Which is the Lord's Day?

The Question: When and how has worship (as we know it today) gone from the last day of the week to the first day? Was it the Catholic Church that changed it?

The Response: some folks would like to blame the Catholic Church for making Sunday the Christian day of worship, but they would be wrong.

The earliest Christians were Jews who were accustomed to gathering in their synagogues for prayers and to learn about the Scriptures. Messiah was a Jew who, as the Scriptures inform, did much of His preaching in the Temple and in synagogues. After Christ's death and resurrection, the Jewish Christians continued to meet in their synagogues for prayer, worship and study on the Sabbath and at other times. The following day, Sunday, they would gather together elsewhere to celebrate the Lord's resurrection, to worship, to share an agape meal and to take communion.

The land Romans called Palestine was a perpetual problem for the Roman occupiers. When Christian Jews would not join in rebellion with other Jews, they were denied access to synagogues. Eventually, the first day of the week--Resurrection Day--became the principal day for Christian worship. Years later, a Catholic pope formalized by decree what had already been going on for a long time.

Another Question: My question now is this: How have the SDA, messianic Christians and a few others gotten so adamant about Saturday being the true day of worship?

Another Response: Before answering, I wish to make it quite clear that I see nothing wrong with holding worship services on Saturdays. Or Mondays. Or the third Thursday of the month. Or any day of the year. It is when worshipping on the Jewish Sabbath--or any other day--is viewed as a test of orthodoxy and faith that I take exception.

Those folks you mentioned arrived at their sabbatarian doctrine the same way Catholics and any way-out-there Protestant and other bodies came up with questionable doctrines peculiar to their assembly: Misinterpretation of the Scriptures. Rather than approach the Scriptures prayerfully and with an open mind and consistent hermeneutic, the exegetes whose theology underpins a church's false doctrine likely instead went at it already 'knowing' what they would find. This is called eisegesis (interpreting a text by reading one's own ideas into it).

Where in the Scriptures are we commanded to worship our Lord on Sundays? For that matter, where in the Scriptures do we find instruction to meet in the middle of the week? Nowhere. It is true that Paul told the church at Corinth to take up an offering for their struggling brothers in Jerusalem on the first day of the week (1 Corinthians 16:2). This suggests that the early church met on Sundays, but cannot be viewed as a command to do so. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews exhorted his readers to not forsake "the assembling of ourselves together" (Hebrews 10:25), but this does not specify either a particular day or the frequency of meetings

So. Why do professing Christians tend to meet on Sundays? Why not? The earliest Christians seem to have believed that Jesus rose up from the grave on the first day of the week. What better day to celebrate His resurrection and honor our Lord? Why worship but one day a week? Folks, this is one area where the Catholic Church takes the when it comes to the availability of public worship. One might attend Mass every day of the week, assuming the parish has a permanent priest, though I do not believe that the Eucharistic Celebration is Christian worship.

Why do so many professing Christian churches meet on Sunday? If there is a command to do so in the Scriptures, I have missed it. In so far as I am aware, most such assemblies meet on Sundays because that's the way the primitive church did it. It is tradition (with a small "T"). The legislation came later.

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. . .
20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, - Colossians 2:16,17,23, KJV [My Emphasis]

In researching on the Internet, I have come across a multitude of web sites that offer a staggering variety of arguments for and against Sunday worship. Essentially, I believe, the great bulk of these arguments fall into two general categories: 1) Sunday was the day Pagans had set aside to worship the sun god; or 2) according to Scripture, we are commanded to observe the Sabbath as our day of worship. Interestingly, both of these arguments are valid – sort of.

Before considering the arguments against considering the first day of the week to be the principle day of Christian worship, let's look at how the earliest Christians worshipped – and when.

Before Pentecost, there was no Christian church. Scripture informs that, following Christ's immolation and resurrection, some of His followers went into hiding, concerned that the Jews might do them harm (John 20). Others apparently returned to life as it was before Jesus began His active ministry (John 21). As far as I know, all of Jesus' disciples and all those who responded to Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost were Jews (Acts 2).

