If the seventh or sabbath day is Saturday then it follows that the first day of the week is Sunday Where does it say that Sunday is the first day?

Answer 1

In most countries Sunday is considered as the sabbath day and the first day of the week.

It comes from the Old Testament where God started the creation of the universe. For six days he created everything that exists and it's said that he rested on the Sabbath, i.e., the seventh day. Which automatically makes Sunday the first day of the week.

Answer

In Genesis 1, God created the universe in six 'days' and on the seventh day He rested. Thus the seventh day became the Jewish Sabbath - even the word 'Sabbath' in Hebrew means 'seventh':

Genesis 2:2-3: And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

The Sunday (the first day of the week) became adopted by Christians as the 'Sabbath' because Christ rose from death on a Sunday. As Jesus represented the New Covenant between God and humans, the early Christians replaced their old Jewish custom of keeping Saturday holy and adopting the first day of the week - Sunday - instead.

Matthew 28: 1-7: "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. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you..." Mark 16: 1-4: "And 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. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great..." Luke 24: 1-3: "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. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus..." 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."

Since Saturday is the last day of the week, Sunday is the first day.

Answer:

While neither the term Saturday nor Sunday are used in the Scriptures, the sabbath is the seventh day, Sabbath meaning seven, and occurs on what we call Saturday. The early church worshiped the Lord together on the first day of the week, which naturally flowed from Christ being raised from the dead, and which corresponds to what we call Sunday.

We find Christians regularly gathering on the first day of the week after the Resurrection of Christ: "And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun." Mark 16:2; Also found in Luke 24:1. Then we find that: "And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you," which indicates that a regular pattern was established on Resurrection Day, for the early church meeting together.

This pattern was also confirmed, when Paul instructed the Corinthians: "Upon 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." 1 Corinthians 16:2.

The word Sunday is not from the Bible, but it matches the first day, as the day after Saturday, the seventh day. Now, in New Testament times, Sunday is often called the Sabbath Day, due to the pattern of laying the day aside to worship.

In Addition:

We are told in each Gospel that Christ rose on the 'first day of the week'. We know that the crucifixion took place on a Friday as we are also told Christ was not allowed to remain dead on the Cross as preparations were being made for the Sabbath (the seventh Day - 'sabbath' in Hebrew means 'seventh') later that evening, as in Jewish Law the Sabbath began at sunset on the day before. Also, we are told in the gospels that Jesus rose again on 'the Third Day' in Jesus' own prophesies and in the Gospels, and in Paul's letters. By Jewish reckoning, a 'day' was reckoned to include even parts of days - as this was the custom as testified in the Old Testament and in Jesus' parables (eg the workers in the vineyard). So, if the crucifixion took place on the Friday(the day before the sabbath) this counted as day 1. The second day, day 2, was the Saturday - or sabbath. Day 3 would therefore be the first day of the new week - and this was the day on which Jesus rose again as mentioned in all four gospels. We call this day, nowadays, Sunday - but of course the actual name of the day is a modern invention.

Whilst the 'week' is a concept derived from the Jewish Old Testament a month is definitely NOT a man-made unit of time. The 'month' in English began its roots as a 'moonth', as one 'moonth' was the time that the moon took to orbit once round the earth and pass through all its phases. Over the years (and thanks to the Roman Empire) the number of moonths in a year became 10 months of more days than we have now in each month (hence OCTober = 8th month, NOVember=9th month and DECember = 10th month. The number then grew to 12 rather than 13 (which would reflect the moon's phases more) as only two additional months -July (Julius) and August (Augustus) were added in honour of Roman Emperors and the days of each month adjusted accordingly.

Finally as for the 'seventh day', the Creation story is not the only place in scripture where the seventh day is designated as holy. In the giving of the 10 Commandments, one of the commandments makes it very clear that every Sabbath (ie every seventh day) is to be kept holy as this was the day that God 'rested' after Creation. The Jews DID have a 'seventh year' concept too. This was called Jubilee, when, every seven years, slaves could be freed, debt cancelled and tenanted land returned to its tribal owners. This was reflected more recently in the Jubilee 2000 campaign at the turn of the millemmium to get the rich countries to cancel the debts of the poorest nations.

Whilst, therefore, the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week (Saturday in modern language), as Christ rose on the first day of the week (a Sunday) THIS was the day adopted by the early Christians as holy rather than a Saturday. They regarded this as perfectly acceptable as they then reflected Jesus' teaching that the sabbath (whether a Saturday or Sunday) was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. In other words, as long as one day a week was regarded as a rest day from labours and devoted to worship, then this was right with God, whatever day that happened to be.

Biblical evidence for the first day of the week being the day of resurrection

Matthew 28: 1-7 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. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you...

Mark 16: 1-4: "And 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. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

Luke 24: 1-3: "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. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

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."

Answer:

This is not an answer to the question just a series of quotes from the bible. The answer to the question has to go back to the seven days of genesis and identify the first day. If you can't identify the first day then to identify any day other day as the seventh day makes no sense. The debate is not about the designation of the seventh day but rather the identity of the seventh day from its origin.