Why is it that Christians assemble together and have what we call “church” on Sundays? Why do we honor Christ and worship God on the first day of every week?
In this series, we’ve already seen that it has nothing to do with Rome or the Roman Catholic Church. Rome might claim to have influenced why Christians worship on Sundays, but both Scripture and history tell a completely different story.
If you missed the previous studies where we addressed whether Christians should follow the Old Testament Law, if the Sabbath day is for Christians, or whether Rome tampered with the Sabbath, you’ll want to study those after this one.
In Revelation 1:10, John wrote to Christians and said:
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.”
John didn’t explain what “the Lord’s Day” is. He didn’t have to. He was confident that his readers already knew. So what was John talking about when he mentioned the Lord’s Day? The Scriptures point to Sunday—the first day of the week—as the day Jesus calls His own.
Now, just to be clear, Christians can assemble, worship, and serve God any day of the week. In Acts 2:37–47, we read about the church, newly begun by the work of Jesus, meeting daily. They worshiped God daily. They fellowshipped daily. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings daily. But the New Testament also shows that Jesus’ disciples understood that there was one specific day of the week that belongs to Jesus in a special way—the Lord’s Day.
Before Jesus’ resurrection, the gospel accounts show Jesus and His apostles faithfully keeping the Law and first-century Jewish customs. They honored the Sabbath and attended synagogue on Saturday, the seventh day of the week. But beginning with Jesus’ resurrection, the focus in Scripture shifts to Sunday, the first day of the week. And no, Sunday is not a “Christian Sabbath.” The Sabbath wasn’t changed; it was fulfilled in Christ.
All four gospel accounts—Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20—emphasize that Jesus’ tomb was found empty after the Sabbath, on the first day of the week.
In Acts 1, we learn that, after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples over a period of 40 days. Throughout those 40 days, whenever the day of the week is mentioned, it’s always Sunday—the first day of the week. Here’s a sample:
Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came 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, out of whom He had cast seven demons.
Mark 16:1–2, 9
Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.
Luke 24:13–15
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 came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
John 20:19–20
And after eight days1 His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”
John 20:26
Notice how the inspired authors emphasized how Jesus’ appearances continued to happen on the same day of the week that He rose from the dead: the first day of the week.
Jesus gave the Great Commission to the apostles In Acts 1. He told them that they would be His witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem, but they were to wait until the Holy Spirit provided them with power in a few days’ time. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit finally fell on them, which meant that it was time for them to begin preaching.
The Day of Pentecost was when the Jewish people offered “a new grain offering to the LORD.” (Leviticus 23:16). It was a time for them to celebrate the first fruits of a hard season of sowing. How appropriate that Jesus chose this day to begin adding souls (the first fruits of His harvest) to His church. According to Leviticus 23:15–16, the Day of Pentecost always fell on the first day of the week. The Holy Spirit fell on the apostles, they proclaimed the risen Christ, and about 3,000 devout Jews obeyed the gospel by repenting and being baptized into Christ. On that Sunday, the church began. How fitting that the church began on a Sunday—the day Jesus walked out of His tomb. The first fruits of His resurrection were gathered on the first day of the week, and they’ve been gathering on Sunday ever since.
Fast forward about 25 years to Acts 20. We see the church partaking of the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week. We have another study exploring how often we should partake, and Acts 20 is key to that study. Paul was traveling to Jerusalem and in a hurry. He was trying to get to Jerusalem before a certain date, but, for some reason, he waited in Troas for nearly a week. Why? Because he knew that the church would assemble as a whole on Sunday, the first day of the week. Acts 20:7 says:
Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.
In 1 Corinthians 16, Paul gave the Corinthian church instructions on what and how to collect for needy Christians in Jerusalem.
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.
1 Corinthians 16:1–2
He knew it was safe to expect these Christians to be gathering every first day of the week. And the expectation wasn’t just with the church in Corinth, but with all the churches of Galatia too. Not only that, but Paul also said on multiple occasions that he always provided the same teachings in every church.
For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
1 Corinthians 4:17
Therefore, every New Testament church of Christ met every first day of the week. That example, expectation, and commandment falls to us in the twenty-first century.
Apart from all of these scriptural proofs, the earliest Christian writings beyond the New Testament say the same thing. For example:
- Ignatius, writing around AD 100, said that Christians live “according to the Lord’s Day, on which our life arose through Him” (Magnesians 9).
- A few years later, Justin explained that Christians meet “on the day called Sunday,” the day Jesus rose from the dead (Apology I, 67.1-3).
- Clement of Alexandria spoke in the second century of keeping “the Lord’s Day… glorifying the Lord’s resurrection” (Miscellanies 7.12.76.4).
- In the early 200s, Tertullian claimed that Christians “regard Sunday as a day of joy” (To the Nations 1.13).
- And Bardesanes, around AD 200, said, “On one day, the first of the week, we assemble ourselves together” (On Fate).
Far from being isolated opinions, these writings show that what we see in the New Testament continued unbroken for centuries. Long before Constantine or the Roman Catholic Church, Christians everywhere understood Sunday as the Lord’s Day because of the resurrection. On every first day of the week, the early church met regularly for encouragement, teaching, worship, and fellowship. We should too. As the Scriptures say in Hebrews 10:23–25:
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
The seventh day was when God rested from His work in creation. God gave that day of the week to the Israelites for them to remember how He rescued them from slavery. Jesus fulfills that rest and has rescued all of us from the slavery of sin. Jesus is our rest. He is our Sabbath. And by being in Him, we enter into the fulfillment of God’s promises. Honoring God on the first day of the week is about recognizing that, in Christ, God is making all things new. When we gather at the beginning of every week on the Lord’s Day, we’re not simply attending a religious service. We’re declaring that Jesus is alive, that sin and death have been defeated, and that we live in the power of His resurrection.
As dawn broke on that first day of the week after the most tragic event in human history, the sun shone on a stone that used to contain death. But it had been rolled away. The tomb was empty. Death was defeated. So when you wake up on the first day of the week, praise God for His day—the Lord’s Day. Gather with His people. Proclaim His death until He comes. And live as one who has been raised to new life in Christ.
Now, let’s keep studying about the Law of Moses and the Sabbath day here.
- According to how first-century Jews counted days, this would have been the following Sunday. ↩︎