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From Sabbath to Sunday
Lesson 34
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Her priests do violence
to my law and profane my holy things; they do not
distinguish between the holy and the common; they
teach that there is no difference between the
unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes
to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am
profaned among them.
- Ezekiel 22:26
Most Christians believe
that Sunday is the Lord’s Day. They believe
that Jesus trans- ferred the sacredness of the
seventh day Sabbath to Sunday, the first day of
the week, at the time of the resurrection. If
Jesus made such a change, there should be
sufficient evidence in the Bible to support this
claim.
Bible review
Eight texts in the New
Testament mention the first day of the week.
Biblical support for the sacredness of Sunday, if
it exists, has come from these verses. Here are
the texts:
Matthew
28:1
Mark
16:2
Mark
16:9
Luke
24:1
John
20:1
John
20:19
Acts
20:7
1
Corinthians 16:2
Six of these texts refer
to Jesus being resurrected on the first day of
the week – a well-known fact. However, none
of these texts indicate anything about Sunday
sacredness. In fact, Luke 23:56 points out that a
group of women delayed preparation of
Christ’s body for burial on Friday evening
because of the nearness of the Sabbath. They
rested on the Sabbath “according to the
{fourth} commandment.” Therefore, it would
be fair to say that the women had no prior
knowledge that the fourth commandment was voided
that Friday afternoon.
Since the first six texts
simply date the resurrection of Jesus on the
first day of the week and say nothing about
Sunday being sacred, we will investigate the
remaining two verses
Acts 20:7
Some people use Acts 20
as evidence to support that Sunday worship was
practiced by the apostles. “On the first day
of the week we came together to break bread. Paul
spoke to t he people and, because he intended to
leave the next day, kept on talking until
midnight.” (Acts 20:7) Let us consider the
details surrounding this verse.
The event recorded in
Acts 20:7 took place about 30 years after Jesus
ascended. During this 30-year interval, there is
not one text in the Bible that describes how
Sunday had become the day of worship or that the
disciples worshiped on Sunday. Surely, if
Jesus’ death on the cross-had made such a
profound change concerning the day of worship,
this would have been a very controversial issue.
All of the disciples, including Paul, were Jews
and as such, were Sabbath keepers! Paul’s
writings leave no doubt that the question of what
was nailed to the cross was a matter of intense
discussion for early believers. I find it
interesting that nothing is written in Acts or
the New Testament about the sudden sacredness of
Sunday or the sudden obsolescence of the Ten
Commandments.
The Apostle Paul stayed
in Athens some length of time preaching the
gospel. (Acts 17) When Paul finally left Athens,
he went to Corinth. There he lived with
Jewish believers, Aquila and Priscilla, who had
been evicted from Rome by Claudius because they
were Jews. (Acts 18) Actually, Aquila and
Priscilla were converts to Christ, but Emperor
Claudius could not distinguish between a
Christian and the “repugnant” Jews, so
the Romans evicted all Christians and Jews from
Rome at this time. For a period of 18 months,
Paul sustained himself in Corinth by making tents
and he preached in the synagogue “every
Sabbath” attempting to make believers of
Jews and Gentiles alike. (See Acts 18.) If the
seventh day Sabbath had been nailed to the cross,
and if Sunday was God’s holy day, why is
there no record of Paul preaching this new
doctrine? Paul wrote 14 of the 27 books in the
New Testament and he says nothing about the
sacredness of Sunday! (Luke wrote the book of
Acts.)
In Bible times, a day
began at sunset and ended the following evening.
