Every Christian knows Jesus rose on Easter Sunday, which the bible refers to as the "first day of the week." The Jews have kept Saturday for thousands of years, so we know there's been no interruption in the days of the week. Whole weeks have been removed from the calendar throughout history, but the seven day weekly cycle has never been interrupted, which to me is evidence of the existence of God, and his protecting that which he called holy. The Sabbath isn't Jewish, because it was started in the Garden of Eden, AND is in the 10 commandments.
So there's no arguing that what most Christians call "The Lord's Day" is Sunday, the first day of the week.
I took a Strong's concordance and studied every occurrence of "first day of the week" and "sabbath" and all I could come up with were verses about Jesus and the disciples going to synagogue on Saturday, the Sabbath. Even after Jesus died, in Acts, they went to synagogue on Saturday
WHY then is Sunday called "The Lord's Day"?
2006-08-04 04:54:38 · 28 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
"'And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men*--the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.' He said to them, 'All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.'" (Mark 7:7 - 8 NKJV)
It is interesting because God did command a particular day and did not allow people to keep any day they wanted. While in the wilderness after fleeing Egypt, the Hebrews were sent manna from Heaven. This manna fell six days a week but did not fall on the Sabbath. God knew what day the Sabbath was, the Hebrews knew it, and the Jewish people of today still know it. They keep the same day today that their ancestors did when God sent the manna.
"On the sixth day the people gathered twice as much food -- four quarts for every person. When all the leaders of the community came and told this to Moses, he said to them, "This is what the Lord commanded, because tomorrow is the Sabbath, the Lord's holy day of rest. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil today. Save the rest of the food until tomorrow morning." So the people saved it until the next morning, as Moses had commanded, and none of it began to stink or have worms in it. Moses told the people, "Eat the food you gathered yesterday. Today is a Sabbath, the Lord's day of rest; you will not find any out in the field today. You should gather the food for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day. On that day there will not be any food on the ground." On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather food, but they couldn't find any. Then the Lord said to Moses, "How long will you people refuse to obey my commands and teachings? Look, the Lord has made the Sabbath a day of rest for you. So on the sixth day he will give you enough food for two days, but on the seventh day each of you must stay where you are. Do not go anywhere." So the people rested on the seventh day. The people of Israel called the food manna. It was like small white seeds and tasted like wafers made with honey." (Exodus 16:22 - 31 NCV)
You can search the New Testament, and even the entire Bible for that matter, and you will not find one place that the Sabbath law has been revoked. What you will find is that the apostles and early church did keep the Sabbath, and Jesus expected His followers to be keeping the Sabbath some 60 years after His death.
"At that time, how terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or have nursing babies! Pray that it will not be winter or a Sabbath day when these things happen and you have to run away, because at that time there will be much trouble. There will be more trouble than there has ever been since the beginning of the world until now, and nothing as bad will ever happen again." (Matthew 24:19 - 21 NCV)
"They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down." (Acts 13:14 NCV)
"While Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people asked them to tell them more about these things on the next Sabbath." (Acts 13:42 NCV)
"On the next Sabbath day, almost everyone in the city came to hear the word of the Lord." (Acts 13:44 NCV)
"On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the river where we thought we would find a special place for prayer. Some women had gathered there, so we sat down and talked with them." (Acts 16:13 NCV) (This is most interesting because Paul kept the Sabbath even when there was not a group of Jews to keep it with or a church to keep it in. He was in Philippi, and there were very few Jews there)
"Paul went into the synagogue as he always did, and on each Sabbath day for three weeks, he talked with the Jews about the Scriptures." (Acts 17:2 NCV)
"Every Sabbath day he talked with the Jews and Greeks in the synagogue, trying to persuade them to believe in Jesus." (Acts 18:4 NCV)
Check the Ten Commandments; they tell us the reason we should keep the Sabbath.
"The reason is that in six days the Lord made everything -- the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. On the seventh day he rested. So the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:11)
That reason still stands today. The Sabbath has nothing to do with the nation of Israel but everything to do with creation. God did not command the Sabbath because he wanted the Israelites to be different; He commanded it because He created it in the first week. God tries to give us a gift, and we say that it is a burden and we do not want it.
As for the Lord's Day, It is interesting to see what the Bible says about the Lord's day.
"Eat the food you gathered yesterday. Today is a Sabbath, the Lord's day of rest;" (Exodus 16:23 NCV)
"This is what the Lord commanded, because tomorrow is the Sabbath, the Lord's holy day of rest." (Exodus 16:25 NCV)
"but the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the Lord your God." (Exodus 20:10 NCV)
"So the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day" (Matthew 12:8 NCV)
"So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." (Mark 2:28 NCV)
"Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, 'The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.'" (Luke 6:6 NCV)
2006-08-05 01:35:57 · answer #1 · answered by dee 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Excellent question. Two parts
1)The early catholic church leaders(not Christ and not the apostles) wanted to distinguish themselves from the those who remained in the Jewish faith. On brilliant idea(never sanctioned by God) was to change the sabbath from the 7th day to the 1st day of the week, so that nonbelievers could tell Christians from Jews. Now to make such a major change they had to attach some kind of biblical authority to it, and thats where they came up with the excuse of since Christ rose on the 1st day its okay to celebrate that one now. Plus at the time the Holy roman empire had formed so if they had the governmental power to force people to observe that day as well. Many sabbath keeping Christians were killed at this time for being 'heretics' of the catholic church. Interestingly enough, many prophecies in the bible speak of this great even like in Daniel where it describes a power that will think to change TIMES and LAWS. The key word is THINK.
