DOCUMENTS FROM
THE NEW TESTAMENT SHOWING THAT THE RESURRECTION DAY OF JESUS SUPERSEDED THE
IMPORTANCE OF THE SABBATH DAY.
By Dr. Rey V. Entila, Ph.D
By Dr. Rey V. Entila, Ph.D
CHRIST PERFECTED THE TEACHINGS
OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS
Jesus testifies to the validity of God’s
revelation in the law and the Prophets, or simply the Old Testament (Mt.7:12).
His mission is not to destroy them, but to fulfill or bring them to perfection(Mt
5:17-18). That is the reason why He followed the law perfectly even though as a
sinless Savior He never had to. St. Paul rightly wrote, “But when the fullness
of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the
law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
as sons” (Gal.4:4). He was circumcised according to the Old Covenant, presented
to the Temple as Firstborn, attended Sabbath services, observed all Jewish
feasts, and followed even the dietary law of not eating pork and unclean
animals.
"Do
not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to
destroy but to fulfill (Mt.5:17).
Yet, in His Sermon on the
Mount (Mt.5-7) and Sermon in the Plains (Lk.6) He perfected the Law of Moses:
against killing, by saying that even unrighteous anger is equivalent to murder;
against adultery, by emphasizing that when a man looks to a woman with lust, he
was already committing adultery in his heart. He went on perfecting the Mosaic
law by his teachings on prayer, fasting, almsgiving, love of enemies.
By His words and deeds he corrected the
Teachers of the Law during His time concerning the correct meaning and
application of Sabbath. His death and resurrection, made even more
revolutionary understanding of God’s revelation in the New Covenant for even
the Jewish Passover meal has become for Christians the Lord’s Supper to be
celebrated until He comes again. The animal sacrifices have been abolished
since they are superseded by Christ’s one perfect sacrifice of His body and
blood (Heb.10:1-2; Mt.26:26-28). Pentecost which was for the Jews also the
Feast of weeks (7 weeks) or the Feat of Firstfruits, was replaced by the
Christian Pentecost which is the coming down of the Holy Spirit upon the
Apostles and disciples (Acts 2). Can anyone wonder why the Apostles and
disciples gradually understood that the Lord’s Resurrection Day replaced the
Jewish Sabbath day? Christ has fulfilled and perfected the Old Testament Law in
order to replace it with the more glorious sacrifice and observances of the New
Covenant.
JESUS LIVED UNDER THE LAW TO FREE
CHRISTIANS FROM IT
The following passages prove that Jesus lived under the Old Covenant,
including Sabbath attendance. However, just as He underwent circumcision and
His parents offered animal sacrifices for the temple, these prove nothing about
any Divine command to continue these rituals including the Sabbath, much less
the Sabbath, for His followers to
observe after His resurrection.
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And
as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up
to read (Lk.4:16).
And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in
the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did
this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that
such mighty works are performed by His hands! (Mk.6:1-3).
In fact, it was the Sabbath-observing Jews
who attempted to kill Him on the Sabbath day itself. This is a great irony!
Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah was
rejected by the people who longed for their liberator-Messiah.
28 Then all those in the synagogue, when they
heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out
of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was
built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff (Lk.4:28-29).
Jesus who
knows all things since the creation of the world, showed by example that
Sabbath is not for inactivity but for good works towards fellowman and God’s creation.
God the Creator continues to preserve the world, guide the planets in their
orbits, and let nature grow and wither. Jesus who is the perfect replica of His
Father (Heb.1:3), corrected the people’s limited understanding of Sabbath.
Surprisingly, instead of thanking and praising Him, the Sabbath-keeping Jews
sought to kill Him, for they thought Jesus not only broke the Sabbath but also
blasphemed God by claiming to be equal with God.
16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and
sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father
has been working until now, and I have been working. 18 Therefore the Jews
sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but
also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (Jn.5:16-18).
Another instance of Jesus teaching on the
correct meaning of Sabbath happened when He and His disciples plucked grain
during Sabbath.
"Or have you not read in the law that on
the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? (Mt.12:5).
