– 12 Min Read
““Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 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. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
– Exodus 20:8
Has the fourth commandment been forgotten, fulfilled, abolished, or a mixture of all three? Why do Christians now assemble on Sunday instead of Saturday? This is not only a biblical question but a historical one as well. What is the history of the Christian Sabbath? Well, we first see the assembling of the church on the first day of the week in the book of Acts.
“On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.”
– Acts 20:7-8
It is worth pointing out that the Greek word used in this text, which the NASB1995 renders as “gathered”, is not the Greek word ekklesia, but synagoge. As much as some would want this to be ekklesia to help fit their anti-views of the Christian Sabbath, it is not. Also, it is worth pointing out that Luke mentions that he and some of his travel companions came after the days of Unleavened Bread. They likely observed the feast of Unleavened Bread while in Philippi before meeting up with Paul and his entourage in Troas.
“And he [Paul] was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. 5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. 6 We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.”
– Acts 20:4-6
In the New Testament, we know that the Jewish Christians still observed all the Mosaic ordinances and feasts. Here we have a feast that follows the Passover (Exodus 12:14-22) and we see them assembling together, as they would in the synagogue, but in an upper room on Sunday instead of Saturday. One can almost assume that if they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread they also observed the Passover as well. We know that Jesus and His disciples certainly did and would expect other Jewish believers to still be doing this.
There has been an obvious change somewhere, but not a complete change. It is strange to think that the first-century church made one change concerning the observance of a holy day but kept all the other days the same. These two sacred days are right next to each other in Leviticus. It starts to alarm us that certain things are being observed traditionally and others are not.
“‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings. 4 ‘These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. 6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. 8 But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’”
– Leviticus 23:3-8
There is no mention in Acts 20 that they observed the Sabbath on Saturday. It appears they are following Leviticus 23 to the ‘T’, other than the Sabbath was observed on the first of the week. For them, it appears nothing has changed other than they are assembling on Sunday and doing similar activities as seen in the Old Testament ceremonial law. Yet we see them still gathering on Saturday in Acts using the Old Testament Sabbath as a day for evangelism. This is because all the people would be gathered there.
“Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. 21 For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
– Acts 15:19-21
“And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures”
– Acts 17:2
This was Paul’s style of evangelistic missions.
“And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.”
– Acts 18:4
Another text to look at is in 1 Corinthians 16. Here Paul is telling the church of Corinth to prepare a gift for him to collect and take to the suffering believers in Jerusalem.
“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 each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. 3 When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem”
– 1 Corinthians 16:1-3
Paul instructs them to set aside the money that they wish to send with him to Jerusalem on the first day of the week, Sunday. This is because this day is when the church would be gathered together and one collection could be made during the assembly. This means that the church assembled together on Sunday instead of Saturday. The reason the church is meeting on Sunday rather than Saturday is because Sunday is Resurrection Day. (Matt 28:1-2; Mark 16:2-5; John 20:1)
“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? 6 He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 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.””
– Luke 24:1-7 (emphasis added)
Read ahead in Luke and you see that Christ first gathered with His disciples on this same day, resurrection Sunday. (also seen in Matt 28:8-10, John 20:13-19)
“And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them.”
– Luke 24:13-15 (emphasis added)
Then the most revolutionary thing happens when we get to the book of Revelation. We read from John that he was on the island of Patmos in the Spirit on the “Lord’s Day.” John calls the first day of the week the Lord’s Day.
“I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet”
– Revelation 1:9-10
This is referring to the Sabbath of the New Covenant. It is important to note that John is not referring to The Day of the Lord, a common expression that is used in the New Testament to refer to the second coming of Christ. The word structure of these two phrases is indeed different from each other. The word translated “Lord’s” is the word kyriakos which is an adjective that means “belonging to the Lord.” Implying the day John is in the Spirit, belongs to the Lord. This is different from what we see Paul say in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
“For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.”
– 1 Thessalonians 5:2
Here the word kyrios, (a masculine noun), means this particular day is of the Lord. This is THE day of THE Lord, the last day, the second coming. But what we read John say in Revelation 1:10 is referring to the Sunday Sabbath day. Justin Martyr, a second-century church father, describes in his writings that Christians gathered on the first day of the week, read from the Scriptures, preached and prayed, as well as a collection of offerings [1]. We see even before Justin Martyr, the Didache, also known as The Lord’s Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, exhorted Christians: “On the Lord’s day assemble” [2]. The first day of the week is called the Lord’s Day.
Since the beginning of Christianity, Christians have been assembling on the first day of the week. For the first century, there is indeed no mention of Sunday being the New Testament Sabbath. However, all the language surrounding the Lord’s Day in the Apostolic Church’s writing indicates there was a specialness about the day. From the second century onward, we start to see many writings about Sunday being the Christian Sabbath. This of course spills over into the medieval period where the Roman Catholic Church affirms this as a doctrine of the Catholic Church. We then see a pause on this belief by Calvin and Luther as they wrestled with reforming the church and all its traditions but then it is picked back up by their successors. The idea of Sunday being the Christian Sabbath was overwhelmingly received and taught by the Puritans and passed down to the present age through their writings.
We see this view of Sunday as the Christian Sabbath in our confessions of faith. The Westminster Confession of Faith says,
“As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.”
– Westminster Confession of Faith, 21.7
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith says;
“It is the law of nature in general a portion of time specified by God should be set apart for worship of God. So by His Word, in a positive-moral and perpetual commandment that obligates everyone in every age, He has specifically appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy to Him. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ the appointed day was the last day of the week. After the resurrection of Christ it was changed to the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s Day. This day is to be kept to the end of the age as the Christian Sabbath, since the observance of the last day of the week has been abolished.”
– 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith in Chapter 22, Paragraph 7
Sunday, the Lord’s Day, has been viewed by Christians as the new Sabbath throughout most of church history until the last 100 years or so. Now it has become up for grabs again. With the rise of influences that promote a church experience that is appealing to the culture and a theology pushing a separation between Israel and the church, we find that the church today does not keep the Lord’s Day as holy unto the Lord. This thought about most Sunday services is that they need to be shorter and not so long because we want people to not feel burdened about church but come and enjoy it. People can’t worship God all day, after all, right? There are a lot of objections to the claim that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, so before we can go any further we will need to deal with them.
Read Next: The Christian Sabbath Part 4: Answering Objections
Works Cited
[1] Justin Martyr, Apology.
[2] Didache XIV: Christian Assembly on the Lord’s Day
Westminster. Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. (The Committee on Christian Education, 2005), 108
1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. (Cape Coral, Founders Press, 2017), 22.7.