Our companion study SUNDAY NOT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT! SUNDAY NOT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT! investigates all the verses referring to "the first day of the week" more fully and shows that this term should be more correctly translated as "the first day to the Sabbath."

Which day should Christians keep? Why Sunday of course, you say, the first day of the week. Isn't that what the Bible teaches? Does it? It may come as a surprise to many people that Sunday is not even mentioned in the Bible (by name at least). There are only eight places in the New Testament where the first day of the week occurs. They are as follows...

Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre.
Matthew 28:1.

And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen.
Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
Mark 16:2, 9.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared.
Luke 24:1.

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
John 20:1.

These first five texts only tell us that it was on the first day of the week that Jesus rose from the dead.

The next verse is John 20:19:--

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

This at first may appear to be the text we want. Here is mentioned a gathering of the disciples on the first day of the week. But unfortunately, this was not a meeting for weekly worship, for the text says that they were "assembled for fear of the Jews." It doesn't sound like a good reason for going to church, does it?

Let's try the next text, Acts 20:7:--

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

This is it! Surely this text must support a Sunday (first day of the week) gathering for worship. We could argue that the breaking of bread was a daily event according to Acts 2:46 but you say, here we have a definite mention of preaching. Paul preached to them and that shows that the first day was used for weekly worship. Not so fast. There is a slight problem here. Notice that the verse states that Paul preached to them "until midnight" as he was "intending to depart on the morrow." Verse 8 also tells us that "There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered." Why would they need many lights? Obviously this meeting was at night.

So was this meeting on Sunday night? Apparently not. The Bible reckoning of days suprisingly is from sunset to sunset:

... And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Genesis 1:5.
... from evening to evening shall you keep your sabbath.
Leviticus 23:32.
That evening, at sundown, ...
Mark 1:32.

From these verses we can conclude that the meeting mentioned in Acts 20:7 was actually then on a Saturday night, that part of the day being reckoned as the dark part of the first day of the week. To make matters worse, Paul departed at the break of day early Sunday morning and spent the morning walking. Well, we certainly couldn't use this verse to support a Sunday morning worship service, could we?

Our final verse mentioning the first day of the week is 1 Corinthians 16:2:--

On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come.

This was not to be a continual general weekly plan, for in verse 1 we have mentioned "concerning the contribution for the saints." This was to be for a single collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem. There is no hint of weekly worship in this verse. Further, instead of mention of a morning service, the members were told to lay by aside, as God had prospered them. Probably at each person's home, but certainly not in a collection basket at church. Finally the reason given is that there be no gatherings when Paul came. Whichever day that would be, it does not say! So we definitely have no support in this last of the eight verses for worshiping on Sunday, the first day of the week.

Well, this gives us a real problem. Doesn't it say in the Bible that Christians should have a day of worship? In Hebrews 4:9 we read

So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God;

A "sabbath rest" would suggest a day of worship. Can we be sure that a day of worship is meant? Consider verses 3 and 4:--

For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
    "As I swore in my wrath,
    'They shall never enter my rest,' "
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."

Now when did God rest from all His works? We find the answer in Genesis 2:2:--

And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

Verse 1 tells us that this work was the creation of this world:

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Further, in verse 3, we are told that

So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.

So here we are told that God put aside the seventh day for rest, and he also blessed the day and hallowed or rendered it holy or sanctified it. It would seem that the seventh day must be something pretty special for God to do that. This would appear to be the case for when we go to the ten commandments mentioned in the book of Exodus, we again find a very strong reference to the seventh day, and it is here called the sabbath day, which means a day of rest. Here it is in Exodus 20:8-11:--

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor, and do all your work;
but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates;
for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:8-11.

The mention of blessing the seventh day, the sabbath, occurs again here in this commandment. Also, a copy of the ten commandments was given to Moses on two tables of stone:--

And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Exodus 31:18.
And Moses turned, and went down from the mountain with the two tables of the testimony in his hands, tables that were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
Exodus 32:15, 16.

This seems pretty clear. Writings on paper have come and gone, but these commandments written on stone obviously were to last forever. Furthermore, they are referred to at the end of time in the book of Revelation:--

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
Revelation 11:19.

The Lord had told Moses,

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.
Exodus 25:8, 9.

This sanctuary was also known as the tabernacle, or tent of meeting, which was a portable structure consisting of two rooms which contained special furnishings such as a table of showbread, altar of incense, seven-branched lampstand and so on. When the people were eventually settled in the promised land, they built a fixed structure known as the temple and the special furnishings from the sanctuary were taken into it. It was in effect, the sanctuary or tabernacle made into a building. So the sanctuary or tabernacle could have been considered a portable version of the temple.

Now one of the very special articles of furniture in this sanctuary was a box called the ark of the testimony. The Good News Bible gives its dimensions mentioned in verse 10 as 1125 mm long, 675 mm wide, and 675 mm high. Moses was also told

And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.
Exodus 25:16.

And as we read before, this testimony was the two tables of stone, the ten commandments.

The point of this is very simply that if we have Moses making a copy of a tabernacle (temple) which exists in heaven (temple opened in Revelation 11:19), then if a copy of the ten commandments was given to Moses to place in the ark we must also have an original set in the ark in the temple in heaven. That being the case, we have the fourth commandment reading exactly as it was given to Moses long ago:

... the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; ...
Exodus 20:10.

It appears then, that the day of rest that the Lord wants his people to keep and enter into is still the seventh day of the week, and not the first. As we read before, Bible days are kept from sunset to sunset. So the seventh day sabbath would actually be from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Further, this is the Lord's plan for eternity for we read in Isaiah 66:22, 23:--

For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the LORD; so shall your descendants and your name remain.
From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD.

Some actually claim that the ten commandments were done away with at the cross, but the apostle Paul needed the commandments to tell him what sin was. We find this in Romans 7:7:--

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin. I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."

And in verse 12, Paul tells us that:

So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

If the ten commandments are holy, and just, and good, does it sound like they have been done away with?

Finally, the book of Revelation gives us a description of God's people at the end of time:

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Revelation 14:12.

Can it be wrong to keep the commandments of God if it says in the Bible that His people will keep His commandments?

Again, in the very last chapter of the last book of the Bible we find the following verse:

Blessed are those who wash their robes,^s that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
Revelation 22:14.
s Other ancient authorities read do his commandments.

God's people who have the faith of Jesus and keep His commandments, will worship Him on the day He has set aside for them. They will enter into His rest, and as the years of eternity roll they will keep the same day.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Hebrews 4:11.

May the Lord help us to be faithful, and keep the day which He has set apart for His people.

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Companion pages:

The Christian SABBATH The Christian SABBATH The Christian SABBATH study investigating if there is a weekly day of worship for Christians; and a comparison of the Christian Sabbath, The Lord's Day in the New Testament with the Jewish Sabbath in the Old Testament.

SUNDAY not in the New Testament! SUNDAY not in the New Testament! SUNDAY not in the New Testament! an investigation of a common mistranslation in New Testament verses mentioning "the first day of the week." This study gives the correct translation. Also brings to light the correct original Biblical names for the days of the week.

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Bible texts from:
REVISED STANDARD VERSION OF THE BIBLE, OT 1952, NT 1946, 1971.

Pics
http://karenswhimsy.com/ public domain images.

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Stephen Buckley
E-mail: chodesh [at] duck.com
Last revised: 16 May 2020.
First Constructed: approx or before 18 Sep 1997.

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