As children, all Catholics are taught the Ten Commandments. We learn that it is wrong to kill, to steal, to commit adultery, to worship other gods, etc. The Ten Commandments come from the Old Testament, and for the most part they transfer over to Christianity quite seamlessly. However, there is one exception: the third commandment says to keep holy the Sabbath, which is Saturday, but Christians worship on Sunday, which we call the Lord’s Day. This should raise an immediate question for every one of us: if worshiping on Saturday was so important that it was one of the Ten Commandments, why do we now worship on Sunday?
The simple answer is because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday, as all four Gospels tell us (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). However, that just raises a further question: why should the day of Jesus’ resurrection change the weekly day of worship? Is that really enough to justify this change? Or is there something more than the mere fact that Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday?
The first step to understanding why Christians worship on Sunday is to see what Saturday meant in ancient Israel. Once we do that, we can then see how the Resurrection fulfills that meaning, making sense of the change. The Old Testament gives two explanations of the significance of Saturday, so we need to look at both of them.
The Meaning of the Sabbath in Exodus
The first one comes in Exodus:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
This is the more well-known explanation of the Jews’ observance of the Sabbath. In the first creation story in Genesis, God created the world in six days and then rested on the seventh. God wanted the Israelites to imitate that pattern. In the Old Testament, then, Saturday represented creation; it was a commemoration of the work God did to make heaven and earth and everything they contain.
The Meaning of the Sabbath in Deuteronomy
The second explanation of the Sabbath comes from Deuteronomy:
Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your manservant, or your maidservant, or your ox, or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15)
This passage adds a second layer of meaning to Jewish rest and worship on Saturday. In addition to commemorating creation, it also commemorates the Exodus, God’s great act of deliverance for his people. As a result, when we turn to the New Testament to see how the Resurrection fulfills the meaning of the Sabbath, we actually have to look for two things: it has to fulfill both creation and the Exodus.
Sunday as the New Creation
The Resurrection fulfills the first meaning of Saturday in the Old Testament because it marked the beginning of the new creation. When Adam and Eve committed the world’s first sin, all of creation was affected (Genesis 3:17-19). God’s plan of salvation includes rescuing his whole creation, not just the human race, from those effects (Romans 8:20-21). This restoration will be completed when Jesus comes again at the end of history. The Book of Revelation describes God’s work at this time as “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1), a clear synonym of the phrase “new creation.”
However, even though the restoration of creation is not complete, it already began with Jesus’ body when he rose from the dead. When we live with God in the new creation, we will not be disembodied spirits; rather, we will rise again and receive new bodies just like Jesus did (1 Thessalonians 4:14-16). As a result, when Jesus rose from the dead, he in fact began this restoration, this new creation. Now, the New Testament never explicitly describes the resurrection in this way, but it strongly implies this understanding. For example, we read:
“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
Jesus, the New Adam in the New Creation
In this passage, St. Paul contrasts Adam and Jesus as sources of curse and blessing for the human race, implying that each brought about a new era in human history. Adam passed down the curse of sin and death to the rest of mankind. Jesus reverses that curse and offers us eternal life through his death and resurrection. The implication here is that since Adam was the first man of the old creation, Jesus is then the first man of the new creation.
As a result, when we celebrate the Resurrection each Sunday, we are in fact celebrating the beginning of the new creation. This will be the restoration of the world that began with Jesus and that will be completed when he comes again in glory. We are celebrating the fulfillment of the old creation, the first meaning of the Sabbath in the Old Testament. It makes sense then that our weekly day of worship would change from Saturday to Sunday. However, the Sabbath also had another meaning. We need to see how the Resurrection fulfills that one as well.
Sunday as the New Exodus
In a nutshell, Jesus’ Resurrection marked the new exodus because it was God’s new act of redemption for his people. Just as he saved Israel from the oppressive Egyptians in the Old Testament, so now he offers salvation to all people through the cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As with the new creation, the New Testament never explicitly applies the phrase “new exodus” to Jesus’ death and resurrection, but it strongly implies it. For example, St. Paul calls Jesus “our paschal lamb” who “has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). The word “paschal” refers to the Passover, so St. Paul is actually calling Jesus our Passover lamb. This is significant because the Jewish feast of Passover commemorates the Exodus. In fact, the first Passover was celebrated by the Israelites right before they left Egypt, and God commanded them to repeat it year after year (Exodus 12:1-28).
By calling Jesus our Passover lamb who “has been sacrificed,” St. Paul is implying that Jesus’ death on the cross (the moment of his sacrifice) marked a new exodus. However, the Passover was just the beginning of the first exodus. The cross, then, must be just the beginning of the new exodus. In another letter, St. Paul implies that it continued in Jesus’ resurrection. He tells us that Jesus was “raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25), which means that it too was part of God’s new act of salvation and thus also part of our new exodus.
