Sabbatarianism

The view which insists that one day of each week be reserved for religious observance as prescribed by the OT sabbath law. It is most important that we note a distinction between strict or literal sabbatarianism and semisabbatarianism.

Strict or literal sabbatarianism contends that God's directive concerning the OT sabbath law is natural, universal, and moral; consequently the sabbath requires mankind to abstain from all labor except those tasks necessary for the welfare of society. In this view the seventh day, the literal sabbath, is the only day on which the requirements of this law can be met. Historically, we see a trend toward sabbatarianism in the Eastern church during the fourth century and the Irish church of the sixth century when, interestingly, a dual recognition of both sabbath and Sunday was stressed. It was not until the Reformation, however, that we meet the quintessence of sabbatarianism.

Luther opposed the doctrine, pointing out (in his "Letter against the Sabbatarians") the legalistic pitfalls inherent in the view. Calvin agreed in principle with Luther's stance. The Transylvania unitarians adopted strict sabbath observance during the seventeenth century, later moving to a total acceptance of Judaism. The Seventh day Baptists originated in 1631, bringing sabbatarianism to England and later to Rhode Island and New York. The most notable proponent of strict sabbatarianism at the present time is the Seventh day Adventist Church; several smaller adventist groups hold the same or similar views. Adventists believe they have been raised for the express purpose of proclaiming that God requires all men to observe the sabbath.

Their arguments for the universally binding character of the sabbath law are these: it (1) is part of the moral law, (2) was given at the creation, and (3) was not abrogated in the NT. Some adventists see in Sunday observance a fulfillment of the prophecy (Rev. 14:9ff.) which states that deluded mankind will be forced to accept the mark of the beast (Sunday observance) in order to survive during the days prior to Christ's second advent.

Semisabbatarianism holds a view essentially the same as strict sabbatarianism but transfers its demands from Saturday, the seventh day, to Sunday, the first day of the week. As early as the fourth and fifth centuries theologians in the Eastern church were teaching the practical identity of the Jewish sabbath and the Christian Sunday. Eusebius's interpretation of Ps. 91 (c. 320) greatly influenced the ultimate transfer of sabbath assertions and prohibitions to the first day of the week. An ancient legend related in the so called Apocalypse of Peter, and known to Augustine and Prudentius, significantly transfers to Sunday what the original legend said concerning the sabbath: those who suffer the pains of the lost in hell are, for the sake of Christ, permitted to rest from torment on Sunday, the first day of the week!

It was Albertus Magnus who first suggested a structured semisabbatarianism by dividing the sabbath command into (1) the moral command to observe a day of rest after six days of labor and (2) the ceremonial symbol that applied only to the Jews in a literal sense. Thomas Aquinas lifted this formulation to the status of official doctrine, a view later held by a large number of Reformed theologians as well. Semisabbatarianism reached its zenith in English Puritanism, later finding its way to the New World through the early colonists. Sunday restrictions and so-called blue laws in various states are a constant reminder of the influence of this view on the laws of our land. Organizations such as the Lord's Day Observance Society (est. 1831), and the Imperial Alliance for the Defense of Sunday (England) have sought to preserve the principles of semisabbatarianism, but with decreasing success since World War II.

F R Harm
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)

Bibliography
R D Brackenridge, "The Sabbath War of 1865 - 6," in R S C H S 16:1; R Cox, Literature of the Sabbath Question; P Collinson, "The Origins of English Sabbatarianism," in Studies in Church History; C H Little, Disputed Doctrines; M Luther, Letter to a Good Friend Against the Sabbatarians; E Morgan, The Puritan Family; E Plass, What Luther Says, III; J M Reu, Christian Ethics; W Rordorf, Sunday; P Schaff, The Anglo American Sabbath; A H Strong, Systematic Theology; W Whitaker, Sunday in Tudor and Stuart Times and The Eighteenth Century Sunday.