Revised: 2008 Dec 07
In one of his weekly newspaper columns, Narayan Mitra insinuated that people who work on Sundays are outside the will of God. (“Never on a Sunday? Paradigm for Re-creation” in Kamloops This Week, [Kamloops: Black Press, Jun. 6, 2008]). He supported his claim by appealing to the Old Covenant Sabbath command (Exod. 20:8-11). However, he failed to mention that the Israelites observed the seventh day of the week (Saturday), not Sunday. Evidently, anticipating this objection, Mitra justified Sunday keeping with this comment: “when the Church came into existence, we find her keeping the first day of the week.” This is misleading.
Sunday support non-existent
Within the four gospels, we find only one example of Christians meeting on the first day of the week:
So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19, NASB throughout unless otherwise noted.)
This gathering took place just days after Christ’s crucifixion. Apparently, the disciples felt they might be the next victims, so they holed up in fear for their lives. Such a “meeting” can hardly be considered a worship service. The disciples were not by any stretch of the imagination “celebrating Christ’s resurrection”; they were hiding. (Technically, Jews began their days at sundown. However, the time of this gathering could not have been Saturday evening since it occurred after Mary Magdalene had discovered the empty tomb, which clearly took place Sunday morning [John 20:1]. Therefore, the phrase “evening on that day, the first day of the week” refers to the very same period we today refer to as Sunday evening; the period following the daytime portion of Sunday, not the preceding evening.)
Jesus never said anything about Sunday worship services. If he wanted the Sabbath transferred to the first day of the week, surely, he would have said something about such a radical change.
There is only one other verse in the New Testament where Christians are found meeting on the first day of the week:
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. (Acts 20:7)
Why were they gathered together? To “break bread,” i.e., eat a meal. Why Sunday? Because Paul was leaving Monday. It was Paul’s custom to preach in the synagogues on Saturdays (Acts 17:1-2), and since Sunday was a regular work day, and Paul was leaving Monday, Sunday night was the only option for this farewell dinner. (This gathering took place after dark: “There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together” [v. 8].)
There is one more pertinent passage:
1Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. 2On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. 3When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16:1-3)
MacArthur says, “This evidences that the early church met on Sunday” (John F. MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, NASB ed. [Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006], 1 Cor. 16:2). It does? There is not one word in the verses above regarding any kind of meeting taking place. It has only been carelessly assumed this passage refers to Sunday worship services. However, such an assumption is wildly speculative. Why did Paul specify the first day of the week for Corinthians to set aside their gifts? Answer: We don’t know. But most commentators, not satisfied with such uncertainty, proceed to read far too much into this passage, often suggesting it sets a precedent for perpetual regular giving on the first day of the week, which then, seems to imply regular Sunday meetings. However, the text doesn’t say any of this. We are reading the sketchy details of a collection plan for helping some saints in Jerusalem, not an edict from on high about regular giving and Sunday worship services to be observed in perpetuity. Why the first day of the week is specified here is a mystery for which we will likely never have the background. We must be content with the information provided and be careful not to burden Christians with obligations that were never intended.
Surely, doctrine should not be established on the basis of such inconclusive evidence. Should we teach people to observe Sunday as a Sabbath simply because one verse indicates some Christians might have been meeting on that day? Christians don’t usually meet in the evening, partake of a congregational meal, or prolong their gatherings until midnight. Since none of these points is considered a notable precedent, why should the “first day of the week” be treated differently?
The shocking truth
Within the “first day of the week” passages quoted above, there is not one example of a Sunday morning worship service, nor is there a command anywhere in the New Testament to regard Sunday as distinct from other days. Moreover, nowhere do we find so much as a single oblique reference to Christians celebrating Christ’s resurrection on Sunday.
The judgment James pronounced regarding the Gentiles was limited to four directives. Abstaining from work on Sunday was not among them:
19“Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. (Acts 15:19-20)
It would have been impossible for many Christians to keep a Sabbath in the first century. The Roman Empire was largely composed of slaves, and many became Christians. It is unbelievable, and frankly, ludicrous to posit that thousands of slaves could have demanded Sundays off every week; and Paul commanded Christian slaves to obey their masters “in all things” (Col. 3:22; Eph. 6:5; 1 Tim. 6:1). This point alone precludes any kind of church-wide Sabbath keeping in the first century.
