How can Sunday Replace Saturday under the Fourth Commandment?

The following explanation is taken from the Encyclopaedia of Bible Difficulties that could clear our confusion:

In Exodus 20:8 God's people are commanded: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." The seventh day of the week is to commemorate the completion of God's work of creation ( v.11 concludes, "The LORD...rested the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it"). This commandment ranks with the nine others to form the Decalogue, and there is no suggestion even in the New Testament that the Ten Commandments are not binding on the conscience of Christian believers or that the number has been reduced to nine rather than ten. In the absence of any divine instruction to the contrary, we may assume that the fourth commandment is still binding on us. But the real question at issue is whether the sanction of the seventh day Sabbath has been by the New Testament transferred to the first day of the week, which the Christian church generally (apart from sabbatarian groups) honors as the Lord's Day, otherwise known as the Christian Sabbath.

New Testament Evidence for Sunday Worship

The heart of the apostolic manifesto to the Jewish and Gentile world from Pentecost onward was the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ: "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32, NASB). The bodily resurrection was God's certification to the world that the Savior of mankind had paid a valid and sufficient price for sinners and that He had for them overcome the curse of death. Christ's effectual atoning sacrifice and conquest over sin and death ushered in a new era, the age of the New Testament church. As the Lord's Supper replaced the Old Testament sacrament of the Passover, as the death of Christ replaced the sacrifice of animal offerings on the altar, as the high priesthood of Christ "after the order of Melchizedek" replaced the priesthood of Aaron and constituted every born-again believer as a priest of God, so also in the case of this one commandment out of the ten, which was in part at least ceremonial, there was to be a change in the symbol appropriate to the new dispensation, as the following facts seem to teach.

• Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, according to all four Evangelists (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). Thus Sunday took on special importance as the weekly day of celebration for the triumph of the Resurrection.
• Jesus personally appeared to his followers in visible, bodily form and conversed with them on Easter Sunday. (1) He first appeared to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18). (2) He next appeared to the other women who had brought spices for the embalming of His Body (Matt. 28:7-10). (3) He appeared personally to Simon Peter (Luke 24:34). (4) He walked and talked with Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:15-32). (5) He appeared to the ten disciples and their friends on that same Sunday evening--His first appearance to a gathered assembly of Christian believers.
• Exactly one week later, on a Sunday night, Jesus again appeared to His disciples; and this time the skeptical Thomas (who had been absent on the previous Sunday) was on hand. To him Jesus presented the physical evidence of His nail-pierced hands and feet and His spear-stabbed side in order to convince Thomas that He was alive again and was going about in the same body that had been crucified on Good Friday.
• The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church took place on Pentecost. Since the Crucifixion took place on a Friday, the offering of the wave-sheaf (typical of the Resurrection) took place on the "morrow after the sabbath" (Lev. 23:10-11)--on a Sunday. This means that forty-nine days later, the Feast of Weeks (known in Greek as Pentekoste, "Fiftieth [Day]") fell also on a Sunday. Obviously it was the Lord Himself who chose to honor Sunday by bringing about both the Easter victory and the "birthday" of the New Testament church on the first day of the week. After Pentecost it seems that the Christian community continued to celebrate the seventh-day Sabbath as before, by gathering with other Jews (both converted and unconverted) for the reading of the Torah, for preaching, and for prayer. But there is no demonstrable reference to Christians ever gathering on the Saturday Sabbath to celebrate the Lord's Supper or to hold a distinctively Christian assembly. They joined in synagogue worship on Saturdays because they felt themselves to be Jews, even though they believed in Christ. In fact, they believed that they were better and more authentic Jews than those who had rejected the Hope of Israel. But they also met on Sunday mornings for worship and Holy Communion, and quite possibly on Sunday evening as well, when they had more preaching and the partaking of the agape meal, or "love feast" (Acts 20:5-12).
• In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul gave this instruction to the Corinthian church: "On the first day of every week let each of you put aside [lit., `put by himself'] and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come" (NASB). The collection referred to was the relief fund for starving Hebrew Christians of Judea who were so hard hit by famine. Paul could hardly have been referring to a habit of saving carried on simply in private homes, for there would then have been no point to his referring to any one special day of the week. Anyone who is saving up for some special cause and setting the money aside in a "piggy bank" would be free to do so on any day of the week. He would hardly be expected to wait until Sunday to touch his private piggy bank. The only plausible basis for mentioning a particular day of the week was so that they might all contribute to the benevolence treasury (note the use of the word thesaurizon, "saving," which really means "putting into a treasury [thesauros]," the very same term as was applied to the offering box set up in the court of the Jerusalem temple) according to what their income had been during the previous week ("as he may prosper"), presumably the 10 percent prescribed by the Old Testament. This pooling of their individual contributions into a common receptacle would enable them to amass a considerable sum for famine relief. With all these factors in view, it is safe for us to conclude that the Corinthian church was in the habit of meeting on Sundays and that they took up offerings of some sort in connection with those Sunday worship services.
• After Paul had spent an entire week at Troas, according to Acts 20:5-12, he concluded his stay with the Christian community there by presiding at their Sunday evening service. This could hardly have been a special meeting held for evangelistic or Bible-conference purposes, for otherwise there would have been no discernible motive for him to tarry there for seven days (v.6). Paul was quite pressed for time, since he had to make it to Jerusalem in time for the annual Feast of Pentecost (Acts 20:16). We must therefore conclude that he waited until the regular Sunday evening service at Troas so that he might have as large a congregation as possible. (There can be no legitimate question as to whether "first day of the week" could have referred to Saturday evening--as some have argued--since Troas was a city of major size and commercial importance, and it was beyond question predominantly Gentile. Therefore for them the "first day of the week" would have begun at midnight, as it did for the Roman world, and as it does for us today.) Paul then preached to a packed church at the upper story level; and they protracted the meeting all night until the dawn of Monday morning, when they held a simple love feast together before saying goodby (Acts. 20:11). The institution of Sunday worship was firmly entrenched at Troas and obviously approved of by Paul.
• The final New Testament reference to Sunday as a day of special meaning to Christians is to be found in Revelation 1:10: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet" (NASB). The voice was that of the glorified Christ Himself, who had come to commune with John on Sunday. "The Lord's Day" is expressed in the dative case: te kyriake hemera. There is no valid ground for questioning whether this really referred to Sunday. To this very day it is the regular word for "Sunday" in modern Greek, and it is plainly so intended in the earliest postbiblical witnesses (Didache 14:1, first quarter of the second century; Epistle of Barnabas 15:1, early second century). Justin Martyr (mid-second century) describes a typical order of service at a Christian service "on the day called Sunday" (First Apology 67). In his Dialogue with Trypho (a Jew), Justin argues that the command in Genesis 17 to circumcise an infant "on the eight day" was in tended by God as "a type of the true circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, our Lord Jesus Christ" (Chap. 41). By the early third century, Tertullian went so far as to insist that "we [Christians] have nothing to do with the sabbaths or other Jewish festivals, much less with those of the heathen. We have our own solemnities, the Lord's Day, for instance, and Pentecost" (On Idolatry 14). In De Oratione (23) Tertullian urged the cessation of labor on Sunday so that it might be preserved as a day of worship for God's people.

