There are two kinds of Sabbatarians. Strict or Literal Sabbatarians obey the strict letter of the fourth commandment with regard to the appointed Sabbath day. They therefore hallow Saturday, the seventh day of the week, as their weekly Sabbath. The most prominent Strict or Literal Sabbatarians today are Jews who yet refuse to obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Judaizing disciples of Ellen G. White (1827-1915), Seventh-Day Adventists.
Semi-Sabbatarians endeavor to obey the spirit, not the letter, of the same fourth commandment. They transfer Sabbath observance to the first day of the week, Sunday. Semi-Sabbatarians are found in various Christian denominations.
Sabbatarians are guilty of many violations of God's Word.
1) Sabbatarians err in teaching in this gospel age that the fourth commandment must be observed — either in spirit and/or letter. That commandment was a part of the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19f; 34:28), and that covenant has been abrogated and superseded by the new covenant instituted by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 8:6-13). This New Covenant has no Sabbath-day commandment.
2) Sabbatarians therefore err in requiring a weekly Sabbath in this gospel age. God requires His people to "Therefore let no one judge you ... regarding ... sabbaths" (Colossians 2:16f). And God approves the Christian who "esteems every day alike" (Romans 14:5).
3) Sabbatarians willfully violate the very law they profess to uphold. God requires those who would be under the law He gave at Mount Sinai to obey every commandment of it in both spirit and letter (Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10; James 2:10). That law was not presented as a buffet at which one may take that which suits his theological palate while disregarding all the rest.
But Sabbatarians refuse to obey commandments God gave in that law regarding the Sabbath day. i) They refuse to obey God's commandment to stone to death violators of the Sabbath (Exodus 35:1f; Numbers 15:35). And if they should do so, they would violate the civil authority God has ordained for this gospel age (Romans 13:1-4). ii) They refuse to obey God's commandment to offer Sabbath day sacrifices (Numbers 28:9f). And if they should do so, they would slander the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. He has "offered one sacrifice for sins forever"; "there is no longer an offering for sin" (Hebrews 10:11-18).
Sabbatarians have truly placed themselves in a predicament: If they obey the law of Moses, they violate the gospel of Christ.
Semi-Sabbatarians compound their error by transferring the weekly Sabbath from the seventh day of the week, Saturday, to the first day, Sunday. But Scriptures neither warrant this transfer, nor equate nor identify Sunday as a Christian Sabbath, nor speak of a Christian who observed it as such.
Our appeal to Strict Sabbatarians is based upon the exhortation from God in Hebrews 3:7-4:11. Realize the futility of finding rest for your souls in Sabbath days, and find that rest in Jesus Christ by trusting in Him as your Lord and Savior.
Our appeal to Semi-Sabbatarians is based upon the exhortation from God in Galatians 4:9f. You err when "You observe days" — including Sabbaths. "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?"
Have you found your one and only Sabbath in Jesus Christ?