Sunday: The First Day of Worship for the First Christians

God has made the Covenant with the Israelis on Mt. Sinai (Horeb) (Dt 5:1-3). The Sabbath was a sign of the Covenant made by God with the Israelis (Ex 31: 16-17). The Israelis (the Jews) were obliged to keep the Sabbath ( Ex 31:12-13). Are you a Jew? In order to feel obliged to keep the Jewish Sabbath you would have to become a Jew, a member of the Jewish religion. Because the Sabbath is for the Jews. God has commanded the Israelis to keep His Covenant. Unfortunately they didn’t. As a result of it God became upset with their Sabbaths (Is 1:13) and decided to put an end to it (Hos 2:13). He promised to make a NEW COVENANT, this time with all people (Is 42:1-7). Jesus Christ in His Blood has made the New Covenant (Mt 26: 27-28 ; Heb 9:15). A question arises: Are we obliged to keep both Covenants? The old one with its Sabbath and the new one? Of course not. The Old Covenant has already expired (Ga 4:22-31). The New Covenant is better than the Old one (Heb 7:22 ; 8:6-13). The Apostles became the workers of the New Covenant (2 Co 3:6). The Good News of Jesus the new Mediator (Heb 9:15), the Founder of the New Covenant has to be proclaimed to all people (Mt 28: 19-20).
Some people got an idea that the first century Christians kept the Jewish Sabbath? They can’t prove it from the Bible, can they? The Bible says something opposite. The first day of the week (Sunday , the day of Christ resurrection from the dead) was an important day for them, not the seventh ( Ac 20:7). Christ never preached and the Apostles never preached either about necessity of keeping the Jewish Sabbath. This kind of preaching came only from Ellen Gould White, the founder of the Seven Day Adventist in the nineteenth century. Is good to know that the Church came first and the Bible (New Testament) came latter. Before the Bible (New Testament) was written the Church kept the Traditions of the Apostles (2Th 2:15 ; 3:6) which say about the first day of the week being kept by the Christians, not the seventh. I suggest you to read the writings of the first Christians ( Didache, Ignatius. Justin…).
We can hear some people say, the Romans have killed Jesus. Yes, the pagan Roman soldiers have killed Jesus (Jn 19:23). The pagan Roman governor - Pilate wanted to set Jesus free (Jn 19:12). The Jews - the Sabbath keepers however put a pressure on Pilate to kill Jesus (Jn 19:14-15). Pilate gave in and ordered to crucify Him (Jn 19:16). St John in his Gospel points out at the Jews (the Sabbath keepers) who decided to killed Jesus . Paul confirms it in his First Letter to the Thessalonians (1Th 2:14-15). You can read about it as well in (Ac 4:5-10). Saint Paul - the Jew, the Pharisee - the Sabbath keeper has converted to Christianity (Ac 9:1-19). He gave up the Old Covenant and became the worker of a New Covenant (2Co 3:6). He rejected the Jewish Sabbath calling it a shadow (Col 2:16-17). Good example of Paul’s conversion might be an inspiration to some of the Sabbath keepers to follow him, to do the same.

Original Article by Fr Zdzislaw Karczewski