The Sabbath and the Lord's Day

The Issue

The fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments reads, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). Most churches observe Sunday as the Lord's Day. This raises two questions: Why Sunday rather than Saturday? And does the Lord's Day carry over the regulations of the Sabbath?

Grounds for Observing Sunday

• Jesus rose from the dead on "the first day of the week" (Matthew 28:1).
• The early church gathered on that day to break bread and to collect offerings (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2).
• The Book of Revelation calls this day "the Lord's day" (Revelation 1:10).

How the Lord's Day Should Be Understood

• The view that it is the Christian Sabbath: This view holds that the fourth commandment is a perpetual moral law and that only the day has changed, from the seventh day to the first. It is the position of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and it gave rise to the Korean Presbyterian tradition of strict Lord's Day observance (juil seongsu), in which believers neither work nor buy and sell on Sunday.
• The view that distinguishes it from the Sabbath: This view holds that the Sabbath is a shadow of the rest fulfilled in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17) and that the Lord's Day is the day on which the church assembles to commemorate the resurrection. Rather than keeping the day itself as a matter of law, it emphasizes the spirit of worship and rest.

Those Who Keep the Saturday Sabbath

The Seventh-day Adventist Church holds that the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments has never been changed and that Sunday worship is a later church tradition. Adventists observe the Sabbath from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. The major Protestant denominations in Korea have criticized the church's Sabbath doctrine and its other teachings, while the Adventist Church describes itself as a Protestant church that follows the commandments of Scripture.

The Situation in the Korean Church

In the past, refraining from shopping or eating out on Sunday was widely practiced, but today practice varies greatly by church and by generation. Pastoral questions remain, such as how to counsel members whose occupations require them to work on Sunday and whether believers should take exams or compete in sporting events on Sunday.