If the Sabbath was changed just because it was more convenient or pleasing to meet on Sunday, then why must we still uphold the other Ten Commandment laws about idolatry, honoring parents, and covetousness? Why can't we just change those to suit the culture and our tastes and traditions?
Sabbath keeping with all it's rules and regulations, was
part of a covenant with Israel that is not binding on Christians in the New Testament.
*Colossians 2:16 - Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a
Sabbath day 17 things which are a
mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Even when SDA's set out to worship on the Sabbath, are they truly "keeping the Sabbath?" To "keep the Sabbath" as it was required in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant would involve
compliance with specific regulations (Exodus 16:23; 35:3; Leviticus 23:32; Jeremiah 17:21) that were
strictly enforced.
If Sabbath day observances are still required, so would the
burnt offerings which went along with them (Leviticus 19:30; 23:2-3; Numbers 28:1-10; 29:39-40; I Chronicles. 23:30-31; II Chronicles 31:2-4; Isaiah 1:13). So
no kindling a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath (Exodus 35:3).
Every man must remain in his place on the sabbath (Exodus 16:29).
No trading (Amos 8:5).
No marketing (Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15,19).
These were
commanded by God to Israel (Exodus 35:1).
If the seventh day Sabbath is still in affect, then why do not the Sabbatarians seek to obey ALL that the LORD commanded? How can a person keep a certain law when he keeps only part of it?
If the Sabbath day laws were still in effect today, then according to Exodus 31:12-18; 35:1-3; and Numbers 15:32-36,
anyone who profaned the Sabbath was put to death and any person who does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from his people.
Who is going to enforce that? The Jewish synagogue? The Seventh day Adventist church? The Government? Since we do not live under a theocratic state as ancient Israel did under the Old Covenant, no Sabbatarian can live consistently under these Mosaic regulations.
Since the old covenant has been made obsolete, does this leave us with no moral direction? Absolutely not.
God made obsolete the old covenant to "put legally into place" the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6-9; Hebrews 8:6-13). The old covenant was a conditional agreement that God made with the Israelites. The old covenant was in effect during the dispensation of law. We are not under the law, but under grace.
The life of discipleship flows out of the new command, to love one another as He loved us (John 13:34), which Paul refers to as the "law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). Love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8-10). Out of this single command comes other commands, including references for the moral aspect of 9 of the 10 commandments which are reiterated in the New Testament, yet the command to keep the Sabbath day is not binding on Christians in the New Testament.
1. You shall have no other gods before Me. - Acts 14:15
2. You shall make no idols. - 1 John 5:21
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. - as Matthew 5:33,34; 1 Timothy 6:1; James 2:7
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy. -
Not binding on the Church - Colossians 2:16-17
5. Honor your father and your mother. - Ephesians 6:1-2
6. You shall not murder. - Romans 13:9-10; 1 John 3:15
7. You shall not commit adultery. - Romans 13:9-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
8. You shall not steal. - Romans 13:9-10; Ephesians 4:28
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. - Romans 13:9-10; Colossians 3:9-10
10. You shall not covet. - Romans 13:9-10; Ephesians 5:3
"He has made us competent as ministers of a
new covenant —
not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the
letter kills...the ministry that brought death, which was
engraved in letters on stone...the ministry that condemns." But if the
ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8
how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9
For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. (2 Corinthians 3:6-9).
The law on our heart and mind is the love of the Spirit, not the law of the letter. This is why Paul tells us that the new covenant is a covenant of the Spirit, and not of the letter.