New Testament Texts about the Sabbath
Summary:
Dive into two passages from the New Testament that are often used to validate the first-day rather than seventh-day Sabbath. What do these words really teach?
Like the passages in the Gospels that discuss the Sabbath, two other New Testament verses are used to validate Sunday Sabbath when they really validate Saturday Sabbath:
1. "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us…by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:21).
See also Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12.While there are as many as 84 Sabbath services recorded in Acts, there is only one mention of the first day, and it does not support Sunday sacredness:
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight (Acts 20:7).
The New English Bible identifies the time:When the disciples came together to break bread, on the Saturday night in order to assemble for the breaking of bread, Paul, who was to leave the next day, addressed them, and went on speaking until midnight (Acts 20:7 NEB).
An evening meeting is recorded on the first day of the week. This means that since the Sabbath ended at sunset, the first day of the week began according to Bible reckoning. The New English Bible puts it in modern language and uses the words “on Saturday night.” It is recorded that Paul continued his speech until midnight on Saturday.Evidently, Paul had visited all day Sabbath with them, and was persuaded to stay on that night and speak further. According to Acts 20:11, “talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.”
Paul did not stay on the Sunday, which would have been the case if Sunday was the new Sabbath. Indeed, it was only after the Sabbath that the disciples came together to have a meal together, and Paul spoke to them until daybreak on Sunday morning, and then left on a long journey by foot, an act that would never have been sanctioned on the Sabbath day. The fact that Paul undertook a long journey by foot alone shows that the first day of the week—Sunday was not held in any special regard. The text is thus in support of Sabbath sanctity, rather than Sunday sanctity.
The fact that the disciples broke bread together on the Sunday is often used as a support of Sunday worship. This is however not the case, as the disciples ate together every day of the week. The partaking of communion is not limited to Sunday:
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their food with gladness and singleness of heart (Acts 2:46).
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come (1 Corinthians 11:26).
2. "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come" (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).
Paul is referring to tithes and offerings set aside for God's work. This was to be done on the first day of the week. Paul regarded the sanctity of the Sabbath so highly that he suggested that the calculating of tithes and offerings should not be carried out until after the preparation day and the Sabbath. He suggested rather that this work be done on the first day of the week, so that it wouldn’t be spent on other less necessary items in the course of the subsequent week. Rather than to detract from the Saturday Sabbath, this verse supports it.
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This article is adapted from Truth Matters by Professor Walter J. Veith, an international speaker who has studied Biblical issues in-depth in his quest for truth. His popular series Genesis Conflict brings the debate between Creation and evolution to a new climax as he dissects the arguments with a scientific eye. His highly-acclaimed series Total Onslaught sheds light on the state of the world today as we move to a one-world government and an anticipated apocalypse.
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