SATURDAY OR SUNDAY AS A DAY OF WORSHIP?
A great deal of argument has
been made throughout the history of the church as to which day of the week
should be the Christian day of worship.
In the Old Testament era, the Lord instituted the Sabbath, the seventh
day of the week, as a day of remembrance and rest. Most Christian churches throughout history
have observed Sunday, the first day of the week as a day of worship.
BIBLICAL TESTIMONY TO
SUNDAY WORSHIP
The first gathering of the
disciples following the resurrection took place on a Sunday (John 20:19). It was at that time that Jesus revealed
Himself to all of the apostles save Thomas.
A week later they were again gathered together and again Jesus revealed
Himself to them on the first day of the week (John 20:26).
The first meeting of the
church took place on a Sunday. This was
on the day of Pentecost. That feast took
place 50 days after the seventh Sabbath of the Feast of Firstfruits
(Leviticus 23:16). This means that the
Feast of Pentecost ALWAYS took place upon the first day of the week.
Both Christ’s resurrection
and His Spirit’s descent took place on the first or “eighth” day of the
week. It is significant to look at the
seventh day and eighth day rituals of the Old Testament.
|
Seventh Day Rituals |
Eighth Day Rituals |
||
|
Sabbath |
Fulfilled in Christ’s death
and 7th day rest in the tomb. |
Circumcision |
Fulfilled in the
Resurrection and the resulting giving of His Spirit |
|
Passover |
Feast of Unleavened bread |
||
|
Sabbatical Year |
1st and 8th day of the
Feast of Tabernacles |
||
|
Jubilee |
|||
Just as all the Old Testament
“seven-day” rituals — the Saturday Sabbath, the Passover, the Sabbath year,
etc. — were fulfilled in Christ’s death and seventh-day rest of death in the
tomb, so too were all the Old Testament "eighth-day" rituals —
circumcision, the first day of the unleavened bread, the first and the eighth
days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the feast of trumpets on the first day of the
month, all ritual cleansings on the eighth day, the jubilee year and of course
the fiftieth (7 x 7 + 1) day of Pentecost — precisely fulfilled in
Christ’s new life on Resurrection Sunday the first day of the week and in
Christ’s outpouring of His life-giving Spirit on the first day of the eighth (7
+ 1) week after the Passover, Pentecost Sunday.
Paul indicates in his epistle
to the Corinthians that they were to put aside a special offering on the first
day of every week. This necessarily
assumes that the Corinthian Christians were already meeting together on the
first day of every week.
Now
concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of
The fact that this was a
collection by the church and not merely individual savings accounts in view is
seen that the entire purpose for this command was so that no collections be made when Paul finally did come.
The only two references to
the specific day on which the church met (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2) place
that meeting on the first day of the week.
There is not a single instance anywhere in the New Testament where we
read of the church meeting on the Sabbath day.
When Paul came to
On
the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul
began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his
message until midnight (Acts 20:7).
The purpose of this gathering
was for the breaking of bread, but that did not actually take place until after
midnight, because his message was prolonged.
The passage goes on to say that after they did eat, he talked with them
a long while until daybreak, and then left (Acts 20:11).
There are some who want to
say that this meeting took place on Saturday evening after the sun had set,
thus marking the beginning of a new day which could have been classified as
“the first day of the week.”
However, the passage goes on to add that he was “intending to leave
the next day” and that he actually did depart at “the break of day.” This disproves the Saturday evening theory,
for then the passage would have said that Paul was ready to depart on that same
day rather than on the next day.
POST-BIBLICAL TESTIMONY TO
SUNDAY WORSHIP
Possible the earliest
post-Biblical documentary testimonial to Sunday worship is the Epistle of
Barnabas written between 70-100 A.D.
Finally He saith
to them; Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot
away with. Ye see what is His meaning ; it is not your
present Sabbaths that are acceptable [unto Me], but the Sabbath which I have
made, in the which, when I have set all things at rest, I will make the beginning
of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world. 9
Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the
which also Jesus rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended
into the heavens. (Translation
by Lightfoot — Epistle of Barnabas 15:8-9).
This is explicit to point out
that it was the habit of Christians to keep the eighth day for rejoicing
as opposed to those present Jewish Sabbaths that were considered to be
unacceptable.
Justin Martyr gives this
testimony in the second century: And on the day called Sunday, all who live
in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of
the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits;
then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts
to the imitation of these good things. (First Apology
67).
The Epistle to the Magnesians was written by Bishop Ignatius of
A bit further, he continues
his exhortation:
Let us therefore no longer keep
the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for
"he that does not work, let him not eat." For say the oracles, "In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat thy bread."
But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing
in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the
workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using
lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in
dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And after the observance of
the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the
resurrection‑day, the queen and chief of all the days. Looking forward to
this, the prophet declared, "To the end, for the eighth day," on
which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in
Christ, whom the children of perdition, the enemies of the Saviour,
deny, "whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things,"who
are "lovers of pleasure, and not lovers of God, having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof." (Epistle to the Magnesians 9).
Notice that Ignatius
specifically distinguished between the observance of the Sabbath versus the
Lord’s Day as that which was observed as the eighth day.
Emperor Constantine’s statute
of 321 A.D. did not inaugurate Sunday worship at all, but was merely a civil
enactment to guarantee Sunday as a public day of rest to his subjects who had
been observing Sunday for countless years beforehand
CONCLUSION
Paul warns against judging
others over non-essentials and he specifically uses the example of the
observance of days to make his point when he says: One man regards one day above another,
another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own
mind. (Romans 14:5). While it can be
established that Christians throughout history have generally adopted a Sunday worship as an ongoing memorial of the resurrection
of Christ, we ought not to pass judgment upon those who regard a different day
upon which to worship.
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