[Biblemat] So, Why do Christians worship on Sunday
Jerry Blount
jerry at eldorable.kscoxmail.com
Thu Oct 4 17:16:05 CDT 2007
Jerry Blount to the list
So, Why do Christians worship on Sunday?
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard . . .Revelation 1:10
Today's article is going to be directed at answering this simple question.
What happened? The Jews worshiped on Saturday (the Sabbath).
Christians today are to worship on the first day of the week (AKA The Lord's
Day.) The only place in the Bible that the term "Lord's day" is used is in
Revelation 1:10. The context gives no clue as to which day is meant. That
being said . . .
On the first day of the week;
1) We have our only "time example" of partaking of the Lord's supper. (Acts
20:7)
2) The apostle Paul commands that we take a collection (I Corinthians
16:1,2) so that the church doesn't have special collections, etc.
3) Jesus rose from the dead (Luke 24)
4) We had the first gospel sermon (Acts 2)
5) The church began (Acts 2, Compare Acts 11:15)
The bottom line is that the church began on the first day of the week.
Christians began from day 1 to set this day aside. By the time the book of
revelation was written, this day had become known as the "Lord's Day." Note
that everyone who was to receive this letter was expected to know the
identity of the "Lord's Day" or John would have explained further.
Sometimes folks get the idea the day changed at some point after the close
of the New Testament. That is both Biblically and historically untrue.
Here is a link that lists a massive number of non Biblical quotes from early
Christians showing the historical consistency of the Biblical record.
History and the Bible march in perfect sync on this subject.
http://www.bible.ca/H-sunday.htm
The first significant "Christian" groups to emerge worshiping on Saturday
were in 1527 AD. They misunderstood the Sabbath and it led to their
reverting to the OT Sabbath.
So, Do we have to go to church on Sunday?
Like its shadow in the Old Testament, the Christian has a definite
obligation on the Lord's Day... to assemble with the saints. The Hebrew
author, after a discussion on the importance of the blood of Christ, Answers
this question in no uncertain terms. . . .
Hebrews 10
"23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He
who promised is faithful;
24. and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good
deeds,
25. not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some,
but encouraging {one another;} and all the more as you see the day drawing
near.
Christ or Judgment
26. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the
truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27. but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH
WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.
The bottom line is simple.
If you want to go to heaven. You will "go to church!"
Ok! We worship God on the first day of the week. God expects it of us in no
uncertain terms.
So, Why did it change to the first day rather than the Sabbath (7th day)?
The nature of the Sabbath needs to be understood in order to properly
answer this.
The first Sabbath was a "test" Sabbath in Exodus 16:16-30.
The Sabbath became law in Exodus 20.
The children of Israel were totally ignorant of the Sabbath (see Ex 16:13).
They were given a trial run before it became binding on them. Nothing
happened to those breaking the "test Sabbath", but after it became law
those profaning it were punished by stoning (see Numbers 15:32-36). It
seems harsh for example, to stone a man for "just" picking up sticks on the
Sabbath day, but God's laws are not to be taken lightly!
This Sabbath was to remind the Jews that they were "resting" from
Egyptian bondage (Deuteronomy 5:13-15). They were to rest, like God had
previously rested on the seventh day, after the creation of the world
(Exodus 20:11). It was to serve as a "sign" between God and His nation
(Exodus 31:16, 17).
What would this reminder of Egyptian bondage have to do with you
and I today? Nothing... our bondage was to sin. Jesus conquered this on
the first day of the week when he came back from the dead. In fact, Jesus
was "resting" in the tomb I suppose but the least important day of that
three days stretch would have been Saturday or the Sabbath day. The day of
his death and the day of his resurrection are the emphasized matters. In
other words the Jews remembered deliverance from carnal bondage (Saturday),
likewise, we remember deliverance from carnality (Sunday)! Put another way,
they remembered being freed from slavery; we are to remember being freed
from sin.
The Lord's Day is not A Sabbath!
Sometimes you'll hear the Lord's Day called the Christian Sabbath. Scripture
doesn't refer to it as such! In fact, the Bible warns aggressively warns
Christians about transposing the Sabbath into Christianity.
