Much of Christendom attaches special significance to Sunday. From early Sunday morning and into the evening, church bells around the world ring out that it is time for worship.
This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).
Pastors proclaim this verse to their congregations, lifting their voices in praise to God. And the congregations respond:
I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122:1).
Whenever it seems appropriate to admonish their congregations to more faithful church attendance, pastors emphasize the instruction of these words:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together [sometimes adding: "on the first day of the week" or "on Sunday''] as is the manner of some; but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25).
The application of these verses to Sunday has become so common that rarely is there a thought that no specific weekday may be intended at all.
The appropriateness of setting Sunday aside as a day of worship is something the average churchgoer never questions, assuming that Sunday has always been the day that Christians go to church.
Why should there be any question? Yet the assumption must be challenged. Many questions bring the assumption into doubt!
Beginning the Investigation
According to the Reformation principle of sola Scriptura, Christian beliefs and practices should be based solely on the Bible. If Sunday is to be the day of Christian worship, it is reasonable to expect scriptural confirmation from God's Word.
For centuries the majority of Christendom has held that Christ's resurrection marked the inauguration of Sunday as a new day of worship, replacing the so-called "Jewish Sabbath." Many also believe the apostles began to use Sunday as a day of assembly and worship soon after Christ's resurrection. Contrary to this common belief, the apostolic church continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath after the death and resurrection of Christ.
The book of Acts records a cumulative total of 84 Sabbath gatherings at which the apostle Paul preached to both Jews and Gentiles (see Acts 13:14, 42, 44; 16:13; 17:2-4; 18:4, 11). In contrast, the first day of the week is referred to in only eight verses of the New Testament. Only one of these verses reports a worship service. Many feel that these eight references provide proof, either by implication or distinct expression, that Sunday has superseded the Sabbath as the God-ordained day of rest and worship.
"First Day" References
The eight passages in the New Testament that refer to the first day of the week are examined below to determine their relevance to the subject:
1. The first day after the Sabbath when the two Marys came to Jesus' tomb:
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb (Matthew 28:1).
No sanctity or religious significance is attached to Sunday in this verse. It simply gives the day and time of day when the two Marys visited the tomb. Scholars date the writing of Matthew's Gospel anywhere from A.D. 50 to as late as A.D. 100 - somewhere between 16 and 60 years after the Crucifixion. Yet after all that time, Matthew said nothing whatever about Sunday being celebrated as a day of worship, either when discussing the accusations against Jesus for breaking the Pharisee's Sabbath traditions, or when narrating the events of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. If Sunday were intended to have any religious significance, or if the first century Christian community had attached religious significance to the day, it is peculiar that Matthew made no comment about it.
2. The day when Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus:
Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen (Mark 16:2).
This account also refers to the day and time when women went to the tomb. They arrived on Sunday morning to anoint Jesus' body. They found He was not there; He had already risen and had left the tomb. The statement of women visiting the tomb early Sunday morning and finding it empty should not be assigned doctrinal significance relating to a day of worship. The Bible makes no hints to such an application.
Mark is thought to have written his Gospel between A.D. 55 and 70, some 20 to 35 years after the Crucifixion. He was closely associated with both Peter and Paul, from whom he learned many of the facts recorded in his Gospel narrative, and became thoroughly acquainted with the doctrines they taught. Yet Mark's entire Gospel is silent as to any significance being attached to the first day of the week.
3. The day on which Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection:
Now when He rose early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons (Mark 16:9).
The two oldest Greek codices (A and B), along with many other manuscript and patristic witnesses, do not contain Mark 16:9-20. Several translations say the most reliable early manuscripts omit Mark 16:9-20. For example: "The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20" (footnote in the New International Version).
Whether verses 9-20 are a valid portion of Holy Scriptures or not, they provide no evidence for terminating Sabbath in favor of Sunday observance.
4. The day on which an unspecified number of Galilean women visited Jesus' tomb:
Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared (Luke 24:1).
