Why don't most modern Christians celebrate the sabbath on Saturday?

Question

I know that Jews and early Christians both considered Saturday the sabbath (since it's on the seventh day). When and why did that change for Christians? I'd like the actual historical reason, please!

Answer 1

That's a very good question. Isn't it amazing how most of the Christian world has forgotten the very commandment that God said to "remember"?

You see, in the early Christian church, some of the leaders really wanted to reach the pagans. The pagans had their own day of worship, the Day of the Sun (i.e. first day of the week, Sunday). To try and make the transition from paganism to Christianity easier for them, the church started worshiping on both Saturday and Sunday. As time went on, Saturday became a solemn, strict day full of rules and regulations, while Sunday was a feast day full of joy and partying. Eventually, the church dropped Saturday worship altogether.

Isn't it sad how Christians are breaking one of God's ten holy commandments without even realizing what they are doing? Saturday is still the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, for God never changed it. Man did, and we must obey God rather than man.

If you want more info on this subject, check out these websites I've listed in my sources. The first gives Bible-based answers to the Sabbath debate, while the second will lead you to a book that you can read online that tells more about the history of the Sabbath change and the early Christian church.

God bless, and remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy!

EDIT: By the way, there are churches that worship on Saturday. I am a Seventh-day Adventist. If you want to know more about this church, here is a link to the official church site:
http://www.adventist.org/
There are a few other denominations that worship on Saturday as well, like the Seventh-day Baptists.

Answer 2

That Saturday was "considered" the sabbath is immaterial. What is at issue is that Gentile Christians were not required to keep the law, and that includes the sabbath.

Christians were never a party to the old covenant, and like any covenant, it ends with the death of either party to it. Jesus, as the God of the old covenant, died on the cross. Jewish Christians died to the law through baptism.

To insist Christians are required to keep the sabbath is to resurrect them to a previous covenant -- which is legally impossible.

Some congregations, notably those in Rome, would gather on a Sunday morning for communal prayers and hymn singing, before going off to work. It was much, much later this morphed into a practice and a belief that Sunday should be treated like the sabbath, which concept is not supported in N.T. theology, but religious leaders seeking power and control created a new legalism around Sunday.

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Answer 3

Christians do no longer have fun Sunday using fact the Sabbath. all of us understand completely properly that Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath day, and a few Christians meet for worship on Saturdays. despite the fact that, Jesus rose from the lifeless on the 1st day of the week - ie Sunday - and by means of the 1st century it grew to grow to be effortless practice for the early church to assemble in residences to worship God and to have a meal mutually on a Sunday. in view that lots of them have been Jews, this could have been plenty greater trouble-free than attempting to observe the Sabbath rules on the comparable time as assembly with their new Christian pals.

Answer 4

Because man NOT GOD OR JESUS-- decided to change GODS LAW- to suit himself- Jesus NEVER instructed anyone to go against the commandments of GOD. And just because the disciples were having a meeting on the first day of the week-- DID NOT MEAN they were given permission to change GODS LAW. Funny how many choose tradition over obeying Gods Law, - The Old Testament had different types of Laws-- However the 10 commandments have ALWAYS been God's law.-- written w/ the finger of God on stone- to stand forever. "Till heaven & Earth pass..."
The same scripture is repeatedly brought up to justify the change- fact is neither GOD or JESUS-- changed the LAW... Man did- by his own authority-- Christian are ready to stand up for the 10 commandments anytime!! Until you get to the 4th one- the ONE & ONLY one that says REMEMBER!! Then they say they were nailed to the cross, or that was OT law, or That was only for the Jews... Wrong-- All 10 still stand even today.
If there is NO law-- what are we to be judged by on Judgement Day?

Answer 5

It is a common misinterpretation that leads one to think that Christians are not to follow the Sabbath. We are called a royal priest hood and that Jesus is our High Priest. We are told to offer sacrifices of ourselves daily. This tells us that we are spiritual Levites. The Levites did not get a day off - not even the Sabbath. They were to minister unto the people constantly and perform all the duties of the priesthood. As this is the case, we - as spiritual priests - are to work ministering to everyone every day of the week. Our labors will only cease when the High Priest calls us home.

Answer 6

Christians started worshipping on Sunday rather than Saturday due to importance of events....there's no actual difference on any day of the week to worship, until something spectacular happens such as when Jesus rose from the dead...this was significant because if you look up any other form of religion all of those significant figures who started those religions all died except Jesus who rose as he told his fellow Jews when he destoryed their belongings or stuff that they were selling inside the church in Jerusalem....I will rebuild this church in 3 days... so the early christians felt it was more important to worship and commemorate the day we all became free of bondage...salvation....now there's no other way to achieve the afterlife in Heaven, but through Jesus... as he said, I am the way, the word and the life...no one ever go to God, but through me.....

Answer 7

What is the REASON or PURPOSE behind the Sabbath?

