Seventh Day Baptists-your Sabbath Keeping Brethren

[Bernd]

I first learned of the Seventh Day Baptist about 10 years ago. I grew up in the Baptist church(Missionary) and heard of and visited several kinds of Baptist churches from freewill to primitive, but had never heard of Seventh Day Baptists until researching different sabbath keeping groups. When I first came across the name, I thought it was one small independent church but to my surprise it was a small denomination with roots in United States as early as the 1600s and even before then in Europe as an independent group of believers that followed the Waldenses. I would constantly mention and inquire about them to other Sunday keeping Baptist pastors who said they had also never heard of them, not even the Baptist Conference in Augusta Ga. They seemed to be surprised at their existence and well established history. But, I surprisingly found a link to a letter written by the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference to Sunday Keeping Baptists in 1843, titled "An Address to the Baptist Denomination of the United States On the Observance of the Sabbath From the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference." You can read it if you go to their home page and select Beliefs/History and then Historical Resources, and finally Letter to the Baptists. With their books, articles, magazines, quarterlies, publishing houses and two or three colleges they began, Alfred University in NY and Salem in W. Va and one other, I'm surprised that more Baptist clergy aren't familiar with them. Although still small, there are still active congregations as old as 350 years old in the US alone. Do you know of them and why are they not that well known among their Sunday keeping brethren? According to their website, with the exception of worshipping on the Sabbath, they share the same beliefs as Sunday Baptists. If you've ever heard of them, do you know about any history or interaction they've had with Sunday Baptist brethren over the years and why not more cooperation being that with the exception of the Biblical Sabbath observance, they have more doctrine in common with traditional Baptists than do the primitive Baptists?

ANSWER: Blessings and thank you for your question. The Seventh Day Baptists are only 1 of 27 different types of Baptist Churches in the United States.  Baptists number over 30 million, so it should not surprise you that a small denomination of only about 6000 members in the US would be a dominate force among Baptists.

Most Baptists will not work with seventh day Baptists, they are consider a SECT but not a CULT.  Most Baptists put them together(wrongly) with the Seventh Day Adventist Church which has a lot more differences in theology.  Baptists are creatures of habit and don't like to fellowship outside their "comfort zones" The real arguement is obviously when to worship God formally as the Sabbath.  

We believe that the change in day for the Sabbath to Sunday was Divinely Authorized.  When Jesus declared that “the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath,” He wanted them to understand that He had the power to change the day on which the holy rest should be observed and the way it which it should be observed.  Scriptures clearly indicate that the Sabbath was celebrated on different days.  

a.    Originally, as seen in Genesis 2:3, the Sabbath was to be observed after the six days of work by God.  Here, in the institution of the Sabbath, it is distinctly declared to be a day of Holy rest after 6 days of labor, and it was to be a memorial of creation.  

b.    The next mention of the Sabbath is in connection with the giving of the manna(Ex 16:14-31).  Here the manna is stated to have fallen for 6 days, that is from the 16th to the 21st day of the second month; and that the day following, or the twenty-second, was the first 7th day Sabbath celebrated in the Wilderness of Sin.  “See for the Lord has given you the Sabbath, so He has given you on the 6th day the bread of life for 2 days.  So the people rested on the 7th day.”  The Sabbath as a holy rest was re-established at this time.  There is controversy over what day was actually observed.  If the 22 day was a Sabbath day, then the 15th should have been also, but it was not because they marched that day.  Dr. W. H. Rogers holds that “the only change of the Sabbath by God’s authority is for the Jews between the giving of the manna and the resurrection of Christ.  The first day of the week, but always the 7th after 6 working days was the day of the holy rest from Adam to Moses.  The Sabbatism was separated from idolatry by changing it from Sunday to Saturday among the chosen people ‘throughout their generations,’ 1500 years(Ex 31:13-14; Ezek. 20:12).  At Christ’s resurrection expired by statue limitation this peculiarity of exceptional change, leaving the divine rule for all mankind, requiring 1st day Sabbath keeping, as had been the case for the 1st 2500 years of human history.”  

c.   The Christian Sabbath or “Lord’s Day” has been tradition since apostolic times.  It came early to be known as the “Lord’s Day” to distinguish it from the Jewish Sabbath.  That this change was divinely authorized is show(1) by the example of Jesus,(2) by the authority of the apostles,(3) by the practices of the early church, and(4) by the testimony of the early apostolic fathers.

