Why Do Most Christians Gather on Sunday Instead of Saturday?

“The First Day of the Week”

According to the New Testament, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a dividing line in human history. As such, it cannot but have implications for the Sabbath.

The Gospels are united in reporting that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week. Luke’s account is particularly instructive. He tells us that when “the women who had come with [Jesus] from Galilee” arrive at the tomb “on the first day of the week,” they find the tomb empty (Luke 23:55; 24:1). “Two men . . . in dazzling apparel” meet them and inform them that Jesus “has risen” (Luke 24:4, 6), reminding the women of what Jesus had said in his earthly ministry, that he would “be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:7; cf. Luke 24:1, 13, 21). Thus, it is not simply that the women learn of the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week—Jesus has himself been raised from the dead on the first day of the week.

In addition to this, Jesus appears to his disciples on the first day of the week several times. Three of these appearances come in immediate succession toward the end of John’s Gospel and the other two appearances are recorded in Luke. John tells us that Mary Magdalene, “on the first day of the week, . . . came to the tomb early” (John 20:1). She discovers that the tomb is empty and tells Peter and John, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:2). This (false) assumption prompts her to weep outside the empty tomb (John 20:11). After “two angels” sitting in the tomb ask Mary why she is weeping, Jesus appears to her, though she does not recognize him (John 20:12–15). It is only when Jesus addresses Mary by name that she sees it is him (John 20:16; cf. John 10:16, 27). Jesus then tells her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father” (John 20:17).

Thus, this passage shows that the resurrection marks a new mode of communion between Jesus and his disciples. Up to this point, Jesus’s disciples have had fellowship with him through the five senses. From now on, until he returns in glory, disciples will commune with Jesus exclusively by the ministry of the Holy Spirit—whom Jesus will receive from the Father and send in power to his people (see John 14:16; 15:26)—and through the word of Christ (John 14:23). But this is not a lesser kind of fellowship; in fact, Jesus had earlier said that it is far better than what they had previously enjoyed with him (John 16:7).

Overall, this first resurrection appearance in John’s account is important for a number of reasons. It shows us that Christ was raised from the dead on the first day of the week. It shows us that he also appeared to Mary Magdelene on that day, appointing her as a witness to the disciples that Christ had been raised from the dead (John 20:17–18). And it gives us a glimpse into the kind of fellowship that Christ will enjoy with his disciples between his resurrection and return. It is this fellowship that John emphasizes in his description of a second resurrection appearance of Christ. On this occasion, Christ appears to ten of his disciples (John 20:19–23). John makes a point of telling us that Jesus met with these disciples “on the evening of that day, the first day of the week” (John 20:19). He declares to them, “Peace be with you,” then “showed them his hands and his side,” and again declared his “peace” to them (John 20:19, 20, 21). This “peace” is a fruit of Christ’s finished work of redemption. By his death and resurrection, he reconciles sinners to God. Formerly enemies of God, now, in Christ, they are friends of God. This “peace” is a blessing that they enjoy through faith in Christ. It will be this message of peace that the disciples must soon take to the nations (see John 20:21–23). In showing the disciples “his hands and his side,” Jesus furnishes them with evidence of his resurrection—in the very same body in which he died, he has been raised gloriously to life (John 20:20)—because he wants them with to have every confidence that the peace they have in Christ and that they offer to the nations is a well-grounded one. Its foundation lies in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In summary, when the disciples were gathered together on “the evening of that day, the first day of the week” (John 20:19), Jesus blesses that gathering with his presence and with the pronouncement of the peace that he has secured by his death and resurrection and that they enjoy through faith in him. Furthermore, he commissions them to proclaim Christ as Savior to the nations in the power of the Spirit. Thus, the presence of Christ with his people and the proclamation of the gospel to gather sinners and to edify the people of God are marks or traits of this “first day of the week.”

When these details are read against the backdrop of the whole of the New Testament, an unmistakable pattern emerges—they all reflect the public worship of God within the apostolic church. As we will see below, disciples gathered on the first day of the week, under the supervision of the apostles, to worship God. Preeminent in this gathered worship was the preaching of the word. On this day, believers also observed the Lord’s Supper. What characterized these assemblies most of all was the presence of God with his people (1 Cor. 14:25).

Overall, these details closely match what transpired when Christ appeared to his disciples on the first day of the week. Thus, they suggest a transformation in the way that people are to worship God under the new covenant. Disciples continue to gather one day a week in order to worship God. This weekly public worship is an abiding feature of the life of God’s new covenant people. What has changed, according to the New Testament writers, is the particular day on which believers assemble to worship God. From the creation until the resurrection, God called people to worship him on the seventh day of the week. From the resurrection until the return of Christ, God calls people to worship him on the first day of the week.

