We are looking into the Hebrew Roots Movement (HRM), also known as Hebraic Roots and Jewish Roots. You can read the introduction to this series here.
Adherents of HRM believe that Christianity left its Hebrew Roots hundreds of years ago and that what they are doing is bringing Christianity back to its “roots.”
What we are doing in this series is giving HRM and its critics the opportunity to be heard. We turn now to the HRM belief that believers should keep the seventh-day Sabbath and annual Hebrew feasts. Let’s begin with some background on the weekly event – the Sabbath.
Shabbat (Shabbath)
The Hebrew word šabbāṯ (שָׁבַת) is first used in Scripture in Exodus 6:23:
Then he said to them, ‘This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’
Sabbath rest is šabbāṯōwn. It means “to cease, desist, rest.” God gave the weekly event to the children of Israel to rest from their work and to identify with Yahweh in what He accomplished for them.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Exodus 20:11
This Sabbath rest was required of Jews week after week, month after month, year after year, century after century. Most Christians believe that requirement was lifted after Jesus rose from the dead, but Hebrew Roots Movement followers have a different view. We’ll hear from HRM first.
HRM on Keeping the Sabbath
There is historically and biblically no such thing as a ‘Sunday’ Sabbath. Saturday is the 7th day of the week, while Sunday is the 1st day of every week. Sunday was designated as the ‘Lord’s Day’ circa A.D. 350 by the Roman Church at the Synod of Laodicea; and at the same time, Sabbath for gentile Christians was officially abolished by the Roman Church leadership. There is only one biblical weekly Sabbath: the 7th day, Saturday (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown as reckoned by the Hebrew day). It is a day of rest (ceasing). Sabbath was originally ordained at Creation, and it remains a holy day for all mankind to observe. Torah Class Beliefs
In the second century of the common era, the Church at Rome became the vehicle which the adversary, HaSatan, used to eventually get the vast majority of Christians to abandon Shabbat observance for Sunday worship. Their primary reasons for wanting to separate from Judaism were twofold:
Many of the Gentile Believers did not want to come under the authority of the Torah — especially when some of the Jews were telling them that Torah observance included the Oral Traditions of the Jews as well as the Written Torah.
They wanted to avoid the Roman persecution of the Jews.
In order to find a theological reason for going to Sunday worship, the Church theologians came up with a variety of reasons:
Dr. Bacchiocchi sums up the Shabbat to Sunday controversy this way:
‘Our study has shown that the adoption of Sunday observance in place of the Sabbath did not occur inthe primitive Church of Jerusalem by virtue of the authority of Christ or of the Apostles, but rather took place several decades later, seemingly in the Church of Rome, solicited by external circumstances. Even those Biblical testimonia which were drawn from the Old Testament (references to the numbers eight and one) to prove the legitimacy and superiority of Sunday over the Sabbath were mostly based on unwarranted criteria of Biblical hermeneutic, and consequently they were in time abandoned. This means, to put it bluntly, that Sunday observance does not rest on a foundation of Biblical theology and/or of apostolic authority, but on later contributory factors …’ (p. 309) Origins of Sunday Worship
What evidence do we have that ‘Christians’ observed Sunday as the Sabbath in the New Testament? Nowhere, I mean nowhere, is there any evidence of Sunday being observed as the Sabbath, or the sanctioned day of worship in the 1st century. On the contrary, the book of Acts has the followers of Y’shua meeting, worshipping, and hearing the word of God on the seventh day (Acts 13:14, 27, 42, 44, 15:21, 16:13, 17:2, 18:4). Today, we all must choose whether to follow Paul as he followed the Messiah (1 Corinthians 11:1) or to follow the teachings of the early church fathers. The Sabbath Day
It is a fact that the early Christian Churches continued to meet on the Sabbath. Commenting on variations regarding religious assemblies within the Christian Church, Socrates Scholasticus writes, ‘For although almost all Churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [the Eucharist] on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.’ This ‘ancient tradition’ spoken of by Socrates was initiated in the early second century in Rome and Alexandria, the first Christian assemblies to break the tradition of meeting on the Sabbath. To understand their reasoning we must examine the writings of Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr and the letter of Barnabas, all writings of the first half of the second century. Ignatius (approximately 98-117 CE) warned about, ‘the Judaizing tendencies of his territory, which…had suffered the influences of the synagogue and of the Judaeo-Christians [Messianic Jewish believers].’ Furthermore, Ignatius writes, ‘For if we are still practicing Judaism, we admit that we have not received God’s favor.’ Ignatius goes on to upbraid Christians specifically for partaking in the Sabbath, ‘after the Jewish manner,’ exhorting them to, ‘keep the Sabbath in a spiritual manner . . . not in the relaxation of the body . . . and not eating things prepared the day before . . .’ The fact that Ignatius felt the necessity to write these admonitions demonstrates that the early Christians were predisposed to the Jewish Sabbath practice. Furthermore, it is one of the first extra-Biblical instances of an emerging conflict concerning issues of Torah obedience among Gentiles. Lastly, it shows a developing antagonism to things considered ‘Jewish.’ The Earliest Divisions Within the Christian Church
On God’s calendar, a biblical day begins at sundown. The Sabbath begins at Friday night sundown (called Erev Shabbat) and the Sabbath ends on Saturday night at sundown. The Sabbath foreshadows the Messianic Era. The Sabbath represents a Bride. Yeshua is LORD of the Sabbath. The Sabbath teaches us how to rest in Yeshua and believe His promises.Many times, when a Sunday Christian begins to return to and cross over into the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith, one of the first steps they take is to begin observing the Sabbath. The Biblical Sabbath
Shabbat is a mark or sign between YeHoVaH and His people, making a distinction between the other peoples or nations of the world, so that we could be separated (Kadosh). In this same way, He sets aside one day of the week to rest and find delight and joy in the rest of that communion with Him.
Shabbat is one of the few commandments that has an explanation of why it is given or why it is necessary to fulfill them. In fact, believers who have the faith that YeHoVaH is the Creator of the world, that He is our Father and that everything He tells us is good, should not need to know the reason to obey His precepts. A Rood Awakening
Most people in the Hebrew Roots Movement keep the Sabbath. The fourth commandment is clear and there are numerous other places throughout the bible that make it obvious that God finds observation of the Sabbath something all His people should do. Keeping the Sabbath means in part not working on that day. We are to refrain from our vocation as well as other work. Hebrew Roots Mom
Did you know that God has commanded us to observe his annual Biblical Holy Days (appointed times/appointments with God)? You might have heard of Passover (Pesach) and Pentecost (Shavout). These are 2 of the 3 spring-time holy days (feasts). There are also 3 fall-time holy days. All 6 holy days point to Jesus (Y’shua) and are about him fulfilling prophecy. Jesus (Y’shua) died on Passover as the Passover (Pesach) Lamb sacrifice and arose from the grave as the first fruits offering during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Hebrew Roots Info
eBook
You can download a free eBook of Chapters One – Five of this study here. Please share with family and friends as God leads.
Next Time
In the next part of our special series, The ‘Hebrew Roots’ Movement, we’ll look at what critics say about the HRM belief concerning the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath.
Faith & Self Defense © 2025
Faith & Self Defense 