Colossians 2: 16-17 "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to
food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath
day-things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance
belongs to Christ."
Note how different the Lord's Day really is from the Sabbath. On the
Sabbath day if you were caught working you were stoned. Today God requires
you to worship Him on the Lord's Day. But he doesn't require your fellow
members to stone you if you do not.
In Paul's day there were those trying to hold onto the Sabbath even though
they had become Christians. Paul continues the explanation we tapped into
above thusly.
Colossians 2: 23. " These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance
of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of
the body, {but are} of no value against fleshly indulgence."
Note that Paul is directly warning Christians that the rhetoric may sound
good. but it is "self-made religion." If fact, we should recognize this as
the age old choice between hype vs. substance.
"Things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance
belongs to Christ." Colossians 2:17 (Or should I say Shadow vs. substance?
JB)
So, do we know that Jesus really rose on the 1st Day?
Sometimes you will hear some confusion over when Jesus rose from the dead.
These discussions will usually revolve around some technical argument over
Jewish time keeping vs. Roman timekeeping etc.
Want to cut through the smoke? Luke makes this crystal clear for us! Read
Luke 24 and underline vs. 1, 7, 13 and 21. Now you can see absolutely that
Jesus rose the first day of the week, which was His 3rd day in the grave.
Vs 1. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the
tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
Vs 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful
men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." (The angels were
speaking here JB).
Vs 13. And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named
Emmaus,
Vs 21. "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.
Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.
So . . . the women came to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week.
That angels said Jesus was supposed to raise on the third day in the grave.
Later that very day (according to Luke) two men were walking down the road
and had a conversation with Jesus. They explained to Jesus this was the
third day. So the third day in the grave. the day of the resurrection is the
1st day of the week. AKA The Lord's day or Sunday.
We remember each Lord's Day how Jesus conquered death for all of us on this
day.
LET US "SET ASIDE" THE LORD'S DAY FOR THE LORD!
Yours in Christ
Jerry Blount
Minister for
Pleasant Valley church of Christ
3317 Amidon rd.
Wichita Kansas, 67204
3163204321
WWW.letJesusleadus.org <http://www.letjesusleadus.org/>
PS. Christians have always worshipped on the first day of the week. Here
are some of the earliest non Biblical quotes from early Christians. I copied
these quotes from this link
http://www.bible.ca/H-sunday.htm
(Date of the writing given first)
* 90AD DIDACHE: "Christian Assembly on the Lord's Day: 1. But every
Lord's day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give
thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice
may be pure. 2. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come
together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be
profaned. 3. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: In every place
and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, saith the
Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations." (Didache: The Teaching of
the Twelve Apostles, Chapter XIV)
* 100 AD BARNABAS "We keep the eighth day [Sunday] with joyfulness,
the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead" (The Epistle of
Barnabas, 100 AD 15:6-8).
* 100 AD BARNABAS: Moreover God says to the Jews, 'Your new moons and
Sabbaths 1 cannot endure.' You see how he says, 'The present Sabbaths are
not acceptable to me, but the Sabbath which I have made in which, when I
have rested [heaven: Heb 4] from all things, I will make the beginning of
the eighth day which is the beginning of another world.' Wherefore we
Christians keep the eighth day for joy, on which also Jesus arose from the
dead and when he appeared ascended into heaven. (15:8f, The Epistle of
Barnabas, 100 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, pg. 147)
* 110AD Pliny: they were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed
day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to
Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath not to (do) any
wicked deeds, never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to
falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to
deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then
reassemble to partake of good food-but food of an ordinary and innocent
kind. (About three years after the death of Ignatius in 250, an important
official communication was sent from one Pliny to Trajan the Roman emperor.