In Paul’s list of guidelines for the selection of overseers, there is no mention of Sunday observance or mandatory attendance at any church meeting (1 Tim. 3:1-12; Titus 1:5-9).
Quite simply, there is not one shred of evidence in the New Testament to support the transformation of Sunday into an Old Covenant-style Sabbath. Jesus never commanded it, nor did Paul. On the contrary, Paul taught that all Sabbaths and other holy days simply pointed to Christ and are now obsolete:
So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. (Col. 2:16-17, NLT)
How much clearer could this be? True, we need to spend time with God and other Christians. However, under the New Covenant, we can do it whenever we wish.
Conclusion
Narayan Mitra’s justification for keeping Sunday was “when the Church came into existence, we find her keeping the first day of the week.” As we have seen from scripture, the best response to that is, “No, we don’t!” The New Testament reveals no pattern of Sunday worship or any other kind of Sabbath keeping. Furthermore, Paul denounced those who would enjoin such observances upon God’s people. Therefore, we say with Paul, “Don’t let anyone condemn you!”
Objections
Objection: When John received the Revelation, he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10). Doesn’t this refer to Sunday?
Answer: There is debate over whether this refers to Sunday or simply “the day of the Lord” spoken of so many times in the New Testament (Acts 2:20; 1 Cor. 5:5; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:10). Obviously, “the day of the Lord” is the subject of Revelation. However, even if we concede “the Lord’s day” here refers to Sunday, and further concede first-century Christians did observe the first day of the week as a special day for worship in commemoration of the resurrection, we are still left with no command whatsoever to observe Sunday as a Sabbath; and once again, we remind readers that Sunday proponents cannot point to even one example of a Sunday morning worship service in the New Testament. In fact, the term “church service” was completely unknown to first-century Christians.
Objection: History records Christians keeping Sunday as early as the second century.
Answer: True. However, we will search in vain to find similar examples in the New Testament. We should not establish doctrine based on the historical record of the second century. A solid biblical basis must exist.
Objection: Granted, the New Testament does not teach Sunday worship, but perhaps we should be keeping the Sabbath on Saturday.
Answer: The Old Covenant is obsolete, and that includes Sabbath keeping. As noted above, church-wide observance of either Saturday or Sunday would have been impossible in the first century. The early church was not keeping any Sabbaths (Col. 2:16-17, NLT).
Objection: As you have said, it was Paul’s custom to preach in the synagogues on the Sabbath (Acts 17:1-2). So he was keeping the Sabbath, wasn’t he?
Answer: No. Paul preached on the Sabbath because Jews gathered in the synagogues on that day. Also, he often continued with Jewish customs because he did not want to cause offense, not because he was obligated to (1 Cor. 9:20-21).
Objection: If we don’t keep a Sabbath, aren’t we breaking one of the Ten Commandments?
Answer: For Christians, the Ten Commandments are irrelevant. We don’t live by a list of rules; we live by the Spirit. That said, most of the Ten Commandments were eternal laws which are still valid today. However, we don’t keep them because they are written on tablets of stone; we observe them because the Holy Spirit has written them on our hearts (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:26). The Sabbath command is the one exception. Paul made this absolutely clear in Col. 2:16-17. Most who promote the Ten Commandments as “God’s basic law for mankind” are hypocrites because they don’t observe the Sabbath which was the seventh day of the week. It was never changed to Sunday.
Objection: But didn’t God intend for us to have a day of rest, a day to worship him?
Answer: Apparently, not. Under the Old Covenant, God had to force the Israelites to pay attention to him by means of the Sabbath injunction. The penalty for disobedience was death (Exod. 31:14). This was necessary because the Israelites were carnal, and “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7, KJV). Under the New Covenant, however, Christians through the Holy Spirit want to please God and be close to him; we don’t need to be forced. We are free to worship God whenever we wish because true Christians can be trusted to continually seek him:
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:6)