The arguments for Sunday

[visionary]

One scripture commonly cited to justify Sunday worship is Revelation 1:10, where John wrote, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day…” Some believe this means John was worshipping on Sunday and had the vision on that day. But nowhere does the Bible define “Lord’s Day” as the first day of the week. As a matter of fact, this is the only place this term is used in the Bible, which would hardly be the case if the Church had been observing Sunday for years, as some contend.

If this were referring to a day of the week, we would have to conclude that John meant the seventh day, since God called the Sabbath “My holy day … the holy day of the Lord” (Isaiah 58:13) and Yeshua said He was the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28, not some other day of the week.

However, the context of John’s vision shows that John wasn’t referring to a day of the week at all. Instead, he meant that the vision transported him into the future time the Bible elsewhere calls the “day of the Lord,” “day of the Lord Jesus Christ” or “day of Christ” (Jeremiah 46:10; Acts 2:20; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10).

These terms are not speaking of a specific single day. Instead, they refer to the end-time period when Yeshua will return to personally and directly intervene in human affairs. Thus, these terms indicate the end of the age of man’s self-rule and the beginning of the age of God’s rule over all nations through Christ. This is the theme of the book of Revelation and the “Lord’s Day” John saw in vision.

 

[visionary]

Another scripture some believe shows the New Testament Church observed Sunday is Acts 20:7: “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.”

Some think that “break[ing] bread” refers exclusively to the ceremony in which Christians partake of bread and wine in commemoration of Christ’s death. So they conclude that the verse here concerns a religious service on the first day of the week. However, that commemoration is supposed to take place once a year at the festival of Passover (see the Bible study aid booklet God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind .) Moreover, breaking bread is not limited to religious observance, but refers to dividing flat loaves of bread for a typical meal.

“It means to partake of food and is used of eating as in a meal . . . The readers [of the original New Testament letters and manuscripts] could have had no other idea or meaning in their minds” (E.W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, 1991, pp. 839-840).

This is proven by the fact that after Paul finished speaking they again broke bread and ate (Acts 20:11). Breaking bread to eat a meal is mentioned in Luke 24:30, Luke 24:35 and Acts 27:35.

The timing of the events in Acts 20 helps us to understand more clearly. Acts 20:7-11 describe several events of one night. Since the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, counts days as beginning when the sun goes down, these events began with a meal on Saturday evening after the Sabbath, which would have been the only evening on “the first day of the week.” Several translations, including the New English Bible, Revised English Bible, Good News Bible, The New Testament in Modern English and the Complete Jewish Bible, state unequivocally that this occurred on Saturday night.

Paul planned to leave the next day for another city, so he stayed and spoke long into the night. At midnight one young man in the congregation fell asleep, tumbled from the window where he sat and was killed in the fall. Paul rushed to the young man, who miraculously came back to life. After that, the group broke bread and ate again, talking almost until dawn. Paul departed at daybreak.

After speaking and talking all night, Paul the next morning walked almost 20 miles to Assos to meet the rest of the people in his group who had sailed there (Acts 20:11-14). So rather than describing a religious service on Sunday, this passage actually documents Paul walking almost 20 miles on foot on the first day of the week— hardly making it a day of rest and worship for him!

 

[visionary]

Some people assume that 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 refers to taking up a collection during a Sunday religious service. However, a closer look shows that this is not what Paul means. Although the Bible says the collection took place on the first day of the week, nowhere does it say that a church service was involved.

This was a special collection “for the saints,” members of the church in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:1-3). It was part of a wider relief effort involving other members in Galatia (1 Corinthians 16:1), Macedonia and Achaia (Romans 15:25-26), as well as those in Corinth to whom Paul wrote. This outpouring of support may have been that described in Acts 11, when a famine prompted members to send “relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea … by the hands of Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 11:28-30).

Paul gives no indication that this collection was to be taken up at a religious service. On the contrary, he tells the Corinthians, “Let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2). These contributions were to be “laid aside” and “stored up” by “each one of you” as an individual act, not brought to a church service and collected there. To say this is an account of a collection taken up during a Sunday worship service is to read into the Bible an unwarranted personal interpretation.

