The Irony of Insisting on Sabbath-Keeping

After meditating on the Letter to the Hebrews, I noticed a striking irony: those who insist that Christians must keep a weekly Sabbath as a requirement may actually be failing to observe the true Sabbath that Christ has won for us.

Hebrews 3–4 teaches that the Old Covenant Sabbath always pointed forward to a greater rest—not merely ceasing from physical labour one day per week, but ceasing from works-righteousness and trusting entirely in Christ's finished work. The author exhorts us: “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11).

The “disobedience” in view is unbelief—the refusal to trust God's provision. The wilderness generation failed to enter the Promised Land because they didn't trust God (Hebrews 3:19). Similarly, when someone insists that Sabbath observance is a binding requirement under the Mosaic Law, they demonstrate that same pattern of unbelief. Rather than resting in what Christ has accomplished, they're striving to establish their own righteousness through law-keeping.

This is precisely what Jesus addressed when He said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29–30). Jesus contrasts His yoke with the crushing burden of the Law. He offers rest—not through our striving to meet legal requirements, but through faith in Him and what He has accomplished for us.

Paul makes the stakes clear in Galatians 5:2–4: those who submit to the Law as a requirement for righteousness are “severed from Christ” and have “fallen away from grace.” The same principle applies to any attempt to impose Mosaic covenant requirements on Christians.

The irony is complete: by insisting on Sabbath-keeping as necessary, one fails to enter the very rest the Sabbath foreshadowed. True Sabbath rest means trusting that Christ's work is sufficient—finished, complete, and requiring nothing from us but faith.

(To be clear: observing a Sabbath as a matter of Christian liberty and spiritual discipline is entirely different from insisting it's a requirement. Romans 14:5–6 makes room for such freedom. I personally think that voluntary Sabbath-keeping is a very healthy habit).