Out of all of Paul’s writings, the three passages used to void the Sabbath law, I have already posted, are the ones commonly used in attempting to prove he did away with Sabbath observance. However, as we have seen, two of those passages do not even mention the Sabbath, and the third confirms that gentile believers were actually keeping the Sabbath, since Paul told them not to let themselves be judged by outsiders for how they kept it.
But in addition to Paul’s words, his actions showed that he never intended to abolish or change the Sabbath and that he observed it himself. The book of Acts, written by Paul’s companion Luke, makes this clear.
Acts 13 records that, 10 to 15 years after Paul was miraculously converted, he and his companions traveled to Antioch in Asia Minor, where they “went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day” (Acts 13:14). After being invited to speak to the congregation, Paul addressed both Jews and gentile proselytes (Acts 13:16), describing how the coming of Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, had been foretold throughout the Old Testament scriptures.
His message was received so enthusiastically that “when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42). Notice that the gentiles in attendance wanted Paul to teach them more about this Jewish Messiah on the next Sabbath. Why? Because these gentiles were clearly already keeping the Sabbath with the Jews in the synagogue!
What was Paul’s response to the gentiles’ request? “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:44). Had Paul not believed in the Sabbath, he could easily have told them to come the next day or any other day and he would teach them. Instead, he waited until the following Sabbath, when “almost the whole city,” Jew and gentile alike, came out to hear his message!
The gentiles of the city, hearing that Paul had been commissioned to preach the gospel to the gentiles, “were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:45-48). The Sabbath, commanded by God, was still the day for rest, assembly and instruction in God’s way of life.
About five years later, in what is today northern Greece, Paul “came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ’ ” (Acts 17:1-3). Here, some 20 years after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, Paul’s custom was still to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath to discuss the Scriptures and teach about Yeshua, King of the Jews.
He continued to teach both Jews and gentiles: “And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks [gentiles], and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas” (Acts 17:4). So Paul, specifically commissioned to preach the gospel to the gentiles (Acts 9:15; Acts 13:47), taught the gentiles in the synagogues on the Sabbath!
Several years later he went to the Greek city of Corinth, where “he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4). Later still he went to Ephesus in Asia Minor, where “he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8).
The book of Acts was completed around A.D. 63, shortly before Paul’s execution in Rome, covering the history of more than 30 years of the New Testament Church. It shows that, over a period of many years, Paul repeatedly taught Jews and gentiles on the Sabbath. Even though he was the apostle to the gentiles, he never hinted to them in either his writings or his actions that the Sabbath was obsolete or unnecessary.
To argue that the apostle Paul advocated abolishing or annulling the Sabbath, one must not only twist Paul’s words out of context to directly contradict his other statements, but one must also ignore or distort Luke’s written eyewitness record of the Church from that time. The book of Acts contains no evidence that the Sabbath was abolished or changed during that time.
In legal proceedings against him, Paul assured all who heard him that he believed in and had done nothing against the law (Acts 24:14; Acts 25:8). As earlier noted, he said that the law of God is not annulled or abolished by faith, but, “on the contrary, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31).
He concluded, “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters” (1 Corinthians 7:19). That is his unequivocal statement: Obeying God’s commandments matters. They are vitally important to our relationship with God.
Paul, in observing the Sabbath, was only doing what he told others to do: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). He observed the Sabbath just as his Master had done.