Pliny, the Roman governor of Bithynia, wrote of the Christians who had been
congregating there probably from at least A.D. 62 onwards. In this
remarkable it is explicitly stated that these early Christians observed the
substance of most of the Ten Commandments, and it is implied that they
observed all ten as far as they were able to do so. As far as they were
able, for as most of the early Christians were of slave stock or from other
lower classes'-, and those who had heathen masters or employers-the vast
majority-would be forced to work on their day of rest, which was
unfortunately an official working day throughout the empires' until
Constantine's "Sabbath" Edict in 321 A.D. gave them some measure of public
protection. Hence one reads that after meeting "on a certain fixed day
before it was light", the first century Bithynian Christians had "to
separate"-many of them having to labour for their masters and/or employers
from dawn to dusk-"and then reassemble to partake of . . . food". The
"certain fixed day" [stato die"'] on which the Christians met, is regarded
by Seventh-day Adventists as Saturday'-. Certainly the expression would seem
to indicate a regular day of meeting, probably each week. But Sunday is far
more likely to have been the "certain fixed day" than Saturday. For if Pliny
had been referring to the old Saturday Sabbath, as a Roman he would
doubtless have referred to the "later" meeting first and only then to the
morning meeting on the day al ter the "certain fixed day", seeing that the
old Saturday Sabbath was demarcated from the evening of one day to the
evening of the following day. But Pliny makes no such reference. Instead, he
mentions that the pre-dawn meeting took place first-and only afterwards the
later meeting; and that both meetings took place on the same "certain fixed
day". This rather points to the Roman (and-more importantly!-New Testament)
midnight to midnight demarcation of modern Sunday-keepers than to the
evening to evening demarcation of the Jews and the Seventh-day Adventists.
(The covenantial Sabbath, Francis Nigel Lee, Pg 242)
* 150AD EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLES.- I [Christ] have come into being on
the eighth day which is the day of the Lord. (18)
* 150AD JUSTIN: "He then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us, who in
every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist, and
also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify His name, and
that you profane [it]. The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them]
always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true
circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through
Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, [namely
through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the Sabbath,
remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth,
according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the
first.". (Justin, Dialogue 41:4)
* 150AD JUSTIN: ...those who have persecuted and do persecute Christ,
if they do not repent, shall not inherit anything on the holy mountain. But
the Gentiles, who have believed on Him, and have repented of the sins which
they have committed, they shall receive the inheritance along with the
patriarchs and the prophets, and the just men who are descended from Jacob,
even although they neither keep the Sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor
observe the feasts. Assuredly they shall receive the holy inheritance of
God. (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol.
1, page 207)
* 150AD JUSTIN: But if we do not admit this, we shall be liable to
fall into foolish opinion, as if it were not the same God who existed in the
times of Enoch and all the rest, who neither were circumcised after the
flesh, nor observed Sabbaths, nor any other rites, seeing that Moses
enjoined such observances... For if there was no need of circumcision before
Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts and sacrifices, before
Moses; no more need is there of them now, after that, according to the will
of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God has been born without sin, of a virgin
sprung from the stock of Abraham. (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD,
Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 206)
* 150AD JUSTIN: "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. Then we all rise together and
pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and
water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and
thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen;
and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which
thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the
deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks
fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the
orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are
in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us,
and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on
which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which
God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and
Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was
crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after
that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles
and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you
also for your consideration." (First apology of Justin, Weekly Worship of
the Christians, Ch 68)
* 150AD JUSTIN: Moreover, all those righteous men already mentioned
[after mentioning Adam. Abel, Enoch, Lot, Noah, Melchizedek, and Abraham],
though they kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God; and after them Abraham
with all his descendants until Moses... And you [fleshly Jews] were
commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain the memorial of God. For
His word makes this announcement, saying, "That you may know that I am God
who redeemed you." (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene
Fathers , vol. 1, page 204)
* 150AD JUSTIN: There is no other thing for which you blame us, my
friends, is there than this? That we do not live according to the Law, nor,
are we circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers, nor do we observe the
Sabbath as you do. (Dialogue with Trypho 10:1. In verse 3 the Jew Trypho
acknowledges that Christians 'do not keep the Sabbath.')