One respected church historian described the worship of the earliest Christians in these terms:

The Jewish Christians, at least in Palestine, conformed as closely as possible to the venerable forms of the cultus of their fathers, which in truth were divinely ordained, and were an expressive type of the Christian worship. So far as we know, they scrupulously observed the Sabbath, the annual Jewish feasts, the hours of daily prayer, and the whole Mosaic ritual, and celebrated, in addition to these, the Christian Sunday, the death and the resurrection of the Lord, and the holy Supper. But this union was gradually weakened by the stubborn opposition of the Jews, and was at last entirely broken by the destruction of the temple, except among the Ebionites and Nazarenes. – Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol 1, Chap 9, © 1911 Charles Scribner's Sons, reprinted 1985 by Eerdman's Printing Company

Scripture tells us something of the way the earliest Christians worshipped:

42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, -- Acts 2:42-46, KJV [My emphasis]

These days, people tend to think of a church as a building, a place where people come together as a community to worship and fellowship. Not so in the earliest days of Christianity:

The early Christians did not think of a church as a place of worship according to the common usage of the word today. A church signified a body of people in personal relationship with Christ. Such a group met in homes (Acts 12:12; Rom. 16:5, 23; Col. 4:15; Philem. 1-4), the temple (Acts 5:12), public auditoriums of schools (Acts 19:9), and in synagogues as long as they were permitted to do so (Acts 14:1,3; 17:1; 18:4). The place was not as important as the matter of meeting for fellowship with one another and for worship of God. – Earle E. Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries, p. 83, © 1954, 1981 by The Zondervan Corporation.

There is reason to believe that the earliest Christians assembled daily, or nearly so, in one or another of the places mentioned in the preceding quote. Scriptures reveal that they met twice on the first day of the week.

During the first century, two services were held on the first day of the week. That day was adopted because it was the day on which Christ rose from the dead (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10). The morning service most likely included the reading of Scripture (Col. 3:16). Exhortation by the leading elder, prayers and singing (Eph. 5:19). The love feast (1 Cor. 11:20-22), or agape, preceded the Communion during the evening service. By the end of the first century the love feast was generally dropped and the Communion celebrated during the morning service of worship. Pliny described the Christians to Trajan as those who met before daybreak, sang hymns, and took vows to lead an ethical life. - Ibid. [To read Pliny's exchange with Trajan, click here.

Christianity did not long maintain Jewish exclusivity, however. We read in Acts 10 and 11 how the Roman centurion Cornelius and other Gentiles responded to the Gospel and were added to the church. By their preaching, Peter, Paul and others led a great number of Gentiles to profess the Christian faith. They worshipped differently from the Jewish Christians.

In the Gentile-Christian congregations founded by Paul, the worship took from the beginning a more independent form. The essential elements of the Old Testament service were transferred, indeed, but divested of their national legal character, and transformed by the spirit of the gospel. Thus the Jewish Sabbath passed into the Christian Sunday; the typical Passover and Pentecost became feasts of the death and resurrection of Christ, and of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; the bloody sacrifices gave place to the thankful remembrance and appropriation of the one, all-sufficient, and eternal sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and to the personal offering of prayer, intercession, and entire self-consecration to the service of the Redeemer; on the ruins of the temple made without hands arose the never ceasing worship of the omnipresent God in spirit and in truth. So early as the close of the apostolic period this more free and spiritual cultus of Christianity had no doubt become well nigh universal; yet many Jewish elements, especially in the Eastern church, remain to this day. – Philip Schaff, Op. cit.

An early Christian accumulation of writings commonly called the Didache was written in the late first or early second century. It provides general instruction for Christian conduct and worship. Included in the guidance for worship are these words:

Didache 14:1 And on the Lord's own day gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. - J.B. Lightfoot, Trans., The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles (also known as Didache), Adapt. and mod. © 1990. ATHENA DATA PRODUCTS

It is clear to me that the very young Christian church had come to refer to the first day of the week as The Lord's Day and to consider it the principle day of Christian worship. These decisions were in place long before there was a Roman Catholic Church. In the majority of studies on this matter that I have read, their choice was based on the fact that Christ rose from the grave on the first day.

Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. - Mark 16:9, KJV [My emphasis]

Certainly, it is true that for those who worshipped Mithras, one of the names of the Pagan sun god, the first day of week was dedicated to their sun god – even named after it. Mithraism was the religion of Rome's army and the principle religion throughout the Empire. Perhaps Christ was resurrected on Sunday as a response to Mithraism, or to manifest that He was God, unlike the idols that were worshipped in the Mithraism. Only God can answer such a suggestion.

So, in a sense it is valid to argue that 1) Sunday was the day Pagans had set aside to worship the sun god. This, however, should not be interpreted as evidence that Christian first-day-of-the-week worship is an adaptation of Pagan worship.

