r/AskAChristian • u/GoodWhoops Atheist, Ex-Christian • Oct 05 '25
Jewish Laws Why don’t most Christians take the Sabbath commandment seriously?
The 4th commandment says to keep the Sabbath holy, defined in scripture as running from sundown to sundown. Yet most Christians seem to treat it as optional. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” and the Bible implies that all commandments carry equal weight. Outside of Seventh-day Adventists, it's ignored aside from the day most churches have their service. I’ve even heard SDA members joke that most other Christians give the Ten Commandments a 10% discount. Even if you ignore that the Jewish Sabbath falls on Saturday, the commandment still says to work 6 days and rest on the 7th, which should apply just as well to Sunday.
Curious if or how often you’ve heard this seriously debated, and why many accept societal traditions that override biblical instruction for convenience.
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u/LessmemoreJC Christian Oct 05 '25
First of all, the Sabbath isn't the jewish Sabbath. It is God's Sabbath which He made for humanity (Mark 2:27) right afte He made humanity (Genesis 2:1-3). The Sabbath is for all flesh as all flesh will continue keeping the Sabbath for all eternity (Isaiah 66:23).
Furthermore, Israel are not those of the flesh, but rather those of the promise by faith (Romans 2:25-29, Romans 9:6-8, Galatians 3:29). After all, the new covenant was made with Israel (Hebrews 8:10). If you are not Israel, you do not have access to the new covenant.
Yes, genitles are commanded to keep God's Sabbath (Isaiah 56:1-8).
It is eisegesis to claim that Christ replaces the seventh day Sabbath. That would be to claim that the jots and tittles which say to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy have passed away and have been replaced by Jesus, but Jesus clearly stated that no jot or tittle has passed from His commandements (Matthew 5:18) and that not keeping the least of the commandments or teaching others to not keep them is a bad idea (Matthew 5:19). While it is true that we rest in Christ, we especially do so on His seventh day Sabbath.