For an in-depth study on this subject, please go to the Scholars Corner
Jesus is our Sabbath
Come to ME, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Greek: ἀνάπαυσις). Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest (Greek: ἀνάπαυσις) for your souls.
Matthew 11:28–29
Josephus (Ant. 1.1.1) tells us that ‘in the dialect of the Hebrews’ the word σάββατα means ἀνάπαυσις in Greek. In other words, Come to Me and I will give you sabbath, and in me you will find sabbath.
Assuming Jesus spoke Aramaic or Hebrew, when he said: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you shabat. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find shabat for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The word for rest he would have used was šābat / šòḇaṯ in Hebrew, or the parallel word in Aramaic šabbā, both meaning spiritual rest in Jesus who is the Lord of Rest (Sabboth).
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. Hebrews 4:8–11
What is that rest? Rest in the completed work of Jesus and ceasing from our labors of trying to be justified in Christ through our works. By faith, we enter that rest.
For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest… Hebrews 4:2–3
But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. Hebrews 8:6
This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. Hebrews 7:22
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Hebrews 8:10-13
Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. Hebrews 9:1
What the author of Hebrews is saying is that the first covenant under Moses was a type of what was to come. The tent of the meeting, the kosher laws, abstaining from sexual relations on the Sabbath, the sacrifices, the garments required, all were a type of the fulfillment to be found in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. In Him, all the commandments are fulfilled and those who walk with him, will not dishonor God, steal, or commit adultery. Love of God will control us, and this covenant is written on our hearts. The outward regulations were a symbol of what was to become an internal compass.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Galatians 5:2–15
Beware of sowing division or controversy in the Body of Christ. The scripture clearly says we are not to make a judgment over one another regarding the Sabbath:
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance (soma, body, reality) belongs to Christ. Colossians 2:16–17 (ESV)
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another ? It is before hi
s own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. Romans 14:4–6 (ESV)
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:10–12 (ESV)
Before the Torah and before the covenant with Abraham, we have a covenant made by God with all the nations in Noah. It is for this reason that when Paul went before the Apostles in Jerusalem, he was not told to insist upon the Sabbath among the gentiles (or circumcision), but to walk in the covenant of Noah:
“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” Acts 15:28–29 (ESV)
Indeed, it would have been hard to insist upon a Sabbath rest for Christians in a secular empire, where slaves and employees were required to work 7 days a week. Such a setting would have made obedience to the Sabbath impossible. It is for this reason that Christians would gather early in the morning or late at night, when they were free from their duties.
Paul is even more stringent in his approach, warning against sowing argument and division in the Body of Christ over such things as the right day to worship.
“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Colossians 2:16–17 (ESV), and
“One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.”Romans 14:5–6 (ESV) Paul clearly declares liberty of conscience in regard to the day of worship, and so should we, lest we become divisive in our walk with our fellow believers.
However, again, going back to Noah, whereas the Hebrews were instructed not to eat certain foods, Noah was given every food:
“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
“Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.” Genesis 9:3–6 (ESV)
This is again why the Apostles did not insist on Torah Kosher food laws, but reminded them to abstain from strangled food which would have its life blood in it. Again, those who want to reinstitute Kosher regulations are clearly violating what the scriptures say on multiple occasions:
What the biblical authors and Paul were saying is that the kosher laws were not applicable to Gentiles. Acts 15:19-22 does indeed repeat the Noahic covenant 2 times. It was in response to Peter’s experience with Cornelius and Paul’s work not just in Antioch, but elsewhere. The Jews wanted these new believers to follow all the Jewish Laws, including kosher laws, but Peter’s response and that of the apostles is to lay no such burden on them, but they quote the covenant with Noah.