In 313, Constantine, an early Fourth Century Roman consul and devout worshipper of Mithras who later professed Christianity, proclaimed that the practice of all religions, including Christianity, was to be permitted throughout the Empire. After a time, he established himself as the de facto head of the Christian church, which by this time was rapidly morphing into what came to be the Roman Catholic Church. A few years later, on March 7, 321, while de facto ruler over what was to become the Roman Catholic Church – and apparently still a worshipper of Sol Invictus, declared what may well have been the very first law making the first day of the week a day of rest.

Question: "Did Constantine change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?"

Answer: It is not secret knowledge that in 321, Constantine decreed, "On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed" (Codex Justinianus lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, p. 380, note 1). Constantine seems to have made this change himself and not through the papacy, since the "papacy" had not really come in to being at that time. The papacy grew gradually out of the office of Bishop and for many years this was centered in Rome. In any case, it should be noted that in doing this, Constantine is not changing the Sabbath; he is merely making Sunday the official day of rest for the Roman Empire. His motivation was probably not born out of hatred for the Jews (it's hard to say for sure why Constantine or any historical figure did what they did) but out of adoption of the practice that Christians had already been doing for nearly two and a half centuries. - Got Questions? © Copyright 2002-2008 Got Questions Ministries

While Constantine may well have created the very first "Blue Law," declaring Sunday to be an official day of rest, it was at the Council of Laodecia (363), in Canon 29, that the church at Rome -- today known as the Roman Catholic Church -- that banned what it called "judaizing" by Christians on the Sabbath and to honor the Lord's Day (Sunday).

It was another Fourth Century Roman Emperor, Theodosius I, who made Catholicism the official religion of the Roman Empire and banned all other religions.

It is our desire that all the various nations which are subject to our clemency and moderation, should continue to the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic holiness. According to the apostolic teaching and the doctrine of the Gospel, let us believe in the one diety of the father, Son and Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since in out judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree that the shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give their conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in the first place the chastisement of divine condemnation an the second the punishment of out authority, in accordance with the will of heaven shall decide to inflict. - from Henry Bettenson, ed., "Theodosian Code XVI.1.2," Documents of the Christian Church, (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 31 [Short extract used under fair-use provsions] , Electronic version (C) 1997 Philip Halsall [My emphasis]

It also is in a sense valid to argue that 2) according to Scripture, we are commanded to observe the Sabbath as a day of rest and worship. The first Christians were Jews who, by Commandment and custom observed the Sabbath – until they were banned from synagogues and shuls (by that time, the Temple had been razed to the ground). By then, both Jewish and Gentile Christians already were observing the first day of the week – Resurrection Sunday – honoring the risen Christ.

The Sabbath was a sign between God and the nation of Israel (Exodus 31:13). It was a set-apart day to remind them that they were a set-apart people. It was a perpetual reminder to Israel of their separation unto God. The heathen (other nations) did not observe the Sabbath.  

It is worthy of note that whenever the ten commandments are repeated in the New Testament (e.g. Matt. 19:18-19; Romans 13:9, etc.), the Sabbath commandment is never included in the list. – George Zeller The Sabbath and the Lord's Day © 2000 George Zeller [Emphasis in the original]

All that being written, there is one other little thing to be considered before settling on whether the Sabbath is to be observed on Saturday and the Christian Resurrection Day on Sunday. What is this little thing? There is disagreement among theologians, historians, even nations as to the ordering of the days of the week. It is fact that calendars in use in many countries do not always agree – even as to the number of days in a week or when the calendar began. This is true even when nations with such close cultural ties as share England and the United States set their versions of the calendar.

The Bible clearly makes the Sabbath the last day of the week, but does not share how that corresponds to our 7 day week. Yet through extra-biblical sources it is possible to determine that the Sabbath at the time of Christ corresponds to our current 'Saturday.' Therefore it is common Jewish and Christian practice to regard Sunday as the first day of the week (as is also evident from the Portuguese names for the week days). However, the fact that, for example, Russian uses the name "second" for Tuesday, indicates that some nations regard Monday as the first day.

In international standard ISO-8601 the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has decreed that Monday shall be the first day of the week. – Michael Douma, Ed., What Is the First Day of the Week?, “Calendars through the Ages” © WebExhibits [My emphasis]

In closing, I refer readers once again Paul's words to the church at Colossus:

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. . .
20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, - Colossians 2:16,17,23, KJV [My Emphasis]