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FIRST
DAY OR SABBATH DAY?
There
is no New Testament scripture that says, “Keep the Sabbath”, nor does
the New Testament say, “Do not keep the Sabbath”.
The New Testament also does not say, “Keep the First Day of the
week” nor “Do not keep the First Day of the week”.
When
there is not a command or precept in New Testament scripture about a given
subject, one cannot be dogmatic nor legalistic about it.
However, the New Testament scripture does have certain principles,
patterns and practices that clearly record what the early believers did as
examples for the church to follow.
In
order to understand what Jesus taught about the Sabbath, one must search
the Biblical record. According
to Matthew 5:17, Jesus “came not to destroy the Law, i.e. Sabbath, but
to fulfill it”. He brought
full revelation to the original intent of the Sabbath.
Jesus said, according to Matthew 12:8, that He “was the Lord of
the Sabbath”. In fact, in
Hebrews 4:9 it states that “Jesus is our Sabbath” meaning rest or
cessation from labor. Again,
in Mark 2:27, Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man not man for the
Sabbath.”
During
Jesus’ ministry before the crucifixion, He and the disciples met with
the Jews on the Sabbath in the Temple, i.e. Matthew 21:12, 23, and in
Synagogues, i.e. Matthew 9:35, 12:9, 13:54.
After Jesus’ resurrection, He gathered with the disciples on His
Resurrection Day which was the First Day of the week or Sunday, i.e. John
20:19, 26. The church in
Jerusalem and churches throughout Judea
continued to meet with the Jews on the Sabbath until they were
“put out of the Temple and Synagogues”, i.e. John 9:22, 12:42, 16:2.
Paul also gathered with Jews on the Sabbath until he purposefully
left to meet with only Christian disciples, i.e. Acts 9:20, 18:4.
When all believers, except the apostles, were scattered abroad,
i.e. Acts 8:1, the Temple and Synagogue did not have the same
significance. Then in AD 70,
the Roman army led by Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, making it
a non issue as far as where or when one met for worship.
After
Jesus resurrection according to John 20:19, 26, “the disciples assembled
at evening being the first day of the week.”
The Jerusalem church met every day according to Acts 2:46-47.
In Acts 20:7, in the Troas church, “disciples came together upon
the first day of the week.” In
I Corinthians 16:1-2, the Corinthian church and the churches of Galatia,
“Upon the first day of the week laid by every one in store, as God hath
prospered him…” And
according to Revelation 1:10, “John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s
day…”
Jesus
said in Matthew 18:20, “Where two or three are gathered(Grk. having been
gathered)in my Name, there am I in the midst of them.”
To the early church, gathering together was not about a day, time,
place nor event but rather about a daily relationship with the Father
through Jesus; a daily relationship through edifying one another and a
daily relationship with the non-believers through relational witnessing.
One
of the most profound teachings Jesus gave on gathering in worship was when
he said to the woman at the well in John 4:20-24, “Believe me, the hour
cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem,
worship the Father…But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father
seeketh such to worship Him. God
is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and
truth.”
The
Gentile churches which Paul established as recorded in the Book of Acts,
did not have Jewish traditions or customs, so they met whenever the Lord
gathered them including on the First Day of the week.
On
the subject of “certain days, months, years”, one must be careful to
not be legalistic in “observing days”.
For according to Romans 14:5-10, “One man esteemeth one day above
another: another esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
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.”
In
Galatians 4:9-11, Paul warns, “How turn ye again unto the weak and
beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon your labor in vain.
Colossians 2:16-17 states, “Let no man therefore judge you in
meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of
the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of
Christ.
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