I was asked the reasons
why we, unlike the Seven Day Adventists, worship on Sunday instead of the Old Testament
day of Saturday.
Paul tells the
Corinthian church of his coming and having the offering received on the first
day of the week came they came to together as a church.
1 Corinthians 16:2 (KJV)
2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in
store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I
come.
The
early church met on the first day of the week and had a church service.
Acts
20:7 (KJV)
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together
to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the
morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
The reason why the
church met on the first day of the week was because it was the day the Lord
resurrected from the dead.
John
20:1 (KJV)
1 The first day of the week
cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and
seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Right after his resurrection the disciples began
meeting on the first day of the week commemorating his resurrection.
John
20:19 (KJV)
19 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, came Jesus and stood in the
midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
John 20:26 (KJV)
26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with
them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and
said, Peace be unto you.
The 4th
Commandment was the only commandment not implemented into the New Covenant. The
reason was because the Jews made the day an object of worship and attached so
many other man made laws connected to it
It was the design of God to transfer the celebration
of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday based on the following reasons-
1. That was the Day that Christ rose from the dead.
2. Sunday marked the beginning of the New Covenant.
3. The First day of the week represents new beginnings (we are made new in
Christ).
4. It follows the day set aside to commemorate the Older Covenant; just the
New Covenant follows the Old.
5. The Holy Spirit was conferred on the First Church on a Sunday, thus
sealing God's recognition of this day as the Day to celebrate the New Covenant
and remember the principles of the Sabbath.
At the end of the day, Paul sums it up like this when
an argument comes forth which day we observe as the Lord’s Day.
Romans
14:5-6 (KJV)
5 One man esteemeth one day above
another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day,
regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the
Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he
giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and
giveth God thanks.
"The Ante-Nicene
Fathers," the writings of the early church fathers down to A.D. 325 and
before Constantine and the Catholic Church are supposed to have changed the
sabbath from Saturday to Sunday:
(1) Ignatius, Bishop
of Antioch, who lived at the time of the apostles, 30-107 A.D. He, like
Polycarp, was a disciple of John and one who should know Christian practice
among the early Christians as to the sabbath. He wrote, "And after the
observance of the sabbath (that the Jews kept), let every friend of Christ keep
the Lord's day as a festival, the resurrection day, the queen and chief of all
days of the week ... on which our life sprang up again, and victory over death
was obtained in Christ ... it is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the
tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has come to an end .... If
any man preach the Jewish law unto you, listen not to him. For it is better to
hearken to Christian doctrine from a man who is circumcised, than to a Judaism
from one uncircumcised" (Vol. 1, pages 63-82).
(2) In the Epistle of
Barnabas, ascribed to Paul's companion by Clement, Origen, and others, we read,
"He says to them. `Your new moons and your sabbaths I cannot endure' (Isa. 1:13). Ye perceive how He speaks: Your
present sabbaths are not acceptable go me ... I will make a beginning of the
eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also we keep the
eighth day with joyfulness, the day on which Jesus rose again from the
dead" (Vol. 1, Page 147).
(3) Justin Martyr, a
Gentile born near Jacob's well about 110 A.D. writes, "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
... But Sunday is the day on which we 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 Savior on the same day rose from the
dead" (Vol. 1, Page 186). In his dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, Justin
Martyr says, "Is there any other matter, my friends, in which we are
blamed, than this, that we live not according to the law, and are not
circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers were, and do not observe the
sabbaths as you do? ... Christians would observe the law, if they did not know
why it was instituted .... For we too would observe the fleshly circumcision,
and the sabbaths, and in short all feasts, if we did not know for what reason
they were enjoined you .... How is it, Trypho, that we would not observe those
rites which do not harm us -- I speak of fleshly circumcision, and sabbaths,
and feasts? ... The Gentiles, who have believed in Him, and who have repented
of their sins ... shall receive the inheritance along with the patriarchs ...
even although they neither keep the sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor observe
the feasts .... Christ is useless to those who observe the law .... The sabbath
and sacrifices and offerings and feasts ... have come to an end in Him who was
born of a virgin .... But if some, through weakmindedness, wish to observe such
institutions as were given to Moses ... along with their hope in Christ ...
they shall probably be saved" (Vol. 1, Pages 199-218).
(4) Tertullian,
presbyter of the North African Church, who was born about 145 A.D., writes,
"The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews for their holydays. Your sabbaths, and
new moons, and ceremonies my soul hateth .... By us (Christians), to whom
sabbaths are strange ... to the heathen each festive day occurs but once
annually: you (Christians) have a festive day every eighth day .... Others
suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is a well-known
fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make Sunday a day of
festivity ... you who reproach us with the sun and Sunday should consider your
own proximity to us. We are not far off from your Saturn and your days of rest
.... 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" (Vol. III, Pages 70,123,155, 313-14).
(5) In "The
Teachings of the Twelve Apostles," written about 80 A.D., we read,
"But every Lord's day (Sunday) do ye gather yourselves together, and break
bread and give thanksgiving" (Vol. VII, Page 381).
(6) In the
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (2nd century) we read, "Break your fast
... the first day of the week, which is the Lord's day ... After eight days let
there be another feast observed with honor, the eighth day itself" (Vol.
VII, Page 447).
(7) In "The
Teachings of the Apostles," written 105 A.D., we read, "The apostles
therefore appointed: ... on the first day of the week let there be service and
reading of the Scriptures, and the oblation (Lord's Holy Supper): because on
the first day of the week our Lord arose upon the world, and ascended to
heaven" (Vol. VIII, Page 668).
(8) Irenaeus, 178
A.D., in arguing that the Jewish sabbaths were signs and types and were not to
be kept since the reality of which they were shadows had come, says, "The
mystery of the Lord's resurrection may not be celebrated on any other day than
the Lord's day and on this alone should we observe the breaking of the Paschal
Feast ... Pentecost fell on the first day of the week, and was therefore
associated with the Lord's day."
(9) Clement of
Alexandria, 174 A.D., says, "The old seventh day has become nothing more
than a working day."
(10) Theophilus,
pastor of Antioch, 162 A.D., says, "Both custom and reason challenge us
that we should honor the Lord's day, seeing on that day it was that our Lord
completed His resurrection from the dead."
(11) Origen, about
200 A.D., says, "John the Baptist was born to make ready a people for the
Lord, a people for Him at the end of the covenant now grown old, which is the
end of the sabbath ... It is one of the marks of a perfect Christian to keep
the Lord's day."
(12) Victorianus, 300
A.D., says, "On the Lord's day we go forth to our bread and giving thanks.
Lest we should appear to observe any sabbath with the Jews, which Christ
Himself the Lord of the sabbath in His body abolished" (Section 4, "On
the Creation").
6. Eusebius, the
Father of Church History, who made a history of the time between the birth of
Christ and Constantine, and who lived 265-340 A.D., says, "From the
beginning Christians assembled on the first day of the week, called by them the
Lord's Day, for the purpose of religious worship, to read the Scriptures, to
preach and to celebrate the Lord's Supper ... the first day of the week on
which the Savior obtained the victory over death. Therefore, it has the
preeminence, first in rank, and is more honorable than the Jewish
Sabbath."
