Bible Verse of the Day Sunday February 5th, 2023

 Is Sunday the New Sabbath?

By Pastor Ron Shortt

 Most Christians typically attend church on Sunday. Sabbatarianism, the belief that we should set aside a specific day of the week for religious observance and Worship per the Old Testament commandments surrounding the Sabbath, is partially responsible for Sunday worship (Exodus 20:8, 31:12–18). According to this theory, all people should refrain from working outside what is required to benefit their family and society. According to this understanding of the law, we can only fulfill the conditions of the law on the literal Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week (Saturday).

 Early adherents of semi-Sabbatarianism had similar beliefs to those of the Sabbatarians, except that they moved its obligations to Sunday from Saturday, Sunday being the first day of the week (the specific day that Christ arose from the dead). The applied identity of the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) and the Christian Sunday was being taught by theologians of the era, especially in the Eastern Church.

Interestingly, a narrative in the so-called Apocalypse of Peter, a work from the 2nd century AD that most Biblical Scholars view as a fraud, transfers all the obligations of Sabbath devotion to Sunday. Additionally, this burgeoning movement received a boost from a man by the name of Albertus Magnus, proposing that the world should divide semi-Sabbatarianism into two parts: the ceremonial sign that only pertained to Jews in a literal sense and the moral exhortation to observe a day for rest after laboring for the previous six days. As a result of Thomas Aquinas, many Reformed theologians accepted this idea as official Roman Catholic (Universal) dogma throughout time.

The New Testament mentions no Sabbath (Saturday) meetings of believers for fellowship or Worship. However, other verses, for example, says, "On the first day of the week, we came together to break bread " (Acts 20:7). Paul also encourages the Corinthian believers to "put aside an amount of money on the first day of every week, everyone according to his income" (1 Corinthians 16:2). Paul also refers to this donation in 2 Corinthians 9:12; thus, it's possible that this collection married itself to the church's Sunday worship service.

 Christian worship on Sundays in a celebration of the resurrection of Christ Jesus. We must not forget that even though the New Testament mentions Sunday worship, Sunday has not replaced Saturday as the Christian Sabbath. While the brand-new testimony describes Christians collecting and worshiping on Sundays, it nowhere states that Sunday has replaced Saturday as the Sabbath. The critical factor is that we are not to allow our Worship to be on a particular day of the week. We are to relax inside the lord every day. We are to worship the lord each day.