Sincerely Wrong About the Sabbath

Why Christians don’t keep the Sabbath is not a matter of rebellion, tradition, or preference. It is a matter of covenant authority. For many believers, the question of Sabbath‑keeping and the Ten Commandments is not about morality — it’s about understanding how Scripture itself describes the covenants and how Christ reshaped the believer’s relationship to the law.

The clearest way into this question is covenant theology, not a simple Old Testament/New Testament contrast. Once you see how Scripture frames the covenants, the rest follows naturally. 

The Ten Commandments Were the Covenant Document

When God established the covenant at Sinai, He gave Israel a specific charter: the Ten Commandments. Scripture calls them “the words of the covenant” and “his covenant… even ten commandments” — language identifying them not merely as moral ideals, but as the covenant’s governing constitution.

“And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” (Exodus 34:28)

“And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” (Deuteronomy 4:13)

This is why the tablets rested inside the ark while the broader law was placed beside it. The Ten Commandments were the heart of the covenant relationship — the defining terms God gave His people.

And this points to something many Christians have never been taught to see: if the covenant ends, the covenant document ends with it.

The Covenant Reached Its End Through Fulfillment

The New Testament speaks with unmistakable clarity about the Old Covenant’s conclusion. Hebrews declares that when God announced a new covenant, He rendered the first old — a covenant “ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13). And because Christ’s priesthood is different from Aaron’s, “there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (Hebrews 7:12). A new priesthood requires a new covenant, and a new covenant requires a new governing law.

“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Hebrews 8:13

“For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” Hebrews 7:12

Jesus Himself frames this transition not as destruction but as completion: “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). Fulfillment does not keep a covenant in force; fulfillment brings it to its intended goal.

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Matthew 5:17 

Paul develops the same picture. The law served as a schoolmaster, guiding Israel until Christ came, but “after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Galatians 3:24–25). And he states the matter plainly: “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4). The law reaches its finish line in Christ.

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians 3:24–25

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:4

Christ fulfilled the law because we couldn’t. Living under the law requires perfect obedience to all of it — not most of it (Galatians 3:10). By faith, His obedience becomes our standing and His righteousness our covering. 

The Old Covenant — with the Ten Commandments as its explicit charter — was never intended to be the final covenant. It was temporary in function but eternal in purpose: it revealed sin, exposed human inability, and pointed forward to Christ. Its demands were impossible to keep, and that impossibility was intentional. When Christ came, the covenant reached its intended fulfillment, and its role in God’s redemptive plan was complete.

“But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.”  2 Corinthians 3:7–9 

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Galatians 3:10 

“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” Romans 7:4–6

The law of the Ten Commandments was given to condemn— to show us that we are not good enough to enter heaven. Being under the law with expectations to keep it makes us spiritually dead. For this reason, it was ended by Christ when He came to fulfill the law and bring us life in Him. 

The moral truths behind the commandments endure; the covenant form does not.

The Sabbath Was the Shadowy Sign of That Covenant

Why is the Sabbath commandment not in the New Covenant?

Exodus 31:13–17 gives the Sabbath a unique role — not just a commandment, but the sign of the covenant itself:

“Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations… It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever.”

No other commandment carries this covenant‑sign status. A sign points beyond itself, and when what it points to arrives, the sign’s covenant function is complete. And more specifically, the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between God and Israel forever.

Paul explains the role of the Sabbath explicitly:

“Let no man therefore judge you… in respect of… the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:16–17)

The food laws, feast days, and Sabbath were shadows anticipating something greater. Christ is that greater reality. Once the substance arrives, the shadow has done its work — not because rest and worship stop mattering, but because the covenant sign given at Sinai gives way to the covenant reality found in Christ.

The New Covenant’s Governing Law

Christ didn’t repair the Old Covenant — He fulfilled it and inaugurated a new one, with a new governing law written not on stone but on the heart by the Spirit. Paul calls this the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2) and the “law of the Spirit of life” (Romans 8:2). It is Christ‑centered, Spirit‑written, and love‑centered — binding believers not to tablets of stone, but to Christ Himself.

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2

Believing in Christ delivers us from the certainty of death and condemnation under the law. And with deliverance from the Old Covenant law, he gave us a New Covenant law. 

When a lawyer asked Jesus which commandment was greatest, He answered:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God… Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37–40)

Paul explains how love accomplishes this:

“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:” (1 Timothy 1:5)

Love is what fulfills the law — and it’s what identifies Christ’s disciples:

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35)

We obey Christ because we are saved, not in order to be saved.

Nine Commandments Reappear — the Sabbath Doesn’t

The New Covenant ethic doesn’t discard morality — it reaffirms it. Nine of the Ten Commandments reappear throughout the New Testament, woven naturally into apostolic teaching:

• Worship God alone — Matthew 22:37; 1 Corinthians 8:4
• No idols — 1 John 5:21; 1 Corinthians 10:14
• No blasphemy — Matthew 15:19; Colossians 3:8
• Honor parents — Ephesians 6:2
• No murder — Matthew 19:18; Matthew 5:21–22
• No adultery — Matthew 19:18; Matthew 5:27–28
• No stealing — Ephesians 4:28; 1 Corinthians 6:10
• No lying — Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:25
• No coveting — Romans 7:7; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5

The Sabbath is an eternal covenant sign between God and Israel, but it was never given as a covenant sign to Gentiles. And in the New Covenant, the Sabbath command never reappears — not commanded, not implied, not modeled by the apostles, never taught to Gentile churches. That contrast is unmistakable: it marks the difference between an enduring moral principle and a shadowy, covenant sign whose appointed season has passed.

The Early Church Transition From Old To New 

Acts gives a clear window into early Christian practice. Jewish believers often continued Sabbath observance as part of their cultural and covenant identity, since the Sabbath remains an eternal sign between God and Israel. But Gentile churches gathered on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2), reflecting the New Covenant pattern shaped by Christ’s resurrection.

When the Jerusalem Council addressed what was required of Gentile believers, Sabbath‑keeping was not included among the expectations (Acts 15). The apostles never presented the Sabbath as a covenant sign for Gentiles, nor as a binding command for the church.

It isn’t wrong to observe the Sabbath — but it was never made binding on New Covenant Christians. Under the New Covenant, believers are free to gather more than once a week (and expects it will), and on any day, as Scripture encourages:

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together… but exhorting one another.” (Hebrews 10:24–25)

The Heart Of The New Covenant

Putting it all together, the Old Covenant reached its intended fulfillment in Christ. Its covenant document — the Ten Commandments — carried the authority of that covenant, not of the one that replaced it. The moral core continues because morality reflects God’s character, but the covenant sign does not, because covenant signs belong to the covenant they represent.

Under the New Covenant, Christians live under Christ’s law of love, written on the heart by the Spirit. Our obedience is shaped not by the tablets of Sinai but by the grace of Christ, who frees us from condemnation and binds us to Himself. We live under a better covenant, with a better Mediator, and with a law that flows from the Spirit rather than from stone.

Keep Growing!

To continue growing in Biblical understanding, explore the video series “Mastering the Master’s Word.” [https://www.youtube.com/@drpatrickbriney]

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FAQ Section

Before we conclude, here are clear, concise answers to the most common questions believers ask about Sabbath‑keeping and the Ten Commandments.

The Covenant Reached Its End Through Fulfillment

Why did the Old Covenant come to an end?  

Did Jesus abolish the law?  

What does Paul mean by the law being a schoolmaster?  

How is Christ the end of the law?  

Was the Old Covenant meant to be the final covenant?  

Was the Old Covenant given to teach people how to be saved?  

 The Sabbath as Covenant Sign

Is the Sabbath an eternal covenant sign?  

Why doesn’t the Sabbath command reappear in the New Covenant?  

Do rest and worship still matter?  

 Nine Commandments Reappear — the Sabbath Doesn’t

Why do nine commandments reappear in the New Testament?  

Why doesn’t the Sabbath command reappear?  

Does this mean Christians should ignore the Sabbath?  

The Early Church Transition from Old to New

Did Jewish believers continue Sabbath observance?  

Why did Gentile churches gather on the first day of the week?  

Did the Jerusalem Council require Gentiles to keep the Sabbath?  

Are Christians free to gather on any day?  

 The Shape of the New Covenant

What governs believers under the New Covenant?  

Do Christians still follow moral principles from the Ten Commandments?  

What no longer applies?  

How does the New Covenant free believers?