Scripture contains no other passages that mention anything remotely resembling weekly religious services on the first day of the week. The New Testament was written over a span of more than 60 years after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, and nowhere does it even hint at the day of rest being changed to Sunday.

 

[Alithis]

that's all great info refuting sunday..

mind you i always thought rome instituted SUN-day because constantine was actualy a high priest in the pagan worship of the false sun god and that is why he favours SUNday and why to this day the image of the SUN around the head of the child sun-god is still prominent .oh wait.. that IS why he instituted SUNday .

after that ,over centuries it became tradition based on ..tradition . it has no direct unambiguous scriptural origin.. -like so many man made traditions .

 

[Stravinsk]

As inconvenient as it is to 7th Day Adventists, Messianic Jews, Jews and any others who keep Saturday, and to Christians who keep Sunday...

I do not think that the true Sabbath can be either of those days. For nature does not reveal this. And according to Genesis, the heavenly bodies are in place to mark "days, seasons and years".

How is Sabbath identified by the heavenly bodies then? How is "Sunday" identified, or "Saturday" or any other day by any heavenly body? They aren't.

I've brought this up before, at the other place, and here as well I think, but once again I pose the question:

If a group of people are shipwrecked on an island and have no way to contact the outside world, they have no time pieces or calendars, are all disoriented and have no idea what day it is -

How do they find the Sabbath? Do they just pick a day arbitrarily and count off 7 days from that?

 

[psalms 91]

Personally I think the important thing is to keep a sabbeth.

 

[Alithis]

As inconvenient as it is to 7th Day Adventists, Messianic Jews, Jews and any others who keep Saturday, and to Christians who keep Sunday...

I do not think that the true Sabbath can be either of those days. For nature does not reveal this. And according to Genesis, the heavenly bodies are in place to mark "days, seasons and years".

How is Sabbath identified by the heavenly bodies then? How is "Sunday" identified, or "Saturday" or any other day by any heavenly body? They aren't.

I've brought this up before, at the other place, and here as well I think, but once again I pose the question:

If a group of people are shipwrecked on an island and have no way to contact the outside world, they have no time pieces or calendars, are all disoriented and have no idea what day it is -

How do they find the Sabbath? Do they just pick a day arbitrarily and count off 7 days from that?

have raised that question myself before, asking if the day they presently call "the sabbath .. is actually the 7th day of the week or "a random day " picked out and used .

but just as the genealogy of adam to abraham and abraham to david and david to jesus is recorded .. so it is also recorded from when god told them through moses , what the months of thier year were to be and it is God who established what the 1st day of that month would be and what the 7th would then be and from that time on the 7th has been recorded

its never not been recorded from that day on .. so --since God himself is greater then even the heavenly bodies -im sold out confident he got it right

 

[Lamb]

The early church gathered together on Sundays to take communion (Acts 20:7).

 

[visionary]

The early church gathered together on Sundays to take communion (Acts 20:7).

Another scripture some believe shows the New Testament Church observed Sunday is Acts 20:7: “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.”

Some think that “break[ing] bread” refers exclusively to the ceremony in which Christians partake of bread and wine in commemoration of Christ’s death. So they conclude that the verse here concerns a religious service on the first day of the week. However, that commemoration is supposed to take place once a year at the festival of Passover (see the Bible study aid booklet God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind .) Moreover, breaking bread is not limited to religious observance, but refers to dividing flat loaves of bread for a typical meal.

“It means to partake of food and is used of eating as in a meal . . . The readers [of the original New Testament letters and manuscripts] could have had no other idea or meaning in their minds” (E.W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, 1991, pp. 839-840).

This is proven by the fact that after Paul finished speaking they again broke bread and ate (Acts 20:11). Breaking bread to eat a meal is mentioned in Luke 24:30, Luke 24:35 and Acts 27:35.

The timing of the events in Acts 20 helps us to understand more clearly. Acts 20:7-11 describe several events of one night. Since the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, counts days as beginning when the sun goes down, these events began with a meal on Saturday evening after the Sabbath, which would have been the only evening on “the first day of the week.” Several translations, including the New English Bible, Revised English Bible, Good News Bible, The New Testament in Modern English and the Complete Jewish Bible, state unequivocally that this occurred on Saturday night.