1.   Jesus placed approval upon the 1st day of the week, by meeting with His disciples on this day.  The resurrection took place on the morning of the 1st day of the week.  The four accounts of the gospels agree that the Savior arose early “the first day of the week.”  His first meeting with the body of His disciples was on the evening of the resurrection day(John 20:19); and the second on the evening of the 8th day, which would of course, be the following first day of the next week.  There were 3 more “first days” before the ascension, but it is not said whether Jesus met with His disciples on any or all of them.  However, there were 3 more appearances: to the 500, to James, and to the apostles(1 Cor.15:1-4).

2.   The Apostles authorized the change, doubtless due to the unrecorded instructions of Jesus during the 40 days(Acts 1:2).  Twenty five years later St. Paul worshiped, shared communion, and preached at Troas on Sunday(1 Cor 16:1-2).  This clearly indicates that the apostle sanctioned the 1st day as the Christian Sabbath.

3.   The practices of the early churches are further proof of worship on Sunday.  This is shown by the passages just cited, and also by St. John’s reference to the Sabbath as the “Lord’s day”(Rev 1:10).  Since he uses the phrase without any reference to the first day, evidence shows that when the Apocalypse was written, the 1st day was generally know as the “Lord’s Day” in contradiction to the Jewish 7th day.  

4.   Since some of the early apostolic fathers were associated with the apostles, their writings from the historical standpoint, furnish conclusive evidence as to the current thought of that time.  For example, Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Theodoret, Eusebius, Origen, the Didache or Teaches of the Twelve all mention the Sabbath observance being on the Lord’s Day.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

Thank you for explaining why the SDB don't have much fellowship with Sunday Baptists. While studying the Sabbath-Sunday debate I recently came to the new understanding of the term you mentioned in Revelation 1:10. I was taught and believed "The Lord's Day" was in reference to Sunday. The Seventh Day Adventists teach it is referencing Saturday. But I later found out that it is actually not referencing any day of the week but the period of time spoken of in Joel and throughout the Bible as "The Day of The Lord" or "The Great Day of The Lord." This is the belief of Seventh Day Baptists and Church of God Seventh Day, most Sabbatarians and several traditioanl Sunday keeping Christians, including some Baptists, etc. There's really no question unless you'd like to comment. The length of the following article was too much to put in the comment section. I found an article explaining the meaning of Rev. 1:10, although lengthier than I wanted:

Is the Lord’s Day Mentioned in Revelation 1:10 Sunday or Does this Refer to the Day of the Lord?

By COGwriter Revelation 1:10 begins with, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day”(NKJV, unless otherwise noted).

Some believe this refers to Sunday, while others believe this has to do with the “Day of the Lord”.  Are either of those views correct?  Are there any other verses in the Bible that mention the "Lord's Day". This article provides scriptures that should help answer that question.

Is Acts 20:7 Proof that Revelation 1:10 is Referring to Sunday?

Many have suggested that the expression ‘Lord’s Day’ in Revelation 1:10 refers to Sunday.  For example, Matthew Henry’s Commentary and the Wycliffe Bible Commentary both state Revelation 1:10 is referring to the first day of the week or Sunday, though neither provide any scriptural proof.

Also four out of the last four NKJV Bibles I looked at(The Nelson Study Bible, Vine’s, The MacArthur’s Study Bible, and Ryrie) list Acts 20:7, and only Acts 20:7, as the cross-reference scripture(a verse to clarify the meaning) related to the expression ‘Lord’s Day’ in Revelation 1:10.

Acts 20:7 itself states, Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

While Acts 20:7 does mention the first day of the week, it does not mention the term ‘Lord’ much less the expression ‘Lord’s Day’.  And it is talking about a Saturday night, and not a Sunday morning. Actually, the term ‘Lord’(Êõñéù in the Greek) is not even mentioned until verse 19 of Acts 20, which the context shows occurs several days later(either on Wednesday or Thursday—and no one has claimed that these are “the Lord’s Day”).   Thus, there is no obvious biblical support to the idea that ties Revelation 1:10 to the first day of the week mentioned in Acts 20:7.

Which Day is The Lord’s Day?