Since creation, Earth’s rotation has
produced this great clock. (See Genesis 1.) The
Jews in Christ’s time regarded a day from
“evening to evening” and observed
Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
Compare Luke 23:50-56 with Leviticus 23:32. So,
the actual timing described in Acts 20:7 is as
follows: Paul stayed with the believers in
Troas for seven days. (Acts 20:6) At the
beginning of the first day of the week, at
suppertime, the believers came together to eat
supper with Paul and say goodbye to their dear
friend. The first day of the week for Paul began
at sundown, or what we call Saturday evening,
Therefore, according to Scripture, Paul preached
Saturday night until midnight. A few hours later,
what we call Sunday morning the first day of the
week Paul departed Troas for Assos. If Sunday had
been a sacred day, Paul would not have departed
for Troas. (See Acts 1:12)
Paul met with believers
for supper and preached to them until midnight.
Saturday night. A farewell supper and the
Saturday night Bible study do not change or
abrogate God’s fourth commandment. Even if
Paul chose to worship on Tuesday night, his
actions could not make God’s law void. Only
God can make His law void. Some people claim that
the term the “breaking of bread”
indicates Paul’s visit was a communion or
worship service. This is not true! The disciples
broke bread every day! (Acts 2:46,47 {KJV} in
Luke 24: 13-31, Jesus “broke bread” at
supper time with two of His disciples after
walking with them more than seven miles to
Emmaus. To this day, breaking bread is a custom
in the Orient because bread is often baked so
firm that it has to be literally broken in order
to eat it. As was the custom at Passover, Jesus
“broke bread” with His disciples on
Thursday night during His last Passover and it
was there that He instituted the
“Lord’s Supper.” (John 13)
Jesus’ actions on Thursday night did not
make Thursday a holy day. If this is true,
Paul’s actions in Troas could not make
Sunday holy!
Paul did not confirm or
authorize “Sunday sacredness” in Troas.
Actually, he held a farewell meeting on Saturday
night because he was leaving the following
morning. The point here is that if Christians
wish to exalt Paul’s farewell at Troas as
proof of Sunday sacredness, they should follow
Paul’s example and worship on Saturday night
(between sundown and midnight).
! Corinthians 16:2
Some people insist that
Paul required offerings for the poor be collected
on the first day of the week (as in a church
service). Notice: “Now about the collection
for God’s people: Do what I told the
Galatian churches to do. 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. Then, when I arrive, I will give
letters of introduction to the men you approve
and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.”
(1 Corinthians 16:13)
When this text was
written, Rome was severely persecuting Jews and
Christians. (Jerusalem’s destruction in
A.D.70 occurred about 10 years after this appeal
was written.) Paul appeals to the believers in
Corinth, where he had lived for 18 months, to
help fellow Christians suffering in Jerusalem.
Paul does not hesitate to make this request
because it was customary among Jews to use a
portion of their tithe to help those in financial
need. (Deuteronomy 14:24-26)
In Paul’s day, money
was not a common medium of exchange like it is
today. The exchange of goods and services was
done by barter; that is, a person might trade a
chicken or something for cloth or pottery. Since
Paul would not be able to travel to Jerusalem
with a menagerie of roosters, goats, pottery and
other things of value, he asked the believers in
Corinth to convert their gifts into cash,
“the first thing after the Sabbath has
passed.” Paul suggested they begin each week
by selling something at the bazaar so that he
might be able to gather up a sum of currency.
Paul indicated that “the first day of the
week “was the appropriate day to conducting
this business. Paul did not suggest doing this on
Sabbath because it would have been inappropriate.
(See Nehemiah 13:15.) Obviously, Paul’s
instruction did not change or make the fourth
commandment void.
Thoughts on Roman 6
Some people suggest that
Sunday worship is proper because Jesus arose from
the dead on Sunday morning, the first day of the
week. Yes, the resurrection is important, and the
Bible does provide a celebration of the
resurrection! It is called baptism. Notice what
Paul says, “What shall we say, then? Shall
we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By
no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it
any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us
who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were therefore buried with him
through baptism into death in order that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead through the glory
of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
(Romans 6:1-4) Baptism absolutely does not make
the fourth commandment null and void. Jesus was
baptized at the beginning of His ministry and He
faithfully observed the Sabbath afterwards! (Luke
4:16; Mark 2:27,28)
What was nailed to the
Cross-?
