FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK

This phrase appears eight times in the N.T. It is the ancient expression for what modern society calls "Sunday." The significance of this day can be readily seen in the following cases: (a) It was the day upon which Christ was raised from the dead (Mt. 28:1; Mk. 16:2, 9; Lk. 24:1; Jn. 20:1). (b) The Lord's day was the day upon which the kingdom of Christ was established (Acts 2:1; cf. Lev. 23:15-16). (c) It was the day upon which the church assembled to observe the Lord's supper (Acts 20:7). (d) Sunday was the day the church regularly met to give into the treasury of the congregation for benevolent and evangelistic purposes (1 Cor. 16:1-2). In this passage, the Greek text specifically says, "upon the first day of every [kata] week." Though the early disciples frequently entered Jewish synagogues on the sabbath day, in order to teach the Hebrew people, there is no evidence at all in the N.T. that the early Christians (even Jewish Christians) worshipped on the sabbath day. The sabbath, along with other elements of the Mosaic law, was abrogated at the cross (Col. 2:14ff).