Why does the Church meet on the Sunday?

I need less than two minutes.

As evidenced by Romans 14, some of the early Jewish Christians observed the Sabbath on Saturday while others did not. At the same time, Jewish Christians traditionally held their Christian worship services on Sunday or what is traditionally understood as Christ's Resurrection Day. Some would attend both the synagogue worship on Saturday as well as the Christian worship on Sunday. The tradition of Christian worship on Sunday has remained to this day.

 

http://www.pfrs.org/jewish/hr03.html

http://www.truthorfables.com/Sabbath_Not_A_Law.htm

 

Mark 16:9 ¶ Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,

Acts 20:7 ¶ And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them,

1Corinthians 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him,

Psalms 118:22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Revelations 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,


1)Jesus was resurrected on Sunday
2)They met on Sunday in the book of Acts
3)And as a side note John makes mention of the Lord's day and being in the spirit on such

4)For those who are ready, I would then discuss how Sunday is not only the first day of the week in scriptures but it is also the 8th day, and if you do a word study on the number eight you will find that it is the number for new beginnings (Gen. 8) for example. And in prophecy after the 7th day millennial rest will be the 8th day (Rev.21) new heaven and new earth


God Bless

 

Good answers given above. I agree!

Here in Saudi, we hold our services on Fridays.

Friday is our day of rest (day off); it is the time we allocate for service to the Lord. What is important, there is a specific day we reserved for Him.

We can't follow serving the Lord on Sundays lest we lose our jobs. And I'm pretty confident God accepts our worships and offerings.

My two cents.

 

I can see the reasons for meeting on Sunday, but I have a problem with those who reason that this means the sabbath has moved from saturday to sunday.

The sabbath is still the sabbath (sundown friday to sundown saturday). That didn't change just because people started meeting on Sundays.

Whether or not you observe the sabbath is (IMO) irrelevant. But (also IMO) it hasn't changed just because we meet on sundays.

 

Gold Dragon,


re: “As evidenced by Romans 14, some of the early Jewish Christians observed the Sabbath on Saturday while others did not.”

I don’t see where Romans 14 says that. The subject of the chapter from start to finish has to do with what people eat. Paul is writing about asceticism. Some in the church at Rome believed Christians should eat only vegetables. Paul calls these people “weak in the faith” (verses 1-2). The stronger in faith know they could also eat meat. Nothing in God’s law prescribes vegetarianism. The stronger in faith knew they were free from non-biblical asceticism. A part of the controversy that had sprung up between the weak and the strong Christians was the esteeming of days. In Rome some people had the pagan idea that on certain days certain foods should or should not be eaten. In this whole chapter Paul was just showing that others should not be offended, particularly weak members who have not yet learned the truth about the proper Christian diet and that they should not be judged by the stronger in the faith. This passage has nothing to do with the Sabbath.

 

rstrats, while you are correct that this passage does not explicitly mention the Sabbath, that is how most have traditionally understood it, especially in light of its similarity to Colossions 2 which does explicitly mention the Sabbath.

 

Gold Dragon,


re: “... while you are correct that this passage does not explicitly mention the Sabbath, that is how most have traditionally understood it...”

And I would suggest that they traditionally understand it incorrectly.


re: “...especially in light of its similarity to Colossians 2 which does explicitly mention the Sabbath.”

How have you been able to rule out that Paul wasn’t simply saying to the Colossians that they should not let anyone - other than the body of Christ, which is the church - criticize them for HOW they were observing the things mentioned in verse 16?

 

While what you suggest is possible, I would say it is highly unlikely given the context of the rest of scripture.

There are many instances of "Judiazer" Christians in the early church who insisted that the Jewish food restrictions, calendar observances, circumcision etc were requirements for Gentile Christians. Paul commonly addresses this issue in many of his letters and it was also addressed in the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15.

Interpreting these passages to suggest Christian liberty with respect to the Sabbath is consistent with the rest of the NT.