CHRIST’S GLORIOUS RESURRECTION
HAPPENED NOT ON SABBATH
BUT ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
The following passages testify to the fact
that Christ resurrected gloriously on the day after the Sabbath which was the
first day of the week. For Christians, Sabbath was still a time when Jesus was
still lying dead on the tomb. Catholics call it Black Saturday when followers
of Christ were still mourning for him, and in quandary whether He was who He
said to be, the Son of God who came to ransom sinners. It is not the day for
Christians to remember and rejoice in the truthfulness of Jesus who said he
will rise again, overcoming death, on the third day. And so it happened. Jesus
rose FROM DEATH on the third day, the most glorious day since the beginning of
creation. Were Christians, guided by Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Father,
wrong in proclaiming this day above the Sabbath day? The holy Bible and
Christian history prove the Christians right.
1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of
the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the
tomb 9 And as they went to tell His
disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice! And they came and
held Him by the feet and worshiped Him (Mt.28:1,9).
JESUS CHOSE TO APPEAR ON THE FIRST
DAY OF THE WEEK
Just as our Lord Jesus Christ purposely
chose the first day of the week, and not the Sabbath day, for His glorious resurrection to prove the
veracity of all He said and did, the same Lord deigned to chose two Sundays or
first day, to prove to all Apostles and disciples that He was alive. He could
have chosen other days from Monday through Saturday, yet by His unlimited
knowledge and Divine wisdom, he has chosen Sunday to strengthen and guide His
Church.
19 Then, the same day at evening, being the
first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were
assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to
them, "Peace be with you. 26 And after eight days His disciples were again
inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in
the midst, and said, "Peace to you! (Jn.20:19,26).
CHRIST’S FIRST POST-RESURRECTION BREAKING OF BREAD AND PREACHING HAPPENED
ON A SUNDAY
When Christ resurrected
from the dead, He showed himself to the two disciples going to Emmaus, seven
miles away from Jerusalem.
Both of them were talking sadly to each other about the Messiah whom they have
trusted and who promised to rise again on the third day. Christ joined them on
the way, asking them questions from time to time. One of them said that it was already
the third day but Christ had not resurrected.
Christ patiently conversed with them as He explained to them from the book of
Moses until the fulfillment in their day. Upon arriving in Emmaus, Christ broke
bread with them.
1 Now on the first day of the week, very
early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb
bringing the spices which they had prepared…30* When he was at table with them, he took the
bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were
opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32 They
said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to
us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" 33 And they rose
that same hour and returned to Jerusalem;
and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them,
34* who said, "The Lord has risen
indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" 35 Then they told what had happened on
the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24:1,30-31,
RSV).
The two disciples
recognized Jesus present in their midst through the breaking of the bread. The
late Pope John Paul II wrote “…the disciples of Emmaus who, once they had
recognized the Risen Christ ‘in the breaking of the bread’ (cf. Lk24:30-32),
felt the need to return immediately to share with their brothers and sisters
the joy of meeting the Lord (cf.Lk.24:33-35) (Dies Domini, 1998:52-53).
This breaking of the
bread is the Christian celebration of the Eucharist, commemorating Christ who
offered His body and blood as the new sacrifice of the New Covenant. It is
worth knowing that Christ preached and celebrated Eucharist with His disciples
on the first day of the week. The New Testament therefore presents the
Christian assembly for breaking of the bread on the first day of the week (Acts
20:7; 1 Cor.16:2) or the Lord’s day.
PENTECOST HAPPENED ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
The Holy Spirit descended
on the Apostles and disciples, not on Sabbath day, but on Sunday or the first
day of the Week.
1
Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in
one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing
mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then
there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of
them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).