Paul planned to leave the next day for another city, so he stayed and spoke long into the night. At midnight one young man in the congregation fell asleep, tumbled from the window where he sat and was killed in the fall. Paul rushed to the young man, who miraculously came back to life. After that, the group broke bread and ate again, talking almost until dawn. Paul departed at daybreak.

After speaking and talking all night, Paul the next morning walked almost 20 miles to Assos to meet the rest of the people in his group who had sailed there (Acts 20:11-14). So rather than describing a religious service on Sunday, this passage actually documents Paul walking almost 20 miles on foot on the first day of the week— hardly making it a day of rest and worship for him!

 

[visionary]

have raised that question myself before, asking if the day they presently call "the sabbath .. is actually the 7th day of the week or "a random day " picked out and used .

but just as the genealogy of adam to abraham and abraham to david and david to jesus is recorded .. so it is also recorded from when god told them through moses , what the months of thier year were to be and it is God who established what the 1st day of that month would be and what the 7th would then be and from that time on the 7th has been recorded

its never not been recorded from that day on .. so --since God himself is greater then even the heavenly bodies -im sold out confident he got it right

God's input into the Sabbath cycle.

Ex 16:4. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain amount every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in MY LAW or not. 5. And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, they shall prepare what they bring in. And it shall be twice as much as they gather . . . "

From Sunday through Thursday, the people gathered whatever manna they needed. On Friday, when the people were to gather twice as much manna as they normally did, Moses stated the following, "This is that which the LORD has said, 'Tomorrow (day seven) is the rest of the holy Sabbath to the LORD" (Exodus 16:23).

God was both testing the people and training them to know when the acceptable period to keep the Sabbath occurred within the week. On day seven of the week, when no manna fell, some foolishly tried to gather it anyway. God was not pleased.

28. And the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29. See, because the LORD has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day. Let each one stay in his place. Do not let any one go out of his place on the SEVENTH DAY" (Exodus 16:28 - 29)

 

[visionary]

Seven day cycle...

http://www.godward.org/archives/Special Articles/7-Day Cycle.htm

 

[Josiah]

https://carm.org/why-do-we-worship-sunday-instead-saturday

In the Old Testament, God stated,

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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," (Exodus 20:8-10, NASB).

It was the custom of the Jews to come together on the Sabbath, which is Saturday, cease work, and worship God. Jesus went to the synagogue on Saturday to teach (Matt. 12:9, John 18:20) as did the apostle Paul (Acts 17:2, 18:4). So, if in the Old Testament we are commanded to keep the Sabbath and in the New Testament we see Jews, Jesus, and the apostles doing the same thing, then why do we worship on Sunday?

First of all, of the 10 commandments listed in Exodus 20:1-17, only 9 of them were reinstituted in the New Testament: five in Matt. 19:18, murder, adultery, stealing, false witness, and honor parents, and in Rom. 13:9, coveting, and worshiping God properly covers the first three commandments. The one that was not reaffirmed was the one about the Sabbath. Instead, Jesus said that He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8).

Upon the completion of Creation, God rested on the seventh day. However, since God is all-powerful, He doesn’t get tired. He doesn’t need to take a break and rest. So, why did does it say that He rested? The reason is simple: Mark 2:27 says, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." In other words, God established the Sabbath as a rest for His people not because He needed a break but because we are mortal and need a time of rest, a time to focus on God. In this, our spirits and bodies are both renewed.

The Old Testament system of Law required keeping the Sabbath as part of the overall moral, legal, and sacrificial system by which the Jewish people satisfied God’s requirements for behavior, government, and forgiveness of sins. The Sabbath was part of the Law in that sense. In order to "remain" in favor with God, you had to also keep the Sabbath. If it was not kept, then the person was in sin and would often be punished (Ezekiel 18:4, Rom. 6:23, Deut. 13:1-9, Num. 35:31, Lev. 20:2, etc.).

But with Jesus’ atonement, we are no longer required to keep the Law. We are not under Law but grace (Rom. 6:14-15). The Sabbath is fulfilled in Jesus. He is our rest. We are not under obligation by Law to keep it, and this goes for the Sabbath as well. It is not a requirement that we keep the Sabbath. If it were, then we would still be under the Law, but we are not.




