Objection #3: The Sabbath was changed to Sunday.
While it is true that the majority of Christians have traditionally come to hold to a Sunday Sabbath, our primary concern ought to be what the Bible teaches. As Tim Hegg says, “We cannot use history as the litmus test of truth, for God has not commanded us to conform to history, but to the unchanging standard of His word.” Is there any biblical basis for changing the Sabbath from the seventh day to Sunday? Only two verses in the New Testament are sometimes used to support this idea: Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2.
Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
Because this passage says that these early Christians gathered “on the first day of the week,” some will argue that a shift from Sabbath observance to Sunday church occurred. But how exactly does that conclusion follow from a plain reading of the text? For all we know this could have just been a special one-time gathering put together because Paul was departing the next day. Why would we assume that this gathering took place every week? Moreover, why would we then make the leap in suggesting that this meeting implies a replacement of the Sabbath?
1 Corinthians 16:2
On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
Again, why is it assumed that this must be referring to the collection plate being passed around at Sunday church services? The text doesn’t suggest that this has anything to do with a meeting day. Paul is merely requesting that the Corinthian believers set aside savings as an offering to be sent to the saints in Jerusalem (verse 1). The instruction was for individual believers to put aside savings every week for this special offering so that when Paul arrived it would be available. The text doesn’t indicate that any corporate gathering is in view at all.
In conclusion, there appears to be no biblical basis for changing or ignoring the Sabbath. Nowhere in the Bible does God, Yeshua, or the apostles authorize its change or annulment. Rather, the replacement and eventual disregard for the Sabbath in Christianity happened over time as Christians gradually drifted further and further away from the Jewish roots of their faith. May we as believers revisit this important commandment and get back to biblical practice. May we no longer trade the commands of God for the traditions of men.
Source: Should Christians Keep the Sabbath by David Wilber