It is common, but not
substantiated argument that the Ten Commandments
were nailed to the cross. However, if this is
true, then whatever happens to the fourth
commandment also happens to the other nine! For
whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at
just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
For he who said, ‘Do not commit
adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not
murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but
commit murder, you have become a
lawbreaker.” (James 2:10,11) If we do away
with the fourth commandment that declares the
seventh day to be a holy day, then the seventh
commandment that says adultery is wrong must be
void as well. Paul wrote, what shall we say,
then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I
would not have known what sin was except through
the law. For I would not have known what coveting
really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not
covet.’” (Romans 7:7)
Many people are surprised
to learn that the ceremonies of the sanctuary
services, which were a shadow or explanation of
the Plan of Salvation, were nailed to the cross.
The key word is shadow. Notice what Paul said,
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity
lives in bodily form, and you have been given
fullness in Christ, who is head over every power
and authority…When you were dead in your
sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful
nature, God made you alive with Christ. He
forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the
written code, with its regulations, that was
against us and that stood opposed to us; he took
it away, nailing it to the cross…Therefore
do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or
drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a
New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are
a shadow of the things that were to come; the
reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let
anyone who delights in false humility and the
worship of angels disqualify you for the
prize…” (Colossians 2:9-18)
If we look at these
verses carefully, we see that Paul is writing
about the regulations regarding religious feasts,
New Moon observances and Sabbath days. The
Sabbath days that Paul is talking about is not
the seventh day Sabbath of the fourth
commandment. Rather, the term “Sabbath
days” in this context applies to Sabbath
“feast days,” such as the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, or the Day of Atonement.
(Exodus 12:16; Leviticus 16:31) The feast days of
the Jews fell on different days of the week (like
our birthday). These feasts days declared to be
“special Sabbaths “because they pointed
forward to different aspects of the death and
ministry of Jesus. For example, the Passover not
only reminded the Jews of their deliverance from
Egypt, but it also pointed forward to the time
when the Passover Lamb- Jesus Christ – would
die and all who put their faith in Him could be
delivered from the bondage of sin!
The Jews confused the Ten
Commandments law of God with the laws of Moses,
much like Christians do today. Even though one
set of laws was written with God’s finger on
two tablets of stone, and the other penned by the
hand of Moses, the Jews did not understand the
relationship between moral law (written by the
finger of God) and the ceremonial laws (written
by the hand of Moses). One law is permanent and
enduring while the other was temporary.
Understanding Shadows
Paul speaks plainly in
Colossians 2 and Ephesians 2 disclosing that the
laws nailed to the cross were those laws that
were shadows of the real thing. Laws that
governed the constitution of Israel ended at the
cross. Since the shadows have been voided, there
is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ. The
ceremonial laws requiring the observance of new
moons, feast days and the sacrifice of lambs
became unnecessary because the Lamb of God had
died and the shadow of salvation’s process
was now fully disclosed. In other words,
ceremonial laws were temporary until Jesus
revealed the meaning. Moral laws are not
temporary, because love never ends. One set of
laws was written on paper, the other on stone.
One law was penned by a man; the other, by God.
Surely this reveals something about their
enduring nature. A time is coming during the
Great Tribulation when everyone living on Earth
will see the ark that contains the covenant, the
Ten Commandments. In Revelation 11, the Bible
says that God’s temple in Heaven was opened
and everyone saw the Ark of the Covenant.
(Revelation 11:19; Deuteronomy 4:13)
Which is the Greatest
Law?
As you might expect of a
legalistic society, the Jews loved to argue about
their laws. An expert lawyer challenged Jesus
asking which law was the greatest. (Matthew
22:24-40) Of course, Jesus answered wisely saying
that “loving God” with all of our
heart, mind and soul is the greatest commandment,
and the second is like the first, we are to
“love our neighbors as ourselves.” The
Ten Commandments actually define the reciprocal
of love. If we love God, we will want to comply
with the first four commandments and more! The
first four commandments define what love for God
produces. Likewise, if we love our neighbor, we
will want to comply with the last six
commandments and more. When we love our
neighbors, we will not want to steal from them
because we want the best for them. Love is
expressed in giving, not taking.
