"Why Do You Observe Sunday?"

THE BIBLE TEACHES THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH

Which day did Christ and the apostles observe? Which day did Paul teach gentile converts to observe? How did the day become changed from the seventh to the first day of the week?

Many False Prophets
   Jesus warned that many false prophets would appear, deceiving many. So what is the truth? How can we know?
   Let all remember each of us shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ! We shall be judged, not by our sincerity in what we have always believed through careless assumption, nor by our sincerity in following some new teaching without proof! We shall be judged by the Holy Scriptures, Yhwh's Word!

How to PROVE the Truth
   "All Scripture," we read in II Tim. 3:16, "is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction." Again, the command to us is, "prove all things!"
   We must be willing to be corrected, if wrong. We must be careful not to be blown about "with every wind of doctrine." We must free our minds of all prejudice.
   We must be able and willing to study BOTH sides honestly, laying our ideas and desires on the shelf, prayerfully asking God for guidance.
   If we already are right, honest investigation will but confirm it.
   If we are WRONG we should want to know it. And we shall quickly, willingly, as a little child accept the TRUTH as God reveals it, whatever that truth may be, if our hearts are right with Him! Perhaps this very study may be the test!
   On the following is a brief, terse, outline of one phase of this many-sided question. Explanation of other phases, answering other questions that may come up, will be supplied on request.
   These three facts are self-evident.
   (1) Sunday is the first day of the week according to current Roman and calendars of modern Judaism. See any calendar, dictionary, or encyclopedia. Is it, then, by Scriptural authority, "the Christian Sabbath," or truly the "Lord's Day," as it is popularly called today?
   (2) Yahshua (Jesus in many translations) kept the Sabbath(Luke 4:16). It was His custom. The Sabbath He kept was the same day of the week the Judeans (Judaism) observed, for the teacher, servant and congregation were all in the synagogue (verse 20), and the Pharisees continually rebuked Yahshua for healing on the Sabbath day.
   (3) The Sabbath Yahushua kept was the seventh day of the week. This Sabbath still was the day before the first day of the week (Mat. 28:1). Therefore it was not just any day in seven, it was the seventh day of the week. See also Luke 23:56 and 24:1.
   ...But
   ...was the day CHANGED by Yahushua or the apostles, after this, to the first day of the week so that Sunday is now the New Testament Christian Sabbath?
   ...does the New Testament somewhere show us that the first day of the week is the true Lord's Day and command Christians to observe it?
   Let us review the scriptures.

Is "Sunday" Mentioned in the New Testament?
  This change could not be made—a different day, the first day of the week, could not be established by New Testament Scripture authority, except in some text or texts employing the phrase "first day of the week," or the word "Sunday."
   The word "Sunday" does not appear any place in the Scriptures.
   But the phrase "first day of the week" is found in the New Testament. It occurs in EIGHT places. So it will not take long to examine these eight texts employing this phrase.
   IF the day was changed by Scriptural authority,—if followers of Our Messiah are to find any Scriptural Authority for observing Sunday, the first day of the week, as the "Lord's Day" today, then we must find that authority in one of these eight texts!
   Let us acknowledge at the outset, since the seventh day of the week is clearly established as the Scriptural Sabbath up until the time of the Cross, that there can be no Scriptural Authority for Sunday (first day of the week) observance unless we find it clearly and plainly stated in one of these eight New Testament passages.
   So let us examine them carefully, honestly, prayerfully.

The Day AFTER Sabbath
   (1) Matthew 28:1: "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." This is the first place in the Scriptures where "the first day of the week" is mentioned. Matthew wrote these words, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, many years after the New Testament Church came into being. The text says that late on the Sabbath day it was drawing toward the first day of the week. So this Scripture, we must admit, tells us plainly that three days and three nights after all that was done away had been securely "nailed to the Cross," the Sabbath was still the day before the first day of the week—still the seventh day of the week.
   One point is here proven.  Many tell us that the Sabbath command was merely for "one day in seven"—that it did not have to be the seventh day of the week, but merely the seventh part of time. They argue that Sunday, being one day out of seven, fulfills the command. But here is a passage in the NewTestament, inspired by the Holy Spirit many years after the beginning of the New Testament Church, stating in plain language that, after all abolished things had been done away, the Sabbath still existed and that it was the seventh day of the week—the day before the first day of the week. That much is proven, and must remain settled for all who honestly seek and accept Scriptural authority. But, was the day changed later?
  (2) Mark 16:2: "And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun." This is merely Mark's version of the sunrise visit to the tomb. It was written several years after the crucifixion. The first day of the week, also, was "after the Sabbath was past" according to verse 1. So this text proves the same as the one above—that the first day of the week was not at that time (after the crucifixion) the Sabbath, but the day after the Sabbath. The Sabbath, then, still was the seventh day of the week.

