The Lord's Day, Part 1

by Nicholas A. Catania

September 2007

Go to the previous issue.

In this month's issue I'd like to look at the expressionThe Lord's Day. I would venture to say that if you asked the average person in the church or on the street what is the Lord's Day? They would answer Sunday or some would answer Saturday in keeping with the Sabbath of old.

Below is a definition I found on line from the popular Wikipedia. It states, " The 'Lord's Day' is one of the traditional Christian names for Sunday, the first day of the Judaeo-Christian seven-day week, observed by most Christians as the memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is said in the four canonical gospels of the New Testament to have taken place early on the first day of the week.

Very early in the history of Christianity, the tradition of Christ's Sunday morning resurrection gave rise to the Christian custom, later to become an obligation, of gathering every Sunday morning to worship the Christian lord, Jesus, hence the name 'Lord's Day'."

Let's look at this phrase in the scriptures.

Revelation 1:9-10 ⁹I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

Under Domitian's reign of 81-96, John was banished to the rocky island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. Patmos was hard labor prison in a quarry.

Here we see that John received this revelation on the Lord's Day.

Now, according to Wikipedia and other sources, many Christians believe the Lord's Day was the first day of the week. Some Christian sources develop a word from the Greek and the Septuagint of the Old Testament to prove this point. Nonetheless, scripture must support this theory if we are to consider it as valid.

John 1:40-42 ⁴⁰One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. ⁴¹He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. �⁴²And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

Here we see the word defining itself. In verse 41 we have Messias (the Greek form of Messiah) "which is, being interpreted, the Christ."

So we have a valid interpretation and statement of truth to base the fact that Messias and Christ are one in the same. Messias is simply another way to say Christ.

In verse 42 we see the same truth. Jesus said, "Thou art Simon the son of Jona:" This is a plain statement of truth. Then he went on to say, "thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone." So, once again, we see Simon Son of Jona was also called Cephas.

So, it would be biblically accurate to say Cephas was another way of saying Simon son of Jona; and, in fact, we are referring to the same person.

John 9:7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Here we see that Siloam was also called Sent.

Luke 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

So, the city of David is also called Bethlehem.

John 11:16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

Act 13:9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,

O.K., so you get the point, right? Now employing this very fundamental key to research namely where it's been used before. Let's examine the phrase The Lord's Day.

One will quickly find that the phrase The Lord's Day only appears one time in scripture. Where do you think we will find this one occurrence?

Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

Now we have a problem. If the Lord's Day is synonymous with the first day of the week, then scripture will support that theory. However, nowhere in the Bible is the first day of the week alluded to as the Lord's Day. The contrary is the fact.

Matthew 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Mark 16:1-2 ¹And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. ²And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

Mark 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

Luke 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

Act 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

1Corinthians 16:1-2 ¹Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. ²Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

Nowhere in these verses do we read, "which is also called the Lord's Day", or "by interpretation is called the Lord's Day," or "that is called the Lord's Day."

Is it not strange that in this one verse of scripture where we read 'the Lord's Day,' it is assumed to refer to the first day of the week? So sure are some commentators of their theory, that some go as far to say that it was Easter Sunday. It is for this very reason that Revelation 1:10-19 was chosen in the new lectionary of the Church of England as the second lesson for Easter Sunday morning.

Furthermore, there is no evidence that the first day of the week was ever called 'the Lord's Day' before the book of Revelation was written.

Then, why should it be called 'the Lord's Day' after it was written and ceased to be called by its biblical name? The so-called Greek fathers of the church were converts from paganism. It may be impossible to estimate just how many pagan rites and ceremonies they introduced into the early church.

It was these Greek Church fathers who introduced at the time of their conversion the word sun-day. This day was used before their conversion in worship of their sun god.

Justin Martyr, 114-165, writes in his second apology.

The weekly worship of the Christians is on the day called Sunday. All who live in the country gather together in one place. Sun-day is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world and Jesus our savior on the same day rose from the dead. For he was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturn's Day) and on the day after Saturn which is the day of the sun, having appeared to his apostles and disciples he taught them these things which we have submitted to your for your consideration.

It is very suspect that we don't find any evidence of this so-called change in name until its first mention in church history some hundred years later.

Sunday is really just a survival of a pagan name with a new meaning attached to it, derived from a misunderstanding of Revelation 1:10.

To be continued … ÿ

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Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation,  NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation.  For more information, go to the Works Cited page.