Is Sunday Sacred?

Dale Ratzlaff, Feature, New Covenant, The Sabbath

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Question: What do you say to people who advocate Sunday “sacredness” or keeping Sunday as a measure of one’s gratitude to God?

This is a good question, and the answer has many facets. Consider the following points:

It is necessary for Christians to have a planned time for corporate worship, instruction, celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and fellowship.1 From its inception the Gentile church has chosen to meet on the first day of the week in honor of the resurrection.2

There is biblical support in the New Testament for giving special attention to the first day of the week. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday morning.3 Every appearance of the risen Christ—when a time is mentioned—occurred on the first day of the week.4 (Notice especially John 20:19-23.)

There is biblical support in the New Testament for giving special attention to the first day of the week.

There is biblical support in the Old Testament for giving special attention to the first day of the week—the day after the Sabbath5, or the “eighth day”6 which was associated with completion, worship, and freedom. 

Unlike the Old Testament Sabbath, the first day of the week in the New Testament carries no baggage as to how it should be celebrated. The early church met on the first day of the week in honor of the resurrection,7 to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and to receive Christian instruction.8 However, little else is mentioned.

The new covenant focuses on the realities of the gospel—the life, death and resurrection of Christ and the resulting forgiveness of sin and new life in the Spirit.9 Ritual is diminished. Realities are exalted. Therefore, it is expected that little attention is given to the details of observance. The focus is on Christ.

Those who advocate the “sacredness” or the “keeping” of Sunday place themselves back under the dilemma of, “How?” Just how does one demonstrate his/her keeping? In what way does behavior correlate with sacredness? Who sets the guidelines? How does one know when he/she has kept Sunday appropriately? One well-known Sabbatarian theologian, after reviewing Sabbath in Christ, said it is important in this fast-paced world to have a day dedicated to rest. I responded in an email asking, “If I choose Sunday as my day of rest, would that meet this ‘Sabbath requirement’?” He responded, “Yes.”

It is no longer “1–6 for us; the 7th is for Jesus,” but as Christ becomes our Sabbath rest, every day is for Jesus.

It is no longer “1–6 for us; the 7th is for Jesus,” but as Christ becomes our Sabbath rest, every day is for Jesus. This truth needs to be deeply impressed upon our minds and lived out in every aspect of our everyday lives. In every encounter with others we have an opportunity to be a reflection of Christ to them.10 In every activity of work we have an opportunity to do our work as unto the Lord.11 Living in the reality of the new covenant, our focus is no longer on our observance of rituals—no matter what the ritual may be—but on the realities of the gospel.

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 2:14–17). †

Endnotes

  1. Heb. 11:23–25; Acts 2:23–27.
  2. Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2.
  3. Mt. 28:1; Mk. 16:2; Lk. 24:1.
  4. Mt. 28:1; Mk. 16:2, 9; Lk. 24:1; Jn. 20:1; Jn. 20:19.
  5. Lev. 23:11, 16.
  6. Ex. 22:30; Lev. 9:1, 12:3; 14:10, 23; 15:14; 15:29; 22:27; 23:36, 39; Num. 6:10; 7:54; 29:35; 1 Ki. 8:66; 2 Chron. 7:9; Neh. 8:18; Ez. 43:27.
  7. Often at dawn. See Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, p. 649, 650.
  8. At times the early church met at dawn and then reassembled later to have a meal of communion. Ibid. The Didache, an early manual of church instruction directed Christians to assemble on the Lord’s day to worship, Ibid. p. 648.
  9. 1 Cor. 15:1–5; Rom. 15:16–19; 2 Tim. 2:8; Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14.
  10. Rom. 12:10, 16; 13:8; 14:13; 15:5; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 4:2, 32; Phil. 2:8; 1 Thess. 5:11; Heb. 10:24. 
  11. Col. 3:23
Dale Ratzlaff
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One comment

  1. I apologize for writing a response that is longer than the blog, but this crucial topic needs to be understood by Christians.