A Common Work Day
  (3) Mark 16:9: "Now when Jesus was risen, early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons." This text speaks of Jesus' appearance to Mary Magdalene later the same day,—the day after the Sabbath.
   Nothing here calls the first day of the week the Christian Sabbath. Nothing here calls it "The Lord's Day." Nothing here hallows Sunday or says God made it holy. Nothing here commands us to observe it. Nothing here sets it apart as a memorial of the Resurrection, or for any purpose. We find no command or example of rest for worship purposes on this day—no authority for observing Sunday here.
  (4) Luke 24:1: "Now upon the first day of the week very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing their spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them."
   This text tells again the same event recorded by Matthew and Mark, and it shows that on the first day of the week these women came to do the work of a common week-day, after having rested the Sabbath day "according to the commandment." For we read, in the verse just before this, "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Shall we say these women did not yet know the commandment was abolished? No, we cannot, for this statement was not made by the women, but inspired by the Holy Spirit.  It was written, at least twenty five years after the establishing of the New Testament Church! The Holy Spirit, at that time, inspired the direct statement that the rest of these women on the Sabbath day was according to the commandment, which statement would not be possible had the commandment been abolished.
   This text, then, establishes Sunday, the first day of the week, as a common work day, and it further establishes that at that time the command to rest on the Sabbath had not been abolished.
  (5) John 20:1: "The first day of the week came Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre."
  This, written many, many years after the crucifixion, is John's version, describing the same visit to the tomb. It confirms the facts above.

Was This a Religious Meeting, to Celebrate the Resurrection?
   (6) John 20:19: "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 said unto them, Peace be unto you."
   Let us examine this carefully, for some claim this was a religious service called for the purpose of celebrating the Resurrection. But notice this is the same first day of the week that FOLLOWED the Sabbath. It was Jesus' first opportunity to appear to His disciples. For three and a half years He had been constantly with them, on all days of the week. His meeting with them, of itself, could not establish any day as a Sabbath.
  Were they assembled to celebrate the Resurrection, thus establishing Sunday as the Christian Sabbath in honor of the Resurrection? The text says they were assembled "for fear of the Jews." The Jews had just taken and crucified their Master. They were afraid. The doors were shut because of their fear— probably bolted. Why were they assembled? "for fear of the Jews" according to this text, and also because they all lived together in this upper room (Acts 1:13). They could not have assembled to celebrate the Resurrection for they did not believe Messiah had risen (Mark 16:11; Luke 24:37, 39, 41). Nothing in this text calls this day "Sabbath," or "Lord's Day," or any sacred title. Nothing here sets it apart, makes it holy. No authority is given here for changing a command of YHWH!

Lord's Supper Day—or Work Day—WHICH?
  (7) Acts 20:7: "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. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together."
   Here, at last, we find a religious meeting on the first day of the week. But was it a Sunday worship meeting?
   Notice, Paul continued his speech until midnight! "And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together." It was after sunset, prior to midnight, the first day of the week. Now at that time the first day of the week did not begin at midnight, as men begin it today. It began, and the seventh day ended, at sunset, according to Judean time.   Scriptural days begin and end at sunset.  The practice of beginning the new day at midnight was started much later. Therefore this meeting, and Paul's preaching, took place during the hours we now call Saturday night--it was not a Sunday worship service, per se.