2) Also at this time the Catholic church was busy gain power through forcible conversions of pagan people in diferent lands. Many of these people were Sun worshippers and Sunday was their sacred day. Thus by changing the sabbath to Sunday, it would be very appeasing to these pagan people and make conversion much more readily accepted. This is also how the system of the Saints in the catholic church began. Saints often replaced the godfigure that the local pagan people served. So Boobooka god of the sea might have been changed to St.Christoper -Saint of fishermen. This is also why Mary was elevated - to give the many pagan people wanting a goddess figure like they have been serving something to pray to.
2006-08-04 05:10:40 · answer #2 · answered by h nitrogen 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Funny reading some of these answers:
"Buddy, you sound like you need to get another hobby! ...It's a waste of time. "
Meanwhile, YOU'RE here answering questions about a subject you're not interested in. At least the guy who posted this has enough of a life to spend time doing something he probably enjoys.
" sunday is the day of rest and if u read the bible its right at the beginning "
At the BEGINNING of the Bible, it says SATURDAY is the day of rest AND WORSHIP.
" Saturday = Sabbath, Day of Rest Sunday = Day of Worship "
Show me one verse in the Bible that says Sunday is the day of Worship.
" Most Cathlic's (which is the largest branch of christainity) go to church on Saturday's for mass. "
Uh.... not on Earth they don't. Some will attend a Saturday night mass, but here we find the TRUE answer to this guys' question.
MOST CHRISTIANS call Sunday the Lord's Day because the POPE TOLD THEM TO.
Most of Christianity, even the so-called "Protestants" who were supposed to be "Protesting" traditional Catholicism, are actually just Catholics in different uniforms.
There IS NO BIBLICAL REASON to go to church on Sunday. The Pope commanded it, so that's why they do it.
Pope Sylvester I (314-335 A.D.) Decreed the Transfer of Sabbath Rest to Sunday
2006-08-04 05:11:34 · answer #3 · answered by sal_menella 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You answered your own question, in that The Lord rose on Sunday. Jesus was a Jew on earth and obeyed the Jewish laws, including worshiping on the Sabbath. Some Christians do worship on Saturday.
I don't think the day is as important as putting aside one day a week for the Lord.
2006-08-04 05:03:01 · answer #4 · answered by RB 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because back in Constantine's day the emperor changed the day to Sunday. There is no Biblical proof. And Seventh Day Adventists worship on Saturday/Sabbath, from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Keep studying and you will find some other changes to what "most" Christians believe today
2006-08-04 05:04:48 · answer #5 · answered by I-o-d-tiger 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't think it has to do with it being the first day of the week really. The Apostles of the New Testament chose Sunday - that's really the simple answer. There are a number of different ideas of why they chose that day (the resurrection on Sunday, do become a distinctly different religion, etc) but the early Christians accepted the Apostles as the mouthpiece for the Lord, so what they decided is what happened.
2006-08-04 05:13:30 · answer #6 · answered by daisyk 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well to me Sunday has always been the Lord's Day. Growing up as a kid my family went to church on Sunday and today as an adult I attend church on Sunday. In my opinion whether a person goes to church on a Saturday or Sunday doesn't really matter to God. I think what matters is if your heart is in the right place and your relationship with God is where it should be. I believe in going to church on a Sunday but I have some real good friends who are Seventh Day Advents so they go on Saturday and they are real good Christians. So who am I to condemn them and say that they are going to church on the wrong day? I would never do that as I respect their decision to go on Saturday and they respect mine to go on Sunday. I go to church because I know that it is the right thing to do and if I didn't go I would be sinning.
2006-08-04 05:13:24 · answer #7 · answered by Dan G 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because it was the day when Christ arose from the dead.
Worshipping on Sunday took hold gradually, and the early church observed both (maybe that's where the idea of "weekends" came from)
I attended a Messianic synagogue and enjoyed resting on Saturday, because I have to run, run, run on Sunday.
2006-08-04 05:02:19 · answer #8 · answered by freelancenut 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
We can lay that at the door of the catholics.Somewhere in the 1500 (I think 1536 but I may be wrong about the exact date.I can look it up if you really want the exact date of the "decree") a pope or bishop decided to challenge the word of God and declared that Sunday (as in son god worship), will be the day of the Lord.He won. That is until he died.
2006-08-04 05:05:36 · answer #9 · answered by Snowey 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Saturday = Sabbath, Day of Rest
Sunday = Day of Worship
2006-08-04 04:59:41 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