Is Every Day the Sabbath?

The command to rest and treat the seventh-day Sabbath as holy is clearly stated in the fourth of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11). 

However, most mainstream Christians—even those who claim to uphold the 10 Commandments—don’t observe the Sabbath as the Fourth Commandment instructs.

Their reasons vary. 

Some believe that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday. Others argue that it was abolished at the cross. Another increasingly popular argument is that every day is now the Sabbath.

Did Jesus change the Sabbath from the seventh day to every day of the week?

What is the Sabbath?

Before we examine this question, let’s review what the Sabbath is and isn’t in the Old Testament. 

We’re introduced to the Sabbath in Genesis 2. After laboring six days to form the heavens and the earth, God “rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done” (verse 2). The Hebrew word translated “rested” is sabat, so it’s like saying God sabbathed on the seventh day.

It continues: “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (verse 3). 

To bless and sanctify means to set something apart as holy. Because of God’s blessing, the seventh day is to be treated as distinct and unique from the other days of the week. 

Later, in the Fourth Commandment, God revealed how it is to be kept holy: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work” (Exodus 20:8-10).

The core command is to rest and set the Sabbath apart as holy—a special day devoted to worshipping God and being physically and spiritually refreshed. God gives us six days to work and do all the other activities of life, but commands that the seventh day be dedicated to Him.

As Jesus later said, it is a day designed for man’s benefit (Mark 2:27).

Holiness not relegated to one day

Although the Sabbath is one specific day each week, God never intended it to be the only day His people focused on spiritual matters or lived holy lives.

Don’t neglect the weekly gift God has given you. Honor the seventh-day Sabbath and let it draw you closer to Him and fellow believers, and strengthen you to live a righteous life every day of the week. While the Sabbath itself is to be kept holy because it is a holy day (Isaiah 58:13), God expects His people to “be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45) every day—24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Pursuing holiness is about personal character. God’s people are to be holy all the time—to love God and teach His ways to their children whenever they can (Deuteronomy 6:5-7).

The Sabbath command provides one specific day each week for His people to focus entirely on Him and strengthen their commitment to live righteously every day. Doing this also builds the community of believers.

The Sabbath is also to be a special sign identifying who His people are (Exodus 31:13).

Sadly, throughout much of their history, Israel ignored God’s Sabbath, and the predictable result was a pattern of unholy living and a nation steeped in sin.

The Sabbath fulfilled in Christ?

So, what about the claim that the Sabbath has been transferred to every day of the week? Those who hold this view often argue that the Sabbath was fulfilled in Christ, and that instead of resting on a specific day, Christians now rest in Him every day of the week.

To defend this position, some cite Matthew 11, where Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (verse 28, emphasis added throughout).

By saying, “I will give you rest,” was Jesus saying that every day of the week was now the Sabbath?

Let’s examine the context. Jesus was commenting on the attitudes of the cities He had recently visited, which were unrepentant and clung to their sinful ways.

Immediately before making His statement on rest, Jesus thanked God for the small group who were repentant and following Him (verses 25-27). He then went on to make His statement about giving rest.

Jesus was not talking about the weekly Sabbath rest, but rest from sin and the burdens it brings. That kind of rest could be experienced only by those seeking His mercy and guidance.

This was not the first time God used rest to describe the relationship people can have with Him. On one occasion, when Moses asked God to lead him, God told Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14).

Later, God used rest to represent Israel being freed from enemies and from the burdens and stresses of war (Joshua 11:23; 23:1).

God has often used rest to represent the blessings His presence brings and the relationship we can have with Him. None of these promises to give rest abolished the weekly Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9-10).

The rest Christ provides is from sin’s burdens and penalties. Only through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice is repentance and forgiveness possible. By humbling ourselves and casting our cares on God, we can recognize the care He has for us (1 Peter 5:6-7). This is the rest Jesus was referring to in Matthew 11.

Interpreting His statement, “I will give you rest,” as a repudiation of the holiness God placed on the seventh day thousands of years earlier is not only out of context—it’s a significant leap in logic. In theological terms, this is eisegesis—reading one’s own ideas into the text rather than drawing out Christ’s original intent and meaning.

In another situation, when Pharisees were pushing their unbiblical and burdensome approach to Sabbath-keeping on Jesus and the disciples, Jesus answered them by stating, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

If His followers no longer needed to keep the Sabbath, He could have plainly said that what His disciples did or didn’t do on the Sabbath no longer mattered. He could have said that every day was now the Sabbath—but He didn’t. Instead, He emphasized God’s original intent for the Sabbath: it was a gift and a blessing “made for man” by God Himself.

Strangely and tragically, the master deceiver has somehow convinced millions that a day of rest and refreshment—given by God Himself—is a burden to escape from and argue against, rather than a blessing to embrace and benefit from.

The seventh day and every day

God blessed and set apart the seventh day thousands of years ago as a gift for humanity. Rather than seeing it as a burden, Christians should view it as a blessing—a dedicated day to focus on God through Bible study, prayer, meditation and meaningful time with family and fellow believers. It is also a day to rest physically and mentally from the demands of our daily burdens.

Those who argue that every day is now the Sabbath sometimes create a straw man argument instead of dealing with the real issues, claiming that observing the Sabbath is relegating the pursuit of spiritual holiness to one day a week.

The Bible is consistent that God’s people are to pursue personal holiness every day of their lives, in how they live and interact with God. That was His expectation for ancient Israel, and it remains His expectation today.

The importance of daily righteous living does not conflict with observing the seventh-day Sabbath—it complements it.

God’s intent for the Sabbath

When God created the Sabbath and made it holy, He didn’t intend it to be the only day His people pursued spiritual things. His intent was that the Sabbath be one day a week that His people could dedicate entirely to Him—which could strengthen their pursuit of holiness on the other six days.

The Sabbath is a 24-hour period (from Friday at sunset until Saturday at sunset) when God’s people rest from their regular work and activities to focus on and prioritize their relationship with Him. God blessed and made it holy—and there is not a single verse in the Bible that revokes that blessing or redefines it as every day of the week. 

Humans have no authority to make unholy what God has made holy—or to declare holy what He has not.

The Sabbath is still part of the 10 Commandments—and Jesus said God’s law would not change by even “one jot or one tittle” until “heaven and earth pass away” (Matthew 5:18). Among the 10, it is the only command God specifically said to remember.

Don’t neglect the weekly gift God has given you. Honor the seventh-day Sabbath and let it draw you closer to Him and fellow believers, and strengthen you to live a righteous life every day of the week.

Find more answers to your questions about the Sabbath in our free booklet The Sabbath: A Neglected Gift From God.