Does the term "Lord's Day" in the Bible refer to Sunday, and does this correspond to the observance of the Sabbath on Sunday rather than on Saturday?


Email Received:

I've heard that the term "Lord's Day" is another day for Sunday. Is that true? If so, is this a reason why the Sabbath is observed on Sunday rather than on Saturday?


Ted’s Response:

"Lord's Day" does seem to be a Catholic and Protestant term for Sunday. As far as I know, though, the expression "Lord's Day" appears only once in the Bible, and that is in Revelation 1:10. But I see no reference there as to what day of the week that is. For some reason unknown to me, it seems that many have assumed that John had this vision on a Sunday, the so-called "Lord's Day."

I know that many Christians use verses like Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, and John 20:19 as "evidence" that the Sabbath had been changed to Sunday. Their arguments are not at all convincing to me. The majority of Christians will insist that we must obey all of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:1-21). Yet, at the same time, they will say that the seventh-day Sabbath has been discarded and replaced by a first-day Sabbath, since Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday. I do not buy this "logic" at all. None of these commandments have changed, since God does not change.

Jesus asserted that He had not come to abolish or to do away with the Law (Torah) or the Prophets but to fulfill them and, furthermore, that even the least bit of the Law would remain intact until the present heaven and earth disappear (Matthew 5:17,18). This will take place at the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:11, 21:1). Jesus, being Jewish, would have observed every detail of the Torah, including a seventh-day Sabbath. Had He not been flawless in observing and obeying every bit of the Law, He would not have qualified to be our perfect sacrifice for sin.

Jesus never said anything about changing the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day, and whoever lives in God must walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:6). After Jesus was resurrected (on a Sunday) and went back to heaven, it would have been wrong for Jesus' disciples and/or Paul to begin observing the Sabbath day on Sunday. Moreover, there is no evidence indicating that they did this.

In the year 321, Roman Emperor Constantine I decreed that Sunday (dies Solis) would be observed as the Roman day of rest:

On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.
In doing this, Constantine's decree gave civil sanction to the common practice of the Christian Church and was designed to promote Christianity throughout his empire.

Back in 2004, I attended a concentrated seminar everyday for three full weeks, put on by Seventh Day Adventists (SDA). I attended the seminar not because I was searching, nor because I did not know what I believed, but because I wanted to understand the SDA perspective and point of view. I completely disagree with the majority of their prophetic views. (For instance, they teach that the majority of the book of Revelation already has taken place.) However, I absolutely concur with them about the seventh-day Sabbath and a few other things. The following page describes my basic beliefs about the Sabbath: Sabbath: Saturday or Sunday?


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