Quotes About the Sabbath

Quotes about Sabbaths and Feasts from throughout Christian History.

Ignatius of Antioch, A.D. 110

If those who have been brought up in the ancient order of things [i.e., converted Jews] have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath but living in observance of the Lord's day, on which also our life has sprung up again by him and his death … how shall we [i.e., Gentile converts] be able to live apart from him, when even the prophets themselves—also his disciples— waited for him in the Spirit as their Teacher? (Letter to the Magnesians 9)

It is absurd to profess Christ and to Judaize. For Christianity did not believe into Judaism, but Judaism into Christianity. (Letter to the Magnesians 10)

Pseudo-Barnabas, A.D. 120 - 130

"He rested on the seventh day." This means that when his Son comes again, he shall destroy the wicked man, judge the ungodly, and change the sun, moon, and stars, and then he will truly rest on the seventh day.
   In addition, he says, "You shall sanctify it with pure hands and a pure heart." If, therefore, anyone can now sanctify the day which God has sanctified except by being pure in heart in all things, then we are deceived. Behold, therefore, it is certain that we properly rest and sanctify it when we are able to work righteousness because we have received the promise and wickedness no longer exists because all things have been made new by the Lord. Then we shall be able to sanctify it because we are first sanctified ourselves.
   Further, he says to them, "Your new moons and Sabbaths I cannot endure." You understand what he's saying. Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but the Sabbath I have made is. When I give rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day; that is, a beginning of another world. Therefore we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose from the dead. (Letter of Barnabas 15)

Letter to Diognetus, A.D. 80 - 200

But as to their meticulousness concerning foods, their superstition regarding the Sabbaths, their boasting about circumcision, and their fancies about fasting and the new moons--which are utterly ridiculous and unworthy of notice--I do not think you need to learn anything from me. For … to speak falsely of God, as if He forbad us to do what is good on the Sabbath days, how is not this impious? … And as to their observing months and days—as if waiting upon the stars and the moon—and their distributing according to their own tendencies the appointments of God and the vicissitudes of the seasons, some for festivities and others for mourning; who would deem this a part of divine worship and not much rather a manifestation of folly? (ch. 4)

Justin Martyr, c. A.D. 150

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together in one place … Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world. On the same day, Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead. (First Apology 67)

Is there any other matter, my friends, in which we [Christians] are blamed [by the Jews] than this: that we do not live according to the Law, are not circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers were, and do not observe Sabbaths as you do? (Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew 10)

[Trypho, the Jew, speaking] This is what are most at a loss about. You [Christians], professing yourselves to be godly and supposing yourselves better than others, are not separated from them. You do not alter your way of living from that of the nations in that you observe no festivals or Sabbaths and do not have the right of circumcision. (Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew 10)

The new law requires you to keep perpetual Sabbath, and you [Jews], because you are idle for one day, suppose you are godly, not understanding why this command was given to you. if you eat unleavened bread, you say the will of God has been fulfilled. The Lord our God does not take pleasure in such observances. If there is any perjured person or thief among you, let him cease to be so. If any adulterer, let him repent. Then he has kept the sweet and true Sabbaths of God. (Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew 12)

Theophilus, c. A.D. 170

The philosophers, writers, and poets … [spoke] concerning the seventh day, which all men acknowledge , but most do not know that what among the Hebrews is called the Sabbath is translated into Greek the "seventh." It is a name adopted by every nation, although they do not know the reason for the name. (To Autolycus III:12)

Irenaeus, A.D. 183 - 186

We learn from Scripture itself that God gave circumcision … as a sign. … Ezekiel the prophet says the same concerning the Sabbaths: "I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them … " … These things, then, were given as a sign, but the signs were not lacking symbolism … since they were given by a wise Artist; the circumcision of the flesh typified that which was of the Spirit. … But the Sabbaths taught that we should continue day by day in God's service. … In addition, the Sabbath of God—that is, the kingdom—was indicated by created things. In this kingdom the man who has persevered in serving God shall, in a state of rest, partake of God's table. (Against Heresies IV:16:1)

Clement of Alexandria, c. A.D. 190

Plato prophetically speaks of the Lord's day in the tenth book of the Republic, in these words: "And when seven days have passed to each of them in the meadow, on the eighth they are to set out and arrive in four days." (Miscellanies V:14; I include this quote because it implies the Lord's day is the eighth day, or Sunday, rather than Saturday or the Sabbath.)

He … according to the Gospel, keeps the Lord’s day when he abandons an evil disposition and assumes that of the Gnostic [Clement believed that Christians were the true gnostics], glorifying the Lord’s resurrection in himself. (Miscellanies VII:12)

Tertullian, c. A.D. 200

We count fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's day to be unlawful. (De Corona 3)

The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews with their holy days. "Your Sabbaths, new moons, and feasts," says he, "my soul hates" [Is. 1:14]. We—to whom Sabbaths are strange, and the new moons and festivals are formerly beloved by God—frequent the Saturnalia, New Year's, and Midwinter's festivals and Matronilia. (On Idolatry 14; This is a complaint about Christians, who wouldn't celebrate Jewish holidays, attending pagan celebrations.)

Others … suppose that the sun is the God of the Christians because it is a well-known fact that we pray towards the east or because we make Sunday a day of festivity. (Ad Nationes 13)

We understand that God's law was before even Moses … subsequently reformed for the patriarchs [i.e., Israel's twelve sons] and so again for the Jews at definite periods. So we are not to give heed to Moses' Law as though it were the primitive Law, but as to a later, which at a definite time God set forth to the Gentiles, too, and—after repeatedly promising to do so through the prophets—has reformed for the better. …
   Let us not annul the power God has to reform the Law's precepts in response to the circumstances of the time, with a view to men's salvation. To be specific, let him who contends that the Sabbath is still to be observed as a balm of salvation … teach us that in the past righteous men kept the Sabbath or practiced circumcision and were thus rendered friends of God.
   … Since God originated Adam uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, therefore his offspring, Abel, was commended by [God] when he offered sacrifices both uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath. … Noah also—uncircumcised and, yes, inobservant of the Sabbath—God freed from the deluge. Enoch, too, that most righteous man, while uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, [God] translated from this world. [Enoch] did not first taste death so that, being a candidate for eternal life, he might in our era show us that we may, without the burden of the Law of Moses, please God. (An Answer to the Jews 2)

The Jews say that from the beginning God sanctified the seventh day by resting on it from all the works which he had made. … From this we Christians understand that we even more ought to observe a Sabbath from all servile work always, and not only every seventh day, but through all time. And through this the question arises for us, what Sabbath did God want us to keep? For the Scriptures point to a Sabbath eternal and a Sabbath temporal. For Isaiah the prophet says, "Your Sabbaths my soul hates" [Is. 1:14] and in another place he says, "My Sabbaths you have profaned" [Ezek. 22:8]. From this we discern that the temporal Sabbath is human, and the eternal Sabbath is considered Divine.
   Concerning this he predicts through Isaiah, "'And there shall be,' he says, 'month after month, day after day, and Sabbath after Sabbath, and all flesh shall come to adore in Jerusalem,' says the Lord" [Is. 66:23, LXX]. We understand this to have been fulfilled in the times of Christ when all flesh—that is, every nation—came to adore, in Jerusalem, God the Father through Jesus Christ his Son. … Thus, therefore, before this temporal Sabbath there was an eternal Sabbath foreshown and foretold. (An Answer to the Jews 4)