A very interesting testimony is found in the Syriac The Teaching of the Apostles, dating from the second half of the third century, to the effect that Christ's apostles were the first to designate the first day of the week as the day for Christian worship. "The Apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be service, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the oblation: because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the dead, and on the first day of the week He ascended up to heaven, and on the first day of the week He will appear at last with the angels of heaven" (Ante-Nicene Fathers 8.668). (For most of the quotations from the church fathers, I an indebted to Henry Waterman's fine article "The Lord's Day" [Tenney, Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia, 3:965-66].)

In the light of these early Christian testimonies, we can see the unsoundness of the contention made by some sabbatarian advocates that Sunday was not chosen to supercede Saturday as the day of Christian worship until the time of Constantine the Great (308-37). From apostolic times Sunday has been recognized by Christians as a day of worship and a day of rest. But what Constantine did was to issue a special edict prescribing Sunday as the official day of rest each week throughout the Roman Empire.

Sanctifying the Lord's Day

Now that we have covered the New Testament basis for the adoption of the first day of the week as the distinctive day of worship for Christians, we turn our attention to the question of how the Lord's Day was--and is--to be sanctified by God's people. If our initial premise is correct and the Lord's Day is basically intended to perpetuate the special sanctity of the Sabbath, then it would follow that our reverence for Sunday should be equal to that of the ancient Hebrew believer for the seventh-day Sabbath.

How is the Lord's Day to be sanctified? Well, if we consult the Decalogue, we find that it is to be marked by a cessation from self-serving, gainful employment that would be quite proper for the other six days of the week (Exod. 20:9-10). It is also, according to Leviticus 23:3, to be a day of public worship, a "holy convocation," and a day of special significance for the officiating priests. They were to replace the old showbread with fresh new loaves on the "table before the LORD" in the sanctuary (Lev. 24:8), and they were to double the normal offering on the altar of sacrifice (the "continual burnt offering") according to Numbers 28:9-10. But the most illuminating passage in the Old Testament concerning the true celebration of the Sabbath is found in Isaiah 58:13-14: "If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure, and speaking your own words, then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth" (NASB).

Much of the concept conveyed by that passage found classic expression in the Westminster Shorter Catechism (60): "How is the [Christian] Sabbath to be sanctified? The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy (Matt. 12:11-12)." This was the ideal standard of the Puritan movement, which represented the finest flower of the Protestant Reformation in the English-speaking world. While that standard is now more often honored by the breach than by observance, it would be difficult to prove that the modern permissive attitude towards hallowing the Lord's Day has any foundation in Scripture.

