In churches today the concept and role of the Lord’s Day is suffering an identity crisis, under attack inside and outside the church. Secular society, and the market pressures that drive it, do not discriminate between days, and the forces of secularism are encroaching more and more upon the Lord’s Day. Coupled with this is the growing conviction within the church that Sunday is no different from any other day. Some even argue there is no adequate theological rationale for observing the Lord’s Day as an opportunity for corporate worship.

Questions are frequently raised such as, “Why do we meet on Sunday?” “Is one particular day more significant than another, and if so, what is it?” “What (if any) is the relationship between the Lord’s Day and the Jewish Sabbath?” The best way of answering these questions is to explore the origins and significance of the Lord’s Day.

To put it simply, the Lord’s Day is the name given to the practice of dedicating Sunday (the first day of the week) for resting and gathering for the corporate worship of God. This practice was one that developed very early in the life of the church and is acknowledged in the Scriptures. For example, Luke records a gathering of Paul and the believing community at Troas with these words, “on the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people...” (Acts 20:7). In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul instructs them to set aside a collection for the Jerusalem church, “on the first day of every week” (1 Cor. 16:2). Finally, in Revelation, the apostle John reports, “on the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit...” (Rev. 1:10).

These passages indicate that Sunday was the day when Christians gathered for worship, which involved the breaking of bread, preaching and providing for the needy. Furthermore, the apostle John’s reference provides a strong case that this day was given the title “the Lord’s Day” at a very early stage in the church’s history.

The fact that the believing community assembled once a week to worship demonstrates that the Lord’s Day is not a novel Christian invention, but has its roots in the Jewish Sabbath. Under the Old Covenant, God’s people were com­manded to “remember the Sabbath day”. They did this by “keeping it holy” (Ex. 20:8). The Israelites were to set apart the seventh day and rest on it because this was the day on which God Himself rested from creating (Gen. 2:2-3). However, the seventh day was not designed purely for physical recuperation, but also for worship (see for example passages such as Ex. 20:8, Lev. 23:3, 1 Chron. 9:32, Num. 28:9-10 and Ezek. 46:4ff).

So the main purpose of the Sabbath was for God’s people to cease work not just for physical recuperation but, just as importantly, as a special day for worship.

The origins of the Lord’s Day in the Jewish Sabbath seem clear enough, but how closely should this link be understood? The answer is important, because it will show us how significant the Lord’s Day should be for Christians.

The “promise-fulfilment” theme between the Old and New Testaments is a helpful way of understanding the continu­ity and discontinuity between the two Testaments. For example, the link between circumcision and baptism is pro­vided by verses such as Colossians 2:11­-13, and Titus 3:5-6. These passages teach that Old Testament circumcision, which anticipates a circumcision of the heart, is fulfilled by Christ who washes away our sins and gives us His Spirit. The benefits of the New Covenant, where a believer’s heart circumcision is secured, are symbol­ised by the new rite of water baptism. So the old rite is discarded.

Within this framework of continuity/discontinuity between the Old and New Covenants, I want to look at the Lord’s Day and see how it relates to the Sabbath.

First, the use of the term “Lord’s Day” shows that the early Christians saw this day as unique and significant. The name encapsulates the Jewish understanding of their day which was, “a Sabbath to the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:10). Both days focused God’s people on His mighty lordship and rule.

As mentioned previously, the Lord’s Day was celebrated once a week rather than fortnightly or monthly. This recog­nised the Sabbath’s one-day-in-seven principle.

A further parallel is that both days cel­ebrate redemption. The Sabbath looks back to Israel’s great exodus from Egypt (Ex. 5:15). The Lord’s Day, in a similar way, looks back to the cross and the redemption won for believers by Christ.

The concept of rest is also a major theme in both days. In the Old Testament, Israelites rested in order to remember and worship their mighty sav­ing God. In the New Testament Jesus, who is the object of worship on the Lord’s Day, declared to all His followers,

Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Mt. 11:28

There is also a clear link in both the Sabbath and Lord’s Days’ focus on wor­ship. As the Israelites rested to worship, so Christians also came together to wor­ship (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 11-14).

With this understanding of the conti­nuity between the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day, we are now in a position to explore the “promise-fulfilment” aspect between the two days.

The Lord’s Day celebrates the fulfil­ment of the Old Testament’s memorial and future anticipation of redemption. Although Israel was redeemed and saved from Egypt, the people fell into sin again and were judged by God and sent into exile. However, a faithful remnant awaited a future redemption (Zech. 8:12-13), and this redemption was secured once and for all by Christ (Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14).

