The Sabbath : a delight to remember

Abstract

What is the meaning of the Sabbath? Did Jesus do away with this commandment? Is it still relevant for today or has the twenty-first century Christian outgrown the necessity of keeping the Sabbath? Entrancing a Biblical perspective my objective is to explore the Biblical meaning of the Sabbath and question whether this law was designed only for the Jewish people, or given as a perpetual gift to all, from the Creator. Whilst doing my best to steer clear from controversies between Churches, I intend to present an overview of the Biblical teachings in question, in keeping with a wide canonical reading. A glance at the arguments from mainstream Christian Sunday-keeping together with classical and contemporary Jewish perspectives are compared with a challenging view of the Biblical understanding of the Sabbath. The aim is never to exhaust the subject, or to doubt the sincerity of different views, but to outline a theological perspective that lies outside the mainstream thought and present an understanding that has guided me in my Christian journey. My perspective on the Sabbath, as presented in this paper, is that it is a perpetual gift to humanity, to be held on the seventh day as a memorial of God's creation, redemption, and sanctification. The Sabbath is a day of joyful observance, a holy time with the Lord held from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.