Sunday
See also sabbathwhichday and sabbathfredcoulter and fourthcommandement and Sunday Law
See also http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/sabbath.html and
http://www.sabbathtruth.com/
for a very thorough treatise on the sabbath.
Is Sunday, the first day of the week, the Christian Sabbath?
Did it replace the seventh day (Saturday) as the rest day of Yahweh the
Almighty God of Israel? Has the fourth of the Ten Commandments as recorded
in Exodus 20:8-11 been changed or done away with? If all the praiseworthy
characters mentioned in the Bible - including the Saviour and his twelve
apostles - kept the seventh day Sabbath, then why oh why are the majority of
Christians keeping Sunday?
1.
"The days of the week are all alike," say some
believers, "so there is no need to become emotionally polarized about
any particular one. Saturday, Sunday or even Friday for that matter, they are
all the same to God. The important thing is to keep yourself holy every day
of the week and forget about a weekly Sabbath, because it no longer exists. The
Sabbath commandment has been fulfilled, superseded, done away with and nailed to
the cross. Christians meet for worship on Sunday, not because it is the Sabbath
of the ten Commandments, but because it is convenient. The law has been
fulfilled by Jesus Christ and is now obsolete: so there is no longer a Sabbath
commandment to observe. It is the Spirit that matters, not the day of the week
on which you choose to rest."
2.
"The law of God still stands" say others
"but Sunday, the first day of the week, is the new Christian Sabbath.
It commemorates the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord's
Day and has replaced the seventh-day Sabbath by the authority of the
inspired Apostles and, therefore, by Christ himself. Christians are certainly
under obligation to observe it."
3.
"Sunday is not the Sabbath day at all," says a
third group. "The Almighty's Sabbath, according to His unalterable Ten
Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11, Matthew 5:17-18) is the seventh day of the
week, the day commonly known as Saturday. You may read the Bible from
Genesis to Revelation and you will not find a single verse authorising the
observance of Sunday. The true weekly Sabbath of Yahweh, the Almighty God of
Israel was, is, and ever will be, the seventh day of the week."
Thus the arguments rage back and forth across the globe and
are even now stirring the minds of many in your area. We trust that this article
will settle the matter for you once and for all, and prepare you for the days
ahead when this very issue concerning the Almighty's Sabbath becomes a deciding
point for all the inhabitants of the earth.
Matthew
24: |
20: But pray that your flight be not in the winter, |
Matthew
5: |
17: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. |
Hebrews
4: |
9: There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of
God. |
Genesis
2: |
1: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all
the host of them. |
Isaiah
66: |
22: For as the new heaven and the new earth, which I shall
make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your
name remain. |
1.
First find in the Bible texts that specifically mention the first day of
the week.
2.
And then prayerfully examine those verses paying particular attention to
see if any change of the Sabbath day took place.
By doing this we will avoid that vain and perilous pastime of
substituting the traditions of men for the commandments of God. (Matthew 15:9)
o
"And God said, let there be light: and there was
light. And God saw that it was good: and God divided the light from darkness.
And God called the light day and the darkness He called night. And the evening
and the morning were the first day."
(Genesis 1:3-5)
This text tells of what God did on the first day of the
creation week. It says nothing about the Sabbath one way or the other, so we
will pass it over without further comment.
o
"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to
dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary to see the sepulchre." (Matthew 28:1)
o
"And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary
Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome had brought sweet spices,
that they might come and anoint Him. And very early in the morning, the first
day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre."
(Mark 16: 1-2)
o
"Now when Jesus was risen early the first day
of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom he cast seven
devils." (Mark 16:9)
o
"Now upon the first day of the week, very
early in the morning, they came unto the seulchre bringing the spices which they
had prepared, and certain others with them."
(Luke 24:1)
o
"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." (John 20:1)
These five texts concern events that took place on the
morning when Mary Madgalene and some others brought spices to anoint the body of
the Master. It was the morning of the first day of the week - Sunday morning!.
o
"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 20:19)
This meeting took place on the Sunday evening after the
resurrection. The disciples were assembled, we are told, "for fear of
the Jews."
o
"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."
(Acts 20:7)
This text is also put forward as "proof" of Sunday
sacredness. "Here is evidence," some exclaim, "that the early
church met on a Sunday and that a Communion Service was held!"
11.
The meeting was held in the evening of the first day of
the week and continued till midnight or a little later. That is, it either
began on Saturday evening and finished in the early hours of Sunday morning; or
it began on Sunday evening and finished in the early hours of Monday morning.