The New Testament, however, does tell us which day is the Lord’s Day:

Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath(Mark 2:28)

For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath(Matthew 12:8). The verses in Mark and Matthew are also consistent with the Old Testament: Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made(Genesis 2:3).

For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it(Exodus 20:11).  

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable(Isaiah 58:13).

So, if we look into the verses of the entire Bible, it is clear that the Bible supports the idea that the Lord’s Day would be the seventh day of the week, or Saturday, and never Sunday.  

Although this disagrees with many Protestant scholars, when some of the apostles disagreed with some of the religious scholars of their day, Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men ”(Acts 5:29).   

Hence, while it is clear that the actual Lord’s Day is the seventh day Sabbath(Saturday), this still does not answer the other question-- is Revelation 1:10 referring to the Lord’s Day or the Day of the Lord?

The Lord’s Day or Day of the Lord?

Referring to Revelation 1:10, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote: And so here is the very KEYNOTE verse, sounding the THEME of the whole Revelation! And it is here that most people begin to stumble, and to misunderstand!

The theme is THE DAY OF THE LORD. Let us read it: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet"(verse 10).

As this is not understood, endless controversy and strife and confusion have come from arguing as to whether the day of the WEEK on which John WROTE this message was Saturday or Sunday. John was NOT referring to any day of the week.

The day of the week on which this happened to be written—IF it could have been all written within one day—is not important, and that is not what this verse means at all. It does NOT refer to any day of the week—but to that prophetic period referred to in more than 30 prophecies as "The great and terrible DAY OF THE LORD."

As Greek scholar Adolf Deissmann wrote, the grammar and connection both favor the view "according to which 'the day of the Lord' here stands for the day of Yahweh: the day of Judgment"(Encyclopedia Biblica, article "Lord's Day"). New Testament and textual scholar F.J.A. Hort agrees that this meaning fits "best with the context" and "gives the key to the book"(The Apocalypse, pp. 15-16).

In spirit—in VISION—John was carried forward some 1900 years—projected into the DAY OF THE LORD—during the time which is now just AHEAD OF US, to occur in this present generation!

The "Day of the Lord" is described by the Prophet Joel as a time when God will send DESTRUCTION upon the unrighteous and sinning nations of the world. It is described by Zephaniah as the day of GOD'S WRATH. It is described all through the Revelation as the time when God Almighty will soon, now, step in and supernaturally INTERVENE in this hellish strife and friction and destruction among men, and send PLAGUES upon the sinners of the earth! It is the time which FOLLOWS the Great Tribulation, and leads up to and CLIMAXES in the glorious SECOND COMING OF CHRIST!

The house of John is John's house. The Day of the Lord is the Lord's DAY. Listen to the translations of two Greek scholars and translators:

In the Rotherham translation: "I came to be, in Spirit, IN the Lord's Day." The Concordant version: "I came to be, in Spirit, IN the Lord's Day."(Armstrong HW.  The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last).”

Thus, it appears that many believe that the proper way to understand the expression ‘Lord’s Day’ in Revelation 1:10, is that it is not referring to a day of the week, but is referring to the Day of the Lord.

The Day of the Lord The Day of the Lord is referred to in several places throughout the Bible.  Since it seems that Revelation 1:10 was referring to the Day of the Lord, it is logical to see if the day of the Lord is otherwise referred to  in Revelation.

Revelation 6:12-17 states, I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.  And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.  Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.  And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!  For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

And notice Joel 2:30-31, And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.

Joel thus shows that the time in Revelation is called, “the day of the LORD” in the Old Testament.  It should perhaps be noted that when the New Testament quotes an Old Testament verse which uses the term LORD(Yahveh) it is most frequently quoted as Lord.  And that is precisely how verse 31 is rendered in Acts  2:20, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come”(KJV).

Joel 1:15 states, Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; It shall come as destruction from  the Almighty”.

Zephaniah shows us, The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out.  That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess,  A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and alarm Against the fortified cities And against the high towers.  "I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse"(Zephaniah 1:14-17). Isaiah talks about the same time, Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.  Therefore all hands will be limp, Every man's heart will melt,  And they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; They will be amazed at one another;Their faces will be like flames.  Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it.  For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine.  "I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.  I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.  Therefore I will shake the heavens,And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the LORD of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger”(Isaiah 13:6-13).

The Bible Enjoins the Seventh Day

As far as when the Sabbath actually is for Christians, the Apostle Paul was inspired to write, Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience...There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience(Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, NIV).