WHY Paul Remained Behind
   Let us, now, pick up the thread of the narrative related in this passage. Begin verse 6:
   ‘We sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them at Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to deport on the morrow."
   Paul and his companions had been in this town of Troas seven days. His companions had left by ship after sunset. Paul remained behind for a farewell meeting. He preached until midnight, "ready to depart on the morrow." At break of day—Sunrise Sunday morning—Paul departed (verse 11).
  Now notice what his companions had done. "And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot. And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in." (Verses 13-14).
   If we were to look at this on the map, Paul's companions had to sail around a peninsula—a distance of fifty or sixty miles, while Paul, afoot, walked across, a distance of 19 1/2 miles. He was able to walk this distance in shorter time than they could sail the much longer distance, which gave Paul the opportunity to remain behind after they left, for this last farewell sermon and visit.
  Now do you see what actually happened? Paul's companions were engaged in the labor of rowing and sailing a boat while Paul was preaching that Saturday night and early Sunday morning—on the first day of the week. They had set sail Saturday night, after the Sabbath had ended. Paul remained behind for one more last farewell sermon. Then, at break of day Sunday morning, Paul set out afoot, indulging in the labor of a 19 1/2 mile walk from Troas to Assos! He waited till the Sabbath was past for this long walk—a good hard day's work, if you ever tried it!  It was definitely more than a "Sabbath Day's journey."  He did it on the first day of the week! Again, a common work day!

What "Break Bread" Means
   But does this text not say, as many claim today, that the disciples always held communion every first day of the week?
   It says nothing about anything being done every first day of the week. It relates the events of this one particular first day of the week. It is not speaking of any customs, but of the events occurring as Paul and his companions concluded their seven-day visit in passing by this town.
   Messiah had introduced the bread and wine as symbolic of his body and blood at Passover time, at the beginning of the annual "days of unleavened bread." No longer would they kill lambs or eat the roasted body of Passover Lambs, after Messiah, our Passover, had been once slain for us. Yet the Passover was ordained forever (Ex. 12:24). At His last supper Jesus substituted the wine as the emblem of His blood, instead of the blood of the slain lamb. He substituted the unleavened bread for the roast body of the lamb as the symbol of His body, broken for us. The disciples continued to observe Passover annually, now in the form of using only the bread and wine, as a memorial (I Cor. 11:24) of Messiah's DEATH, (I Cor. 11:26), showing His death till He come again. They continued to observe the days of unleavened bread (Acts 20:6).
   This year they had observed the days of unleavened bread and the Communion service at Philippi, after which they came to Troas in five days where they remained seven days.
   After the Sabbath day had ended, at sunset, "upon the first day of the week, . . . the disciples came together to break bread."
   People have "assumed" this expression means the taking of Communion. But notice! Paul preached, and continued preaching until midnight. They had no opportunity to stop and "break bread" until then. When Paul "therefore was come up again"—after restoring the one who had fallen down from the third balcony—and had broken bread and eaten."
   Notice! "Broken bread and eaten." This breaking bread was not Communion—simply eating a meal. This expression was commonly used of old to designate a meal. It still is used in that sense in parts of even the United States.
  Notice Luke 22:16, where Jesus was introducing what is called the Lord's Supper, taking it with His disciples. He said, "I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." Yet, the day after His resurrection, after walking with the two disciples to Emmaus, as "He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them." (Luke 24:30). Here Jesus "brake bread" but it was not the Lord's Supper, which He said He would not take again. It was a meal—"He sat at meat"...
   Notice Acts 2:46. The disciples, "continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness." Here again "breaking bread" means meat or food. Not on the first day of the week, but daily.
  Again, when Paul was shipwrecked on the voyage to Rome, the sailors had been fasting out of fright. But "Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, "This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health—And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat." (Acts 27:33-35). Here Paul broke bread to give to unconverted sailors who were hungry.
   The truth is, nowhere in the Scriptures is the expression "breaking of bread," or "to break bread," used to signify observance of the Lord's Supper. In all these texts it means, simply, eating a meal. So, when we read in Acts 20:7, 11, "the disciples came together to break," and how Paul had "broken bread and eaten," we know by Scripture interpretation it referred only to eating food as a meal, not to a Communion service.

