Lord’s Day Worship (Sunday Worship)

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Sunday Mass in a Catholic Chapel

Lord’s Day worship or Sunday worship refers to the regular worship service held on Sunday, the first day of the week, in the Protestant churches. In the Catholic Church, it is called the Sunday Mass.[1] Churches that keep Sunday worship insist that Sabbath of the Old Testament changed to Sunday because the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit took place on Sunday.[2][3] However, the Bible does not teach that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday. Sunday is the holy day of Mithraism, which worshiped the sun god,[4][5] and Sunday worship was made by introducing pagan customs into Christianity.[6]

Origin of Sunday Worship

Sunday worship began in the early 2nd century when the Church in Rome accepted Sunday, the holy day of the sun-god, as a worship day. And it was established in A.D. 321 when Emperor Constantine issued a decree making Sunday the official day of rest.

Deterioration of the Church in Rome

Early Christianity was severely persecuted by the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was hostile to the Jews who did not follow Roman laws and orders, believing in only one God. The Romans considered Christianity a sect of Judaism because they believed in the only Savior Jesus and kept the Sabbath on the same day as the Jews.[7][8] The Roman government regarded Jews and Christians as traitors because they refused to worship the emperor or to participate in national events.[9][10]

On the other hand, there was a religion that was welcomed among the Romans at that time, and it was Mithraism which worshiped the sun-god Mithra. Mithraism was derived from Zoroastrianism in Persia and was introduced to Rome around the 1st century B.C. Mithra was mainly worshiped by soldiers, then later was raised a patron deity of the Roman Empire and its emperors, and became the most influential deity in Rome.[11] The holy day of Mithraism was Sunday.[4]

In the early 2nd century, when all the apostles died, the Church in Rome made Sunday, which the Romans regarded as sacred, a day of worship.[12] The Church in Rome tried to differentiate Christianity from Judaism, which kept the Sabbath, by worshiping on Sunday. Additionally, they rationalized their Sunday worship observance with the excuse that Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday. Thus, the Church in Rome and some other churches under its influence accepted Sunday worship, but the Eastern Churches kept the Sabbath on the seventh day, as the Bible teaches.[13][14]

Sunday, a Day of Rest

In A.D. 313, Constantine’s Edict of Milan, stating that all religions were recognized equally, became a significant turning point in Christianity. Emperor Constantine carried out policies supporting Christians. However, he did not completely convert to Christianity. He deliberately regarded Christ as the same god as the sun god Mithra, and retained the pagan high priest’s title of Pontifex Maximus until the end of his life.[6] Historians say that Emperor Constantine chose Christianity as a political means to combine the entire empire into one.[15] Sunday law, too, which was proclaimed in 321, had such intention.

“ In 321, Constantine made the first day of the week a holiday, and called it ‘the venerable day of the Sun’ (Sunday). “. . . All judges, city-people and craftsmen shall rest on the venerable day of the Sun . . . 7 March 321.” Constantine’s Edict “
— Tim Dowley, The History of Christianity (A Lion Handbook), Lion Publishing, 1994, pp. 140, 152

The expressions, “Sunday” and the “venerable day of the Sun,” show that Sunday law was issued to be considerate of the followers of Mithra (sun-god), who made up the majority of the Romans at the time. Sunday worship results from a compromise between the Church in Rome and the sun-god religion. Due to the Sunday law, even the Eastern Churches, which had held fast to the Sabbath, eventually came to surrender to the sun-god religion. As a result, the Sabbath disappeared and Sunday worship was established.[16][17][18]

Perspective by Denomination

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church stipulated in Can. 1247 of the Canon Law that “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.”[19] As the basis for Sunday worship, they quote Revelation 1:10. They insist that although Sunday was the first day of the week and the day of sun worship, Christians called Sunday the “Lord’s Day” for liturgical purposes. They claim that from the early days of Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit were celebrated on Sunday instead of the Sabbath.[3]

Even the Roman Catholic Church admits that Sunday worship cannot be found in the Bible and that Sunday is not the day of worship in the Bible.[20]

“ “Not to mention other examples, is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.” “
— James C. Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, Tan Books and Publishers, 1980, pp. 72–73

It also said that it was incomprehensible for the Protestant churches, which opposed the Catholic doctrines and corruption and caused the Reformation, to keep Sunday worship that is not in the Bible, saying that they follow the Bible. And it said that Sunday worship was a doctrine made by the authority of the Catholic Church.

