A majority of Christian-minded men and women properly conclude that the first day of the week, Sunday, has been set aside as a day of worship in the Christian Age. In contrast, others promote the continued observance of the seventh day—the Sabbath—in the Christian Age. They assert that the Lord sanctified the seventh day on the very first seventh day. In addition, these people declare that such warrants the continued observance of the Sabbath as a day of rest in the Christian Age—to the exclusion of the first day of the week as a day of worship (Genesis 2:3). However, consider the following observations.
- The seventh day was classed with the other six days as a day of the week (Genesis 1:3–2:3).
- Genesis 2:3 states the fact of divine sanctification, neither giving a command on this occasion to sanctify the seventh day nor stating when the sanctification of the seventh day occurred.
- The only clue in this passage (Genesis 2:3) as to when the seventh day was sanctified is observed in the past perfect tense of the verb “had rested.” The tense of the verb demands that we view the action of “resting” as having been completed before the divine sanctification. Thus, the divine sanctification of the seventh day occurred after God had rested. This passage does not specifically detail the lapse of time between the two events.
- The statement of divine sanctification of the seventh day (Genesis 2:3) was written ca. 2,500 years after the creation—during the life of Moses (ca. 1571 – 1451 B.C.).
- The Sabbath Day is not mentioned in the Book of Genesis. The first occasion of it being mentioned is recorded in Exodus 16:22-23. This occasion is 13 days before the giving of the Ten Commandments by the Lord to Moses (Exodus 20:1-17), in which the command to keep the Sabbath Day holy was formally applied to the Hebrew people.
- The Sabbath was made known on Mt. Sinai (ca. 1491 B.C.) rather than at an earlier date. This text specifically names Moses as the agent by whom such was communicated (Nehemiah 9:13-14).
- The newness of the Sabbath Day in the time of Moses is evident as he did not know what to do with those who violated the Sabbath observance. If the sanctification of the Sabbath Day had occurred about 2,500 years before, with the Sabbath Day being so honored for such a period of time, then an inquiry about the disposition of the man breaking the Sabbath Day would not have been needed (Numbers 15:32-36).
- This passage (Genesis 2:3) sets forth a prolepsis (“the representation or assumption of a future act or development as if presently existing or accomplished” Merriam-Webster) wherein two events widely separated in time are joined together in one statement. Other examples of this can be found in Genesis 3:20; 4:20 and Matthew 10:4. Thus, the resting of God on the first seventh day occurred in a different time frame (ca. 4004 B.C.) than the divine sanctification of the seventh day, which occurred much later (ca. 1491 B.C., Exodus 20:1-17).
- Another example of a prolepsis is recorded in Romans 9:10-13. The text of Romans 9:12 is based upon Genesis 25:23 (ca. 1836 B C.) while the text of Romans 9:13 is based upon Malachi 1:2-3 (ca. 445 B.C.). Thus, a span of about 1,400 years separates the events recorded in the two adjoining verses. Similarly, a span of about 2,500 years separates the events recorded in Genesis 2:3 and the divine sanctification of the seventh day (4004 vs. 1491 B.C.).
- There are no passages of Scripture which state or illustrate that the Sabbath Day was kept before Israel left Egypt (ca. 1491 B.C.). Such an omission should be expected in view of the above points.
Although this discussion only addresses one ploy made by the present-day defenders of the Sabbath Day, we may be assured that their other strategies can be addressed as clearly as has been done in this short article. May we be reminded that the day biblically assigned as a day of worship in the Christian Age is the first day of the week (1 Corinthians 16:2), as supported by the biblical record and example of Acts 20:7. As we ardently defend the first day of the week as the divinely assigned day of worship, may we also ardently support by our active involvement the first day of the week as the Christian day of worship. We trust that our membership will assemble on the Lord’s Day at every opportunity.
