Why There Is No Sabbath Command in the New Testament?

Introduction

The OT Sabbath command (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15) is clear in prescribing a seventh-day rest, “holy to the LORD,” with roots in both creation and Israel’s redemption from Egypt. Yet the New Testament (NT) nowhere repeats the command “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” as binding for all Christians in the same way. New Covenant Theology provides an interpretive framework that both honors the OT’s intent and distinguishes between the obligations under the old covenant and the new. The following essay unfolds from historico-grammatical hermeneutics: studying the historical context, original languages (Hebrew, Greek), grammar, and literary genre; and analyzing how key NT passages and theological themes support the NCT perspective.

New Covenant Theology (NCT) holds several interlocking convictions:

1. Christ as Fulfillment of the Law
   
   
   In NCT, Jesus fulfills the Old Covenant, including its law and typology (cf. Matthew 5:17-18), such that the Mosaic covenant, with its legal demands (ceremonial, civil, and particular stipulations), is no longer binding as a covenant in which God deals legally with His people.

2. Abrogation and Obsolescence of the Old Covenant
   
   
   According to Hebrews 8:13, the first covenant is declared “obsolete” (πεπαλαίωκεν, pepalaiōken) and “growing old,” ready to “vanish away.” Under NCT, this includes the covenant sign-laws and ceremonial institutions.

3. The “Law of Christ” as Normative for Believers
   
   
   While beliefs about how much of the Mosaic law continues to apply vary among interpreters, NCT tends to affirm that much moral teaching (but not all ritual/covenant signs) is taken up into the law of Christ, which is expressed in the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, empowered by the Spirit.

4. Typology, Shadows, and Substance
   
   
   The Old Testament includes shadows, types, and anticipatory institutions that find their substance (fulfillment) in Christ. Passages like Hebrews and Colossians speak of festivals, sabbaths, and other ceremonial observances as shadows, not enduring commands in their original legal form.
   

Scholars like Thomas Schreiner argue from this perspective: writing in 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law, Schreiner contends that the Sabbath was “the sign of the Mosaic covenant” no longer in force since the New Covenant … has arrived in the person of Jesus Christ.”¹ Similarly, Douglas J. Moo affirms that “the content of all but one of the Ten Commandments is taken up into the ‘law of Christ’ … The exception is the Sabbath commandment …”²

The OT Origins: Hebrew Background

• The Hebrew שַׁבָּת (shabbat) comes from the root שָׁבַת (shavat) meaning “to cease, desist, rest.” From Genesis 2:2-3, God rested on the seventh day; this rest becomes normative for creation.

• In Exodus 31:13-17, the Sabbath is explicitly a sign between Yahweh and the children of Israel, “throughout their generations” (Heb. לְדֹרֹתֵיהֶם) as a “perpetual covenant.” Its status as a sign marks it as covenantal and particular.

These Hebrew origins show that part of what Sabbath observance entailed was ceremonial/covenantal identity, not merely universal moral obligation in all age contexts.

New Testament Usage: Greek Terms and Passages

• σάββατον (sabbaton), σάββατα (sabbata), σαββατισμός (sabbatismos) etc.:
  
  
  σάββατον singular refers to the weekly Sabbath; σάββατα plural often refers to sabbath-days more broadly, including Jewish festival sabbaths. Sabbatismos (Hebrews 4:9) refers to “rest” in a typological/theological sense.

• Matthew 12 / Mark 2 — Jesus’ teaching, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), and declaring Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” (v.28). This shows reinterpretation/authority over the Sabbath rather than simple reaffirmation.

• Colossians 2:16-17 — Greek: Ὅρα μηδεὶς … ἡμέρᾳ ἁγίᾳ, νεομηνίᾳ, σαββάτῳ (“on a holy day, new moon, or sabbath”). These are grouped with Jewish festival observances. Paul calls them “a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” This signals that these are typological/ceremonial regulations whose purpose is fulfilled in Christ.