Second, the Lord’s Day celebrates the fulfilment of rest. The resurrection celebrated in the Lord’s Day fulfils the con­cept of rest embodied in the Sabbath. The writer to the Hebrews makes the point that Old Covenant rest ultimately points to the full and final eschatological rest won by Christ, and not rest in the land (Heb. 4:8ff).

Third, the worship of God by Christians on the Lord’s Day expresses and celebrates the fulfillment of temple worship which looked forward to com­plete access to Yahweh. Previously, God’s people gathered at the Temple to gain access to God through worship and sacri­fice by means of an elaborate priestly sys­tem. Now Christ, who entered the heav­enly tabernacle of which the earthly was a type, has provided a once-for-all-sacrifice for sins (Heb. 9:11-14), allowing us to “enter the Most Holy Place” (Heb. 10:19). Moreover, through the Spirit’s indwelling of believers, it is they who are now the temple (1 Pet. 2:5, 1 Cor. 3:16). So, the New Covenant believer has direct access to God through the mediation of Christ (1 Tim. 2:5).

Because of this, New Testament wor­ship on the Lord’s Day takes on a whole new dynamic. Christians now have free and full access to God through Christ; and when we gather, we celebrate and affirm this new reality. There is now no longer a demand for sacrifice; instead, what we are required to do is offer a sacri­fice of praise to God and works of service to others (Heb. 13:15-16).

Thus we can see the appropriateness of the change in day from Saturday to Sunday. In this sense, the transformation of Sabbath to Lord’s Day is not unlike cir­cumcision to baptism. Similarly a change of days from Saturday to Sunday commu­nicates the New Covenant fulfilment of the Old Covenant promises of rest and worship.

How exactly? Well, Sunday is the day Jesus rose from the dead securing our eternal redemption, that is, rest and access to God. Therefore, it is completely appropriate that the day changes to reflect the “promise-fulfilment” reality. Jesus has inaugurated a new creation and achieved a greater redemption, not from slavery in Egypt, but from sin. Jesus’ death and resurrection transforms how we understand rest, which is now in Christ, and likewise our worship, where we have direct access to God through Christ our mediator.

It appears that a strong case can be made for the Lord’s Day being understood as a Christian Sabbath. One main objection, however, is that the concept of rest seems to be lacking in the three New Testament passages which mention the Lord’s Day. People who note this sometimes argue that since Jesus has already brought fulfillment in terms of rest, there is no need to set aside one particular day.

But it seems odd that Christians would come together to celebrate the idea of rest without expressing it outwardly. It becomes odder still when we remember that the consummation rest which is promised is a promise of new physical bodies, new heavens and a new earth! A physical rest would orientate believers, who have experienced spiritual rest, to the physical transformation of body and uni­verse on the last day. When we realise this, it seems odd that the day set aside by believers for worshipping God would ignore the future rest that they were antic­ipating. On the contrary, by protecting the Lord’s Day from the demands of this world, believers are reminded (and pro­vided with a foretaste in the here and now) of the promised final physical rest to come.

With this in mind, it seems reasonable to conclude that the early Christians understood the Lord’s Day as standing in continuity with the Jewish Sabbath. But more importantly, they saw it as a celebra­tion of the fulfillment of the promises anticipated in it. When we realise that the Lord’s Day is a transformed Old Covenant Sabbath, and that Sunday is the day that appropriately reflects New Covenant worship and rest, spiritual ben­efits for setting aside this particular day should not be hard to find.

Some of the benefits that come imme­diately to mind include corporate worship that focuses hearts and minds on the sal­vation secured for us by Jesus’ resurrec­tion. It also gives us more time for focused personal worship and reflection for the same reason. Further, a designated day also helps to stop the believing community from fragmenting, and enables us to follow the Hebrew writer’s exhorta­tion for us not to give up meeting together (Heb. 10:25). Physical rest, through its practice on the Lord’s Day, also brings to mind the rest won and the glorious physical consummation of that rest which is yet to come. By designating this day, and putting it aside to rest and meet with the believing community, the believer also demonstrates trust in God for his well being rather than the world.

Finally, Jesus showed that the “Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:23-27). This means that the rest we practice is not a rest of inactivity. When Christians observe the Lord’s Day, this gives us time for fellow­ship with one another, as well as time for corporate works of mercy and service.