The primary intent of this passage, as with all other Resurrection accounts, is not to determine either the day or the hour of Jesus' resurrection, but rather to document the Resurrection as evidenced by the empty tomb and the witness of the angels. The women came early on Sunday morning only to find Jesus had already risen. Luke's Gospel also gives no religious significance to the first day of the week.
Luke is thought to have written the book of Acts about A.D. 63, and his Gospel was written prior to that. Both books were written between 20 and 30 years after the Crucifixion. Neither book gives any significance to the first day of the week other than to state when events occurred.
Luke's lack of mentioning any suspension of Sabbathkeeping or commencement of observing Sunday, after years of associating with Paul, is significant. As a careful historian, he would certainly have documented the turmoil caused by such a change, as carefully as he did the turmoil surrounding the matter of circumcision.
5. The day on which Mary Magdalene visited the tomb:
On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb (John 20:1).
The first day of the week is mentioned here in the same manner as in Luke 24:1: only as part of a historical narrative designating the time of her visit to the tomb. John's Gospel also does not indicate religious significance being attached to the day.
6. A time after His resurrection when Jesus appeared to His disciples:
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you" (John 20:19).
It is certain the disciples were assembled "for fear of the Jews." It is not certain and not indicated that they gathered for worship. It is not indicated that they sang, had prayer, or read the Scriptures, nor what their discussions may have been about.
The Resurrection is not mentioned; nothing is said of terminating Sabbath observance; nothing is said of celebrating the Resurrection; nothing is said about future gatherings on any day or date. The occasion in John 20:19 was used by the Lord to strengthen the disciples' faith and to set their hearts at peace. Neither the text nor the context suggest a change of days for regular worship.
John's Gospel is thought to have been written about A.D. 90, some 50 years or more after the Crucifixion. John also does not allude to a change from Sabbath to Sunday, nor to any significance being attached to the first day of the week. Strange that after so long he gives no hint at such change.
7. A day on which the disciples came together to break bread:
Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight (Acts 20:7).
If the meeting began at the start of the first day of the week (our Saturday night), it continued until Sunday morning. The worship portion was late Saturday night. It gives no support to the idea of regular daylight worship services on any day of the week. Nothing is said of its being a sacred day; no suggestion is made of repeating the meeting on any subsequent first day of the week.
The purpose of the gathering "to break bread" is often declared to mean holding a communion service. This text does not reveal the disciples' "breaking bread" had anything to do with a communion service. Breaking bread was a common expression referring to eating a meal.
The Bible does not suggest that any day of the week began to be linked with observing communion. Acts 20:7 is presented in the same manner of Acts 2:46: "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts." It could have been said of any day of the week that the disciples came together to break bread, and no such account would establish a substitute day of worship!
8. The day on which each individual member of the Corinthian church was to set aside or save money for the poor saints in Jerusalem:
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made (1 Corinthians 16:2, NIV).
This verse does not suggest or command that a worship or religious service be held. No meeting is suggested; rather, "each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up." No prayer, no singing, no preaching are mentioned, and nothing is said about the people's fulfilling Paul's instructions in a meeting or worship service. Paul's stipulation "so that when I come no collections will have to be made" certainly does not suggest a pattern of activity being established for customary meeting times.
Paul's admonition is to individuals ("each one of you," or literally in Greek, "each of you by himself"). He requested that they "should set aside a sum of money" as a contribution for the destitute saints in Jerusalem. This most naturally would have been accomplished by individuals in their own homes.
The natural interpretation of Paul's instructions is as follows: Paul was coming; the collection was to be done before he came; and the instructions would be completely fulfilled when their gifts were carried to Jerusalem.
To conclude that this verse proves Sunday was a regularly recognized day of religious worship - complete with passing a collection plate - is to assume much more than is evident.
The Lord's Day
The expression the Lord's Day is found only once in the Bible, in Revelation 1:10. In this instance, it is used without signifying a relationship to any day of the week. John wrote "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." It is commonly acknowledged that this term specifies a specific day pertaining to the Lord. But what "day"?
