Is Sunday Sacred?

As you ask yourself that question, remember that God instituted the seventh
day Sabbath at creation. In Genesis chapter 2 we see that God blessed and
sanctified the seventh day. To sanctify means to set apart to God for a holy
purpose. God also reiterated the importance of the Sabbath by writing it with
His own finger in stone at the heart of the Ten Commandments. Jesus kept the
Sabbath. Jesus' followers kept the Sabbath. God showed the prophet Isaiah
that we would be keeping the Sabbath for eternity in Heaven. With all that in
mind, read the following eight scripture texts. These are the only references to
the first day of the week, Sunday, in the whole New Testament. As you read
these texts, ask yourself these questions: "Do any of these texts even suggest
that God ordered the solemnity of the Sabbath to be transferred from Saturday
to Sunday? Are any of these instances enough to say that God altered His
final act of creation and modified one of His Ten Commandments?"

Five of the 'First Day' texts speak only about the fact of the resurrection,
without mention of any more symbolic meaning. Please look each of these
texts up in your own Bible to see the context as well.

Matt 28:1
1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the
week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.

Mark 16:1-2
1 And when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the
mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint
Him.
2 And very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb
when the sun had risen.

Mark 16:9-11
9 Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week , He first
appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.
10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were
mourning and weeping.
11 And when they heard that He was alive, and had been seen by her, they
refused to believe it.

Luke 23:56-24:3
56 And they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the
Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb,
bringing the spices which they had prepared.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

John 20:1
1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the
tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the
tomb.

Far from transferring the solemnity of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday,
these verses actually contrast the two days and reiterate that the Sabbath was
still intact.

Does this sixth verse show the disciples worshiping together in celebration
of the Sabbath day?

John 20:19
19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week,
and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the
Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, "Peace {be} with
you."

Yes, the Disciples were gathered together. But it wasn't to worship God and
celebrate the resurrection! This verse says that they were gathered together
for fear of the Jews. Most of the disciples did not even believe that Jesus had
actually risen from the dead. This was the first time that He appeared to them
as a group. Was the Sabbath changed from Saturday to Sunday by this verse?
I don't think so.

Is the gathering described below a worship celebration of the Sabbath

day?

Acts 20:6-13
6 And we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and
came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days .
7 And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to
break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day,
and he prolonged his message until midnight.
8 And there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered
together.
9 And there was a certain young man named Eutychus sitting on the
window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was
overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead.
10 But Paul went down and fell upon him and after embracing him, he said,
"Do not be troubled, for his life is in him."
11 And when he had gone back up, and had broken the bread and eaten, he
talked with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed .
12 And they took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.
13 But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there
to take Paul on board; for thus he had arranged it, intending himself to go by
land.

Paul was on his last visit to the churches he had planted. He was on his way
to Jerusalem where he knew he would be imprisoned and eventually taken to
Rome to be put to death. He knew that he would never see these people again.
So they were breaking bread together - having a communion service in
celebration of the Sabbath, right? Wrong. The Bible often uses the term
'breaking bred' to mean simply eating a meal together. See the example below.

Acts 2:46
46 And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking
bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with
gladness and sincerity of heart,

Actually, this meeting apparently began on a Saturday evening. It could very

well have begun as a Sabbath vespers service, closing out the Sabbath day. It
says that the meeting continued on until well past midnight. The main reason
that the meeting continued was because Paul was leaving the following
morning, on Sunday. That is also an indication that Sunday was not being
observed as the Sabbath day. Paul would never have taken an extended trip by
foot and then ship on a day that he was observing as the Sabbath. Actually,
the main reason that this story is included in the book of Acts is because of the
miraculous healing that God did through Paul - not because of their worship
meeting on this day. Incidentally, there is no prohibition against worshiping
God on Sunday - or any other day of the week for that matter. We should
worship God every day! But we are only commanded to set aside the Sabbath
day as holy to the Lord.

Is Paul holding a worship service and taking up an offering in celebration

of the Sabbath in the following text?

1 Cor 16:1-4
1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of
Galatia, so do you also.
2 On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save,
as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.
3 And when I arrive, whomever you may approve, I shall send them with
letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem;
4 and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.

