According To The Scriptures:
THE SABBATH OR THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK?
Many churches worship on the first day of the week (Sunday). Some worship on the sabbath (Saturday). I worship on the first day of the week for these reasons:
The sabbath was a blessed and sanctified day (Gen. 2:3). One of the "Ten Commandments"
was "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exo. 20:8).
"Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you [Israel] throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you" (Exo. 31:13).
God was speaking to Israel when He gave them the sabbath day as a sign between God and Israel.
Why do I worship on the first day of the week? Not one time in the New Testament
is the church told to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Christ fulfilled the sabbath day as a holy day.
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"In the end of the sabbath..." (Matt. 28:1).
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"And when the sabbath was past..." (Mark 16:1).
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"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. 10:4).
Christ met with His church two times after His resurrection:
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"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, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you" (John 20:19).
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"And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you" (John 20:26).
After eight days would be the next first day of the week (Sunday); example: "...on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath" (Lev. 23:39).
Pentecost was on the first day of the week. The church met on the first day of the week to break bread and have preaching (Acts 20:7).
Every member of the Lord's churches is commanded to lay by in store upon the
first day of the week (I Cor. 16:2).
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of
the sabbath days:
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Col. 2:16-17).
The sabbath was a shadow pointing forward to the coming body of Christ, so there is no need for a holy
sabbath today. Jesus (the holy body) has already come!
Please notice the past tense in the following Scriptures:
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"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).
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"The law and the prophets were until John..." (Luke 16-16).
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"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster..." ( Gal. 3:24).
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"For if that which is [present tense] done away was glorious..." (II Cor. 3:11).
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"...that which is abolished" (II Cor. 3:13).
Please read II Cor. 3:6-18.
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"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith" (Gal. 3:11).
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"And the law is not of faith..." (Gal. 3:12).
The law cannot justify or make a person righteous. Christ ended the law (Rom.
10:4).
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"For the promise, that he [Abraham] should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect" (Rom. 4:13-14).
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"For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves" (Rom. 2:14).
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"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work" (Rom. 11:6).
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"No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment... Neither do men put new wine into old bottles..." (Matt. 9:16-17).
These Scriptures teach that you do not mix "law" and "grace".
I am convinced by the New Testament Scriptures that the churches are to worship
on the first day of the week. Be sure to worship God by faith!
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