• Hebrews 3-4 — The author contrasts Israel’s failure to enter God’s rest with believers’ entering rest through faith. Hebrews 4:9 introduces σαββατισμός, a “Sabbath rest,” which is not presented as a command to “keep Saturday,” but as participation in rest that God provides.

• Romans 14:5; Galatians, etc. — Personal convictions about days; Paul declines to impose special days/sabbaths as binding for all believers.

The Obsolescence of the Mosaic Covenant Law and the Sabbath

Hebrews 8:6-13 is central: under the New Covenant, the first covenant is made obsolete. Since the Sabbath was built into the Sinai / Mosaic covenant as its sign, when that covenant is inaugurated and then superseded/fulfilled in Christ, the legal requirement tied to Sabbath observance is likewise abrogated in its covenantal force.

Schreiner comments that because believers are no longer under Sinai, they are no longer obligated to observe its sign-laws as law.³ Moo similarly maintains that aside from the one command (the Sabbath), which is not taken over into the law of Christ in the same way, the rest of the moral stipulations of the Decalogue find echo in Christian ethical instruction under the New Covenant.⁴

Answering Objections

1. Creation Ordinance Argument
   
   
   Some argue that because Sabbath is grounded in creation (Gen. 2:2-3), it must be moral and universal. NCT responds: Many aspects of the Old Covenant build upon creation imagery, yet not all such aspects remain as legal obligations after Christ (e.g., animal sacrifices). The creation grounding does not guarantee perpetual obligation if the NT treats the institution as typological and fulfills it in Christ.

2. Moral-Ceremonial Law Distinction Charge
   
   
   Critics may say NCT relies on a threefold distinction (moral, civil, ceremonial). NCT proponents often resist rigid categorization; they assert that what matters is how the NT itself treats various laws—whether any law is repeated, affirmed, or commanded for New Covenant believers. In this view, the Sabbath law is not reaffirmed in the NT as binding, which indicates its abrogation as a covenant ordinance.

The Law of Christ: What Remains

Under NCT, what remains is the “law of Christ.” Multiple scholars link this to:

• Love of God and neighbor (cf. Galatians 5:13-14; Romans 13:8-10).

• The teaching of Jesus and the Apostles (e.g., Sermon on the Mount, Pauline ethics).

• The internal work of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3).

Douglas J. Moo, in Five Views on Law and Gospel, summarises that the law of Christ includes much of what the Mosaic law taught, insofar as those teachings reflect God’s eternal moral will, but the specific covenant signs (such as sacrifices, festivals, sabbath-days as an obligation) are fulfilled in Christ and no longer serve as binding legal requirements.⁵

Conclusion

From a New Covenant Theology perspective, read through historico-grammatical hermeneutics:

• The Sabbath command is deeply tied to the Mosaic covenant, functioning as a sign, typology, and ceremonial institution.

• Key NT passages show that Christian freedom is granted from “days, months, sabbaths, festivals” insofar as they are shadows whose substance is Christ.

• Hebrews declares the old covenant obsolete; under the New Covenant, believers are governed by the law of Christ, not by the Sinai covenant’s legal code.

Thus, there is no Sabbath command in the New Testament in the full legal sense, not because rest and worship cease, but because Christ is the rest, the Sabbath rest—to be entered by faith. Believers are called into a new pattern of worship, rest, and obedience, not under the old covenant legal structure, but under Christ.

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References

1. Thomas R. Schreiner, 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), pp. 208-217.

2. Douglas J. Moo, “The Law of Christ as the Fulfillment of the Law of Moses: A Modified Lutheran View,” in Five Views on Law and Gospel, ed. Stanley N. Gundry, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), pp. 343-380.

3. Schreiner, 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law, pp. 211-212 (on the Sabbath as a sign of the Mosaic covenant no longer in force under the New Covenant).

4. Moo, idem, p. 376: “The content of all but one of the Ten Commandments is taken up into the ‘law of Christ’ … The exception is the Sabbath commandment …”

5. D. A. Carson, ed., From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982) — especially chapters dealing with NT treatment of Sabbath, typology, and fulfillment.

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