Did Christ Keep the Sabbath?

[Updated September 23, 2026]

Hey Mike!

Long time since I have asked questions or come to your website. My wife and I recently started attending United Church of God. They put a lot of importance on things like the Sabbath, Holy Days, Tithing and following God’s Laws. I have been taught their teachings before when I was 17 years old but never really put it into practice until now. I recently prayed to God sometime toward the end of the year if this is what he wanted me to do, then I would write a letter to my employer requesting the Sabbath off, and sure enough God answered my prayers about it. If the Sabbath was instituted at creation, reiterated when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, then how does one come to the conclusion that the Sabbath has been done away with? There are numerous accounts in the New Testament where Christ, the Apostles and the Early Church kept the feasts of God and the Sabbath. It was their custom (habit) to do so. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
D____

Hi D____,

Thank you for your question.

I know where you are coming from. I started taking the Ambassador College Correspondence Course in 1963. Two years later, after high school, I attended Ambassador College and graduated in 1969. I kept all of the holy days, never ate ‘unclean meats’, tithed first, second and third tithes and did not work on the sabbath for over ten years. So I know the doctrine of your church very well.

This whole subject of the law of Moses is dealt with in great detail in the paper entitled The Law of Moses Versus the Law of the Spirit. It is true that Christ was “made of a woman, made under the law”, and it is true that Christ did submit to his parents as a child. It follows that after turning 30 years of age, “He entered into the synagogue as His custom was.” There is a reason the holy spirit chose the words “as His custom was” instead of “according to the commandment of Moses.”

Luk 4:14  And [immediately after his baptism at 30 years of age by John the Baptist, and after his 40 day fast and temptation by the devil]  Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
Luk 4:15  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom [of the past 30 years] was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child [G3516: ‘nepios], differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors [under the law, the “schoolmaster”] until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: [The “law… for the lawless… not for a righteous man”, (1Ti 1:9-10)]
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

Why did God send forth His son?

Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. [G5206: ‘uihothesia’ “the placing of a (mature) son]
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons [G5207: uihos, a son [who can speak], God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Notice the difference between the definition of the word ‘child’ from the Greek ‘nepios’ in verse 1, and the definition of the word translated as ‘son’ in verse 6:

G3516
νήπιος
nēpios
nay’-pee-os

From an obsolete particle νη ne; implying negation and G2031; not speaking, that is, an infant (minor); figuratively a simple minded person, an immature Christian: – babe, child (+ -ish).

The holy spirit is telling us that as long as we are “under the schoolmaster… the law” we are under the elements of the world… we cannot receive the adoption, and we differ nothing from a servant , a slave”.

Christ submitted Himself to his parents and kept the law “until” His ministry began at 30 years of age. Christ’s ministry was the time of a very great “reformation”, signified by many “Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time [Moses]… but I say unto you…” statements coming from the mouth of our Lord. Not one of Christ’s “but I say unto you” statements in Matthew 5 can be found in the Torah Christ gave to Moses. The Torah given Moses was for a spiritual ‘nepios’, a spiritual “infant” who is “weak in the faith” (Rom 1:14).

Luk 2:51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them [His parents and the law under which they lived]: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23  But before faith [Christ] came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith [unable to “receive the uihothesia, adoption of sons, (Gal 4:5)] which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law [The Torah Christ gave Moses for a nepios, spiritual infant] was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith [Christ].
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Those “good things to come” are not in Torah. ‘The High Priest of good things to come is Jesus Christ, not Moses:

Joh 1:17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. [Christ’s New Torah, New Covenant, New spiritual Torah]

From 30 years old and forward Christ was no longer under the law, the “schoolmaster… the law… for the lawless and disobedient”, and while it is true that the apostles did keep circumcision and the law of Moses in the book of Acts, that is only true for this one reason:

Joh 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he [not the old Torah] will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Galatians 4 names just some of the “many things” which the apostles could not bear for many years after Christ’s death and resurrection, and which many to this very day “cannot bear.”

2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses [Torah] is read, the vail is upon their heart.

That entire book of Galatians is dealing with those who were trying to convince the Gentile Galatians that they had to keep the law of Moses with its sabbath, holy days, and new moons (months), in order to be saved.

Those who are still living by the old Torah of Moses still have “the vail… upon their heart.”

Here is how the previous chapter begins. Does  this sound like Paul was worried because he thought these Galatian converts were returning to their Pagan holidays?

Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Gal 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

What is Paul telling us? He is telling us that “the law is not of faith“.

Gal 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
Gal 3:5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

“The law is not of faith…” and if you are “of the works of the law, you are under the curse” of the law, which was never intended for a righteous man. It is very revealing that this very verse which states that “the law is NOT of faith” is the very verse used by all who are “under the law” to tell us that we must “live in them”, the “whole law.”

Gal 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Gal 5:2  Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Gal 5:3  For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. [Not just the ten commandments but “an eye for an eye” and all 613 laws of the Torah Christ gave Moses for the carnal nation of Israel]
Gal 5:4  Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

The holy spirit is telling His elect they “are not under the law and that the man that doeth them is a debtor to keep the whole law”, including observing the new moon. The law [the Torah Christ gave Moses] is specifically designed for the lawless and disobedient, and not for a righteous man:

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my [new covenant] law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Are we supposed to be righteous? Of course we are! However, our righteousness is no longer of the law of Moses. “True righteousness” comes only by “doing the things [Christ] says.”

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings [Not Moses’ ‘eye for an eye’ torah], and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Gal 2:16  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

I am painfully aware of all the arguments of the WWCG, the mother of COGAIA, which are designed to keep you under the law for the lawless. That is why I wrote that very in-depth paper on this subject entitled The Law of Moses Versus The Law of The Spirit. I will tell you that all the years I was in the WCG, I believed that Galatians 4:10 referred only to pagan holidays.

Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

“The weak and beggarly elements” are the “days, moons, and seasons” which are observed according to “the traditions of men” in every culture – Jewish, Christian and Pagan. In reality the Galatians had already left their pagan days behind after being taught about Christ, but they were being seduced into keeping the Mosaic days by the Judaizers who still believed the laws of Moses, with all their days and moons, were to be kept.

I believed that doctrine because that was what I was taught by men I highly respected. However, believing that to be true is to totally ignore the rest of that entire book and the rest of this fourth chapter. Do these verses, here in this same fourth chapter of Galatians, sound like Paul is dealing with people who want to go back to observing Pagan holidays?

Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
Gal 4:20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.
Gal 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

The Galatians had no interest in Pagan holidays. They “desired to be under the law.”

“The law is for the lawless…” It is not for any who are in Christ and His righteousness which is “not by the works of the law.”

Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

We are under a law certainly, but the law we are under is vastly superior to the law of Moses, which is for the lawless and disobedient.

1Co 9:20  And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; [Paul was “not under the law” the Torah of Moses]
1Co 9:21  To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) [Christ’s New Covenant, His New Torah] that I might gain them that are without law.

Look at the preceding chapter of Galatians and be honest with yourself and with the Word of God. Does this sound like Paul is afraid that these Galatian Gentiles are slipping back into Paganism, and are desiring to keep Pagan “days, months, times, and years?”

Gal 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
Gal 3:20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
Gal 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

It takes the most spiritually blind person, such as I was for over ten years, to think that the tenth verse of the next chapter has anything to do with these Galatians wanting to go back to keeping their Pagan holidays, months, times or years. They were succumbing to the Judaizers who to this very day want you and I to be “under the law… for the lawless”, and remain children which are no more than under the schoolmaster.

 We must go beyond being spiritually weak in the faith and being spiritual babes in Christ:

Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Gal 4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God [while an infant, under the schoolmaster, the law], ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods [ the law].

The Truth of the scriptures is that “not only had He [Christ] broken the sabbath, but he claimed that God was His Father…” and He tells us Himself that, like the priests of the tribe of Levi, he had ‘profaned the sabbath and was guiltless’.

Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Mat 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

I am very aware that the argument is that there was nothing unlawful about Christ eating the grain in the field on the sabbath because He and His disciples did not have the time to “prepare twice as much on the sixth day”, according to the law. If that were the case why didn’t Christ just say so instead of confessing to “profaning the sabbath” and still maintaining that He and His disciples, who were not Aaronic priests, were nevertheless “blameless and guiltless”?

These are all verses which your COGAIA ministers cannot see simply because Christ’s Words have no place in them”. Bring any of these verses up to them at your own peril. They simply cannot hear Christ’s words.

Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Christ is speaking to “those Jews which believed in Him” (vs 30-31). Why could they not hear His word?

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

The law with all of its “days, months, times and years”, its clean and unclean meats, its laws against mixing fabrics, etc., etc, is “not for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient”, “is not of faith”, and is for babes who are no different from a slave (Gal 4:1).

Look at this verse, and then ask your minister why you are not observing the moons?

Gal 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

I asked that question many times at Friday night Bible studies, and I never got an answer. Read that in-depth paper on the law, and if you still have questions, then feel free to get back to me.

Your brother in Christ’s faith, and in His Word,
Mike