in weeks ever since creation ( Genesis 2:13 ). (Note the references to the sabbath in the sending of God's manna, prior to the giving of this commandment |Exodus 16:23-29|.) But they did need to be reminded to mark it as a holy or rest day, as God had done in that first week. The Hebrew word for "sabbath" does not mean "Saturday" any more...