Both these methods of reckoning the "evening of a day" are to
be found in the Scriptures. (Genesis 1 and John 20:19)
12.
The "breaking of bread" took place after
midnight. (verse 11)
13.
Paul and his companions, after bidding farewell to their
host, then walked from Traos to Assos (verse 13) - a distance of some 18
miles.
The Stewarton Bible School rejects the claim that this
meeting testifies to Sunday sacredness and we do so for the following reasons:
o
1: Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I
have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
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.
3: And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I
send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem."
(1 Corinthians 16:1-3)
Paul is here instructing believers in Corinth to privately
set aside some money for the famine stricken brethren in Jerusalem. The Greek
word thesaurizon means "treasuring or storing up." It has been
correctly rendered "lay by him in store." The Greek lexicon of
Greenfield translates the Greek here as, "with one's self",
i.e. at home. And this fact totally overthrows the idea that this text
proves that a church meeting on a Sunday is being referred to. If anything it
indicates that the Corinthian believers did not meet on the first day of
the week, but were in this instance being appealed to by Paul to do some private
saving at home. Then at Paul's coming a general "gathering"
(collection of money) would not be necessary. The already collected funds could
be totaled and taken by trustworthy brethren to Jerusalem to help the believers
there. The Sabbath day is not even mentioned in this verse.
Genesis
2: |
2: And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had
made: and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had
made. |
Exodus
16: |
25: And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a
sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. |
Luke
4: |
16: And he came to Nazareth, where he was brought up: and, as
his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
|
Acts
17: |
2: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them
and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.
|
o
"Unquestionably the first law, either
ecclesiastical or civil, by which the sabbatical observance of that day is known
to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine. 321 AD."
(Chambers Encyclopedia 1882 ed. Vol. VIII, p.401, art. "Sabbath")
o
"You may read the Bible from Genesis to
Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorising the sanctification
of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day
which we never sanctify." (Cardinal Gibbons (Catholic) in
his book: The faith of our Fathers, page 111)
o
"Question - "Which day is the Sabbath
day?"
Answer - "Saturday is the Sabbath day."
Question - "Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?"
Answer - "We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church
in the Council of Laodicea (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to
Sunday." (The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine. Second
edition, page 50)
o
"Is there any command in the New Testament to
change the day of weekly rest from Saturday to Sunday? - None."
(Manual of Christian Doctrine - (Protestant Episcopal) page 127)
o
"It is quite clear that however rigidly or
devoutly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath ... The Sabbath was
founded on a specific, divine command. We can plead no such command for the
obligation to observe Sunday. There is not a single sentence in the New
Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed
sanctity of Sunday." (Dr R W Dale (Congregationalist)
in his book Ten Commandments, page 127-129)
o
"The observance of the Lord's Day (Sunday) is
founded, not on any command of God, but on the authority of the Church."
(Augsburg Confession of Faith (Lutheran))
o
"Where we are told in Scripture to keep the first
day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded
to keep the first day ... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy
instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things,
not because the Bible, but the church has enjoined it."
(Rev. Isaac Williams (Church of England) in his Plain sermons on the Catechism.
Volume 1, pp. 334-336)
o
"There was and is a command to keep holy the
Sabbath day: but the Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and
with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to
the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions.
Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many
years, I ask: Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the
New Testament, absolutely not. There is no Scriptural evidence of the change of
the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week."
(Dr Edward T Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual)
In his magnificent book From Sabbath to Sunday Carlyle
B Haynes (Adventist) draws this inspired conclusion on page 34:
o
"After a careful examination of the Bible, of
history, both civil and ecclesiastical, of theological writings, commentaries,
church manuals, catechisms and the candid admissions of Sunday observers, we are
compelled to conclude that there is no authority in the Holy Scriptures for
the observance of Sunday, no authority given to man to make such a change
form the seventh to the first day, no divine sanction given the change now that
man has made it; that this substitution of a false Sabbath for the true Sabbath
of the Lord was entirely the work of an antichrist movement which adopted the
observance of a purely pagan day and presumptuously established it in the
Christian Church; and that this observance has no binding obligation upon
Christian believers, but should be instantly discarded as a matter of practice,
and the true Sabbath of God restored to its rightful place both in the hearts of
His people and in the practice of His church."