And that is when Paul observed it. As Acts 13:42-44 shows, "the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God". Also Acts 18:4 states, "And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks".

John's Practices

John ended up being a leader of the Church in Asia Minor. Specifically, Ephesus and Asia Minor. John, and a claimed follower of his named Polycarp, kept the Saturday Sabbath. There is no direct, nor indirect, historical evidence that John and other true Christians ever observed Sunday. Even the Protestant scholars Roberts and Donaldson noted that John's practices could be considered supportive of the idea that the Sabbatarians were correct. They mentioned the following in a dispute about Passover which John kept:, ...on the fourteenth day of the moon. But to the Jews the Apostles became "as Jews" in all things tolerable, so long as the Temple stood, and while the bishops of Jerusalem were labouring to identify the Paschal Lamb with their Passover. The long survival of St. John among Jewish Christians led them to prolong this usage, no doubt, as sanctioned by his example...Those who in our own times have revived the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, show us how much may be said on their side, and elucidate the tenacity of the Easterns in resisting the abolition of the Mosaic ordinance as to the Paschal, although they agreed to keep it "not with the old leaven."(Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus. Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Excerpted from The Ante-Nicene Fathers(Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, editors); American Edition copyright © 1885. Copyright © 2001 Peter Kirby).

Roberts and Donaldson immediately continued with, Our author belonged to a family in which he was the eighth Christian bishop; and he presided over the church of Ephesus, in which the traditions of St. John were yet fresh in men's minds at the date of his birth. He had doubtless known Polycarp, and Irenaeus also. He seems to have presided over a synod of Asiatic bishops(A.D. 196) which came together to consider this matter of the Paschal feast. It is surely noteworthy that nobody doubted that it was kept by a Christian and Apostolic ordinance. So St. Paul argues from its Christian observance, in his rebuke of the Corinthians. They were keeping it "unleavened" ceremonially, and he urges a spiritual unleavening as more important. The Christian hallowing of Pentecost connects with the Paschal argument. The Christian Sabbath hinges on these points(Ibid).

The "author" they are referring to is Polycrates, who claimed to continue what most Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox would consider to be Jewish practices. The points they are referring to is that if the Passover should be kept on the exact day and John did that as Polycrates wrote, then the Sabbath should also be kept on the exact day, the seventh day. Polycrates wrote this to the Roman Bishop Victor, We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking away. For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, when he shall come with glory from heaven, and shall seek out all the saints. Among these are Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who fell asleep in Hierapolis; and his two aged virgin daughters, and another daughter, who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests at Ephesus; and, moreover, John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the bosom of the Lord, and, being a priest, wore the sacerdotal plate. He fell asleep at Ephesus. And Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and martyr; and Thraseas, bishop and martyr from Eumenia, who fell asleep in Smyrna. Why need I mention the bishop and martyr Sagaris who fell asleep in Laodicea, or the blessed Papirius, or Melito, the Eunuch who lived altogether in the Holy Spirit, and who lies in Sardis, awaiting the episcopate from heaven, when he shall rise from the dead ? All these observed the fourteenth day of the passover according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, do according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. For seven of my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven. I, therefore, brethren, who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord, and have met with the brethren throughout the world, and have gone through every Holy Scripture, am not affrighted by terrifying words. For those greater than I have said ' We ought to obey God rather than man'...I could mention the bishops who were present, whom I summoned at your desire; whose names, should I write them, would constitute a great multitude. And they, beholding my littleness, gave their consent to the letter, knowing that I did not bear my gray hairs in vain, but had always governed my life by the Lord Jesus"(Eusebius. Church History. Book V, Chapter 25).

In other words, Polycrates is insisting that he and other leaders always kept such 'Jewish' practices as the Passover on the exact day(the 14th of Nisan) and the days of unleavened bread and that they learned this from Holy Scripture and from John. Those who did not do that, he implies, would be obeying men rather than God. And actually, Protestants and Orthodox like to cite this passage from Polycrates to show that many in the 2nd Century did not accept the authority of the Roman bishops. But what do they do about keeping Passover or the days of unleavened bread? Polycrates also mentioned Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp is considered to be a true saint by Catholics, Orthodox, and others. According to the letter The Martyrdom of Polycarp by the Smyrnaeans, "on the day of the preparation, at the hour of dinner, there came out pursuers and horsemen" and the Polycarp was killed "on the day of the great Sabbath". The use of these two expressions("day of the preparation" and "the day of the great Sabbath" strongly indicates that those in Smyrna(a Gentile filled area) were still keeping the Sabbath around 156 A.D.(the approximate date of Polycarp's martyrdom). Although true Christians do not consider the Gospel of Thomas to be scripture, the following passage from it shows that the sabbath was being observed in the 2nd Century, and that the observance of the Sabbath was considered to be of great importance:

...If you do not observe the sabbath as a sabbath you will not see the Father(Patterson S, Meyer M. The "Scholars' Translation" of the Gospel of Thomas. Verse 27. Scholars Version translation of the Gospel of Thomas taken from *The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version.* Copyright 1992, 1994 by Polebridge Press). Sabbath-keeping in Asia Minor was publicly still going on to at least 364 A.D. or else the Eastern Church would not have convened a Council in Laodicea to excommunicate any who rested on the seventh day. This still did not stop all Sabbath keeping. Around 404 A.D. Jerome noted, ...the believing Jews do well in observing the precepts of the law, i.e....keeping the Jewish Sabbath…there exists a sect among… the synagogues of the East, which is called the sect of the Minei, and is even now condemned by the Pharisees. The adherents to this sect are known commonly as Nazarenes; they believe in Christ the Son of God, born of , the Virgin Mary; and they say that He who suffered under Pontius Pilate and rose again, is the same as the one in whom we believe...

Yet, Jerome considered them to be part of “a most pestilential heresy”. But it was not just Jewish Christians keeping the Sabbath as Sozomen reported in the mid-5th Century, The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria. And Sabbath-keeping has existed throughout history(even Roberts and Donaldson refer to it in the 1800s). The simple reality is that since John and those truly in the Church were diligent to keep Passover on the 14th of Nisan(more information is in the article on Polycrates), as well as the Sabbath, this further demonstrates that John could not have been referring to Sunday in Revelation 1:10.(More information on church history can be found in the article Location of the Early Church: Another Look at Rome, Ephesus & Smyrna.) But What Does the Verse Actually Say

Although this article has discussed the context of Revelation 1:10, let's once again repeat it, but look for additional clues within the verse itself, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet(KJV).

Notice that this day has something to do with a great voice, like a trumpet.

Look what Paul said about Jesus' return, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God"(1 Thes 4:16). Similarly, Jesus also taught, And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other(Matthew 24:31).

Does someone wish to argue that Paul or Jesus are talking about Sunday? There is nothing in the context to suggest that Revelation 1:10 is either. It Was All Written in Greek

The New Testament and most early church-related writings were almost exclusively written in Greek. The Greek expression translated as Lord's Day in Revelation 1:10 are the words Êõñéáêç ?ì?ñ?(note: All New Testament Greek in this article is based on J.P. Green's Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, 3rd ed. Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2002--Strong's Concordance does not always use the precise Greek word) which literally means the Lord's Day or Day of the Lord. Note these are nearly identical to the words ?ì?ñ?í Êõñéïõ which in Acts 2:20 are translated as "day of the Lord"(the context of the statements require a slightly different word order and form, but both would still be translated the same in English. But let's explain this with an example from English. Suppose John marries Lisa. In English, most people would say that the expressions "wife of John" and "John's wife" are referring to Lisa--not that one expression means something else--this is the same in Greek).

