Sabbath or the Lord’s Day?

Jesus came to fulfill the Law (Matt. 5:17-20). He didn’t remove it, but enriched it and took it to greater heights. His standards of the law and its adherence are much higher (Matthew 5 and Romans 6). It is seen from the N.T. that the Law is for the unbelievers (I Tim. 1:9), but not for the believers. The believer is not under the Law, but grace (Rom. 6:14). Law has only led us to a sense of sinfulness, but Jesus Christ has led us to Salvation (Gal. 3:24-25). For the believers, there is a “new” Testament, a new set of Laws written in their hearts and not on stone tablets. So NT believers are to adhere to the laws as they are enriched by the Lord Jesus Christ and as He enables them through His Spirit.

The Lord Jesus who came to fulfill the Law as the Passover Lamb has in essence repeated 9 out of 10 commandments in a much enriched way in the N.T. and He expects us to keep all of those in their full gravity. But the question remained whether the commandment of the Sabbath was to be kept by the NT believer. The truths as revealed in the NT emphasize that the Sabbath has been replaced with the Lord’s Day which is the First Day of the week on which we commemorate the resurrection of the Lord. This has been the day observed as a day of remembrance, for breaking of bread and set apart as a special day of the week by the believers as seen in the Acts and the Epistles. The following Biblical contexts have led the Church throughout the last 20 centuries to keep Sunday, the first day of the week, as the Lord’s Day.

By,
Deepesh P