From Seventh to First

This raises the question, “why?” Why is it that, at the resurrection, God shifts the day when people are to rest from the labors of their earthly callings and to gather in his worship? To answer this question, we first need to think about the significance of the resurrection according to the New Testament. The resurrection has momentous implications for human history. Paul tells us that the saving work of Christ brings history to its intended climax and consummation (Gal. 4:4; Eph. 1:10). For this reason, he links Jesus’s resurrection with the eschatological age to come (Eph. 1:20–23). On the day of Pentecost, the risen Christ poured out the Holy Spirit in fullness upon the crowds gathered in Jerusalem, and Peter told them that this outpouring of the Spirit by the risen Christ meant that “the last days” had dawned (Acts 2:17). The New Testament further shows us the epochal significance of the resurrection of Christ by relating the resurrection to creation. Paul tells the Colossians that Christ is both “the firstborn of all creation” and “the firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:15, 18). This parallel expression shows Paul’s understanding of “the resurrection as a new cosmic beginning.”¹ Similarly, when writing to the Corinthians, Paul links Jesus’s resurrection with the “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:15–17).² Thus, the resurrection of Christ from the dead is a watershed moment in human history. It is the dawn of the last days and of the age to come—the consummation of human history. It stands parallel to the creation of the world in its significance and scope.

It is on Sunday . . . when people are to look back to what God has done in Christ and to look forward to what God will certainly do in Christ.

Overall, understanding what the resurrection is and means for human history helps us to understand its implications for the Sabbath. The Sabbath, we have seen, is a creation ordinance. God instituted it at the creation so that human beings might remember God’s creation of the world in six days. By setting the Sabbath on the seventh day, God was showing humanity his goal for human existence—the worship of him who made all things. Later, in Deuteronomy, the Sabbath comes to take on added significance as God tells Israel that it is a day to remember how he redeemed them from bondage in Egypt.

Connected to both of these purposes, the resurrection is equally the dawn of the new creation in human history and part of the unique, once-for-all work of Christ to save sinners from among the nations. In fact, all those and only those whom Christ has redeemed by his life, death, and resurrection are given entrance into the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). In this way, God is bringing his purposes for humanity to realization. It is by the work of the last Adam, the second man, that God redeems sinners in every age. And this new humanity, forged in Christ, communes with the triune God through faith in Christ.

The Sabbath, then, comes to commemorate God’s work of new creation and redemption in the resurrection of Christ. There continues to be one day in seven when God’s people lay down their earthly labors and commitments and gather together to worship God. Thus the substance of the command is unchanged. However, the particular day does change. Beginning at the resurrection, the appointed day for God’s people to assemble in the holy resting of worship is Sunday. On this first day of the week, we are to remember that Christ was raised from the dead. In Christ, we have witnessed God’s purposes for the creation come to fulfillment and fruition and we engage in that for which we were made—worship of our great God.³ We also remember that, by his death and resurrection, Christ redeemed a multitude of sinners. What the exodus anticipated in shadow form, Christ has accomplished in his saving work. Thus, on the first day of the week, we look back in grateful remembrance on the fact that Christ was “raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25) and that, in union with the risen Christ, we have been brought from death to life (Eph. 2:5–6).

But if, on the first day of the week, we look back upon Christ’s resurrection as the inbreaking of new creation into human history and as the saving victory of God to redeem his people, we no less look forward. The Sabbath, in other words, continues to be eschatological in nature. The new creation has been inaugurated in Christ but not yet consummated. Redemption has been fully accomplished, once for all, but it will not be fully applied to all the elect until Christ returns in glory. United with Christ, believers have already begun to share in his resurrection. But we have yet to experience all that he has won for us in his resurrection. The resurrection of the body, in conformity with Christ’s resurrection body, is the sure and certain hope of every Christian (1 Cor. 15:35–58; 1 Thess. 4:13–18; Phil. 3:21). And the “redemption of our bodies,” Paul tells us, is of a piece with the renewal of the whole creation (Rom. 8:23; see Rom. 8:18–25). Fully redeemed, we will dwell with God in Christ in new heavens and new earth.

In light of what the resurrection means—for Christ, for believers, and for God’s purposes in human history—we are better able to appreciate why God moved the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week when Christ rose from the dead. God’s work of creation and redemption finds its center and culmination in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The consummation of God’s purposes for humanity and the world has found its beginnings in the death and resurrection of Christ. It is on Sunday, then, when people are to look back to what God has done in Christ and to look forward to what God will certainly do in Christ. Fittingly, on the very first Sabbath under the new covenant—the day on which Christ was raised from the dead—we see Christ meeting in fellowship with his people, we see the word of Christ bringing blessing, instruction, guidance, and direction to his people, and we see the people of God assembled to worship the Savior. It is precisely these features that will characterize the life of the early church on the first day of the week. Thus, we may now turn to explore what Acts, the Letters, and Revelation tell us about the Sabbath under the new covenant.

This article is adapted from The Sabbath as Rest and Hope for the People of God by Guy Prentiss Waters.

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