Evidence of the Change of Days can be Seen in the NT

The New Testament has ample evidence that the seventh-day Sabbath is no longer a requirement.

Rom. 14:5-6, "One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God."

The entire section of Rom. 14:1-12 is worth careful study. Nevertheless, the instructions here are that individuals must be convinced in their own minds about which day they observe for the Lord. If the seventh-day Sabbath were a requirement, then the choice would not be man's but God’s.

Col. 2:16-17, "Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ."

Notice here that time sequence mentioned. A festival is yearly. A new moon is monthly. A Sabbath is weekly. No one is to judge regarding this. The Sabbath is defined as a shadow. The reality is Jesus. Jesus is our Sabbath.

Acts 20:7, "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."

The first day of the week is Sunday, and this is the day the people gathered. This passage can easily be seen as the church meeting on Sunday. It has two important church functions within it: breaking bread (communion) and a message (preaching). Additionally, Luke did not use the Jewish system of counting days: sundown to sundown. He used the Roman system: midnight to midnight. This is a subtle point that shows the Jewish Sabbath system was not the one utilized by Luke.

1 Cor. 16:1-2, "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."

Notice here that Paul is directing the churches to meet on the first day of each week and put money aside. It would seem that this is tithing. So, the instructed time for the church to meet is Sunday. Is this an official worship day set up by the church? You decide.

Rev. 1:10-11, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

The New Bible Dictionary says regarding the term, "The Lord’s Day" in Revelation 1:10: "This is the first extant occurrence in Christian literature of τῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ, "ta kuriaka hamera." The adjectival construction suggests that it was a formal designation of the church’s worship day. As such it certainly appears early in the 2nd century (Ignatius, Epistle to the Magnesians, 1. 67).

In many churches today, the term, "The Lord’s Day," is used to designate Sunday--the same as it was in the second century.

I hope this is evidence enough to show you that the Bible does not require that we worship on Saturday. If anything, we have the freedom (Rom. 14:1-12) to worship on the day that we believe we should. And, no one should judge us regarding the day we keep. We are free in Christ, not under law (Rom. 6:14).




.

- Josiah




.

 

[visionary]

I am really not concerned with what the Jews do or don't do as much as I am concerned with what God requires. The Sabbath doesn't belong to the Jews, it belongs to God and we are to rest in it.

 

[psalms 91]

Saturday is Gods sabbeth and always has been

 

[Alithis]

Saturday is Gods sabbeth and always has been

haha bro... no! .. the seventh day is gods sabbath .. not Saturn-day ..
yes its quibbling over the renaming of the 7th day with paganism .. but the point is there to be noted .

 

[psalms 91]

so noted, still Gods day

 

[Alithis]

The early church gathered together on Sundays to take communion (Acts 20:7).

They also meet daily in thier homes.. Thus no particualr day was instituted by God.
But only by man imposed tradtions.

 

[psalms 91]

Read the Old Testament and you will see that the seventh day is Gods chosen day of rest

 

[visionary]

History has a way of repeating itself. God tested His people in the wilderness of sin. Here we are today in our wilderness of sin and are again being tested to see if we obey God or not.

Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

 

[visionary]

I have heard the arguments that no one knows the seventh day cycle anymore and especially which day is the Sabbath. God spent some time specifically training His people on that point.

Exodus 16 ► Manna and Quail

1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.” 9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” 10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. 11 The Lord said to Moses, 12“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” 13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omera for each person you have in your tent.’ ” 17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed. 19 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” 20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. 21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ” 24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25“Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” 27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.


By the time of Yeshua, it was well ingrained so that there was no question as to which day God wanted the people to take their Sabbath rest. From there it is easy to determine that the day we know as Saturday is the Sabbath [Friday night at sunset til Saturday night at sunset]

This lesson was so important, the manna from it was retained in the Ark of the Covenant or some bible versions say in Revelation "the Ark of Testament" where the TEN Commandments are kept.

Revelation 11:19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

Remember Moses did everything according to the pattern in heaven.

Hebrews 8:5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

Revelation has a mighty angel with a loud voice crying out "worship God on Sunday"

Revelation 14:7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."