Day of Worship

The Seventh Day Adventists, and a few others, argue that the day on which Christians are to assemble for worship is Saturday, not Sunday. The proponents of Saturday, or Sabbath Day worship support their stance based entirely on the demand: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8), and the subsequent practice of the Jews in both the Old and New Testaments.

A careful student of the Bible will quickly recognize that the Sabbath (Saturday) was the day of rest for the Jews. But one will not find a similar command for Gentiles. With the coming of Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, and the establishment of His church, Christians met on the first day of the week (Sunday).

• It was on the first day of the week that Jesus rose from the dead (John 20:1).
• It was on the first day of the week that the church became a reality (Acts 2:1). Pentecost always fell on a Sunday.
• It was on the first day of the week that the early disciples came together to break bread (observe the Lord’s Supper – Acts 20:7).
• It was also on Sunday (the first day of the week) that the disciples were commanded to contribute financially to the work of the church (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

Sunday is not the “Christian Sabbath,” it is the Lord’s Day.

Christians were never commanded to keep the Sabbath. Those who argue for the Sabbath Day (Saturday) as the day to be set aside to worship and rest are clinging to a law that Christ fulfilled (Matthew 5:17), Paul called weak (Romans 8:1-3), and Gentiles were never subject to.

We live under a new law today. It is the “perfect law of liberty” (James 1:25).

Jesus Christ is our great High Priest. The priesthood being changed, “there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (Hebrews 7:12).

We cannot appeal to the Old Testament to justify a practice intended only for the Jews, and found in a law which is no longer in force. The early disciples understood this! Some, today, do not! They are in error, and when they advocate Sabbath Day worship they are espousing false doctrine!