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NASB | Colossians 2:16 ¶ Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Colossians 2:16 ¶ Therefore let no one judge you in regard to food and drink or in regard to [the observance of] a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. |
Bible Question:
I want to be sure and let all of you know that I do NOT intend to start a fight by asking this question. I do NOT intent to offend anybody with this question. I am simply seeking truth. I don’t want anybody who agrees with me to vehemently defend me. This is a perfectly honest question. So here’s my question. “Why Sunday?” Why do so many Christians go to church on Sunday? The Bible says, in Genesis 2:2,3 “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” And then, in Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” If I were to ask you, “Which day does the Bible say to keep holy?” It would be very easy to point to Genesis 2:2,3 and Exodus 20:8. But was that day changed from the seventh day to the first day, when Jesus rose from the dead? Was it simply done away with by Jesus death on the cross? Or was the day just for the Jews? If the day was changed from the seventh to the first because that was the day when Jesus rose from the dead, where is that verse found in the Bible? The 4th commandment (the Sabbath commandment) is the longest, most detailed command of the Ten. If God, through Jesus was going to change it, wouldn’t it be irresponsible of Him not to let us know about the change? Wouldn’t it be like if the government changed which side of the road we were supposed to drive on and didn’t tell anyone? Given the nature of the 4th commandment, when Jesus changed the day you’d expect to see a Bible verse that at least said “Because Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week, we now worship on Sunday.” But there is none. Why would God, and the apostles simply be silent on the issue? Colossians 2:16 says “let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths” But where’s the change? Where does “let no one judge you in…Sabbaths” become “Go to church on Sunday?” Wouldn’t it be the safer choice to simply follow the Bible guidelines and keep the seventh day holy? In Matthew 14:15 Jesus said “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” So were the Ten Commandments done away with because they were nailed to the cross? Did Jesus come to destroy the Law? If He did, then Matthew 5:17 would read like this “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to destroy.” That wouldn’t make any sense. No, what it DOES say is this “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS AWAY, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the Law till ALL is fulfilled.” Matthew 5:17,18(emphasis mine). He also said “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” Matthew 7:21. Were all of the Ten Commandments nailed to the cross? Does that mean that God now allows me to murder, commit adultery, lie, covet, steal, take His name in vain, pray to idols, dishonor my parents, worship other gods? Which of the other nine is it okay to get rid of? The answer has to be none. And which of the Ten did we forget? The only one that starts out with the word “Remember…”. That seems kind of ironic. So was the seventh day just for the Jews? Genesis 2:2,3 says that God sanctified (or made holy) the seventh day, AT CREATION. In Mark 2:27, Jesus says that “The Sabbath was made for man…” Again, when was the Sabbath made? AT CREATION. And who was the only man alive at that time? Adam, the father of us all. The Jews did not even come into being until about 2000 years later. Was God’s Law instituted at Mount Sinai? I don’t think so. Genesis 39:9 tells us that when Joseph was tempted to sleep with his master’s wife, he asked her “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” That, by the way is the seventh commandment. How did Joseph know about the commandments long before Sinai? Because his great grandfather knew about them. In Genesis 26:5 God tells Abraham that He will bless him because he “…obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Now just suppose you’re standing before God and He asks you why you went against His will and kept the Seventh day holy, and not the first day. What are you going to say in your defense? “Well… I read in Genesis that You sanctified the seventh day and in Exodus that I should keep the Seventh day holy, and I read where all throughout the Old Testament people got in trouble for not keeping it holy. I read where Jesus kept the Sabbath as was His custom. I read in Revelation 12:17 that in the end times, the people who have the testimony of Jesus Christ also keep the Commandments of God. (see also Rev. 14:12)” Your thoughts are appreciated. |
Bible Answer: Is there any evidence in the NT that Christians met on Sunday? 'Acts 20:7: "And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight." ' The first day of the week is Sunday and this is the day the people gathered. This passage can easily be seen as the church meeting on Sunday, though it does not necessitate it. It has two important church functions within it: breaking bread (communion) and a message (preaching/teaching). Additionally, Luke included the Roman system as well as the Jewish system of counting days. The Jewish system was sundown to sundown. But Luke also used the Roman system: midnight to midnight (Luke 11:5; Acts 16:25; 20:7; 27:27). This is a subtle point that shows the Jewish Sabbath system was not exclusively used by Luke. If the Sabbath was mandatory, why the use of the non-Jewish system? '1 Cor. 16:1-2: "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. 2On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come." ' Notice here that Paul is directing the churches to meet on the first day of each week and put money aside...So, the instructed time for the church to meet is Sunday, the first day of the week and it is that day the Galatians were to set money aside collections. Is this an official worship day set up by the church? You decide. Does this verse apply to Christians today? It most certainly does. 'Revelation 1:10-11, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." ' The New Bible Dictionary says regarding the term, ‘The Lord’s Day’ in Rev. 1:10: "This is the first extant occurrence in Christian literature of "te kuriake hemera." The adjectival construction suggests that it was a formal designation of the church’s worship day. As such it certainly appears early in the 2nd century" (Ignatius, Epistle to the Magnesians, 1. 67). ' In many churches today, the term "The Lord’s Day" is used to designate Sunday, the same as it was in the second century. ' I hope this is evidence enough to show you that the Bible does not require that we worship on Saturday. If anything, we have the freedom (Rom. 14:1-12) to worship on the day that we believe we should. And, no one should judge us in regard to the day we keep. We are free in Christ, not under law (Rom. 6:14). Conclusion ' The Seventh Day Adventists have every right to worship on the Sabbath and they should if they are convinced that is the right thing to do. However, if any member of any church were to require a person to worship on the Sabbath as a sign of "true" Christianity or "true" redemption, then that is wrong. According to Rom. 14:1-12, we are free. ' Additionally, Sunday is the day that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead. The Jewish people who had rejected Jesus continued to worship on Saturday, the Sabbath. But it was the Christians who celebrated Jesus' resurrection and this was most probably the driving force to gather on the first day of the week' (www.carm.org/sda/sunday.htm). |