What Was This COLLECTION?
  We come now to the 8th and last place where the term "first day of the week" occurs in the Bible.
  (8) I Corinthians 16:2: "Upon the first day of the week let everyone of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him."
  Often we see this text printed on the little offering envelopes in the pews of popular churches, and we have been told that this text sets the first day of the week as the time for taking up the church collection for the carrying on of God's work, paying the minister, etc.
   Let us begin with the first verse and really catch the true intended meaning of this verse.
   "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."
   This speaks of a collection—but for whom and for what?  Not for the preacher—nor for evangelism—but "the collection for the saints." The poor saints at Jerusalem were suffering from drought and famine. They needed, not money, but FOOD. Notice Paul had given similar instruction to other churches. Now observe his instruction to the Romans:
   "But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia (where the Corinthian Church was located) to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.. . When, therefore, I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain." (Rom. 15:25-28).
   Ah!  It was not money, but fruit that was being sealed for shipment to the poor saints at Jerusalem!
   Now turn back to I Corinthians 16. Paul is speaking concerning a collection for the Saints.  Upon the first day of the week each of them is instructed to do what?  Does it say drop a coin in the collection plate at a church service?
   It says "let everyone of you lay by him in STORE."  Store up by himself—at home! Not lay by at the church house—at home.
   Now why? "That there be no gatherings when I come." Men gather fruit out of the orchard—they gather vegetables out of the ground, to be stored up. But putting coins in a collection plate at church, or handing in your tithe-envelope could not be called a gathering, but an offering or collection.
  Notice further: "And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they (more than one) shall go with me." (verses 3-4).
  Apparently it was going to require several men to carry this collection, gathered and stored up, to Jerusalem. If it were tithe or offering for the minister or the spread of the Gospel, Paul could have carried the money alone.
   So, once again, the last and final text in the Bible where we find "the first day of the week" mentioned, it is a work day—a day for gathering fruit and food out of the orchards and the fields and gardens, and storing it up. It was to be the FIRST labor of the week, hence the first day of the week, as soon as the Sabbath was past!

No Scriptural Authority
   So, finally, we find upon honest examination that none of the texts speaking about "first day of the week" sets it apart as a rest day. Not one makes it holy, calls it the Sabbath or by any other sacred title. In each case, the first day of the week was a common work day.
  In none of them was there a religious meeting and preaching service being held on the hours we now call Sunday. In none of them can we find a single shred of Scriptural authority for Sunday observance! There is no record in the Scriptures of celebrating the Resurrection on Sunday.
  Sometimes Revelation 1:10 is used as Bible authority for calling Sunday "The Lord's Day" It says: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice." But this does not say the "first day of the week," or "Sunday" is the "day" here called "the Lord's day." As a matter of fact, it is not speaking of any day of the week at all, but of "the Day of the Lord,"—the time of the coming plagues climaxing in the coming of Messiah, and the one thousand year reign. This is the theme of the Book of Revelation. 
  But Messiah said He was Lord of the Sabbath, and if He is LORD of that day, then it belongs to Him, and is His day, and therefore the Sabbath is the Lord's Day (Mark 2:28). Isaiah 58:13 calls the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) "My Holy Day."  YHWH is speaking. So the Sabbath is "The Lord's Day."
  In the original commandment, in Exodus 20:10, we read: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God." It is not "my" day, or "your" day. Sunday is my day. So is Tuesday, and every other weekday, for my labor and my own needs. But the seventh day is not mine--it is the LORD's! It belongs to HIM, and He made it Holy, and commanded us to KEEP it that way.

The TRUE SABBATH of the NEW Testament
  Now briefly let us look thru the New Testament to find which day Paul kept, and taught Gentile converts to keep.
  Notice which day Paul and Barnabus used for preaching to Gentiles:
   (1) Acts 13:14-15, 42-44: "But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, You men and brethren, if you have any work of exhortation for the people, say on."
   Then Paul stood up, and spoke, preaching Christ to them.
   "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
   Now since Paul was preaching "the grace of God" (verse 43), here was his opportunity to straighten out these Gentiles, and explain that the Sabbath was done away. Why should he wait a whole week, in order to preach to the Gentiles on the next Sabbath day? If the day had now been changed to Sunday, why did not Paul tell them they would not have to wait a week, but the very next day, Sunday, was the proper day for this service? But notice what Paul did.
   "And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God." Here Paul waited a whole week, passing up a Sunday, in order to preach to the Gentiles upon the Sabbath day.