If we become
self-centered and love ourselves more than God or
our neighbor, our relationship with God’s
law changes 180 degrees. Instead of loving
God’s law, it becomes a legal standard for
behavior rather than love serving as the standard
for righteousness. Self-righteousness focuses on
conformity to the law, whereas a life of love and
faith focuses on fulfilling the principles of
love. When the widow gave her mite, Jesus said
she had given more than anyone else present. She
responded out of love and she gave all that she
had while the others had given out of obligation.
(Luke 21:3,4) Because of their carnal hearts, the
religion of the Jews degenerated into a legal
system of darkness. When God’s law is
imposed on the carnal heart, the response is
either defiant rebellion or the religious
experience that follows is miserable and
unbearable. (Matthew 23:2-15)
What About Romans 14?
Romans 14 is also used to
prove that it does not matter which day of the
week we worship God. Notice the text:
“Accept him whose faith is weak, without
passing judgment on disputable matters. One
man’s faith allows him to eat everything,
but another man, whose faith is weak, only eats
vegetables. The man who eats everything must not
look down on him who does not, and the man who
does eat everything must not condemn the man who
does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to
judge someone else’s servant? To his master
he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the
Lord is able to make him stand. One man considers
one day more sacred than another; another man
considers every day alike. Each one should be
fully convinced in his own mind. He, who regards
one day as special, does so to the Lord. He, who
eats meals, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks
to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord
and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to
himself alone and none of us dies to himself
alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we
die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or
die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason,
Christ died and returned to life so that he might
be Lord of both the dead and the living. You,
then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do
you look down on your brother? For we will all
stand before God’s judgment seat.”
(Romans 14:1-10)
The context of these
verses does not imply that a person can worship
God whenever he or she feels like it. Instead, it
is addressing specific problems that early Roman
believers had to deal with; namely, the numerous
customs of the Jews that have nothing to do with
salvation through faith in Christ. In other
words, if a Jewish believer felt the need to
continue observing Passover, Paul did not condemn
him except to say that his faith was weak. Also,
if a new believer could not consciously eat meat
purchased in the marketplace for fear it had not
been killed correctly or that it may have been
offered to idols. Paul said to leave him alone!
(The Jews would not purchase or eat meat unless
it was killed according to Mosaic code. Leviticus
19:26) The point here is that Paul is not
condemning lawlessness. Paul does not declare the
fourth commandment null and void. Paul is
advocating tolerance because he knew that the
more a person understands Jesus, the greater will
be his religious experience.
Pentecost on Sunday
Another argument used to
support Sunday worship is that Pentecost came on
Sunday during the year Christ died. Somehow, this
is supposed to prove that Sunday is God’s
holy day. Interesting enough, Pentecost always
falls on Sunday! The wave sheaf offering was made
on the first Sunday after Passover and after
seven full weeks or seven Sabbaths had passed,
Pentecost occurred on the 50th day
(counting inclusively). This means that Pentecost
always occurred on a Sunday. (Leviticus 23). The
annual Feast of Weeks occurred on Sunday for more
than a millennium before Jesus came to Earth. The
fact that the Feast of Weeks was regularly
celebrated on Sunday cannot make the fourth
commandment void. One last point. Some people
claim that nine of the Ten Commandments are
mentioned in the New Testament, but the fourth
commandment is missing. This statement is not
true. Even if were true, does the absence of the
fourth commandment in the New Testament prove
that the commandment is void. A more reasonable
explanation of this absence is that New Testament
writers never doubted the continuing presence of
the seventh day Sabbath. Paul removes any doubt
for us when he wrote in A.D.63, “There
remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of
God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also
rests from his own work, just as God did from
his.” (Hebrews 4:9,10)
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