For centuries, Sunday has been popularly termed "the Lord's Day." According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "the first writer who mentions the name of Sunday as applicable to the Lord's day is Justin Martyr; this designation of the first day of the week, which is of heathen origin (see Sabbath, vol. xxi, p. 126), had come into general use in the Roman world shortly before Justin wrote."1
Justin Martyr wrote about A.D. 150. Since his day, it has remained a foregone conclusion that Sunday is "the Lord's Day." This introduction of the concept that "Lord's Day" meant the first day of the week is an extra-biblical concept, without scriptural support.
It should not be assumed that because certain men, writing one to three hundred years after John, used "Lord's Day" as a synonym for Sunday, that John himself must have intended the same thing. Since John did not define "the Lord's Day" in his own writings, and since he incidentally used the term without amplification, it should not be cited as a "proof text" for making holy a day that it does not identify.
If John truly had a day of the week in mind with his use of "the Lord's Day," it would be more logical to assume that the seventh-day Sabbath was intended, since the Bible does not identify any other day in that manner. The Lord said through Isaiah, "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day" (58:13); and Mark records that Jesus said, "Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath" (2:28).
Another view suggests that John did not have a day of the week in mind at all. Rather, Revelation 1:10 refers to John's transportation in spiritual ecstasy into the final "Day of the Lord." The term Lord's Day would therefore parallel the eschatological expression "day of the Lord" in such texts as 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; and 2 Thessalonians 2:2.
Although John does not use the usual New Testament Greek phrase for "day
of the Lord," this in itself does not rule out the possibility that
"Lord's Day" is to be understood in an eschatological sense. W. E.
Vine in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, under the
heading "Day," states:
As the "day" throws light upon things that have been in darkness, the word [day] is often associated with the passing of judgment upon circumstances. In 1 Corinthians 4:3, "man's day," A.V., "man's judgment," R.V., denotes mere human judgment upon matters ("man's" translates the adjective anthropinos, human), a judgment exercised in the present period of human rebellion against "God;" probably therefore "the Lord's day," Revelation 1:10, or 'the Day of the Lord' (where an adjective, kuriakos, is similarly used), is the Day of His manifested judgment of the world. 2
In summary, care should be taken to attach no greater emphasis upon Revelation 1:10 than was intended. John's incidental and undefined reference to "the Lord's Day" is not ground for driving hard and fast theological tenets.
Conclusion
As we have seen, there is a total of only three "Sundays" mentioned in the New Testament. The six references to Sunday found in the Gospels refer to the same day - the day the women found the empty tomb and Jesus appeared to His disciples. The second Sunday concerns Paul's farewell meeting with the disciples. The third Sunday concerns the day Corinthian believers were to set aside their contributions for the poor of Jerusalem.
After reviewing each of these references, we find that none give scriptural authority to the notion that Sunday has replaced the Sabbath as the day of rest and worship. The time references in all eight of the first-day passages have no more apparent theological significance than to tell when things happened.
The crucial, underlying issue is this: On what basis shall Christian belief and practice be determined? On the Bible? Or on assumptions and traditions?
The process by which Sunday became the customary day for assembly and worship exposes a willingness to read into the Scriptures intentions and meanings not at all evident. This process attaches more importance to assumptions than to clear, biblical statements of God's will.
In question is the basis of valid spiritual authority: Is the Bible to be our sole basis of spiritual authority, or are we willing to supplement and supplant the teachings of the Bible with extra-biblical tradition?
Sola scriptura - the Bible alone - was supposedly accepted by Protestant Christians as the final rule for faith and practice. "The Bible alone" standard challenges us to return to the biblical seventh-day Sabbath, not substituting Sunday in place of the day of the week God blessed and made holy.
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. xxii, article "Sunday" (The Werner Company, New York and Chicago, 1898), p. 654.
2. W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Fleming H. Revell Company, Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1940), p. 271.