He's taking up a collection. It must be a Sabbath worship service, right? Look

again. The text says that they should put aside the money on the first day so
that no collection should have to be made when he comes. They are also
instructed to put aside by themselves, not in a group collection. Paul is simply
reiterating the Biblical principle of giving out of your first fruits rather than
your leftovers. So is this a Sabbath day observance on the first day of the
week? What do you think?

So now you have seen the only eight verses that mention the first day of the
week, Sunday, in the whole New Testament. Did God indicate in any of
these instances that the solemnity of the Sabbath was transferred from
Saturday to Sunday? What would you say?

What about the Lord's Day? Doesn't the Bible talk about that? Isn't that
Sunday?

Rev 1:9-10
9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom
and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, because
of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud
voice like {the sound} of a trumpet,

John did get his vision of the Revelation on 'the Lord's Day'. By the way, this
is the only time in the whole bible that the term 'Lord's Day' is ever used. But
look back at the text. Does it say that the 'Lord's Day' is Sunday? No. It
doesn't say what day of the week it is. For clarification on John's meaning,
maybe we should look elsewhere in scripture to see what day John could have
been referring to.

What day does the Bible describe as God's special day?

Isa 58:13
13 "If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own
pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the
LORD honorable, and shall honor it, desisting from your own ways, from
seeking your {own} pleasure, and speaking {your own} word,

Exod 20:10
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God ; in it you
shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your
female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.

Don't we honor Jesus' resurrection by observing Sunday as the Sabbath?

Jesus did rise on Sunday, and that is certainly one of the most significant days
to the Christian. But Jesus also died on Friday, but we don't try to transfer the
Sabbath to that day. Good Friday is equally important in Christian theology,
for we were justified by His death and sanctified by the power of His
resurrection. The two must work together for our salvation. Jesus did give us
a symbol to remember his death burial and resurrection, but it was not by
transferring the solemnity of the Sabbath to Sunday.
What two symbols did Jesus give us as a reminder of His death, burial
and resurrection?

1 Cor 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the
Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is My body,
which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
25 In the same way {He took} the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup
is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink {it,} in
remembrance of Me."
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim
the Lord's death until He comes.

Rom 6:3-11
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death,
in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the
Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with {Him} in the likeness of His death,
certainly we shall be also {in the likeness} of His resurrection ,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with {Him,} that our body of
sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die
again; death no longer is master over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that
He lives, He lives to God.
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ
Jesus.

Jesus gave us the rights of the Lord's Supper and baptism to be reminders and
symbols of our participation in His death, burial, and resurrection. He did not
instruct us to remember those days by observing Sunday as the Sabbath. The
Sabbath is and always has been the seventh day - Saturday.

If Jesus and the disciples did not transfer the sanctity of the Sabbath from
Saturday to Sunday, then why does the majority of the Christian world
observe Sunday as the Sabbath?

Actually, most of the Christian world does not observe Sunday as the Sabbath.
Just going to a church service on Sunday does not make it a holy day. But
there is a reason that much of the Christian world goes to church on Sunday.
Very early on, the Catholic Church attempted to transfer the solemnity of the
Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in the Council of Laodicea in AD 336. Read
this excerpt from the Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (TAN Books
and Publishers, Rockford, IL, 1977).

Q. What is the Third Commandment? (They even got the

numbers wrong.)

A. The Third Commandment is: Remember that thou keep

holy the Sabbath Day.

Q. Which is the Sabbath day?

A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the

Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to
Sunday.

Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for

Saturday?

A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the

plentitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed
upon her.

The observance of Sunday as the bible Sabbath was instituted by the Catholic
church. After the Protestant reformation, the Catholic church claimed the
Sunday Sabbath as the MARK of her ecclesiastical authority because the
Protestant churches followed her lead on this subject in opposition to the
directives of the bible. Note this but one of many quotes by Catholic
authorities on the subject:

AProtestants accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day

of public worship after the Catholic church made the
change...But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize
that...in observing Sunday, they are accepting the authority of
the spokesman for the church, the Pope. - AOur Sunday
Visitor, Feb 5, 1950.

That might sound good, but Jesus has an answer to such presumption on
the part of men.

Mark 7:7-8
7 'But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of
men.'
8 "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."

God blessed and sanctified the seventh day, and neither the Catholic church
nor any of the Protestant churches has the authority to change what God
has ordained.