It is often urged by those who advocate pure voluntarism in the use of Sunday that Colossians 2:16 abolishes almost all the sanctions of the Old Testament fourth commandment. This verse says, "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day" (NIV). A more accurate rendering of sabbaton would be "Sabbaths"--plural rather than singular. This is important here, for the Hebrew religious calendar possessed not only seventh-day Sabbaths but also feast-day Sabbaths, which were to be celebrated in exactly the same way as the Saturday Sabbath, regardless of what day in the week the first and last days of the feast might fall (especially in regard to the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles, both of which ran for eight days).

The general purport of Colossians 2:16 is that the distinctive holy days of the Old Testament are no longer binding on New Testament believers because "these are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ" (v.17). Hence v.16 would seem to be referring primarily to obsolete Old Testament ordinances, of which the seventh-day Sabbath was one, and probably the feast-day Sabbath was another.

There is no good reason to believe that Paul intended to include the Christian form of the fourth commandment, that is, Sunday observance, as among the "shadows" that had already been fulfilled by Christ; the observance of the Lord's Day could hardly be classified as an Old Testament "shadow." In point of fact, it was a contemporary Christian ordinance zealously observed by those who trusted in Christ, the "Reality" (soma literally means "body"), rather than in obsolete or obsolescent Old Testament types (or "shadows"). Therefore, it is altogether unwarranted to draw from this verse an unrestrained license to use the Lord's Day any way one pleases. Church attendance and group Bible study are admittedly the most important elements in Sunday observance, but the principle of rest from self-seeking labor (except for those involved in works of real necessity or mercy) is surely at the heart of hallowing the Lord's Day--even in these days when the secularized culture around us holds that day in very low esteem.

For additional study of this topic see D.A. Carson, From Sabbath to Lord's Day (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982).

Should Christians observe Sabbath according to the Ten Commandments?

Whether Christians should observe Sabbath according to the ten commandments?

I think there are two things to consider. First, if we are going to observe the Sabbath strictly according to the practice of the Jews, then, we should observe fully according to the law requirements. That is, according to how the Jews practices - not working on sabbath at all.

Law Requirements for Observing the Sabbath:

Exo 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
Exo 31:15 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.
Exo 35:3 Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day. - That means no cooking.
Num 28:9 ‘On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil.
Num 28:10 This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
Deu 5:14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do.

There are many other verses mentioned in the Scripture regarding the requirements of observing the Sabbath.

Are you practicing these requirements?

How does our Lord observe the Sabbath?
Mat 12:1 At that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some ears of corn and eat them.
Mat 12:2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.
Mat 12:3 He answered, Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
Mat 12:4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread– which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.
Mat 12:5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?
Mat 12:6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
Mat 12:7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
Mat 12:8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
Mat 12:9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and
Mat 12:10 a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?
Mat 12:11 He said to them, If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
Mat 12:12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
Mat 12:13 Then he said to the man, Stretch out your hand. So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
Mat 12:14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Luk 13:10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,
Luk 13:11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
Luk 13:12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.
Luk 13:13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Luk 13:14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.
Luk 13:15 The Lord answered him, You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?
Luk 13:16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?
Luk 13:17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

You could find many more from the Scripture yourself - Our Lord Jesus has changed the meaning of observing the Sabbath!

How does Paul discuss about observing a special day (including Sabbath)?

Col 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
Col 2:14 having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
Col 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Col 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
Col 2:17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

You are justified not by observing the Law but by the blood of Christ Jesus!

So how should we treat the forth of the Ten Commandments?
Exo 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work,
Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The big picture - the Ten Commandments

Let’s look back to the big picture - the Ten Commandments - What did our Lord Jesus said?
Mat 22:36 Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
Mat 22:38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
Mat 22:40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

How does Lord Jesus talk about keeping the Law?
Mat 5:21 You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
Mat 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Mat 5:23 Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Mat 5:24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Mat 5:25 Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.
Mat 5:26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Mat 5:27 You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’
Mat 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Mat 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Mat 5:30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Mat 5:31 It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
Mat 5:32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
Mat 5:33 Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’
Mat 5:34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
Mat 5:35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.
Mat 5:36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’, ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Mat 5:38 You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
Mat 5:39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
Mat 5:41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Mat 5:42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Mat 5:43 You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
Mat 5:44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Mat 5:45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Mat 5:46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
Mat 5:47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Mat 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Our Lord has not abolished the laws, he has upkeep them to the fullest - a higher requirements than appeared in words - the intention of the heart!

Keeping the Sabbath for a Christian
Back to keeping the Sabbath - As a Christian, the sabbath is no longer just one of the 7 days you need to keep it holy. In fact, all the 24 hours each day for the 7 days of the week, you are to keep them holy because you are holy as God is holy. You are no longer belonging to yourself, you are redeemed by Christ.

Rom 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God– this is your spiritual act of worship.
Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is– his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Worshipping God on Sunday service is not a change of day for observing Sabbath (the Sabbath start from Friday evening and end on Saturday before evening) since we do not meet any requirements such as not doing any work or offering burnt offering. It is a celebration of the arisen of Christ on the early morning of Sunday.

We are observing the Sabbath by keeping everyday, every hour, every minute holy. Be sure you are not a Sunday Christian.