The first place that the Sababath day was mention was in the first set of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8). The command starts with the word REMEMBER, which the points back to the creation story (Genesis 2:2) where God rested on the seventh day from all his work. In the renewal of the Ten Commandments, the command now starts with the word OBSERVE (Deuteronomy 5:12). Another important thing to mention is the the added commentary for the Israelites to REMEMBER their slavery in Egypt. These instances of keeping the Sabbath day revolve around WORK and REST. Ultimately, the commandment comes down to a matter of TRUST. The first point to mention is REST from WORK. As stated before, the word REMEMBER is used to point to the creation story. The Israelites were to REMEBER the example that the Creator set and follow his example, which is a matter of OBEDIENCE (which is really a matter of TRUST). They were to work six days and rest on the seventh day. Keeping the Sababath day was an OUTWARD SIGN that the Israelites TRUSTED God to prosper them in their affairs. Historically speaking, Saturday has always been the largest market day of the week, and it has always been the day to make the most profit. God also intended the Sabbath day to be a day of REST for the body because in his perfect wisdom knew our fallen state. Sabbath days were focused on religious activity. One of the main purposes of the Sabbath was to develop a relationship with God. God is basically saying, "REMEBER ME." As we can see, many Israelites missed the whole picture by the progression of the commandment of keeping the Sabbath. The word OBSERVE is used in the renewal of the covenant (Deuteronomy 5:12) to indicate that most of the Israelites were not keeping the Sabbath. This means that they were DISOBEDIENT in keeping God's commandment, which means that they neglected to REMEMBER God. Before going on any further I would like to mention something about the Ten Commandments. Many of the Israelites interpreted the first nine commandments as things conducted OUTSIDE of the body (worship, words, Sabbath rest, honor parents, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, and giving false testimony). The tenth comandment ( coveting) is purely an INTERNAL commandment. This last commandment involving coveting was to show the Israelites that ALL of the commandments were INTERNAL by nature. This is proved by Christ (Matthew 5) and by Paul (Romans 7:7-12) who understood the law. Many of the Isralites failed to understand this basic priciple. You will notice throughout the Gospels when the pharisees and teachers of the law kept on persecuting Jesus for breaking OUTWARD rules for keeping the Sabbath and every other commandment. The Israelites and non-Israelits (Isaiah 56:1-8) who understood that they were unable to keep God's commandments waited for the Savior or Messiah. Keeping the Sabbath day was an OUTWARD sign of an INTERNAL reality (Remember that all the Ten Commandments are INTERNAL). They TRUSTED or BELIEVED God for the coming Savior (belief (INTERNAL) is with the heart, but salvation comes after confession (OUTWARD)with the mouth). Many Jews are still awaiting a coming Messiah, not BELIEVING that he has already came. Those in this group are looking for a political ruler to redeem the nation Israel (OUTWARD), but the true Messiah came to rule and redeem a spiritual nation (INTERNAL) - see Micah 5:2. Again, they failed to understand the Scriptures. Most modern Christians come together for worship and fellowship on Sunday because this is the day that the Savior arose from the dead. We celebrate or REMEMBER that it is only by the strength of our Lord's outstreched arm that we are SAVED. We are SAVED by grace alone, and not by oursleves. Many of the Israelites were trying to be made righteous by obeying the law (WORKS) even though it is impossible (James 2:10). Salvation is RESTING in what God has done. Before the Messiah, BELIEVERS kept the Sabbath as a day of REMEMBRANCE of CREATION. It also was an OUTWARD SIGN that they believed (INTERNAL) in the coming Savior. After the Messiah came, BELIEVERS worship on the first day of the week to REMEMBER God's SALVATION and AWAIT THEIR OWN RESURRECTION. What about the fourth commandment? Early Christians relied mainly on the Old Testament for learning about God and discerning truth. If they received any of the New Testament, it was usually only a single letter or parts of letters. The New Testament is only a further expounding on the Old Testament. Christianity is basically Judaism by the way of Christ. With the completion of the New Testament, we can see that Jesus Christ is the Sabbath rest (Matthew 11:25-30 and esp. Hebrews 4:1-13). In the book of Hebrews, the author (probablly Paul) ties in the REST celebrating or remebering CREATION with the REST that is found only in JESUS CHRIST. Paul warns many early Jewish Christians about reverting back to Judaism or by keeping the law (WORKS) to be righteous (Book of Galatians and Hebrews) mainly because of being persecuted by Jews in Judaism. The Sabbath day is mentioned throughout the book of Acts, but it is only connected with Jews (Remember: they are still awaiting the Messiah).
The Sabbath day is still on Saturday (Acts 13:14), but it is not required by Christians to keep because it has already been fulfilled in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17 and Hebrews 4:1-13). Christianity can be summed up in two commands: Love God (Ten Commandments 1 through 4) and Love your neighbor (Ten Commandments 5 through 10 - Romans 13:8-10). There is no need to argue about these matters. If I were to follow the example of Christ, I would keep the Sabbath (Mark 16:1-2 - Christ needed to keep the Sabbath to fulfill the law) only for a day of rest (Mark 2:27) because it is the wise thing to do. It is all about building a RELATIONSHIP.

Answer 8

Barbie is right. The early christians switched from Saturday to Sunday to celebrate the risen savior Christ.

Answer 9

Catholics changed it, some modern churches have changed it back

Answer 10

Don't know the historical reason.......sorry.
All I know is this: Sunday is the day that I go to church to be with other believers of like & precious faith.

It really doesn't matter when we congregate.......all that matters is that we congregate to begin with.