Gentiles Met on SABBATH
   (2) Acts 15:1-2, 5, 14-21: Study this whole passage carefully. Certain men had come down from Judea to Antioch, teaching that the Gentile converts there must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. Quite a dissension arose between them and Paul and Barnabus. So it was decided Paul and Barnabus should go to Jerusalem to the apostles and Elders about the question.
  At the conference at Jerusalem, James gave the decision.
   "Wherefore my sentence is:' he pronounced, (verses 19-21).. . . that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood?"
  He did not say they should not keep the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were not in question—but it was circumcision in question, (Acts 15:1), which was an altogether different law than the Ten Commandments.
   But why write this sentence to them?
   ..."For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." (Verse 21).
   Do you see it? Judaizing teachers were reading the Law of Moses and teaching people in the synagogues every Sabbath day. The apostles were writing this decision concerning the Law of Moses, "because Gentile converts were going to the synagogues on the Sabbath Day, and would hear this former teaching. In order to counteract it, and protect the Gentiles from it, the written message was sent. It shows that the Gentile converts had started observing the Sabbath day, and went to the synagogues on that day!  The Apostles' letter did not reprove them for this Sabbath-keeping, or even mention it.
   This is very significant, since Gentiles had not previously been observing the Sabbath.  Therefore it is something these Gentiles had begun doing after they were converted under the teaching of Paul and Barnabus!

A Sabbath in Philippi
  (3) Acts 16:12-15: Here we find Paul and Silas at Philippi. And "we were in that city abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spoke unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened,. . . and when she was baptized..
   Here again Paul and his companions waited until the Sabbath, and then went to a place of worship, and preached, and this woman, probably a Gentile, was converted. The passage indicates it was the custom to meet there on the Sabbath, and that it was custom for Paul and his companions to go to a place of prayer and worship when the Sabbath day came.

Paul Worked Week-days, and Kept the SABBATH
  (4) Acts 18:1-11: "After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila. . . with his wife Priscilla. . . and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought; for by their occupation they were tentmakers, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks."
  If we could find one text in the New Testament giving as strong authority for Sunday observance as this one does for Sabbath-keeping, many would conclude  we would certainly have Scriptural authority for it! Here Paul worked weekdays, but went to the synagogue and taught Gentiles as well as Jews every Sabbath.
   Now the Commandment says: "Six days shall thou labor, and do all thy work," just as much as it says "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy?" There is just as much command to work six days as there is to rest the seventh. And so if the day had been changed, Paul would have had to work Sabbaths, in order to go to synagogue and preach every Sunday. But here he worked week days and went to the synagogue and preached every Sabbath—not just on one particular occasion.
  He preached Christ, and the Gospel of the Kingdom. And when the Jews became offended and blasphemed, he turned away from the Jews altogether, and from then on preached to Gentiles only, (verse 6), and he continued there a year and six months (verse 11),— working week days—preaching to Gentiles only--every Sabbath!
  What more conclusive proof could we desire? What stronger Scriptural evidence than this, as to the true Sabbath of the New Testament must we seek? For a year and a half Paul continued working week-days—six days— including Sundays—and preaching to Gentiles exclusively every Sabbath! Certainly it was his custom and manner! Certainly he could not have done this had the Sabbath been done away, or changed.

Paul COMMANDS Gentiles to Keep the Sabbath
   To these Gentile-born at Corinth, Paul commanded: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ?' (I Cor. 11:1).
   And Paul "as his manner was, went in unto them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." (Acts 17:2) It was his manner—his custom, as we have seen by ample evidence showing a total of eighty-four different Sabbaths Paul is shown specifically to have kept.
   Did he follow Messiah in this?  Our Messiah, "as His custom was.. . went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day..." (Luke 4:16).
   It was HIS custom. Paul followed Him, and commanded the Gentile converts to follow Him, even as he followed Christ
   The question for us today is "Are we willing to follow m His steps? Our Messiah, Our Savior came to set us an example that we should follow in His steps.  If we like Paul are crucified with Christ, and He lives His life in us, (Galations 2:20) Christ in us will still keep the Sabbath, for He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever!

Following are some confessions concerning the origin of Sunday worship:

Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, vol. 1, pp. 334, 336: 

“And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all?  We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day…The reason we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it.”

T. Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884:  “I have repeatedly offered $1000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy.  There is no such law in the Bible.  It is a law of the Holy Catholic Church alone.  The bible says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’  The Catholic Church says:  ‘NO.  By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day, and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.’  And lo!  The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church.”

 Canon Eyton, The Ten Commandments, pp. 52, 63, 65:  There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday…Into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters…The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday.”

 Bishop Seymour, Why We Keep Sunday:  “We have made the change from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy Catholic Church.”

 Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, a paper read before the New York ministers’ conference, November 13, 1893, reported in New York Examiner, November 16, 1893:  There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday.  It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week.  Where can the record of such a transaction be found:  Not in the New Testament—absolutely not.  To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years’ intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question…Never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated.  Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history…But what a pity it comes branded with the mark of Paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!”

 William Owen Carver, The Lord’s Day In Our Day:  “There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath to the Christian firs-day observance.”

 Dr. R.W. Dale, The Ten Commandments (New York:  Eaton & Mains) pp. 127-129:  It is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath…The Sabbath was founded on a specific Divine command.  We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday…There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday.”

 Timothy Dwight, Theology; Explained and Defended (1823), Ser. 107, vol. 3, p. 258:  The Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive Church called the Sabbath.”

 Alexander Campbell, The Christian Baptist, February 2, 1824, vol. 1, no. 7, p. 164:  “’But’, say some, ‘it was changed from the seventh to the first day.’  Where?  When?  And by whom?  No man can tell.  NO; it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again; for the reason assigned must be changed before the observance, or respect to the reason, can be changed!  It is all old wives’ fables to talk of the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day.  If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws EX OFFICIO—I think his name is DOCTOR ANITCHRIST.”

 First Day Observance, pp. 17, 19:  “The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath.  This is a mistake.  The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week.  The first day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures.  It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.  There is not in any place in the Bible intimation of such a change.”

 The Sunday Problem, a study book of the United Lutheran Church (1923), p. 36:  “We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish Sabbath faded from the mind of the Christian Church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church.  We have seen that the Christians of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both.”

 Augsburg Confession of Faith, article 28; written by Melanchthon, approved by Martin Luther, 1530; as published in The Book of Concord of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Henry Jacobs, ed. (1911), p. 63:  “The [Roman Catholics] refer to the Sabbath Day, as having been changed into the Lord’s Day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it seems.  Neither is there any example whereof they make more than concerning the changing of the Sabbath Day.  Great, say they, is the power of the Church, since it has dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments!”

 Dr. Augustus Neander, The History of the Christian Religion and Church, Henry John Rose, (1843), p. 186:  “The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine Command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.”

 John Theodore Mueller, Sabbath or Sunday:  “But they err in teaching that Sunday has taken the place of the Old Testament Sabbath and therefore must be kept as the seventh day had to be kept by the children of Israel…These churches err in their teaching, for Scripture has in no way ordained the first day of the week in place of the Sabbath.  There is simply no law in the New Testament to that effect.”

 John Wesley, The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., John Emory, ed. (New York:  Eaton & Mains), Sermon 25, vol. 1, p. 221:  “But, the Moral Law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, he [Christ] did not take away.  It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this.  This is a law which never can be broken...Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.”

 Dwight L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting, pp. 7, 48:  “The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since.  This fourth commandment begins with the word ‘remember’, showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai.  How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?”

 T.C. Blake, D.D., Theology Condensed, p. 474:  “The Sabbath is a part of the Decalogue—the Ten Commandments.  This alone forever settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution.  Moral Law has been repeated, the Sabbath will stand…The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath.”