Sabbatarians, though,
would like to annul the impact of this truth by asserting that during that
year, surprisingly, Pentecost did not fall on a Sunday. This is not true,
however. Let no guesswork or pet opinion prevail, but the words of an expert:
The
question might be asked, How do we know that the day of Pentecost mentioned in
Acts 2 fell on a Sunday? The word Penteekostee
which is here used means “fiftieth.” It is designated the Jewish feast
of Weeks, at which two wave-loaves of
leavened bread were offered to the Lord. Lev.23:15-16 specified that this feast
was to be observed on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath after the Feast of
the Passover. The Sadducean party in the first century A.D. interpreted “the
morrow after the Sabbath” as being a first day of the week; on this
interpretation Pentecost would always fall on a Sunday. The Pharisees of that
day, however, interpreted the Leviticus passage in such a way that Pentecost
fell on various days of the week. F.F. Bruce points out that, though the
Pharisaic interpretation became normative for Judaism after A.D. 70, “While the
temple stood, their (the Sadducees’) interpretation would be normative for the
public celebration of the festival (Pentecost); Christian tradition is
therefore right in fixing the anniversary of the descent of the Spirit on a
Sunday” (Commentary on the Book of Acts,
1955, p.53); (Hoekema, 1965:165).
CHRISTIAN EUCHARISTIC ASSEMBLY
St. Luke, inspired historian of the infant
Church, recorded that Christians assembled together in order to break bread,
listen to Apostles teachings, and pray. Since the early Christians were also
devout Jews, they go also to the temple daily to pray, but as Christians,
breaking bread daily was their difference from the non-Christian Jews. This
daily breaking of bread is no different from the Catholic Christian’s practice
of participating in the Holy Eucharistic celebration and receiving communion.
42 And they continued steadfastly in the
apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 46 So
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart (Acts
2:42,46).
This breaking of the bread undoubtedly is
the same as the breaking of the bread or our Lord Jesus in His Last Supper with
His Apostles, as St. Luke himself records it in the Gospel he wrote:
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke
it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of Me.'' 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper,
saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you
(Luke 22:19-20).
BREAKING BREAD AND PREACHING ON
THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
St. Luke faithfully recorded once again the
event when Paul and his companions stayed in Troas
for a week. But on the first day of the week (Sunday, resurrection day), the
Christians came together to break bread, presided by Paul. He gave a lengthy
sermon to them because the next day he will be traveling to other places of
mission. Why did Paul and his companions wait for a week in order to celebrate
with the disciples the breaking of the bread during Sunday? Why did not Luke
record that they rather gathered for breaking of bread on Sabbath day, if they
still followed the Sabbath regulation? That would be a Sabbath transgression
indeed punishable by death if ever the Sabbath law was still in force for
Christians. Yet the Holy Spirit guiding the hands of St. Luke was silent, and
emphasized rather the first day of the week Christian celebration. Since Paul
was leaving them, why did not Paul choose any other day, aside from Sunday, to
gather the Christian disciples and deliver his message? These are questions which
Sabbatarians endlessly wrestle, unless Sunday as Lord’s day is accepted as the
day of gathering and worship for Christians.
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 (Acts 20:7)
PAUL ATTENDED JEWISH SABBATH TO
CONVERT JEWS TO CHRIST
Before leaving the Acts of the Apostles
and proceeding further to the testimonies of New Testament Letters and the book
of Revelation, there are few objections or clarifications that need to be
answered. The question is, if Paul was worshipping Christ on Sunday, how to
account for the 3 years that he went to the synagogue every Sabbath in the
following passages?
14 But when they departed from Perga, they
came to Antioch
in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. 15 And
after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent
to them, saying, "Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation
for the people, say on.'' 16 Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand
said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: 17 "The God of
this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as
strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of
it. …42 And when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that
these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 43 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. 44 And the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to
hear the word of God. (Acts 13:14-44)
13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the
city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and
spoke to the women who met there. 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us.
She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened
her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul(Acts 16:13-14).
2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to
them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3
explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from
the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.''
4 And some of them were persuaded; and
a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women,
joined Paul and Silas. (Acts 17:2-4).
And he reasoned in the synagogue every
Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks (Acts 18:4).
The only explanation that
can be given to these long passages is: Paul went to the Jews on Sabbath, not
because he was a Sabbattarian, but because he wanted the Jews to believe in
Christ. In the same way that a Sabbatarian goes to Sunday-keeping churches on
Sundays, not because he is one of them, but because he wanted to convert them
to become Sabbatarians like himself.
