It was Martin Luther who pondered the question "Am I alone wise?" when he was asked whether he stood by the things he had written concerning the church and justification by faith at the Diet of Worms. He pondered the question, not because he doubted the truth of Scripture, but because he understood that man is foible and is prone to believe and think in ways that are contrary to the truth. He also understood that there can be but one truth, not a variety of "truths"—the current fad of our society.
I bring this up to say that, considering the fact that for 2,000 years the church with near unanimity has taught that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day, it is truly dumbfounding how anyone could think that such is not the case. I have pointed out in previous articles that history demonstrates without there being room for any doubt, that the first day of the week has been observed by the church as the day when it met for worship and as the "Christian Sabbath."
Consider the following facts. The Lord rose on the first day of the week. No Christian doubts the fact that the Lord's resurrection took place on the first day of the week. Every one of the four gospels attests to the fact that this is so. The Lord appeared to his disciples on that day and did not do so again until the eighth day after that event: again, on the next first day of the week. This cannot be a coincidence! Fifty days after the Lord's resurrection, the Holy Spirit came and fell upon the disciples. It cannot be happenstance that this took place again on the first day of the week.
The first baptismal and corporate service of the new church and the first observance of the Lord's Supper took place on the same day the Spirit fell, on the first day of the week. I pointed out in a previous article that the Scriptures in Acts tell us that the disciples came together to break bread (an idiomatic expression used to refer to the Lord's Supper) on the first day of the week. The collection for the saints by the Corinthians was to take place on the first day of the week. Why? Why do it on the first day of the week if they're meeting on the seventh day? No other explanation could possibly make sense than that they met on that day.
“I find the day spoken of by one of them as “The Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10). Undoubtedly, the day was changed: it was made the first day of the week in memory of the Lord’s resurrection, instead of the seventh—but I believe the apostles were divinely inspired to make that change, and at the same time wisely directed to make no public decree about it. The decree would have only raised a ferment in the Jewish mind…” J.C. Ryle
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