Transfiguring the Sabbath
We can look to the story of Jesus’ transfiguration in the Gospel of Luke for confirmation. In it we read:
“Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white. And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:28-31)
In English, this passage doesn’t seem like it has much to do with the new exodus. But in Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the connection is obvious. The last line talks about Jesus’ departure, but the Greek word translated here as “departure” literally means “exodus.” Luke thus is telling us that Moses and Elijah talked to Jesus about his “exodus.”
The passage does not tell us what this exodus involved, but it gives us a clue by saying that it happened in Jerusalem. Just a few verses earlier, Jesus told his disciples that he was to “suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22). All of that took place in Jerusalem. Thus when we read a few verses later about the exodus that Jesus “was to accomplish at Jerusalem,” it is clear that Luke was referring to Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.
The Resurrection thus fulfills the both meanings of the Sabbath. The Sabbath commemorated God’s great rescue of his people from the Egyptians. Sunday commemorates the salvation from sin and death he offers to all of us through the death and Resurrection of his Son, Jesus.
Putting It All Together
When we understand the biblical background to our Sunday worship, the change from Saturday makes sense. In fact, we can even say that Sunday doesn’t just replace Saturday; rather, Sunday fulfills it. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded to observe Saturday, the Sabbath, as a day of rest and worship in order to commemorate creation and the exodus from Egypt. In the Church today, we set aside Sunday as our day of rest and worship because it’s the day when Jesus rose from the dead. Sunday marks the new creation and our new exodus from sin and death, thereby fulfilling everything that Saturday represented in the Old Testament.
23 thoughts on “Why We Worship On Sunday”
No! never! Humans can’t change the sabbath!!!!! Even in the bible it says that no human can change the sabbath!!! NOO! NEVER!! No one can do this!!
Emily, Jesus gave Peter (the first pope) and the Apostles (the first bishops) “the keys to the kingdom of heaven” in Mathew 16:19. Thus they were given authority by Jesus Himself to change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. This change commemorates Jesus’ Resurrection on a Sunday and is wholly in keeping with the New Covenant with all of mankind.
So basically this article is saying that Sunday keeping is a tradition of man and not from the Bible. Got it! Sola Scrptura!
The Lord’s Day in the Bible refers to the seventh day. Don’t make it say something it doesn’t.
jesus said that he did not come to change thenlaw but to fulfill it..
This is where the issue arise because if jesuseant t fulfill it, then he would have resurrected on saturday to avoid collision with the ten commandments..
If theres a project deadline on saturday and your boss is out on sunday, then you delivered the project on sunday then you cannot call it a fulfillment but it is a project failure.
They are so manipulative to inject their doctrine..i hope they realize that the word ‘Change” is not the same with ‘Fulfillment”
They have Change the law and time..i think its in the bible…chanhing it to Sunday day of rest is Not a fulfillment
Catholics venerate on Sunday because they venerate the Sun God, nothing more than that.
You are just mind folded. Please read the bible so well, and come to a perfect understanding why things are done the way they are in the Catholic Church.
Likewise don’t judge before you ask or consult.
You judge so b’se you’ve not fully understood the bible, and the greatest commandments as in the new testament.
All these are superficial reasons to justify the keeping of Sunday and not the biblical Sabbath.
The truth is we all worship on Sunday because the Catholic Church used its power to transfer the solemnity from Sabbath to Sunday, and for reasons mentioned above, it appears well justified. What we bind on earth God bounds in heaven as in marriage vows or contracts.. Matt 18.18
At the end of the day, no amount of commandment keeping is going to save us. We are all “saved by the grace of God, and not of works lest any man should boast” period. Eph 2.8-9
Correct commandment keeping won’t save you. The example of the rich young ruler shows that…. However, as a consequence of being saved we are duty bound to keep them…all 10. otherwise we remain sinners if we contravene them…. Jesus said, “if ye love me, keep my commandments… He also says He changes not…. Revelations also highlights the saved will have kept the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus….. The bible is very clear about changing the word and the punishment that will go with it…. I would say take time to read for yourself and don’t rely on an an explanation of convenience.
Not to merely change the solemn from Saturday to Sunday, but fulfilling the great Mystery of Christ (His death and Passion), whose fulfillment is made known at his resurrection.
By celebrating the resurrection of Christ every Sunday, we declare that Christ suffered, died on the cross, resurrected on the third day, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Nevertheless, the apostles and the church that followed the resurrection of Jesus was transformed to celebrating and witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:33), but no where it’s written that they commenced with fulfilment of the Jewish traditions attached to the Sabbath e g the Pascal lamb, which signified the Sabbath (Ex 12:1ff).
As well, the commemorations of the Resurrection of Christ, (the new creation and the new Exodus) is the full perfection and fulfillment of the “Jewish Sabbath” (Mat 5:17-18).
Likewise Christ said not all will accept the truth.
No wonder, this was foretold, and the word is not meant for all, but a few who the spirit of God guides.
