FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson
Chapter 10
Sunday in the Early Church
(88) The word
"Sunday" is not found in the Bible, but the "first day" of
the week is mentioned just nine times. Let us examine these nine texts.
1. The first day of the week originated as a work day. This
world was created on a Sunday, so that, wherever one goes, he is reminded of
God's Sunday work. (Gen. 1:1-5.)
2. "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene." Matt. 28:1. Here
we notice that Sunday is an ordinary "week" day, not a holy day, and
that the New Testament says the Sabbath is over when the first day begins.
3. "When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary
the mother of James, and Salome, had bought 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 sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among
themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone." Mark 16:1-3. Here again we
see that Sunday is a working day on which work was resumed.
(The fourth text we will examine a little later.)
5. Christ was buried on Friday, "and that day was the
preparation" for the Sabbath. After the burial, His followers returned
home "and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day
according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in
the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices." Luke
23:54-56; 24:1. Here three consecutive days are mentioned: They prepared the
spices on Friday, rested on the Sabbath, and early Sunday morning they went to
finish the work left over from Friday. So we see that Sunday is a working day,
which follows immediately after the Sabbath of the New Testament.
(89) 6. "The first
day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the
sepulcher." John 20:1. This is simply a repetition of the other texts.
7. "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," Jesus appeared. John 20:19. "Here," says some one,
"you see the disciples were gathered to keep the new Sabbath in memory of
the resurrection." But the text does not say that they were gathered in
honor of the day, but "for fear of the Jews." Let us now examine the
fourth text.
4. "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the
week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene....She went and told them that [she]
had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that
He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed
not. After that He appeared" to the two who went to Emmaus. They
returned and told the rest: "neither
believed they them. Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at
meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and
hardness of heart, because they believed not them
which had seen Him after He was risen." Mark 16:9-14. This is the same
meeting which is recorded in John 20:19. We ask: How could they be gathered to
celebrate Sunday in honor of Christ's resurrection, when they did not believe He had risen? No, the
disciples were simply in their common living quarters, and were having their
evening meal when Jesus came, and they gave Him some fish and honey that was
left. (Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43.)
8. In Acts 20:7 we have the only place in the New Testament
where a religious meeting is said to be held on the "first day of the
week," and this was a farewell meeting, when, of course, it was natural to
celebrate the Lord's supper in parting. (Vs. 7, 25.) Besides this, the
believers gathered "daily," "breaking bread" (Acts 2:46),
so there was nothing in the act to indicate that the day was holy. Then too,
the meeting at Troas was held on Saturday night. In the Bible reckoning, every
day begins and ends at sunset, because God began the work of creation with the
dark part and ended the day with the light part. "The evening and the
morning were the first day." Genesis 1:1-5. "From even unto even,
shall ye celebrate your Sabbath." Lev. 23:32.
(90) "And at even,
when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all that were diseased." Mark
1:32. They would not bring them until after the Sabbath; but "at even,
when the sun did set," the first working day of the week began. Therefore the
Sabbath began at sunset Friday, and ended at sunset Saturday, and the first day
of the week began at sunset on our Saturday evening, and ended at sunset on our
Sunday evening. The only dark part of the first day, was therefore the night
that preceded it, as the night following it was part of the second day. The
meeting at Troas was held at night, for "there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were
gathered together," and Paul "continued his speech until
midnight." Being "the first day of the week," it must have been
our Saturday night. (Acts 20:7, 8.) Having spent the Sabbath together, they
simply had a farewell meeting in the evening. Professor McGarvey says:
"I conclude that the brethren met on the night after the
Jewish Sabbath which was still observed as a day of rest by all of them who
were Jews or Jewish proselytes; and considering this the beginning of the first
day of the week, spent it in the manner above describe. On Sunday morning Paul
and his companions resumed their journey." - Commentary
on Acts, under Acts 20:7.
Conybeare and Howson write:
"It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish
Sabbath....On the Sunday morning the vessel was about to sail. The Christians
of Troas were gathered together at this solemn time....The night was
dark....Many lamps were burning in the room where the congregation was
assembled." - "Life and Epistles of
the Apostle Paul," pp. 520, 521. New York.
If Sunday was their holy day, why then would Paul stay with
the brethren at Troas seven days, and leave them on Sunday morning to walk
eighteen and one-half miles that day, "for so had he appointed." This
was planning quite a work for Sunday! (Acts 20:6, 13.)
(91) 9. "Upon the
first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store." 1 Cor.
16:2. This text says that every one should "lay by him in store." The new Swedish and new Norwegian Bibles
read, at "home by himself." Weymouth's reads: "Let each of you
put on one side and store up at his home." Ballantine's translation reads:
"Let each of you lay up at home." And the Syriac has it: "Let
every one of you lay aside and preserve at home." So the text proves the
opposite of what is often claimed for it.
The apostle Paul was instructing the believers to take time
on Sunday to lay aside at home from the wages received during the preceding
week, such an amount as they could afford to give for the relief of their poor
brethren at Jerusalem. If we always remembered on Sunday to take something from
our previous week's earnings and lay it up at home, we would find a larger
ready offering at hand, when the call comes, than if we wait, and give what we
happen to have on hand. The fact that they should sit down and figure up their
accounts to see how "God hath prospered" them, and give accordingly,
would indicate that the day was not considered a holy day. Then, too, Sunday is
never given a sacred title in the New Testament.
THE
LORD'S DAY
Some claim that "the Lord's day" of Revelation
1:10, refers to Sunday, but this text does not say which day is meant, and
Sunday is not called the Lord's day in any other place in the New Testament.
There is therefore no evidence that Sunday is meant here. It is generally
agreed that John wrote his Gospel two years after he wrote Revelation. If the
term "Lord's day" had become the designation for Sunday, when John
wrote Revelation, then he would have used that name for it two years later when
he wrote the Gospel, but he simply calls it "the first day of the
week." John 20:1. The only day which the Lord has designated as His day,
is the seventh. (Ex. 20:10; Isa. 58:13; Mark 2:28.)
(92) Dr. Summerbell
says:
"Many suppose that they must denominate the first day of
the week the 'Lord's day,' but we have
no certain Scripture for this. The phrase 'Lord's day,' occurs but once in the
Bible: 'I was in the spirit on the Lord's day,'
and there probably refers to the day of which Christ said: 'The Son of
man is Lord even of the Sabbath day,' as the whole book of Revelation has a
strong Jewish bearing." - "History of
the Christian Church," p. 152. Cincinnati: 1873.
W. B. Taylor says:
"If a current day was intended, the only day bearing
this definition, in either the Old or New Testaments, is Saturday, the seventh
day of the week." - "Obligation of
the Sabbath," p. 296.
Dr. Peter Heylyn remarks:
"Take which you will, either of the Fathers, or the
Modernes, and we shall find no Lord's day instituted
by an Apostolic Mandate, no Sabbath set on foot by them upon the first day of the weeke, as some would have it:
much lesse than any such Ordinance should
be hence collected, our of the words of the apostle." - "History of the Sabbath," (original
spelling), Part 2, p. 27: London: 1636.
THE
CONCLUSION
Dr. William Smith, LL. D., after carefully examining all the
texts in the New Testament usually adduced in favor of the first day, comes to
this conclusion:
"Taken separately, perhaps, and even all together, these
passages seem scarcely adequate to prove that the dedication of the first day
of the week to the purposes above mentioned was a matter of apostolic
institution, or even of apostolic practice." - A Dictionary of the Bible, art. "Lord's Day," p. 356.
Hartford: Burr and Hyde, 1871.
(93) The learned Dr.
John Kitto sums up those texts in the following words:
"Thus far, then, we cannot say that the evidence for any particular observance of this day amounts
to much; still less does it appear what purpose
or object was referred to. We find no mention
of any commemoration, whether of
the resurrection or any other event in the
Apostolic records." - Cyclopoedia of Biblical Literature (2-vol.
Ed.), Vol. II, art. "Lord's Day," p. 269. New York.
"'But,' say some, 'it was changed
from the seventh to the first day.' Where? when? And by whom? No man can
tell. No, it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone
through again: for the reason assigned must be changed before the observance,
or respect to the reason, can be changed!! It is all old wives' fables to talk
of the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day. If it be
change, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio - I think his name is DOCTOR
ANTICHRIST." - Alexander Campbell, in "The
Christian Baptist," revised by D. S. Burnit, from the Second
Edition, with Mr. Campbell's last correction, page 44. Cincinnati: D. S.
Burnit. 1835.
A tract widely circulated against those who keep the seventh
day as the Sabbath has this to say in its fourteenth proposition:
"If Christians are to keep the Sabbath day, how do you
account for the fact that the apostles preached the gospel in Jerusalem,
Samaria, to Cornelius the Gentile, and to many others, without commanding a
single individual to keep it: Did they under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
fail to properly instruct their converts?"
We answer: The Christians everywhere were keeping the
seventh-day Sabbath, and there was an acknowledged law enforcing its
observance. There was therefore no occasion for giving any commandment on this
point. (Luke 23:52-56; 16:17; Matt. 5:17-19; Romans 3:31.) And the apostles by
their example and teaching had educated both Jewish and Gentile believers to
keep the seventh-day Sabbath. (Acts 13:42-44; 18:1-4; 17:2; 16:12, 13; 1 Cor.
7:19; Romans 7:12; 3:31.) What more could they have done in this direction?
(94) But if a new day
(Sunday) was to be instituted among God's people, how can we account for the
fact that the apostles preached the gospel in Jerusalem, Samaria, to Cornelius
the Gentile, and to many others, without every mentioning the institution of
Sunday in place of the Sabbath, or ever commanding any one to keep Sunday, the
first day of the week? If the day of rest was changed from the seventh to the
first day of the week, how can we account for the fact that the New Testament
is entirely silent about any such change, and that the apostles wrote four
Gospels, and twenty-one letters to instruct the churches, besides the Acts and
the Revelation, and never instructed the Christians to keep Sunday, or even
mentioned it with any sacred title, but always as a "week" day; that
is, a work day? Did the apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
fail to instruct their converts properly? (See Acts 20:26, 27.)
The new Christian institutions of baptism and the Lord's
supper are clearly taught in the New Testament. We can point to the chapter and
verse where they are commanded. Then why should not so important an institution
as a new Christian rest day be mentioned? To this there can be but one answer:
The silence of the New Testament as to any change of the weekly rest day is an
indisputable evidence that no such change was made till after the New Testament
canon was closed.
SUNDAY A
WORKING DAY
Dr. Francis White, Lord Bishop of Ely, says:
"In S. Hieromes days [420 A.D.], and in the very place
where he was residing, the devoutest Christians did ordinary worke upon the Lord's day (Sunday was called "Lord's
Day" in England in the seventeenth century when Bishop White wrote this;
he therefore uses this designation of the day. Jerome is here spelled Hierome.), when the service of the Church was
ended." - "Treatise of the
Sabbath-Day," p. 219. London: 1636.
"The Catholic Church for more than six hundred yeares
after Christ, permitted labour, and gave license to many Christian people, to
worke upon the Lord's-day [Sunday], at such houres, as they were not commanded
to bee present at the publike service, by the precept of the church." -
Id., pp. 217, 218. (original spelling.)
(95) Bishop Jeremy
Taylor says:
"St. Ignatius expressly affirms:...'The Christian is
bound to labor, even upon that day.'...And the primitive Christians did all
manner of works upon the Lord's day, even in the times of persecution, when
they are the strictest observers of all the divine commandments: but in this
they knew there was none." - "Whole
Works" of Jeremy Taylor, D. D. (R. Heber, ed.), Vol. XII, Book 2,
chap. 2, rule 6, par. 59, p. 426. London: 1822.
Dr. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A., says:
"Chrysostom (A.D. 360) concludes one of his Homilies by
dismissing his audience to their respective ordinary occupations." - Cyclopoedia of Biblical Literature, Vol. 2,
art. "Lord's Day," p. 270.
Dr. Peter Heylyn quotes St. Jerome as telling us that, when
the services were ended on Sunday morning, the holy women, "after they
returne from thence,...set themselves unto their tasks which was the making
garments for themselves or others: a thing which questionlesse so good a woman
had not done, and much lesse ordered it to be done by others; had it been then
accounted an unlawful Act. And finally S. Chrysostome...confesseth,...that
after the dismission of the Congregation, every man might apply himselfe to his
lawfull business....As for the time appointed to these publicke exercises, it
seems not to be very long...an houre, or two at the most." - "History of the Sabbath" (original
spelling} Part 2, chap. 3, par. 7, 8, pp. 79, 80. London: 1636.
Dr. Heylyn says further that the people in the country worked
freely on Sunday, and that those "in populous cities" "might
lawfully apply themselves to their severall
businesses, the exercises being ended" in the church. (Id., pp. 80,
81.) And of the Christians of the East he says:
(96) "It was neere
900 yeares from our Saviour's birth, if not quite so much, before restraint of
husbandry on this day, had beene first thought of in the East: and probably being thus restrained, did
finde no more obedience there, then it had done before in the Westerne parts." - Id., chap. 5, par. 6,
p. 140.
"The Sunday in
the Easterne Churches had no great
prerogative above other days, especially above the Wednesday and the Friday."
- Id., chap. 3, par. 4, p. 73. (original spelling.)
Some may wonder why these early morning meetings were held on
Sunday, when the Christians considered it only a working day. We shall see that
there was a natural cause for it, when we learn that the heathen living around
them were sun worshipers, who met at their temples Sunday morning, and
prostrated themselves before the rising sun. Christians are a missionary
people, and to win their neighbors they held a meeting at the time when their
neighbors were used to worshiping their sun-god. And, as it takes a crowd to
draw a crowd, the church leaders requested their members to gather at this
early morning hour, after which all went to their respective places of
business. But this custom became a steppingstone toward eventually adopting the
heathen Sunday, as we soon shall see. Other influences also led in the same
direction
To be
continued…
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