Both Revelation 1:10 and Acts 2:20 also include the same Greek word ìåãáëçí(which both translate as great) which suggests that something is great about both days(see also Matthew 24:31). Which is true, these verses are referring to the Day of the Lord, a great day with a great trumpet sound. It may be of interest to note that the first known reference to not observing the seventh day Sabbath by one associated with Christianity was by Marcion in Rome. Nearly all Protestant, Orthodox, or Roman Catholic researchers consider that Marcion was a major Gnostic heretic. Should any rely on major heretics be the basis of the true Christian faith? The first true reference to Sun-day worship was around 150 A.D. by Justin Martyr(over a century after Jesus' death and about 1/2 century after John died). And he used the expression Çë?ïõ ëåãïì?íç ?ì?ñ? which literally means "Helios said(called) day"(Helios was a Greek sun god). Justin did not use the expression Êõñéáêç as it was simply not accepted for the first day of the week when John wrote Revelation 1:10. Most of the Protestant, Orthodox, or Roman Catholic faiths , if they studied Justin, would conclude that Justin made many statements that are heretical and notice that he admitted that there were Christians who continued in practices he considered to be Jewish and that he did not care to associate with them(for documented proof, please see the article Justin Martyr: Saint, Heretic, or Apostate?). It should be noted that some(mainly 19th century scholars and those who have perpetuated their mistranslations) have intentionally mistranslated the term êõñéáêÞí in The Didache and Ignatius' Letter to the Magnesians as "Lord's day", but all scholars will acknowledge the Greek word for day(?ì?ñ?) is missing in the text(I have the text in Greek and can also verify that). Also, real(as opposed to improperly biased) scholars will admit that êõñéáêÞí is more literally translated as "Lord's way" than "Lord's day"("Lord's day" is a stretch that the term does not literally support). In the Didache, the Greek expression normally translated by 19th Century Protestant scholars as "On the Lord's day" is Êáôá êõñéáêÞí äå êõñéïõ, which literally means "According to the Lord' way, even the Lords", and not "Lord's day"(the context actually appears to actually be referring to the Christian Passover). In Ignatius’ Letter to the Magnesians, `êõñéáêÞí should be translated as “Lord’s way” or combined with the Greek word that follows it , æùíôåò, “Lord’s way of life” or “Lord’s living”. There actually is one 21st Century translation of the New Testament that does translate Revelation 1:10 correctly. It is called A Faithful Version(York Publishing.  Hollister(CA), 2003).  Here its translation of Revelation 1:10:

I was in the Spirit on the Day of the Lord; and I heard a loud voice like a trumpet behind me. Interestingly, the the first early document that uses the expression "Lord's day" and specifically ties it to the first day of the week is the apocryphal Gospel of Peter which neither Catholics, Protestants, etc. accept as inspired. No scholar believes that Peter the apostle wrote it(Peter died around 65 A.D.). One researcher noted this about when it was written, Ultimately, the only certain fact about the date of the origin of the Gospel of Peter is that it was written before 190 C.E.(at that time, Serapion, the bishop of Antioch, condemned it by name). How long before cannot be determined with any degree of certainty(Bernhard A. Gospel of Peter, Additional Information. http://gospels.net/additional/peteradditional.html 09/15/05).

Although no one knows when it was written, it most certainly over a century since Jesus died and decades after John died. Surely God would not expect Christians to rely on a late non-inspired writing as proof of a change that is not discussed in the Bible. Conclusion

The simple truth is that there is not one verse in the entire Bible that suggests that Sunday is the Lord's Day. And the only New Testament verse that mentions the expression Lord's day(or Day of the Lord) is Revelation 1:10. One cannot build a biblically supportable argument on one verse taken out of context.

It is only because of mistranslations, heretical writings, and traditions of men, that anyone could have ever suggested that the verse in Revelation 1:10 has anything to do with Sunday. From a strictly biblical perspective, the only ‘Lord’s Day’ is the seventh day Sabbath.  It was Jesus who specifically claimed to be "Lord of the Sabbath"(Mark 2:28). There is simply nothing in the context of the Book of Revelation to suggest that a particular day of the week, like Sunday, is being referred to. The only way people can see that the Lord's Day in Revelation 1:10 means Sunday is because they read something into the verse that is not there nor supported anywhere else in the Bible. There are also no direct references to any Sunday morning church service in any of the books of the Bible. The Book of Revelation is prophetic(Revelation 1:1-3).  The prophesies include events leading up to, as well as after, the time referred to in the Bible as the ‘Day of The Lord’.  The Book of Revelation specifically lists events that the Old Testament prophets stated would be near the ‘Day of the Lord’.

Hence it is clear that Revelation 1:10 is not talking about Sunday as certain theologians suggest.  Instead, the Book of Revelation lists many events that occur around the prophesied “Day of the Lord". And that is the biblically logical conclusion. Do you wish to rely on the Bible or Traditions of Men?  

[Donny]

Blessings and thank you for your question.

You have thoughtfully and throughally presented your view on the Sabbath.  I would suggest that you read the book: The Lord's Day: How Are You Spending This Sunday?

By: Joey Pipa Christian Focus Public / 1996 / Paperback  ISBN-13: 978-1857922011