Spectacular, perfect explanation
Many valuable points in this article; however, I submit the following for your consideration. I will not list all the details which are in the scriptures, they can easily be found. If anyone has a problem finding them, I will be happy to provide them.
We know Jesus said he would be in the grave 3 days and 3 nights as Jonah was in the belly of a fish.
Following the text of the new testament, and keeping in mind the Jewish High Holy Days, one can see that Jesus would have been crucified and died on a Wednesday, and rose on Saturday. It fulfills exactly what He said:Wednesday night & Thursday day, one day; Thursday night & Friday day, two days; Friday night
and Saturday day, three days. And the resurrection occurs on the Sabbath.
One other consideration, Jesus was Jewish, and the scripture strongly indicates that he observed the Sabbath during his life time. He was also God, the author of the commandment to keep Holy the Sabbath.
One last point, I would consider this completely spurious, except for the fact that you can find the evidence in the New Testament. I submit this simply for consideration, and discussion.
Why didn’t the SDA register their vehement protest when Constantine, as they contend, “changed the sabbath from the seventh day to the first day?
The SDA didn’t “register their vehement protest” when Constantine changed the Sabbath because it didn’t exist as a denomination then. It didn’t need to, since Christ Himself, His disciples, and all of Christendom had kept the seventh-day Sabbath up to then, as God had instructed us in the FOURTH commandment–(changed to the THIRD, also by the Catholic Church). Thus, not only did God never change the Sabbath day Himself, nor did He or Jesus authorize any man to change it, but nowhere in Scripture were we instructed to do so. Had He intended it to be changed, SURELY He would have made it abundantly clear throughout Scripture, not as a few obscure verses of Scripture some have twised to “seem God’s will”. Thus, it’s not only the Sabbath that the Catholic Church has changed; it’s also the order and numbers of the Commandments themselves, in combining two of the previous commandments to remove the CENTRAL placement of the Sabbath-day Commandment as God had placed it. His resting on the seventh day, then blessing it and making it holy, had particular significance: HE alone was the Creator. That acknowledgment is CENTRAL to our belief in God; thus His placing it in the CENTER of the Ten Commandments–His moral law that NEVER changes. In changing the Sabbath day to the first day, the Catholic Church usurped authority belonging only to God. Already, the Roman Church makes claim to its fraudulent authority in stating that “all of Christendom recognizes its authority in keeping the first day” instead of the seventh–the Lord’s Day. It will use that claim again in the last days, to call mankind to recognize the Beast’s authority–the first day; the mark of the beast, rather than God’s–the Lord’s Day; the seal of God. (Watch closely and note the upcoming call to “Sunday rest,” as the agendas of the “World Economic Forum,” the “Great Reset,” and the “New World Order” come into play.) It’s been gaining popularity worldwide for a while now. (Search “Sunday Laws”)
An Ecclesial community which is Sabbatine, holding to a standing controversy over the day of worship, is the 12 million member Seventh Day Adventists. They hold to a blizzard eschatology, in which a Catholic led ecumenical movement, including little Pope Francis and, apparently, the heads of the Lutheran World Federation and the Orthodox Churches, will join to wage violent persecution against the SDA saints for worshipping on the Sabbath. (They take no account that the European-American secularist hegemony is already vehemently opposed to all faithful Christian and Jewish confessions, and has no awareness of or any particularly care about their chosen worship day.) SDA eschatology predicts the ecumenical Sunday Keepers will persecute SDA saints by decapitation en masse. An SDA website lists a total of 9 martyrs since their 19th century founding, with no awareness of the approximately 90,000 Christian martyrs last year, nor of the 21 Coptic Martyrs decapitated on February 12, 2015. Many teachings of SDA prophetess Ellen White are directly opposed to the biblical teachings of Jesus.
Nearly three years ago you posted this Charles and you are exactly right
Really, Charles? Name them, and I’ll list more that the Catholic Church teaches which are opposed to the Bible, which doesn’t contradict itself.
Isaiah 66: 22-23 indicates that sabbath worship will be continued in eternity –
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”
Constantine “changed” the sabbath from the seventh day to the first day, by decree. May God have mercy on his soul.
Read the Acts of the Apostles. Sunday (“the Lord’s Day, “the first day of the week”) has been the Church’s primary day of celebration of Mass since 30 AD.
Excellent article!!!!!!!!!
I always think of Jesus’ words, “It is finished!” as the new day of rest, Jesus resting from the great work of Salvation. I love your insights here. Happy Resurrection Sunday! Great article!
The words, “it is finished” actually point to creation. when God “finished” his work and rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3. There, God finished his work on Friday and rested on the Seventh Day. in the same way, Jesus finished his work of Redemption on Friday and rested on the sabbath day according to the commandment. That’s a beautiful confirmation that the work of creation and redemption are one and the same and that the sabbath is a memorial of both accounts. The creator Jesus Christ is giving us the greatest proof that his sabbath is still binding at the cross.
In other words. the sabbath is not only a memorial of creation but also of the work of Redemption. Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ.