THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. The 11th study in the series. Studies written by...

THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEKIN THE NEW TESTAMENT

THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

The 11th study in the series.

Studies written by William Carey.

Presentation by Michael Salzman.

All texts are from the New King James version.

All rights reserved.


The first day of the week is mentioned eight times in the New Testament. If there is any proof for the keeping of the first day of the week, Sunday, it will be found in connection with these texts which mention the first day of the week. We will examine each of thee texts in this lesson.

1-FD THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

• The resurrection . . .

• Mark 16:9

• Now when He rose early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.

1-FD THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IN THE NT

Mark 16:9 says that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, but there is not one word to the effect that anybody should keep the first day of the week as a holy day because Jesus arose that day.


• Easter Morning . . .

• Mark 16:1,2

• And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices that they might come and anoint Him.


2- Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

• AFTER THE SABBATH WAS PAST, the women came to the tomb early in the morning on the first day of the week.


• Easter morning . . .

• Matthew 28:1

• Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.


Matthew 28:1 covers the same facts previously read. (Note: When the Bible was originally written, there was no division into chapters and verses, not even punctuation. These were added after printing came into use about 1491. Some errors in punctuation and division came as a result of the human element.


The phrase, “In the end of the Sabbath” rightly belongs to Matthew 26:66. For one of the errors in punctuation, see Acts 19:12, “sick handkerchiefs”


• The women came to the tomb . . .

• Luke 23:54-56 & 24:1

• That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.

55- And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and observed the tomb and how His body was laid.


56- Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

1- Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.


The women came to the tomb on the first day of the week, Sunday, to embalm the body of Jesus, SOMETHING THEY WOULD NOT DO ON THE SEVENTH DAY, SATURDAY.


• Easter Morning . . .

• John 20:1

• Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

• Mary came to the tomb before sunrise on the first day.


• Jesus appears to the disciples . . .

• 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, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be unto you.”


The evening of the same day that Jesus arose, He appeared to His disciples to convince them that He was risen from the dead. The disciples did not meet on that Sunday evening, to honor His resurrection , BECAUSE THEY DID NOT BELIEVE THAT HE WAS RISEN, and so Christ had come to convince them that He was alive (Mark 16:9-13).


They had assembled to eat their evening meal, (Mark 16:14). The fact that these six texts mention the first day of the week as the day on which Jesus rose, and yet do not say one word about the first day of the week becoming a holy day proves that the first day of the week was never appointed as a holy day by the Lord Jesus Christ.


Three of these texts show that God’s holy day, the Sabbath, the day that we ought to keep, was the day which came just before the first day of the week.


• Why did Jesus meet with the disciples the second time?

• John 20:26-28

• And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”


27- Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

28- And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”


• The second meeting of Jesus with the disciples after He had arisen was not to honor any day of the week, but to convince Thomas of His resurrection.


• Where was this collection to take place?

• 1 Corinthians 16:1,2

• Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also:


2- On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.


This is not an order for a public collection at church, but a private laying by at home on the first day of each week of something for the poor at Jerusalem which Paul was to gather up when he came to Corinth.


• When did Paul hold this meeting?

• Acts 20:7

• Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.


This is merely the record of an incidental and farewell meeting that Paul held with the Christians at Troas. The New English Bible reads, “On the Saturday night, in our assembly for the breaking of bread, Paul, who was to leave the next day, addressed them, and went on speaking until midnight”.


There is positive proof in the book of Acts that the first day of the week did not take the place of the seventh day as God’s holy day. In eight different places, from 13 to 23 years after Christ’s resurrection, the book of Acts plainly refers to the seventh day, the identical day on which the Jews met to worship, as the Sabbath day.


Acts 13:14,27,42,44; 15:21; 16:13; 17:1-3; 18:4 are examples of the Sabbath being kept. The book of Acts COULD NOT AND WOULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS IF THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK HAD TAKEN THE PLACE OF THE SEVENTH.


• What about Friday?

• 1 Corinthians 11:26

• For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.


No one keeps Friday to honor our Lord’s crucifixion on that day, because the Lord’s supper is the divinely appointed way of commemorating the Savior's death.


• What is God’s way of commemorating the resurrection?

• Colossians 2:12

• buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.


• No one needs to keep Sunday to honor Christ’s resurrection on that day, because :

• BAPTISM IS GOD’S MEMORIAL OF THE RESURRECTION.


• How long will Sunday serve as a day of worship?

• Matthew 15:13

• But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.


God never planted Sunday, the first day of the week, as a holy day; therefore, it is certainly to be rooted up someday.


With this review of all the first day texts in the New Testament, do you have a better understanding of God’s holy day?

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