“ But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn’t it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not from the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Yes, of course, it is inconsistent; but this change was made about fifteen centuries before Protestantism was born, and by that time the custom was universally observed. They have continued the custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the Bible. “
— John A O’Brien, The Faith of the Millions, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1974, pp. 400-401

Protestant Churches

The Presbyterian churches in Korea stipulate to keep the Lord’s Day holy in the “Directory for Worship” of the Constitution of the General Assembly.[21] Chapter 21 of the Westminster Confession of Faith explains the worship day, quoting 1 Corinthians 16:2 and Acts 20:7 as follows: “He [God] hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week: and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week.”[22] This is a misinterpretation of the Bible, following the view of the Catholic Church.

Biblical View

Biblical Worship Day Is the Sabbath

The weekly worship day appointed by God is the seventh-day Sabbath, that is, Saturday. The Sabbath is the commemoration day of the Creator. After six-day Creation, God rested on the seventh day, blessed it, and made it holy.[23] Some people regard the Sabbath as a law of the Old Testament, but in reality, it is the commemoration day of the Creator, which was established from the beginning before the law was established. In the time of Moses, God commanded, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” as the fourth of the Ten Commandments.[13] The Sabbath was an absolute law that anyone who desecrated it should be put to death.[24][25]

Jesus, too, kept the Sabbath of the new covenant by worshiping in spirit and in truth.[26][27] He said that this was an example for you,[28] and commanded them to keep the Sabbath until the end of the world.[29] According to His command, the apostles and the saints of the early Church kept the Sabbath even on the day after Jesus died on the cross.[30] They continued keeping it even after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.[31][32] The Sabbath, which was established at the time of the creation of the world, is an important ordinance of God, which has been kept from the time of Moses over the time of Jesus and the apostles. They insist that the Sabbath was abolished because it was an Old Testament law and that it is not necessary after the Cross. This is a false insistence to justify their violating God’s commandments.

The Catholic Church and Protestant churches insist that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday because Jesus’ resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit occurred on Sunday. However, there is no teaching anywhere in the Bible that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday. Resurrection Day and the Pentecost commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit.[33] It has a fundamentally different meaning from the Sabbath, the day God created the heavens and the earth and rested.

The churches that observe Sunday worship today use the following verses as the basis for their worship on the Lord’s Day (Sunday).

  • “Lord’s Day” in Revelation 1:10

On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.

Revelation 1:10

The churches that keep Sunday worship insist that the “Lord’s Day” in the above verse is Sunday. However, there is no record in the Bible that the first day is the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Day in the Bible is the Sabbath, not Sunday. In the book of Revelation, the “Lord” is Jesus, and Jesus referred to Himself as the “Lord of the Sabbath.”[34][35] It means that the Sabbath is the day of the Lord Jesus. In the Old Testament times, too, the Lord’s Day is the Sabbath.[36] The Sabbath is the seventh day, which is Saturday. This is also acknowledged by the Catholic Church.[37][38]
  • “On the first day of every week” in 1 Corinthians 16:2

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

1 Corinthians 16:2

The churches that worship on Sunday insist that the early Church worshiped on Sunday by quoting only two phrases, “first day of every week” and “collections,” in the above verse. They think that the collections on the first day of every week were the offerings at Sunday worship. If the collections here were the regular offerings at worship each week, they had to be made whether or not Apostle Paul visited the Corinthian Church. And he should not say, “When I come, no collections will have to be made.” Collections Apostle Paul mentioned here were the special collections for the church in Jerusalem.[39] In the New Living Translation [NLT], the subtitle of the text is “The Collection for Jerusalem.” Paul advised the saints in Corinth to prepare their collections in advance according to their income on the first day of every week, that is, on Sunday, rather than to prepare them in a hurry after he arrived in Corinth. Therefore, the saints of the early Church did not offer the collections on the first day of every week but saved them to offer later. It also shows that they did not worship every Sunday but worked on Sunday to earn income.
  • “The first day of the week” in Acts 20:7

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.

