Bible Q & A

Q. Genesis 2:2-3 states that God rested on the seventh day and sanctified it. You teach this day is Saturday. How can you e sure that the original seventh day is still Saturday? Haven’t there been changes in the calendar?
 
A. Over the millennia, mankind has used many methods to chronicle time. The Roman calendar now in use has undergone some changes, but the weekly cycle was not altered with those changes. The original Roman calendar, introduced during the days of Julius Caesar, 45 B.C., was imperfect since it was based on the premise that the year was exactly 365 ¼ days long. To maintain the pattern an addition of an extra day to the month of February was made every four years.  However, it was later found that the year was 12 minutes and 14 seconds shorter than this.  A correction was made during the time of Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th century by dropping ten days from the calendar. Thus in 1582, Thursday, 4 October was followed by Friday, 15 October. Notice that the weekly cycle was not altered.

The Hebrew calendar used from the time of Christ till now preserved the same seventh day of the week (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) as it was in Christ’s time. The Jewish people, through the centuries of migrations and persecutions, have never lost the Sabbath day.  Nor do most Christians doubt the fact that Sunday is the first day of the week. There is no real debate on this point.  The problem is with whether or not we will follow the example of our Savior and keep the same Sabbath that He kept (Mark 2:28).
 
The Church of God, New World Ministries P.O. Box 5536 Sevierville, TN 37864