True Sabbath Day
is going to engage the minds of every soul on earth. It is going to be the main issue in the "coming spiritual election" in which all mankind will declare their spiritual preference either for the Traditions of Men, or for the Commandments of God.The
fourth commandment is as follows:
Exodus
20: |
8: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. |
Ezekiel 20:11-12 | "And I gave them my statutes,
and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live
in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them." |
Note how the Sabbath is given a special place of honour, far above the other statutes and judgements, important as they obviously are. Yahweh's Sabbath is an eternal token of sanctification; the sacred sign that sets the obedient believer apart from all the other peoples of the earth. It is His SIGN, His Signatre on the true believer's mind. We trust that you dear student are not missing out on this vital commandment?
"Without Sunday we cannot live"
... we cannot live without joining together on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist. We would lack the strength to face our daily problems and not to succumb.
...
The Sunday precept is not, therefore, an externally imposed duty, a burden on our shoulders. On the contrary, taking part in the Celebration, being nourished by the Eucharistic Bread and experiencing the communion of their brothers and sisters in Christ is a need for Christians, it is a joy; Christians can thus replenish the energy they need to continue on the journey we must make every week. — Homily of Pope Benedict XVI, Sunday, May 29, 2005.But Sunday IS an externally imposed duty not commanded by God! It is a duty imposed by the Catholic Church, a Tradition of men which cannot be found in the Bible. Sunday sacredness is simply not a precept of God, it is a precept of men.
Pope Benedict XVI Calls Sunday 73. ... To lose a sense of Sunday as the Lord's Day, a day to be sanctified, is symptomatic of the loss of an authentic sense of Christian freedom, the freedom of the children of God. (206) Here some observations made by my venerable predecessor John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter Dies Domini (207) continue to have great value. Speaking of the various dimensions of the Christian celebration of Sunday, he said that it is Dies Domini with regard to the work of creation, Dies Christi as the day of the new creation and the Risen Lord's gift of the Holy Spirit, Dies Ecclesiae as the day on which the Christian community gathers for the celebration, and Dies hominis as the day of joy, rest and fraternal charity. Sunday thus appears as the primordial holy day, when all believers, wherever they are found, can become heralds and guardians of the true meaning of time. ... 74. Finally, it is particularly urgent nowadays to remember that the day of the Lord is also a day of rest from work. It is greatly to be hoped that this fact will also be recognized by civil society, so that individuals can be permitted to refrain from work without being penalized. Christians, not without reference to the meaning of the Sabbath in the Jewish tradition, have seen in the Lord's Day a day of rest from their daily exertions. — Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Exhortation SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS, February 22, 2007. |
Pope Benedict XVI implies that Sunday, the first day of the week, (traditionally called Dies Domini, the Lord's day) is the sanctified holy day, "with regard to the work of creation." This directly contradicts scripture:
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
The seventh day sabbath is the primordial (original) holy day, blessed and sanctified by God at the end of creation week, not Sunday the first day! To be "heralds and guardians of the true meaning of time" one would have to keep holy the seventh day sabbath (Isa. 58:12-14), Saturday, established at creation, and directed by God in His Ten Commandments!
Pope Benedict XVI is referring back to the following by Pope John Paul II:
2. ... (3) For Christians, Sunday is "the fundamental feastday", (4) established not only to mark the succession of time but to reveal time's deeper meaning. — Dies Domini, Apostolic Letter of May 31, 1998. [see the Latin below]
2. ... (3) Christianis namque «est primordialis dies festus», (4) cuius est non modo temporis signare progressionem, sed ipsius etiam altum recludere sensum. — Dies Domini (Latin).
19. ... In the light of this constant and universal tradition, it is clear that, although the Lord's Day is rooted in the very work of creation and even more in the mystery of the biblical "rest" of God, ... — Dies Domini.
Without the Lord
and without the day that belongs to him,
life does not flourish.“Sine dominico non possumus!” Without the Lord and without the day that belongs to him, life does not flourish.
... for the early Church, the first day increasingly assimilated the traditional meaning of the seventh day, the Sabbath. We participate in God’s rest, which embraces all of humanity. Thus we sense on this day something of the freedom and equality of all God’s creatures. — Homily of Pope Benedict XVI, Sunday, 9 September 2007
God's biblical rest day is the seventh day of the week, Saturday. It is not the first day of the week, Sunday. Scripture never designates the first day of the week as the Lord's day, however, God calls the sabbath "my holy day" (Isa. 58:13) and refers to Himself as Lord "of the sabbath day" (Matt.12:8, Mk 2:28, Lk 6:5).
Sunday is NOT the biblical Sabbath day.
Did the Apostles keep Sunday?
Offering Strange Fire Before The Lord
The Seal of God in the Old and New Covenants
The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast.
The Battle of Armageddon
What Does The Word VATICAN Mean?
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