Acts 20:7

The churches that keep Sunday worship insist that the above verse is the scene where the early Church worshiped on Sunday, holding the Holy Supper. If the early Church had kept Sunday worship instead of the Sabbath worship, Apostle Paul should not have kept the Sabbath, either. However, he kept the Sabbath.[31][32] Therefore, the “first day of the week” in the above verse was observed in a different meaning than the Sabbath that was kept every week. The “first day of the week” in this verse was the first Sunday after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that is, the Resurrection Day.[40][33] The fact that proves this is that they “came together to break bread.” After Jesus was resurrected, He broke bread and gave it to His disciples who did not recognize Him. They ate the bread Jesus had given them, and their spiritual eyes were opened to recognize Him.[41] Since then, the apostles gathered to break bread on Resurrection Day, following the example of Jesus.

Sunday Worship Is to Worship the Sun God

Even though the worship day appointed by God is the seventh-day Sabbath, many churches adhere to Sunday worship, which is the worship day of the sun god. The Bible prophesied that the church would abandon the law of God and accept the sun-god worship.


He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.” He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

Ezekiel 8:15–16


This scene where people worship the sun god while turning their back on God in God’s temple, is a prophecy that the church will worship the sun god while outwardly claiming to believe in God. Today, it is the same with the churches that forsake the Sabbath of God and keep Sunday, the holy day of the sun god. God was enraged at their acts and said that He would not grant salvation to those who worshiped the sun god.[42]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Missa, Collins Dictionary
  2. ↑ Faith Matters: Why do Christians worship on Sunday?, CBS 42, May 15, 2022
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "SUNDAY (biblical)". Catholic Encyclopedia, Catholic Culture.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE BIBLE – THE LORD’S DAY, Bible Gateway
  5. ↑ The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, November 21, 2008
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 A Lion Handbook, The History of Christianity, Tim Dowley, 1977, pg. 140
  7. ↑ Persecution and Martyrdom pgs. 135-137, Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy G.E.M. DESTE. CROIX
  8. ↑ A History of the Councils of the Church, History of the Councils, pg. 316, Charles Joseph Hefele, D.D., 1876
  9. ↑ Judaism, pg. 135, A history of the Jews, New York : Perennial Library, 1988
  10. ↑ The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 1, Edward Gibbon, 1776
  11. ↑ Marvin W. Meyer (May 7, 1999). "Chapter 7 The Roman Mysteries of Mithras, The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook of Sacred Texts". University of Pennsylvania Press.
  12. ↑ From Sabbath to Lord's Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation, D. A. Carson, pgs. 281-282, November 5, 1999
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Exodus 20:8–11".
  14. ↑ Constantine and the Christian empire, Odahl, Charles M., pgs. 172–173, 2004
  15. ↑ A history of the early church to A.D. 500, Wand, J. W. C. (John William Charles), 1885–1977, pg. 131, London, Methuen, 1949
  16. ↑ The Battle Between the Moon and Sun, The Separation of Women’s Bodies from the Cosmic Dance, Universal Publishers, pg. 98–103, Jenny Kien, 2003
  17. ↑ Seventh-day Baptists, The American Encyclopædic Dictionary, Volume 12, R.S. Peale and J.A. Hill Chicago and New York, 1897
  18. ↑ Canon 29, Synod of Laodicea (4th Century), New Advent
  19. ↑ Can. 1247, CHAPTER I., Feast Days, CODE OF CANON LAW
  20. ↑ The Lord’s Day, Encyclopedia of the Bible, Bible Gateway
  21. ↑ W-3.01 WORSHIP ON THE LORD’S DAY, CHAPTER THREE, THE SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY, pg. 89, BOOK OF ORDER 2023–2025, The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Part II
  22. ↑ CHAPTER XXI. Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath-day, The Westminster Confession of Faith
  23. ↑ "Genesis 2:1–3".
  24. ↑ "Exodus 31:13–14".
  25. ↑ "Numbers 15:32–36".
  26. ↑ "Luke 4:16".
  27. ↑ "John 4:23".
  28. ↑ "John 13:15".
  29. ↑ "Matthew 24:20–21".
  30. ↑ "Luke 23:54–56".
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 "Acts 17:2".
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 "Acts 18:4".
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 "Leviticus 23:4–16".
  34. ↑ "Matthew 12:8".
  35. ↑ "Luke 6:5".
  36. ↑ "Exodus 31:12–13".
  37. ↑ Sabbath, New Advent
  38. ↑ Sunday, New Advent
  39. ↑ "1 Corinthians 16:3".
  40. ↑ "Acts 20:6–7".
  41. ↑ "Luke 24:13–31".
  42. ↑ "Ezekiel 8:17–18".
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