In introducing our study we posed several vital questions: What are the Biblical and historical reasons for Sunday keeping? Can Sunday be regarded as the legitimate replacement of the Sabbath? Can the fourth commandment be rightly invoked to enjoin Sunday observance? Should Sunday be viewed as the hour of worship rather than the holy day of rest to the Lord? We stated at the outset that to answer these questions, and thereby to formulate valid theological criteria needed to help solve the pressing problem of the widespread profanation of Sunday, it is indispensable to ascertain both the Biblical basis and the historical genesis of this festivity. We believe that this verification was justified by the Christian conviction that any present decision regarding the Lord’s day must be based on Biblical authority confronted with the historical developments of primitive Christianity.
Having reached the end of our historical investigation, we summarize its results and consider its implications for the urgent questions of today. We are aware that the conclusions which have emerged in the course of the present study, though the result of an effort which has been intentionally honest and objective, still rest on an inevitable personal interpretation of available evidences. It will be therefore the sieve of the critics that will eventually corroborate or challenge their validity. Nevertheless the fact remains that our conclusions represent the result of a serious effort which has been made to understand and interpret the available sources. The reader will in fact find in the preceding pages extensive discussion and precise reasons for every single conclusive statement which we now submit.
The analysis of the ample Sabbath material of the Gospels has revealed, first of all, the high esteem in which the Sabbath was held both in Jewish circles and in primitive Christianity. We have shown that the Gospels testify that for the earliest Christians, Christ did not, as some contend, "push into the background" or "simply annul" (1) the Sabbath commandment to pave the way for a new day of worship, but rather He enriched its meaning and function by fulfilling its Messianic typology. This Jesus did, not only by announcing His redemptive mission to be the fulfillment of the promises of liberation of the sabbatical time (Luke 4:18-21), but also through His program of Sabbath reforms. We noticed that the Lord acted deliberately on the Sabbath, contrary to prevailing rabbinical restrictions, in order to reveal the true meaning of the Sabbath in the light of His work of redemption: a day to commemorate the divine blessings of salvation, especially by expressing kindness and mercy toward others.
To make the Sabbath a permanent symbol of His redemptive blessings, we found that Christ identified His Sabbath ministry with that of the priests, whose work in the temple on the Sabbath was lawful on account of its redemptive function. As the true temple and priest, Christ likewise intensified on the Sabbath His saving ministry (Mark 3:4-5; Matthew 12:1-14; John 5:17, 7:23, 9:4) so that sinners whom "Satan bound" (Luke 13:16) might experience and remember the Sabbath as the memorial of their redemption. That the apostolic community understood this expanded meaning and function of the Sabbath, we found indicated not only by the Gospel’s accounts of Christ’s Sabbath pronouncements and healing activities, but also by Hebrews 4 where the Sabbath is presented as the permanent symbol of the blessings of salvation available to all believers by faith.
