Resource: when users say Christians must observe the sabbath.
If you ask reform Jewish rabbis, orthodox Jewish rabbis, Messianic Jews, Protestant and Catholic theologians and clergy if Gentiles expected to keep Torah – they will say no.
Q: Why?
A: The Torah records that the Law was given specifically to the people who were slaves in Egypt and later rescued by God. The Torah makes this set-apartness crystal clear: offspring of Abraham, children of Jacob (“house of Jacob”) – God’s chosen ones.”
The Israelites were to separate themselves from all foreigners as God’s own people. Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and all other Gentiles weren’t expected to eat kosher, keep Shabbat, circumcise their men, or keep the annual feasts. And even the sojourner in Israel was not subject to the Mosaic Law in the same way the native Israelites were.
The Old Testament relates all nations are judged on moral laws – but only the nation of Israel is ever judged for not keeping Sabbath, not eating kosher, and not circumcising their males.
Q: Why?
A: Because God didn’t give those specific commands to everyone; they were just for Israel to set her apart from all the other nations on earth.
Q: Do Christians get to ignore the Ten Commandments?
A: Nope; never said that.
Christianity originated in Judaism and is steeped in Judaism. Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. … whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 5:17-19](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew 5:17-19&version=ESV)
Q: Who keeps the Law (e.g. does them and teach them)?
A: God’s beloved Son Jesus Christ. “With you I am well pleased.” Luke 3:22
The Law serves as a curb, rule and mirror. Curbs and rules are needed to keep us in line – but a mirror reflects our image right back to us. The mirror of the Law reflects that we don’t care much for curbs and rules. The Law condemns all; all fall short and desperately need a savior.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes; the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. [Romans 10:4, Galatians 3:15-29](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+10:4,+Galatians+3:15-29&version=ESV)
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and our Sabbath rest. Christians are under the new covenant in Christ’s blood. Christ is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8) and Christ is our sabbath rest. [Hebrews 3:11, 4:9-11](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+3%3A11%2C+4%3A9-11&version=ESV).
**Calendar Day**
Modern calendar day: based on the Roman calendar, reckons days from midnight to midnight.
Jewish calendar day: based on astronomy (earth rotation, revolution of the moon, and the revolution of the Earth around the sun.) Jewish calendar days are reckoned from sundown to sundown. A Jewish "day" starts at sunset, the evening before the day on a secular calendar. The Jewish calendar doesn't have names for the days of the week; the days of the week are simply known as: first day, second day, third day, etc. In Judaism *Shabbat* is the name of the seventh day of the week.
1\. The Jewish Sabbath **is not** our secular Saturday. If you rest on Saturday and think you’re keeping the Sabbath – **you are not**.
2\. Gird thyself. The Shabbat laws are quite complex, requiring careful study and a qualified teacher.
See [Jewish Calendar](https://www.jewfaq.org/jewish_calendar)
See [Shabbat](https://www.jewfaq.org/shabbat)
See [Shabbat Laws](https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/95907/jewish/The-Shabbat-Laws.htm)
**Jerusalem Council**
The early Jesus followers were Jews who continued to follow Jewish ancestral markers. Convinced Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, they continued to function as a reform sect within Judaism called “the Way” [Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9%3A2%3B+19%3A9%2C+23%3B+22%3A4%3B+24%3A14%2C+22&version=NIV).
As they were offspring of Abraham they continued to go to synagogue, follow Mosaic Law and Temple traditions. They observed the Jewish holy days, practiced circumcision and followed kosher dietary laws. They kept the Sabbath – and then met with each other as a sect on the next day aka the Lord’s Day.
**The Lord’s Day is not** the direct counterpart to the Jewish sabbath – it is not the “Christian Sabbath”. Christians are under the new covenant in Christ’s blood. Christ is “Lord of the Sabbath” and our sabbath rest.
Due to the success of the [Great Commission](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+28:16-20&version=ESV) they realized a large influx of Gentiles. The relationship between the Jewish Jesus followers and the Gentile proselytes was contentious. Many Jewish Jesus followers felt the Gentiles should follow Jewish ancestral markers.
The Jerusalem Council [Acts 15](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts 15&version=ESV) did not require Gentile Jesus followers to keep Shabbat, the feasts, the kosher food laws, the purity laws, or any other Jewish ancestral markers (civil or ceremonial observances.) James made a final judgment on the matter and they were given “no greater burden” than four Noahide restrictions to foster unity with their Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ. Jews considered Gentiles to be children of Noah; every non-Jew is considered a "son of the covenant of Noah”.
They all agree with the judgment of James.
**Paul vs Peter**
Peter stumbles, Paul opposes him. Peter was eating with the Gentiles, but when certain men from James came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those of the circumcision. [Galatians 2:10-12](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2:10-12&version=ESV))
Paul: “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. 6 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](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+14&version=ESV)
Paul: “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.” [Colossians 2:14-16](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+2:14-16&version=ESV)
Hebrew: What God has written in stone will not change; the promise of entering his rest still stands. For we who have believed enter that rest. 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**. [Hebrews 4](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews 4&version=ESV)
Q: What about later?
AD62-68 – James/Peter/Paul dead.
AD66-73 – Great Revolt (Judea/Galilee revolt against Rome.)
Roman Empire retaliates from the Jewish Revolts with a vengeance and begins a systematic campaign to obliterate Jewish Jerusalem. Rome barricades Jerusalem, famine ensues and Jerusalem falls. Titus orders Jerusalem razed, slaughters thousands, ransacks the Temple artifacts and destroys the Temple.
AD73 – Qumran falls and the Zealots are crushed at Masada ending the revolt. The Jews scatter, Levitical priesthood ceases, Sadducees (Temple sect) vanish and sacrifices come to an immediate halt.
**This violent end finalizes the separation between Judaism and Christianity. The Jewish Revolts, and Rome’s resulting destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, was a watershed moment in Christianity.
The now Christianity shifts to predominately Gentile strongholds of Antioch, Alexandria and Rome each having it’s own bishop/presbyters/elders.
After the turn of the first century Justin Martyr (writing between 155-157AD) describes the weekly worship of the Christians: “And on the day called **Sunday**, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to 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; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples … [1 Apol. chp. 67, Weekly Worship of the Christians](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-firstapology.html)