* 150AD JUSTIN: We are always together with one another. And for all
the things with which we are supplied we bless the Maker of all through his
Son Jesus Christ and through his Holy Spirit. And on the day called Sunday
there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or
a rural district. (There follows an account of a Christian worship service,
which is quoted in VII.2.) We all make our assembly in common on the day of
the Sun, since it is the first day, on which God changed the darkness and
matter and made the world, and Jesus Christ our Savior arose from the dead
on the same day. For they crucified him on the day before Saturn's day, and
on the day after (which is the day of the Sun the appeared to his apostles
and taught his disciples these things. (Apology, 1, 67:1-3, 7; First
Apology, 145 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , Vol. 1, pg. 186)
* 155 AD Justin Martyr "[W]e too would observe the fleshly
circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not
know for what reason they were enjoined [on] you--namely, on account of your
transgressions and the hardness of your heart. . . . [H]ow is it, Trypho,
that we would not observe those rites which do not harm us--I speak of
fleshly circumcision and Sabbaths and feasts? . . . God enjoined you [Jews]
to keep the Sabbath, and impose on you other precepts for a sign, as I have
already said, on account of your unrighteousness and that of your fathers"
(Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 18, 21).
* 180AD ACTS OF PETER.- Paul had often contended with the Jewish
teachers and had confuted them, saying 'it is Christ on whom your fathers
laid hands. He abolished their Sabbath and fasts and festivals and
circumcision.' (1: I)-2
* 180AD GOSPEL OF PETER: Early in the morning when (he Sabbath dawned,
a multitude from Jerusalem and the surrounding country came to see the
scaled sepulchre. In the night in which the Lord's day dawned, while the
soldiers in pairs for each watch were keeping guard, a great voice came from
heaven. [There follows an account of the resurrection. Early in the morning
of the Lord's day Mary Magdalene, a disciple of the Lord .. came to the
sepulchre. (9:34f.; 12:50f.)
* 190AD CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: (in commenting on each of the Ten
Commandments and their Christian meaning:) The seventh day is proclaimed a
day of rest, preparing by abstention from evil for the Primal day, our true
rest. (Ibid. VII. xvi. 138.1)
* 190AD CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: He does the commandment according to
the Gospel and keeps the Lord's day, whenever he puts away an evil mind . .
. glorifying the Lord's resurrection in himself. (Ibid. Vii.xii.76.4)
* 190AD CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Plato prophetically speaks of the
Lord's day in the tenth book of the Republic, in these words: 'And when
seven days have passed to each of them in the meadow, on the eighth they
must go on." (Miscellanies V.xiv.106.2)
* 200AD BARDESANES: Wherever we are, we are all called after the one
name of Christ Christians. On one day, the first of the week, we assemble
ourselves together (On Fate)
* 200AD TERTULLIAN: "We solemnize the day after Saturday in
contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath" (Tertullian's
Apology, Ch 16)
* 200AD TERTULLIAN: It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the
abolition of carnal circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as
having been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the
Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary. (An Answer to the Jews 4:1,
Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 3, page 155)
* 200AD TERTULLIAN: Let him who contends that the Sabbath is still to
be observed a balm of salvation, and circumcision on the eighth day because
of threat of death, teach us that in earliest times righteous men kept
Sabbath or practiced circumcision, and so were made friends of God. ..
...Therefore, since God originated Adam uncircumcised, and inobservant of
the Sabbath, consequently his offspring also, Abel, offering Him sacrifices,
uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, was by Him commended... Noah
also, uncircumcised - yes, and inobservant of the Sabbath - God freed from
the deluge. For Enoch, too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and
inobservant of the Sabbath, He translated from this world... Melchizedek
also, "the priest of most high God," uncircumcised and inobservant of the
Sabbath, was chosen to the priesthood of God. (An Answer to the Jews 2:10;
4:1, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 3, page 153)
* 200AD TERTULLIAN: Others . . . suppose that the sun is the god of
the Christians, because it is well-known that we regard Sunday as a day of
joy. (To the Nations 1: 133)
* 200AD TERTULLIAN: To us Sabbaths are foreign. (On Idolatry, 14:6)4
Note this is an excellent website. I arbitrarily stopped pasting. You can
go to
http://www.bible.ca/H-sunday.htm for the remainder of these quotes.
Jerry
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