    God blessed Dale Ratzlaff and those who were touched by his pastoral and apologetic ministry. His answer to this important question is brief and supported by many scriptural citations. The brevity provides for some cogent summary statements but can’t answer all the querying tributaries. His foundation is clearly scriptural, which is where one must begin, and his integration of God’s word is consistent with the trajectory of biblical history to the present.
    For those who read the post above and have further questions, I would like to clarify a couple of statements and add supporting ideas for the broad answer that Christians are not expected to “keep Sunday” holy as Jews would keep holy any of the appointed feasts that the Lord commanded them (Lev 23; including the Sabbath). The idea of “holiness” or “sanctity” is first mentioned in the creation account for the seventh day of rest. This specific day was sanctified by the creator because it embraced the perfection of a holy relationship with God, and as such, lasted only as long as Adam remained sinless. The Lord did not command Adam (and by extension, the whole human race) to worship him every seventh day, as if this would be enough. Dale is correct: the paradigm of giving God 1/7 of your time seems rather stingy in view of his ownership of you (Rom 14:8; 1 Cor 6:19-20; 2 Cor 5:15). Instead, the creation-rest remains as a beckon for sin-weary souls to respond to God’s grace. Those who trust in Jesus “do enter that rest” (Heb 4:3).
    The next instance of “holiness” is not encountered until the Mosaic law is given (Ex 3:5; 12:16; 16:23; 19:6). That is, there were no holy days, holy places, or holy things until the law. Holiness is an attribute of the law to accentuate the unbridgeable chasm between man and God due to sin (Rom 7:12ff). Not only must sin be paid for, every trace and effect of it must be removed; and only then can anyone enjoy complete fellowship with God. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom 10:4).
    God does not ask Christians to keep things, places, and days holy. It is a mistake to think he does. He asks, more importantly, that we keep our lives holy (Rom 12:1; 1 Cor 3:17; Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:15-16). Our obedience is our response to his commands in view of what he has done for us (2 Cor 5:14-15; Col 3:13; 1 Jn 4:19). The apostles established the divine tradition of first-day worship and teaching the new disciples (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 2:42). At some point, we get baptized, we begin our life of fellowship in the bond of peace (1 Cor 1:9), we remember Christ Jesus through communion until he returns in glory, and we do not forsake gathering together as is the manner of some (Heb 10:25). As Dale said, the focus is on Christ, not on ritualistic details. Having attained rest in Christ, we work steadfastly, like our Lord, for the advancement of his kingdom (Jn 5:17). We work under his yoke of rest (Matt 11:28-30).
    Christ came as the fulfilment of the law, and perhaps more notably, as the fulfillment of the seventh-day creation rest. Trusting in Jesus’ propitiation for sin ushers us into his everlasting rest of holy fellowship (Matt 11:28-30; Rom 5:1). Nothing else is required (Jn 1:12-13; Rom 4:5). God ordained the church to remember the most important historical event in human history: the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first day of a new week (the eighth day; a new creation). His great work of salvation on the cross was accomplished when he said, “It is finished,” echoing the completion of the sixth day of creation (Gen 2:1; Jn 19:30). On the Sabbath, the Son of God enjoyed renewed fellowship with his father while his body lay restfully in the tomb, echoing the seventh day rest of creation (Gen 2:3; Lk 23:55-56; Heb 4:1-4). In this, Jesus died to the Sabbath, never to keep it again. This is a shared reality for those who are in him and this is the basis for new obedience (Rom 6:8; Eph 2:4-6; Col 3:1ff). And on the eighth day, which is the first day of a new creation, he brought life to mortality (2 Cor 5:4). The number eight symbolizes “super-abundance,” the overflowing spring of beatitude reserved for those who share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Col 1:12). Eight comes after the completion of seven. There can be no eighth-day Lord’s Day for the church without the complete fulfillment of the seventh-day Sabbath. We have been made holy and we are sanctified, so that we may offer our praises to God (1 Pet 2:9). A new creation, a new covenant, a new birth is celebrated on the first day of a new week. And it is given its own new name—the Lord’s Day—which honors not the giving of manna in the wilderness (Sabbath), but the gift of the only begotten son who provided complete redemption for us (Jn 6:58; Col 2:9-10). Is this not amazing?!

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