Sunday Worship is Evidence for the Resurrection

Many of the things we do have become so traditional and commonplace that we don’t think about when they started and why. One of those things is the practice of Christians gathering on Sundays for “worship” or “church.” After all, Christians have been gathering on Sundays for almost 2000 years!

But why? What is the history? And why is that important?

We are approaching another Easter, so the death of Jesus and the resurrection is top of mind this time of year. That is the Christian story, or course. These central components of the Christian narrative give us the context to explain why Christians gather on Sundays.

Christians gather on Sundays because Sunday was the day of the resurrection according to the Gospel accounts (all four of them). While we take the Sunday gatherings for granted, the first followers of Jesus gathered on Saturdays.

Their people – the Jews – had always gathered on Saturdays – the Sabbath. The Sabbath was sacred to them going back hundreds – as many as fifteen hundreds – of years. The change from Saturday gatherings to Sunday gatherings by the first Christians (who were Jewish), therefore, was a watershed change that we might not appreciate so many years later.

Christianity grew out of Judaism, of course. Jesus was a Jew and so were all of his first followers. The Sabbath (from sunset of Friday evening to the appearance of the stars in the sky on Saturday evening) is holy in Judaism. (See Wikipedia) The Sabbath is the 7th day of the calendar week for the Jews and represents the day God rested from creation.

Keeping the Sabbath as a holy day of rest was first commanded by Moses as reflected in in the Torah (Exodus 16:26, 29) after the Exodus from Egypt. (Exodus 20:8-11) It is one of the Ten Commandments. The Sabbath continues to be faithfully and diligently observed in Jewish communities around the world to this day.

The Sabbath had been faithfully and diligently observed for many centuries up to the time of Jesus, but the followers of Jesus began a new tradition of gathering on Sundays. The relatively sudden change, after such emphasis on the Sabbath for so many centuries marks a pivotal, historic change that is best explained by a significant, historic occurrence.

According to those early Christ followers (and all Christ followers today), the resurrection on Sunday is the explanation for that sudden change in the First Century after fifteen hundred centuries of Saturday observances.

We have learned to be skeptical of biblical, historical claims since the Enlightenment, existentialism, modernism and post modernism have done their deconstructive work. People have posited that the resurrection didn’t happen and only developed as time and embellishment gave rise to the idea in the vein of a legend.

But the sudden change from Saturday observance to Sunday observance in the First Century is historical fact that few (if any) would challenge. It tells its own story about the historicity of that reason why the change was made.

To get some idea of just how sacred keeping the Sabbath was considered in First Century, we need look no further than the Gospels. Throughout the Gospels, the Jewish leaders were hypersensitive to potential violations of the Sabbath. (See John 5:9-10 (carrying a pallet); Matthew 12:10 and Luke 13:14 (healing); and Mark 2:23 (picking grain).

The Sabbath was so sacred that great care was taken to ensure that no one came close to “working” on the Sabbath in violation of the command to “rest.” Dozens of prohibited labors were defined (Mishnah Shabbat 7:2); the distance one could carry objects from the home were carefully prescribed (Shabbat 23:3) along with what may be used to light a lamp (Shabbat 2:1-7); and restrictions were imposed on cooking and keeping food warm (Shabbat 3:1-6), the physical care of people (Shabbat 14:3-4), the rescue of animals, carrying children, using tools, and travel (the Damascus Document from the Dead Sea Scrolls, CD 10:14-11:18). Among other things.

These rules were designed to “make a fence around the Torah” to keep people from inadvertently working in violation of the Sabbath. (Pirkei Avot 1:1) The rigor of these rules were acknowledged in many historic sources, including the Gospels, Philo, Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, in addition to the Jewish Mishnah and other sources.

Violations of the requirements of keeping the Sabbath were considered so sacred that the penalty was stoning. (John 5:18) So, it was a pretty big deal!

But all of that changed for followers of Jesus in the First Century. Christ followers began to gather on “the Lord’s Day” – Sunday – within a generation after Christ died. Many did this in addition to observing the Sabbath at first, but the practice of meeting on the Lord’s Day soon superseded and replaced the Sabbath.

The timing of that change is significant. We see it already in the earliest writings of the followers of Jesus. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, which we know was written about 53-54 AD, he assumes the gathering of the church on the first day of every week (1 Cor. 16:1-2), not on the Sabbath. Thus, the practice of meeting on Sundays was well-established by the time Paul wrote that letter.

In Acts, which chronicles Paul’s travels by his companion, Luke, the gathering together to “break bread” (alluding to the observance of the Lord’s Supper) was done the first day of the week (Sunday). (Acts 20:7) John his experience described in the Book of Revelation took place as he worshipped on “the Lord’s Day.” – Sunday. (Rev. 1:10).

Paul died in the early to mid 60’s AD, and John died about 100 AD, so these writings were dated to the First Century. Further, Ignatius of Antioch, who lived from AD 35-108, wrote in his Epistle to the Magnesians 9:

“We have seen how former adherents of the ancient customs have since attained to a new hope; so that they have given up keeping the sabbath, and now order their lives by the Lord’s day instead (the Day when life first dawned for us, thanks to Him and His death. That death, though some deny it, is the very mystery which has moved us to become believers, and endure tribulation to prove ourselves pupils of Jesus Christ, our sole Teacher).”

These early writings confirm that the Christians changed the focus of their weekly observance from the Sabbath (Friday evening to Saturday evening) to the Lord’s Day (Sunday). The reason for the change is the claim that Jesus died on Friday and the tomb was found empty on the first day of the week (Sunday). (See Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2 and 9-20; Luke 24:1; John 20:1 and 19)

Those early followers of Jesus also claimed that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them in bodily form. Paul chronicles this in 1 Corinthians 15 by recounting all the people to whom Jesus appeared – over 500 in one appearance and to many other people at different times. (1 Cor. 15:3-9) This letter can be confidently dated to within less than 20 years from the death of Jesus, so we know the things Paul describes occurred in recent history at the time.

Of course, these things don’t prove – as in absolute proof – that the tomb was empty or that Jesus did rise from the dead and appear to people. BUT, it does provide an explanation for the sudden change after 1500 years of careful Sabbath observance (on Saturdays) to observing the Lord’s Day on Sundays.

Something as momentous as belief in the resurrection of Jesus explains the sudden (and sustained) change from observing the Sabbath, which was (and remains) sacred in Judaism to the observance of the Lord’s Day.

Proof for the resurrection, itself, is the subject of many books and much study. It is a cumulative case if you want to research it. Unless you are one of those people who (a priori) dismisses the possibility of any miraculous happening, the evidence is pretty good.Many people, including former atheists, find it compelling For a few articles and presentations on the subject (of which there are many) see:

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