THE LORD’s DAY – The Seventh Day Sabbath or the First Day Sunday?

THE LORD’s DAY – The Seventh Day Sabbath or the First Day Sunday?

In spite of the Biblical fact that Jesus calls Himself Lord of the Sabbath most Christian people worldwide believe that Sunday, first day of the week, is the Lord’s Day. We learn from Acts 2:36 that God made Jesus both Lord and Christ. Read also Luke 2:11 and Phil.2:11. This same Jesus, who is Lord, calls himself in Mark 2:28 “Lord of the Sabbath”. Read also Math. 12:8 and Luke 6:5.

For Bible believing Christians that should be sufficiently convincing that not the first day of the week is the day of the Lord but the Seventh-day Sabbath which is called on the common English calendar Saturday.

In both Roman Catholic and Protestant literature there is plenty to find admitting that the Seventh-day is the Biblical Sabbath and not Sunday and there is not one word in the Bible supporting first day Sunday observance. It would not be difficult to find this via a computer Google search.

But still in spite of what Jesus has said and what has been said about it by ministers of different denominations, there are theologians still of the opinion that there is Biblical support for Sunday observance, as the Lord’s Day, instead of the Seventh-day Sabbath.

This time we will deal with the so-called Bible passages which are used in favor of Sunday observance. Which, as is assumed, supports the idea to call the first day of the week The Lord’s Day and that the Seventh-day Sabbath has been abolished. There are 8 first day texts in the Bible, which we will deal with first.

1. Matthew 28:1. At the end of the Sabbath at dawn sunrise some women went to the place were the body of Jesus was laid to rest, after He had died on Friday afternoon. These women did not yet know that Jesus had been raised from the dead and was alive. This text cannot be used as evidence that the first day of the week had become the Lord’s Day instead of the Sabbath.

2 .Mark16:1, 2. Here we find the same thing stating as in the previous text. And thus for the same reason does not qualify to use as evidence that first the day of the week, our Sunday had become the Lord’s Day. Yes it proves that Christ had risen on the first day of the week, but the day was not made special.

3. Mark 16:9. This is a report about to who Jesus appeared first after His resurrection on that particular first day of the week after the Sabbath had ended.
Mary also did not know that he had risen, read John 20:1 and 11-16. Again it is no reason that a change had taken place from the Seventh-day Sabbath to the first day, Sunday as the Lord’s Day.

4. Luke 24:1-6. We have here a repeat of what we have read already in Matthew 28:1 and Mark.16:1, 2. It is reported that people went to the burial place of Jesus to do for Jesus’ body for which they had no time on Friday afternoon because the Sabbath was coming on. Another failed reason for Sunday observance as the Lord’s Day.

5. John 20:1.Mary arrives at the burial place and discovers that the stone is removed. She was not aware that Jesus had risen from His grave. Again we deal with a failed text to be used that now the first day of the week, Sunday is the Lord’s Day instead of the Seventh-day Sabbath.

6. John 20:19. It is still the same first day but at evening, could be at sunset. The disciples are assembled and the reason is given, for fear of the Jews. They were not assembled to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection. Fear of the Jews was the reason and is clearly stated as such. We discard this text also as evidence for a change from Sabbath to Sunday as the day of the Lord.

7. 1Cor.16:2. This text deals with church offerings on the first day of the week. The question is where should these offerings be taken or kept or laid aside? The text reads in the KJV (All scripture quotations are from the KJV, if not it will be so indicated) Let every one of you lay by him in store”. “By him” reads in the NKJV “aside”. In the NASB it reads to put aside and save the church as the place to bring the offering is not mentioned at all.. The common and logic understanding is that people were admonished to save up money at home in order that when Paul would pass through they had money ready to give him to be taken to Jerusalem. We conclude this from 1Cor.16:2, 3. No evidence at all that we deal with first day Sunday observance as the Lord’s Day.

8. Acts 20:7, 8. This text becomes more involved and is used by many as clear evidence that the church in Jerusalem had changed from Sabbath worship to first day, Sunday, worship. We have to unpack this step by step in order to know what we are dealing with, also because the breaking of bread is mentioned.
First we have to establish the timing. It is an evening meeting. Evening meetings are not general for worship, not then and not today. Some argue that it was an evening worship meeting to celebrate the Lord’s Day because people may have had to work during the daytime. This argument can be disqualified when we learn from the text why they were together at evening time and how long this meeting lasted. We read in Acts 13:42 that a daytime Sabbath meeting was conducted and the gentiles asked for a meeting for them the next Sabbath. If Sunday worship had been established they could have been told, come back tomorrow, you don’t have to wait for a full week till the next Sabbath. But Sunday was not yet a regular worship day, they had to wait till the next Sabbath, Acts 13:44.

Next point is, which day of the week was it actually? The text reads “first day of the week and it was evening. Did Luke use Jewish time or Roman time. Jewish time for a day was from sunset to sunset. This has originated from creation, read Gen.1: where the creation days started with evening followed by day. Roman time was from midnight to midnight as we still have today. Theologians and Bible commentaries are not sure. Most go for the idea that it was what we would call Saturday evening. Anyhow the text mentions that it was first day of the week.

Now we should ask the question why they were gathered together for an evening meeting, which lasted until midnight. This in it self is unusual for a regular worship meeting to last until midnight. Paul preached so long because he had plans to depart in the morning for his next destination. It was a farewell meeting and we know from the rest of the story in Acts that it was Paul’s last meeting for that church. When Paul arrived in Jerusalem he was arrested which eventually took him to Rome to appear before Nero the emperor.

Such Christians using this passage to support Sunday observance for church service, say, but there was the breaking of bread. And that’s true. However we do not find a set time given for the breaking of bread, the communion service. We read in Acts 2:46 they continued daily and breaking bread from house to house. So they conducted house services with the breaking of bread, indicating communion services. Paul writes in 1Cor.11:26 “as often as you eat”, not indicating a set time. Even today communion services are conducted at different times and days.

We must conclude that also Acts 20:7 is not a clear support for the change of the Seventh-day Sabbath in favor of the first day, Sunday as the Lord’s Day. We learn the opposite from the book of Acts that right through the time of the apostles, first century, Sabbath meetings were faithfully conducted. Read Acts 13:14, 27, 42, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4. In Acts 17:2 we read about Paul and his keeping of the Sabbath as his manner was. In NASB it reads according to Paul’s custom. This establishes the fact that both Jesus in Luke 4:16 and Paul had the same custom in regard to the Seventh-day Sabbath.

The next argument people assume is in favor of a change from Sabbath to Sunday is taken from Revelation 1:10. John on the isle of Patmos is in the spirit, in a state of divine vision. The timing is given as being on the Lord’s Day. On the Lord’s Day John received the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Rev.1:1, 10. Pro Sunday keeping Christian say here is a strong indication that Sunday is the Lord’s Day. This is an assumption. Nowhere in the scriptures we find that the first day of the week, Sunday, is called the Lord’s Day. It is generally believed that it was the year AD 95.Some says AD 90. That is still in the first century. It is very difficult to find any historical documentation that during the first century the first day of the week was called the Lord’s Day. Historically that started in the next century after the apostles and not in the Jerusalem church. In the NASB Bible the foot note by Revelation 1:10 reads likely not a reference to Sunday which is called first day of the week in the NT”. Some argue that it could have been the emperor’s day. The emperor was also called Lord and had his day on Sunday. We do discard this idea because John being exiled by a Roman emperor would not use the emperor’s day to report about a revelation of Jesus Christ. Also it is difficult to believe that God would give John a vision about Jesus Christ, who is Lord, on the day, which is dedicated to a pagan emperor. We can be sure that John was aware of Mark 2:28 where Jesus declares that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week. John was also well aware of Acts 2:36 that God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ. Later he writes in Revelation 19:16 that Jesus is Lord of Lords. Also in the fourth commandment it is stated that the Sabbath is of the Lord thy God.

We are told in 2Timothy 2:8 to remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. But nowhere in the scriptures are we told that the first day of the week, Sunday, has been set aside for that purpose and that the Seventh-day Sabbath has been abolished in order for that change to take place.

The Seventh-day Sabbath also is not by nature Jewish, but was made for man according to Jesus in Mark 2:28. This making of the Sabbath for man took place at the end of the creation week, Gen.2:1, 2.

The late Dr. Samuel Bacchiocchi an Italian minister of the Seventh-day Adventist church got his PhD in church history from the Gregoriana University in the Vatican. He has uncovered documentation giving clear evidence that Sunday observance in place of the Seventh-day Sabbath did not start in the Jerusalem Christian church but in the Christian church of the city of Rome. This can be found in his book FROM SABBTH TO SUNDAY based on his dissertation and available from ADVENTIST BOOK CENTRES. A Google search will assist the reader of this website to find where an Adventist Book Centre is located.

However, after all what has been written so far people may still think that there are biblical theological reasons for a change from Sabbath to Sunday and even that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment has been abolished. Such a person who believes this will turn to Col.2:14-16. They think that based upon this scripture passage that the law or at least part of it has been nailed to the cross. The law they have in mind must be the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments, which contains the fourth commandment about the Seventh-day Sabbath. Before we deal with this particular scripture passage we like to find out what was the attitude of Jesus and later the apostle Paul towards the law of the Ten Commandments? If we can establish that from the scriptures then we will know what Paul is writing about in Colossians 2:14-16 and what he is not writing about. We must avoid creating a contradiction in the scriptures

David wrote about the coming Messiah in Psalms 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea thy law is written in my heart. Isaiah writing about the Messiah as the Servant of the Lord reveals the following in Isa.42:21 He will magnify the law and make it honourable. The Messiah, Jesus would have the law in His heart, magnify it and make it honourable. What do we find in Jesus life and teachings? In Luke 4:16 we read it was His custom to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath. From Matthew 5:16,-18 we learn that He not had come to change not even the tiniest particle of the law and that it all would remain till the end of time. He had come to fulfil or to practice the law. That he had no change in mind is later confirmed in Hebrews 13:8 where we read that Jesus is yesterday, today and forever the same. Regarding the Father of Jesus we learn from James 1:17 that every good gift and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness or turning. This is in harmony with Ps.89:34; Mal.3:6. This shows clearly that a change in the Decalogue, the Law of God is not possible. In regard to the Sabbath Jesus foresaw that the Sabbath after His resurrection would still be kept. He says in Matthew 24:20 that they should pray that their flight should not happen in winter or on the Sabbath. To have to run away for something in winter would be very inconvenient weatherwise and to have to do the same on the Sabbath would also be not very pleasant. Jesus said this in connection with His prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem. History confirms that Christians in Jerusalem took their chance to leave Jerusalem before it was destroyed by the Romans and escaped to the town of Pella

Now let us test Paul’s teachings and attitude regarding the law of God. From Romans 3:23 we learn that righteousness or justification is by faith not by the deeds of the law (3:28). It is also stated in 3:20, no justification by the deeds of the law. Does that mean Paul does disregard the law? Read 3:31 where Paul hastens to write Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea we establish the law. No abolishing or disregarding of the law in Paul’s mind. Read more in Romans 7:12 the law is holy, good and just. The law reveals sin, 7:7. Without the law no knowledge of sin, if we don’t know what sin is, we are not in need of a saviour. And if we do not need a saviour then Jesus is not needed in our lives. After we learn this from Paul it is impossible to believe that he writes to the Christians in Colossi that the law or part of it is nailed to the cross. Both Jesus and Paul had a positive attitude towards the law and both had the same custom to honour the Seventh-day Sabbath. With this background we can turn to Colossians 2:14-16

We should pick it up from verse 13, where it is stated that those who were dead in sins have been quickened or made alive , which means they have received the forgiveness of their sins.. Then follows what it means, the blotting out of the handwriting or ordinances which was against or contrary us and nailing it to His cross. What is nailed to the cross has to do with the forgiveness of sins, not with what reveals sin. What were the ordinances, handwritten and dealing with the forgiveness of sins and which had come to an end because of the cross? In the time before the cross we notice two laws. One law is the Ten Commandments written by God and engraved in stone, Deut.10:1-5. This law is of such an importance that it was laid in the ark of the testimony or covenant. Then there was the law of ceremonies dealing with forgiveness of sins. The sacrificial activities, because without the shedding of blood no remission of sin, Hebr.9:22. Read also Leviticus 1-4 how this took place and was administered for different cases. The total complex of that ceremonial law was handwritten by Moses in a book and placed not in the Ark of the Covenant but outside on its side, Deut.31:24-26. This book was there as a witness against thee. However these ceremonies could never take away sins, Hebr.10:4.They only served as a shadow of what was to come, the Messiah, Jesus who would take away the sins of the world and be the Saviour, Matth.1:21; John 1:19,36..
Now Christ has come, and has died on the cross these ceremonies have become useless. We are redeemed by the blood of Christ, Eph.1:7; 1 Peter 1:18, 19.The veil in the temple has been torn apart from top to bottom, Matth.27:51. The ceremonial service lost its significance and has been terminated. The Jews did not understand this and continued till AD 70 when the Roman army destroyed the temple and bringing these services to a final end never to return. What follows in Col.2::15, 16 has definitely no reference to the Ten Commandments, revealing what sin is, but deals with the ceremonies which in the past dealt with sanctuary activities for the forgiveness of sin. Those ceremonies included also certain special Sabbaths feast days and Paul says let nobody judge you regarding these things because they acted as shadows of things to come. Now we have the body, the real one which is Christ. In the plural word Sabbaths or Sabbath days is not included the Seventh-day Sabbath of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments written by God engraved in stone and laid down inside the ark of the covenant or testimony. If the Seventh-day Sabbath would be included then Paul would have created a contradiction in his own writings and contradicting his own custom of Sabbath keeping as we have learned from the book of Acts.
Paul writes, now we have the body, which is Christ, and we have learned that Christ and Paul later, had as their custom to observe the Sabbath, not Sunday.

What was the reason for the battle Paul was facing all the time? He was facing the battle with the legalistic Judaisers who followed him wherever he was preaching and who told the new Christians that they had to be circumcised and keep the Jewish feast days and ceremonies. We learn much about this in his epistle to the Galatians. He was very upset with them that they had turned back from what he had been teaching, read Gal.1:6-9. He writes to them that even if an angel would come down and teaches differently from what he had been teaching such a one be accursed. We know what Paul taught about the law, which reveals sin, and about his own custom to observe the Sabbath. Nowhere in Galatians Paul is teaching the abolishment of the Seventh-day Sabbath of the Decalogue. He writes against the Jewish days of ceremonies, which are of no value, and he writes against circumcision, Gal.6:15. The Seventh-day Sabbath comes to us from Creation, Gen.2:1, 2 and Exodus 20:8-11. This was before the time of the Jews and before the time of the need for ceremonies to get forgiveness of sin.

As forgiven people by the grace of God and through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, we are saved, not by works, and thus created unto good works. Eph.2:8-10. This means we are under grace, we have peace with God, Rom.5:1 and not under condemnation 8:1. Does that mean we are free from keeping the law including the fourth commandment? The answer is NO and always will be NO. Read John 14:15 where Jesus says, “If you love me keep my commandments, same in 15:14 and 1John 4:3. Those who are saved and now live under grace will have the law in their hearts as Jesus had. They will have a delight in God’s law, Psalms 119:70 as Jesus had a delight in God’s law, They will accept God’s law as God’s instrument for converting us and believing that the law is perfect, Psalms 19:7.. We look in the law as in a mirror (James 1:23 NKJV) and discover we are sinners and in need of a Saviour, the law cannot cleanse, so we turn to Jesus who cleanses us, 1John 1:9.

Let me close with this. God is Holy, residing in the heavenly temple, which is holy. In that temple is the Holy place followed by the most holy place. In the most Holy place is the Ark of the Covenant which contains God’s law which is holy and on which is also written the Seventh-Day Sabbath which is holy of which we have been ask to remember to keep it holy. Exod.20:8. Those who by God’s grace will make it to the Kingdom and there be before God will find that the Sabbath is there, Isaiah 66:23.Why should you not follow Jesus and make it your custom, as Jesus and Paul did and now start to keep the Sabbath, the day of Which Christ is the Lord? Why wait till you are with Jesus and before the Lord in heaven?

November 2011
Jan T. Knopper